Record Editor

Record Editor

The editor is used for creating and editing family tree records (Header, Persons, Families and shared records).

All records are represented in the editor the same way:
At the left panel the record and its elements are shown in the form of a tree (similarly to directory structure). When an element is selected by mouse its value is shown on the right panel, and its description is shown in the top part of the editor.
If value of the element is a reference to another record such element is highlighted with red color, that means it's possible to double click on it and the referenced record will be shown. To return to the previous record press the "Back" button. Thus it is possible to go through all records referenced to each other.
The right mouse button click on an element will show the dropdown menu with three items:
Add to... adds an element of the next lower level to the given element; If this item is not available (grayed) it means the element cannot contain other elements or their quantity has already reached the maximum.
Change... changes value of the chosen element. If this item is not available, it means either the element can not be changed or it has no value - such element only contains other elements (The exception from this rule is Link element - it has no value, but it can be edited in such manner with all its elements by using Link Editor).
Remove... deletes the chosen element. Inaccessibility of this item means quantity of these elements is already minimal. It is not possible in the Editor to remove an element of the uppermost level, i.e. the record itself.
Elements are arranged in record in order of their "necessity", i.e. the most necessary and most often used elements are placed higher. Newly created elements are added according to this order. Exception is made for the user defined elements - they are always added in the end.
It is possible to arrange elements of the same type in any necessary order, moving them with "Up" and "Down" buttons.

The number of different elements which can be added to record or its elements sometimes is quite big and can confuse an unexperienced user, so access to the most important elements is placed on the bottom panel of the editor as "quick access" buttons. So it maybe said that editing with dropdown menu with its access to all properties of the record is the "profi" level, and with the "quick access" buttons is the "basic" one.
Note: the "Note..." button works only with the first Note of the record. To create one more Note, or to edit other Notes, you should use the dropdown menu on the left panel.

Elements are created/edited in special edit dialogs. The type of the dialog depends on the element's value type:

Value type Edit dialog

Empty No edit dialog, the element is just created.

String Single line text field.

Text Multiline text area.

Reference Dropdown list of all records to which this element can refer.

Choice Dropdown list of all values this element can have.

Pattern The same single line text field as for String, but it is possible to enter only that value which is set by the element's template. For example: the element "Number of children" in Family record can accept only numerical value from 1 to 999, all others will be rejected.

And so on... For some types of elements the edit dialog has several input fields. The "quick access" buttons also call the special edit windows. For example, "Birth & Death..." button will call the edit dialog with input fields for both birth and death dates and places.
Each edit dialog has button "Help" to get information how to create/edit the given element.

Changes in records are saved after pressing "OK" button. Before saving the record is checked for presence of empty elements and matching some special conditions, for example, a Person should have at least either a name, or a surname, or date of a birth/death, otherwise it cannot be shown in the tree.