TextPlus Charts

TextPlus Charts
Summary	Two new charts - Text+ Descendant Chart, and Text+ Ancestor Chart.
Validation
Mod Updated	{{{mod_last_update}}}
Download link	TNG 10.0.2 textplus_charts_v10.0.2.1beta.zip
Download stats
Author(s)	Robin Richmond
Homepage	Robin Richmond's Genealogy Database
Mod Support	My Mod Support form or TNG Forums
Contact Developer	My Mod Support form
Latest Mod	10.0.2.1
Min TNG V	10.0.2
Max TNG V	10.0.2
Files modified	admin_pedconfig.php, Descendant charts (descend.php, descendtext.php, desctracker.php, register.php), Pedigree charts (pedigree.php, pedigreetext.php, verticalchart.php, ahnentafel.php, extrastree.php), cust_text.php (English and English-UTF8), css/genstyle.css Installs descendtextplus.php, pedigreetextplus.php, tngdblib_textplus.php, languages/English/textplus_help.php
Related Mods
Notes	In a beta state. Need testing and feedback.

Purpose of the Mod

Two define two new charts - The Text+ Pedigree Chart (on the Pedigree inner menu), and the Text+ Descendant Chart (on the Descendant Charts inner menu). Both charts follow a text format (basically and outline layout), but they also:

• Draw lines to connect people with their children.
• Display places of birth and death instead of just dates.
• For living people (when allowed by security constraints), display the last known place of residence and the date of that residence event.
• Can (when the number of generations is set to zero) display ALL of a person's descendants or ancestors rather than a specific number of generations,
• Display a summary at the bottom of the chart, and
• Allow the user to save the chart parameters to a cookie for use by subsequent charts (whether initiated by the "New Chart" link at the end of a line, or by selecting the chart from an inner menu on a profile page or another chart).

The Text+ Descendant chart also:

• Displays date and place of marriage, and
• Displays the starting person's parents, with date and place of birth and death.

And the Text+ Pedigree chart:

• Can (optionally) display the siblings of each ancestor, giving a richer view of the family tree.

Compatibility With Other Mods

No known conflicts. The World Map mod is an example of a mod that installs a chart program and modifies the Pedigree inner menu. The World Map program won't have the Text+ link, nor will the Text+ Pedigree programs have the World Map link, but the chart programs distributed with TNG releases can have both links.

Requirements

• A working TNG installation.
• An installed current version of the Mod Manager.
• You should backup files listed in the panel on the right.

Automated Installation

1. Remove and delete previous version of this mod.
2. Backup the files updated by this mod. They are listed in the panel at the upper right.
3. Download the .zip file, and extract its .cfg file to the mods folder.
4. Follow the normal automated installation for Mod Manager, as shown in the example Mod Manager - Installing Config Files.

In the event of a problem

1. Try using the Mod Manager Remove capability
2. Contact me through My Mod Support form.

Custom Text

The following strings are defined in the English and English-UTF8 versions of cust_test.php

//TextPlus Charts mod: new strings
$text['age'] = "Age";
$text['pedtextplus'] = "Text+";
$text['help'] = "Help for this area";
//TextPlus Charts mod: End of new strings

Margins and Line-Wrapping

Because the Text+ charts draw lines connecting the generations, these charts cannot simply allow long lines of data to wrap at the browser window's (or printed page's) right margin. The programs that generates the charts have to know the window (or printed page's) with, the font size, and the font face so that they can wrap lines of data at the appropriate point.

As a result, the web pages used to generate and display the Text+ charts contain a form with fields that specify printing parameters. Still, different web browsers and printers have different characteristics that affect the effective window or printed page width. So the Text+ programs also allow the user to specify a fudge factor (referred to as "+/-") that adjusts the right margin.

(Author's note: Most web applications with such constraints would generate PDF files, which allow print characteristics to be controlled with more specificity, but I first wrote versions of the Text+ programs long before the PDF format became standard, and I've simply continued to use HTML with each new implementation.)

Space-Saving Techniques

I have used the following techniques to conserve space and reduce the amount of line-wrapping:

• I use "??" instead of "Unknown"
• If a person was born and died in the same place, I only display the place once, like this: (Cleveland, Bradley, TN;15 Nov 1815 - 04 Jan 1887)
• I have gone to some trouble in my own database to generate shortened versions of place names (e.g. "Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee" is represented in my Text+ Charts as "Cleveland, Bradley, TN"). At present, I don't think this technique prevents enough wrapped lines to try to distribute it as part of this mod, but I have packaged it as a separate mod, and can release it if there is interest.

Mod Change History

Mod Version	TNG Versions	Date	Note
10.0.2.1beta	10.0.2	15Jul2014	Initial beta release.

Visualization of this Mod

Text+ Descendant Chart	* The Generations drop-down box in the first line of the "innermenu" is now a static value (circled) that is used by the other charts shown on that line.	* The second line of the innermenu (underlined) is a form that must be submitted to display a new chart with new parameters.	* The Save button (circled, at the right of the second innermenu line) saves the parameters in a cookie. Subsequent Text+ Descendant Charts will use the saved parameters.	* The column of colons (circled, on the left) forms a dotted line connecting spouses of the same person.	* The bold plus sign (pointed to by the arrow) is the "New Chart" link that indicates the person on that line has children not shown in this chart. (The existing TNG Text Descendant Chart uses "==>" for the same purpose.	* Note the chart summary at the bottom.
Text+ Pedigree Chart:

Sites using this mod

If you download and install this mod, please add your site to the table below.

URL	User	Note	Mod-Version	TNG-Version	User-language
Robin Richmond's Genealogy Database	Robin Richmond	Mod developer	10.0.2.1	10.0.2	English