I'm falling asleep ...
At 2002/09/22 05:00 PM, you wrote: >Is this a replay?? > >Henry > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Dora Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 3:09 PM >Subject: Re: [LegacyUserGroup] How are PAF data bases set up? > > >| Ken: >| >| I talked to someone at Legacy who I'm pretty sure was >| not you, since I mentioned your e-mail about checking >| your voice mail. >| >| It was he who said that the reason why you haven't >| developed the ability to import PAF files is they are >| written in Unicode and Legacy stores its data in I >| think he said ANSI. He was trying to explain to me >| that it isn't as easy to develop this particular >| update as I had thought. >| >| But I strongly get the idea it's actually in ANSEL - >| which is a kind of ASCII which is a subset of ANSI. >| I don't know if I heard wrong, which I easily could >| have, or he didn't want to get too specific. >| >| Does your program actually use ANSI or ANSEL, and does >| it often make a substantive difference? Whoever on >| your staff said he thinks I have no ancestors who used >| other alphabets, diacritical marks and all of that was >| right. >| >| None of us thought the problem was insurmountable. It >| came across as more difficult than writing the code to >| import earlier versions of PAF files. YOu're a good >| company and doing an upstanding job for three and a >| half people! It kind of sounded like you didn't have >| time or something. I suspect that people in general >| don't suppose that a company that is putting out so >| many copies of such an outstanding product could be a >| small company, and I didn't. But knowing that, we >| were thinking about what it really would take to get >| around it. >| >| I understand your proprietary position. I'd be >| surprised if PAF's file structure were top secret >| since they don't sell it, and they benefit by people >| being able to import PAF files, but I know probably >| you have a proprietary relationship with them to have >| developed some of the things you have. >| >| It's too bad PAF doesn't just export to PAF 5 in ANSI >| or ANSEL. Maybe in time they will. Since their >| mission is to encourage people to do genealogy and not >| to make money, it is to their advantage for the >| databases people create in PAF to be portable! They >| must have heard all the fussing about their date >| formats. Their latest update is supposed to have fixed >| some of the problem. >| >| It would be a good thing to be able to import PAF 5 >| databases for the same reason it was a good thing to >| import PAF 4 databases; to avoid loss of data due to >| the inconsistencies between PAF formats and GEDCOM >| formats. Now that I both know why it is harder to to >| write a program update in PAF 5 then for earlier >| versions of PAF, and know how little time you have for >| the effort, I fully understand why you have not been >| in such a rush to make such an update. >| >| I don't think it will take me more than a couple of >| days to find out what happens to my dates when I >| transfer my data. I won't have a proper opinion on >| how badly I need to be able to import a PAF 5 database >| until then. >| >| If I can't transfer my data without losing it, then in >| time I would have to figure out how to change a PAF >| file to make it importable to somewhere. >| >| Imagine, five days ago I believed that GEDCOM had >| completely solved this sort of problem! >| >| Yours, >| Dora >| >| >| >| --- Ken McGinnis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >| wrote: >| > I missed one. PAF is in a proprietary format >| > developed internally by the >| > LDS Church. Developers can obtain the file >| > specification by contacting them >| > and entering an agreement with them. >| > >| > I explained this to Dora when she asked a couple >| > days ago but thought others >| > might like to know the answer. Legacy does not >| > import a PAF 5.x file >| > directly for the simple reason that I haven't had >| > time to work on a direct >| >| >| __________________________________________________ >| Do you Yahoo!? >| New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! >| http://sbc.yahoo.com >| Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: >| http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp >| >| To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: >| http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ >| >| To unsubscribe please visit: >| http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp >| > >Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: >http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > >To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: >http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ > >To unsubscribe please visit: >http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp C.G. Ouimet Kingston, Ontario Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
