Automatic uploading of References to Lost Cousins

[Alexander Bisset]

Thanks Alexander - this has made the process of updating Lost Cousins so easy. Plus a new match - just waiting for a reply now.

However I encountered problems when I tried to update my wife's entry.

If anyone can break something it has to be me!!!

Hmmm looka like it held onto the old session cookie. I'll need to add the login button changing to Logout and clearing the cookie. So you can login with different name. Or I could just do it so if you change the email address or password field it auto logs you out.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

If you create a referral listing all of the relatives that need to be moved I can transfer them for you (but it will take about half an hour of my time so please, everyone else, don't make the same mistake). Don't include in the referral relatives that have matched - these will need to be deleted and re-entered manually.

Peter would the ID numbers in your database be all greater than or equal to the first mistaken wife entry and have similar timestamps, assuming he hasn't entered any more since.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

v7.3.5.1 now out that forces a clearing of cookies if you change login details. This should avoid issues that Trebor raised.

 

[kirkstall]

It should do it automatically assuming you are on v7.3.4 or higher.

Alexander

I was using 7.3.1 but I have now upgraded to 7.3.5 and it worked

Thank you.

 

[peter]

Peter would the ID numbers in your database be all greater than or equal to the first mistaken wife entry and have similar timestamps, assuming he hasn't entered any more since.

Using the ID wouldn't be foolproof as MySQL reuses empty rows in a table. Using the timestamp would be a better solution (users have access to the timestamps on the More details page), but if any have matched they will need to be deleted first.

I've just thought of another problem - there may be duplicates of entries already entered on the intended account. If duplicates are created by manipulating the data behind the scenes it's a pain to get rid of them.

Does FTA have a log file? I'm wondering whether FTA could delete the entries from one account and repost them to the other. This would avoid any database issues.

 

[trebor]

If you create a referral listing all of the relatives that need to be moved I can transfer them for you (but it will take about half an hour of my time so please, everyone else, don't make the same mistake). Don't include in the referral relatives that have matched - these will need to be deleted and re-entered manually.

Thanks for your kind offer Peter but I suspect that there will be several possible duplications doing it that way and I am sure that it will take less time for me to delete them manually.
So if Alexander can explain how I can resolve the record issue in FTA I will use my time instead of yours.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

There is a log file created at the time of the event and displayed to the user but it doesn't persist on disk I'm afraid.

That also answers another question I had which was should I attempt to store the user ID number to try to match the GEDCOM data to the LostCousins data. If the IDs don't persist then clearly that's a bad solution. Although the chances of exactly the same name and reference reusing the same database ID must be minuscule.

The biggest issue I've encountered is there is no easy way to be sure a person in the GEDCOM file is the same person as the one on Lost Cousins. As there is no uniquely identifiable data held on either file. All we have is forenames & surname (both of which could be different from census record), a reference number (which could be an error) a date of birth which could be imprecise (eg: BET X AND Y in the GEDCOM). Nothing solid to go on.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

So if Alexander can explain how I can resolve the record issue in FTA I will use my time instead of yours.

By "the record issue" do you mean the fact they don't have a Lost Cousins fact in your file and it didn't auto create one?

 

[trebor]

By "the record issue" do you mean the fact they don't have a Lost Cousins fact in your file and it didn't auto create one?

Possibly! In an earlier post you indicated that FTA records any entries (in a database was, I think, the phrase used) that have been updated so that they can be ignored when running a new update. Is it possible to either modify or delete this file? If the file also includes references to my tree and the file is deleted will they be picked up as duplicates when a new update is run? At the moment if I try to update my wife's tree all of the previously incorrectly updated records are ignored.

 

[peter]

That also answers another question I had which was should I attempt to store the user ID number to try to match the GEDCOM data to the LostCousins data. If the IDs don't persist then clearly that's a bad solution. Although the chances of exactly the same name and reference reusing the same database ID must be minuscule.

I think I made a mistake earlier when I said the IDs were reused. I will double check.

EDIT: my check confirms that IDs are not reused. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Possibly! In an earlier post you indicated that FTA records any entries (in a database was, I think, the phrase used) that have been updated so that they can be ignored when running a new update. Is it possible to either modify or delete this file? If the file also includes references to my tree and the file is deleted will they be picked up as duplicates when a new update is run? At the moment if I try to update my wife's tree all of the previously incorrectly updated records are ignored.

The database isn't specific to a file loaded it records the names, reference numbers, census years and ages of the people you uploaded - basically the same info you see on the MyAncestors page. So when you click to upload again it reads that MyAncestors data and anyone it finds already there in your file it will create a database record for if it doesn't exist.

To determine this when you load your file (or your wife's) you will see on the Lost Cousins tab a record of the number of census entries and Lost Cousins facts you have. You should be able to tell if this number includes auto generated Lost Cousins facts as well as any you manually entered. If the numbers show only manually entered then doing an upload will detect there are existing records and will re-add a Lost Cousins fact.

I'm starting on the verification tab and will add that functionality there too so you don't need to have something to upload in order to have auto created Lost Cousins facts.

 

[trebor]

The database isn't specific to a file loaded it records the names, reference numbers, census years and ages of the people you uploaded - basically the same info you see on the MyAncestors page. So when you click to upload again it reads that MyAncestors data and anyone it finds already there in your file it will create a database record for if it doesn't exist.

To determine this when you load your file (or your wife's) you will see on the Lost Cousins tab a record of the number of census entries and Lost Cousins facts you have. You should be able to tell if this number includes auto generated Lost Cousins facts as well as any you manually entered. If the numbers show only manually entered then doing an upload will detect there are existing records and will re-add a Lost Cousins fact.

I'm starting on the verification tab and will add that functionality there too so you don't need to have something to upload in order to have auto created Lost Cousins facts.

Sorry Alexander but I am still no wiser - I hate Mondays!
Just to be sure that I have explained my problem correctly I will list the basics again.
When I attempted to update my wife's census records to Lost Cousins they were all added to my account instead of hers.
I can determine those entries in LC in my account so will be able to delete them.
However if I now try to update my wife's account FTA reports that there are no records to be updated because it thinks that they have already been updated - it obviously does not recognise that they were updated to the wrong account.
In FTA I can see that a number of Lost Cousin facts have been created for each census year and I can generate a list of those people BUT I cannot determine which ones were LC facts created by FTA nor, if I could, can I see a way of deleting that fact.
This record of LC facts must be stored somewhere on my PC - can it be accessed and ideally modified or. less ideal, deleted?
I hope that this makes sense and I am sure that with your skill at making FTA do such wonderful things that you will find a solution for me.
Thanks.

 

[canadianbeth]

Thanks, Tim. I will try doing it through Ancestry but it will have to be later. We are leaving on holiday tomorrow so I do not expect to have much time today.

Alexander, I enter using the person tab, under source title, 1911 census, then the piece, book, etc., # in citation detail, then the web address. Should it be different?

 

[Tim]

Thanks, Tim. I will try doing it through Ancestry but it will have to be later. We are leaving on holiday tomorrow so I do not expect to have much time today.

Alexander, I enter using the person tab, under source title, 1911 census, then the piece, book, etc., # in citation detail, then the web address. Should it be different?

So you use FTM2017 and Ancestry? Don't you just add the census and FTM or Ancestry then automatically populates all the citation details?

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Sorry Alexander but I am still no wiser - I hate Mondays!
Just to be sure that I have explained my problem correctly I will list the basics again.
When I attempted to update my wife's census records to Lost Cousins they were all added to my account instead of hers.
I can determine those entries in LC in my account so will be able to delete them.
However if I now try to update my wife's account FTA reports that there are no records to be updated because it thinks that they have already been updated - it obviously does not recognise that they were updated to the wrong account.
In FTA I can see that a number of Lost Cousin facts have been created for each census year and I can generate a list of those people BUT I cannot determine which ones were LC facts created by FTA nor, if I could, can I see a way of deleting that fact.
This record of LC facts must be stored somewhere on my PC - can it be accessed and ideally modified or. less ideal, deleted?
I hope that this makes sense and I am sure that with your skill at making FTA do such wonderful things that you will find a solution for me.
Thanks.

Hi Trebor,

Ah ok then in that case the database file has been populated with your wife's entries in error. Have you used FTAnalyzer to geocode your locations? The stored locations use the same database. If not then the simplest solution is to zap the database and it will create a new one next time you start the program if you have geocoded locations you won't want to lose that info in which case I can zap the entries from the database for you. If you goto the file menu and geocode database there is an option to create a backup file. If you email that to ftanalyzer@gmail.com I can have a look.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Alexander, I enter using the person tab, under source title, 1911 census, then the piece, book, etc., # in citation detail, then the web address. Should it be different?

That should be fine and if it's one of the recognised formats it will work. The downside of manually entering references is it's extremely easy to be inconsistent and put extra dots/spaces/hyphen and commas etc so that there's a subtle difference and it manages to miss getting matched with the pattern. This is why Tim's suggestion of merging in the record helps as at least then it's consistent (usually).

 

[canadianbeth]

Thanks, Alexander, I will go back and delete the spaces and commas and see if that makes a difference. In the meantime, I am about to shut everything down in preparation to flying far away to somewhere warmer for a couple of weeks.

 

[trebor]

Hi Trebor,

Ah ok then in that case the database file has been populated with your wife's entries in error. Have you used FTAnalyzer to geocode your locations? The stored locations use the same database. If not then the simplest solution is to zap the database and it will create a new one next time you start the program if you have geocoded locations you won't want to lose that info in which case I can zap the entries from the database for you. If you goto the file menu and geocode database there is an option to create a backup file. If you email that to ftanalyzer@gmail.com I can have a look.

Thanks Alexander - found and deleted the geocode file ( I haven't done anything with locations in FTA yet) and all is good. I have manually deleted the entries inadvertently recorded in my account (thanks again for your offer Peter) and have now got 2 accounts just as they should be except for a few duplications (different ages made FTA treat them as separate individuals) that need sorting out.

The big plus is following the use of FTA to upload the census records I have been sitting on for too long I now have 3 new matches for me and 2 for my wife.
Next job is to sort out the incorrect / missing census references that FTA is telling me about.

 

[JamesB]

If you check your Match Potential before and after an upload you'll be able to see how it has increased. Currently an entry from 1881 is nearly 4 times more likely to produce a new match than one from 1911, and nearly 3 times more likely than one from 1841.

Something else to bear in mind is that your entries will only match with your cousins' entries if the information you enter matches the census (the transcript in 1880/81, the handwritten census in other years). So use the grey arrows to check your new entries (sort them in date order).

Thanks Peter. I was working till the deadline to fix the automated entries. Didn't get to all of them yet, but I got more entered than I would have manually.

I will continue to fix them because being correct is more important than the competition, after all!

Looking forward to trying the updated Analyzer after that.

PS I found a bug/feature with the website. If you have two people in the same household with the same name and age, then they show up twice on the Ancestors page, but they have the same link. If you edit one, then they both show the changes. The only way to fix it is to delete, which removes both.

 

[peter]

PS I found a bug/feature with the website. If you have two people in the same household with the same name and age, then they show up twice on the Ancestors page, but they have the same link. If you edit one, then they both show the changes. The only way to fix it is to delete, which removes both.

You shouldn't be able to enter two people with the same name, age, and census references - but if you somehow manage to do this they will both point to the same record, as you have discovered. There is no way of distinguishing between them.

This issue is most likely to occur in the 1841 Census because of the rounded-down ages and the larger number of entries per page.