Version 5.0.0.2 - Released

[Alexander Bisset]

I'm pleased to announce the release of v5.0.0.2 of FTAnalyzer.

New features include the searching of notes and sources to find census references and the option to auto create census facts from the census references it finds. This means for people with older programs that stored census info as a note rather than correctly as a census fact, as long as there is a census reference that the program can identify it will create a census reference for that census.

Another new feature is the "On this day" tab which shows which of your events have an anniversary. It can also show you any world events that happened on that day. It gets these from a Wikipedia archive.


One caveat though because the certificate has been updated the old version will need to be uninstalled before you can download and install the new version. Windows 8 & 8.1 once may query if you want to run the app once you install it. Click more info and accept to run it.

There was a file missing from the build of v5.0.0.0 that meant the program failed to run after it had installed. Sorry about that.

 

[Doreen]

I've been able to download the new version; however, I am receiving an error message that reads "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." Can someone tell me in simple terms what that means and what I have to do, please! Thanks for your help.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Hi Doreen,

That means its trying to read a value that is empty. This should never happen and indicates a bug in my program. Can you explain when it happens ie: do you get it when you load a file - if so at what point during the loading does it happen? Do you get it when you click something?

It could be something to do with how it tries to process some data in your file so I'd like to assist fixing that please. Would you be so kind as to email me your GEDCOM file or part of it.

If you just want to send part of the file you could export a bit of your file then load it into FTAnalyzer and confirm you get the same error. I'll then be able to load it on my machine and see why the error is occurring. Alternatively if you don't mind just send me the whole thing and I'll delete the file once I've found the error. Thanks.

I'll send you a private message (you'll see a red number top right of this page) with my email address.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Thanks for sending me the file. The new census reference checking sets the date if the old date was unknown. Unfortunately I forgot to initialise the date as Unknown so it was a null and when it tried to use this null it crashed.

The issue was caused by one of your census records looking like this...

1 CENS
2 PLAC name of place

ie: no 2 DATE line. Thus when it tried to update that date it replaced Unknown with a null and this caused the program to crash. An unusual one as I'd not have expected your program to allow the export of GEDCOM data without a date field. I've emailed precise details of where the issue lies so you might want to correct that anyway as a census record without a date is clearly an error.

I've released v5.0.0.2 with the fix.

 

[Doreen]

Alexander has once again worked his magic and I am full steam ahead again .....

 

[Bob Spiers]

Am trying new version but -and this applied previous versions - can you enlighten on the following error message immediately after loading. Error loading previously geocoded data. SQL logic error or missing database no such column: latm. I deduce it does not recognise a 'latm' column, but have no idea what that is or where/when it occurs.

I usually just click Ok and then proceed but as others have posted about error message thought I would throw that one into the ring. Great program nevertheless!

 

[Tim]

Hi Alexander, the colours on the Mismatched Children Status report are a bit drab! Can you use more conventional traffic light colours? Green for a match, Red for a Difference?

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Am trying new version but -and this applied previous versions - can you enlighten on the following error message immediately after loading. Error loading previously geocoded data. SQL logic error or missing database no such column: latm. I deduce it does not recognise a 'latm' column, but have no idea what that is or where/when it occurs.

I usually just click Ok and then proceed but as others have posted about error message thought I would throw that one into the ring. Great program nevertheless!

Ah that's an odd one it doesn't have an up to date Geocoding database. However for some reason it hasn't upgraded it and added the missing field.

I'll see what I can do for a fix.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Hi Alexander, the colours on the Mismatched Children Status report are a bit drab! Can you use more conventional traffic light colours? Green for a match, Red for a Difference?

I specifically got rid of the orange red colour as it was all or nothing. The values are objects for comparison so with a lot of extra code the best I can do is match or no match.

If you recall a previous version and indeed with the betas you will see it. It was so much more difficult to make out why the cells were coloured. I tried other colours but it all looked so garish and difficult to understand. The muted colours goes with the background base colour.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Am trying new version but -and this applied previous versions - can you enlighten on the following error message immediately after loading. Error loading previously geocoded data. SQL logic error or missing database no such column: latm. I deduce it does not recognise a 'latm' column, but have no idea what that is or where/when it occurs.

I usually just click Ok and then proceed but as others have posted about error message thought I would throw that one into the ring. Great program nevertheless!

Bob can you make a backup of the Geocodes database (from the File menu) and email me the zip file. I'll then be able to see what's going on.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Bob can you make a backup of the Geocodes database (from the File menu) and email me the zip file. I'll then be able to see what's going on.

I believe you ask for the Gedcom zip file (the one downloaded from Ancestry) but email ? (Address?) If this is something I can do from FTA kindly explain how. Thanks

 

[Alexander Bisset]

I believe you ask for the Gedcom zip file (the one downloaded from Ancestry) but email ? (Address?) If this is something I can do from FTA kindly explain how. Thanks

I'll send you a forum PM with my email address and explanation, look for red icon top right of forum page.

 

[SandraHS]

I'm pleased to announce the release of v5.0.0.2 of FTAnalyzer.

New features include the searching of notes and sources to find census references and the option to auto create census facts from the census references it finds. This means for people with older programs that stored census info as a note rather than correctly as a census fact, as long as there is a census reference that the program can identify it will create a census reference for that census.

Another new feature is the "On this day" tab which shows which of your events have an anniversary. It can also show you any world events that happened on that day. It gets these from a Wikipedia archive.


One caveat though because the certificate has been updated the old version will need to be uninstalled before you can download and install the new version. Windows 8 & 8.1 once may query if you want to run the app once you install it. Click more info and accept to run it.

There was a file missing from the build of v5.0.0.0 that meant the program failed to run after it had installed. Sorry about that.

Haven't investigated this previously but am now intersted. But will it work on a Mac?

 

[DianeSG7]

Just downloaded latest FTA.
After I had the reminder from Peter about Lost Cousin's Forum and started looking through it, I realised I
had also forgotten about FTA....I still had version 2 !!
Looking forward to using it as I am sure it must have all sorts of new features

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Haven't investigated this previously but am now intersted. But will it work on a Mac?

It will work on a Mac using Parallels or BootCamp to boot into a version of Windows. However I'm not aware of it working beyond that. It uses .Net as its core so it's heavily tied into Windows.

The main reason I can't do anything to make it work on a Mac is that I don't have a Mac and so I could never test if it worked let alone fix any issues users encountered. Not the best of answers sorry.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Just downloaded latest FTA.
After I had the reminder from Peter about Lost Cousin's Forum and started looking through it, I realised I
had also forgotten about FTA....I still had version 2 !!
Looking forward to using it as I am sure it must have all sorts of new features

Dianne if you install it from the purple download link on the homepage then it will auto update every time you run it. **

** For the pedants : Unless I need to upgrade the certificate again in which case an uninstall-reinstall will be needed.

 

[SandraHS]

It will work on a Mac using Parallels or BootCamp to boot into a version of Windows. However I'm not aware of it working beyond that. It uses .Net as its core so it's heavily tied into Windows.

The main reason I can't do anything to make it work on a Mac is that I don't have a Mac and so I could never test if it worked let alone fix any issues users encountered. Not the best of answers sorry.

Thanks for the reply but I'll take that as a 'no'. I didn't understand a word of your first paragraph! Can't believe I'm the only Mac user among Lost Cousins members.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Thanks for the reply but I'll take that as a 'no'. I didn't understand a word of your first paragraph! Can't believe I'm the only Mac user among Lost Cousins members.

FTAnalyzer is a program I've written as a personal project to help my own research. I make it available free for the world to use. It has features that are useful to Lost Cousins Members and Lost Cousins Members have helped make the program better by suggesting new features and testing existing ones. However it is just a free program available to anyone it is not specific to Lost Cousins in any way.

The reason it may not work on a Mac is that I don't have a Mac so there is nothing at all I can do to test it. Whether there are lots of Mac users amongst Lost Cousins Members or not is, I'm sorry, entirely irrelevant. I produce the program free of charge in my own time using my own resources as a benefit to anyone who wants to use it world wide to help in their family history research. It is NOT a commercial venture and as such Peter and Lost Cousins specifically cannot be blamed for it not running on a Mac. Due to the many features that specifically help Lost Cousins Members in the program Peter has been very supportive of the project, however any faults or issues are entirely mine no blame can be attached to Peter or Lost Cousins.

The program can be made to run on a Mac but needs a program called Parallels or Bootcamp to make it work. However because I have no Mac I cannot test it on a Mac so I cannot support it on a Mac. The unfortunate issue is that Apple specifically require developers to pay them to develop software. On Windows you can develop applications free and make them available free to anyone to use. On Apple products you have to buy a physical Mac and the development software. Then write the code specifically for a Mac. It wouldn't be the same it would need entirely different code, which would double the workload. This is typically why you get so much less software available for purchase on a Mac. Larger companies can of course afford to develop for a Mac. As a solo developer I cannot afford to do this especially when I do not have and do not wish an income from the project.

I hope this explains the situation somewhat better.

 

[Tim]

Thanks for the reply but I'll take that as a 'no'. I didn't understand a word of your first paragraph! Can't believe I'm the only Mac user among Lost Cousins members.

You're not, Mac has been brought up before, I'll have to search through the posts.

 

[DavidL]

Have I broken some unwritten rule? My messages have disappeared.