TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2002-07 > 1026613865


From: Wayne Dreier <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Exporting Witness Tags
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2002 22:31:05 -0400
In-Reply-To: <3D2F915C.14850221@reigelridge.com>


On Friday, July 12, 2002, at 10:33 PM, Terry Reigel wrote:
>
> GEDCOM had no provision for witnesses in the way TMG uses them, so they
> cannot be exported by GEDCOM.
>
> Terry Reigel

I have come to accept the fact that TMG uses witnesses in a non
conventional way, but remain extremely disappointed that TMG, billed as
it is as the best genealogical program around, cannot or will not insure
the integrity of the data that is entered in it is not compromised. The
fact is that information I have entered into TMG in my witness tags is
ignored and lost to me or another's use if I try to GEDCOM the file.
Yes, it is still in TMG so one can argue it is not lost but you and
others are saying there is no way to get it out because GEDCOM is at
fault.

I disagree. GEDCOM is nothing more than a text file, stated here
innumerable times, albeit set up with special formatting. If TMG ignores
information by not putting it in the file why is that the fault of
GEDCOM? It cannot do anything with data it is not given. And, before
someone tells me that GEDCOM cannot handle user defined items, or
special information, let me indicate that I have created a custom tag
with the very same information that TMG places in the Witness tag it
creates and if I give the tag a label which tells GEDCOM it is a custom
tag, TMG includes it and GEDCOM can and does handle it.

Now it can be debated whether other genealogy applications will properly
record that information. But I maintain that even if none of the
existing programs can handle it properly, TMG should be able to include
anything and everything in a GEDCOM file and let the other programs
worry about what to do with it.

Wayne Dreier
NW Ohio Research
Use The Master Genealogist

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