Re: Research Helps

["v.h.villarreal" <raices_regias@...>]

Angie,

So we have one more thing in common, eh?  Our interest in databases
and programming, besides having ancestors in Colotlán, Totatiche and
Tlaltenango.

I have PAF 5 but I use it mainly to export my Gedcoms to a Palm Pilot.
 The software that I'm currently using for my genealogy is Legacy 5,
which I believe is a very complete application.  When I started
compiling my genealogical data I considered creating my own data
tables and user interface in Access, but after trying Legacy I
realized that it would be an enormous time investment to create an
application from scratch with all that functionality so I changed my
mind.  

What I'm storing is Access are the batch numbers of the church records
I'm currently researching, which at present include only a few from
the State of Nuevo León. 

Regarding the information at FamilySearch, actually there are several
databases, of which the IGI is just one.  But their databases are not
Access based, that's why the Access default wildcard does not work. 
The wildcard for the IGI database is the percentage sign (%) but you
have to use it just by itself as a substitute for a whole word, that
is, not as a substitute for single letters within a word. For example,

First Name: %
Last Name: Raygosa

You can apply other filtering criteria as usual.  I've tried using the
wildcard in the Father, Mother and Spouse fields but it doesn't always
work; I think it is better to fill those one at a time in each query
if you have available data or just leave blank.  Play around a little
bit and you'll soon be doing wonders.  Like I said previously, for me
the easiest and most productive way to search the IGI is entering the
batch number for the locality and date period and then run a lot of
queries changing the filtering criteria, trying different spellings,
using the wildcard, etcetera, etcetera, until I exhaust all possibilities.

Just imagine how great it would be if we were able to obtain all batch
numbers from the Family History Library Catalog, instead of having to
run a generic search and then guessing them by trail and error.  That
is one of the other things that I don't understand about the thinking
behind the designers and/or administrators of Familysearch.  But I
guess we can't have it all, can we?

Un Saludo Cordial
Victor Villarreal


--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "aajay1073" <aajay1073@y...> wrote:
> Victor,
> 
> I have experienced the same issues as you.  It is very frustrating 
> not to be able to download more than 50 records.  Also I own the VRI 
> cds and they have the same limitations, except the cap is 100 
> records.  As a mentioned in a previous post, I tried to download all 
> the records into my family tree program and then reconcile them.  
> Except, (i am little slow, and...) it took me a while to realize that 
> even though I would tag over a hundred records it was only 
> downloading the first 100.  Had to throw out that work and start 
> again, since I couldn't figure out which records I was missing.  So I 
> started again and downloaded a 100 records at a time.  But then I 
> realized that I was downloading some records twice...argh...  
> Needless to say...I gave up.  Couldn't figure out a good way to do it.
> 
> I wish I had access to the raw data.  Then I could manipulate it as I 
> pleased.  I figured since I had the cds, it must be on there 
> somewhere.  But I have not been able to figure it out.
> 
> I imagine that the reason they have the cap at 50 records is because 
> anymore would put a strain on the server...well not more then 50 but 
> if you think about it... 100's of people each downloading more then 
> 50 would put a strain on the server.  But I don't know why there is a 
> cap on the cds...
> 
> This is what I have done for myself.  All the information that I get 
> from IGI/VRI I have placed it in a Access database that I have 
> created.  This gives me an easy flexible way to search the data.  
> Once I put all my data in Access, which is over 6000 records, I 
> created a program that converts this information into a GED file.  
> Then I open the GED file in PAF.  Well I only needed to do that part 
> once.  Now I have all my data in an Access database and PAF.  I use 
> PAF for the reports and tools and I use access for cataloging my data 
> and searching through it...which allows me to find more records, etc, 
> etc...
> 
> I imagine that all the information on familysearch website is in some 
> database...I wish...that I had access to the raw data instead of the 
> download records...I can work wonders with databases... ;-)
> 
> Thanks,
> Angie Godina
> 
> P.S.  I haven't been able to get the wildcard to work...and I have 
> tried them all...
>