In RM8 (as in RM7) there appears to be no option to access the contents of the Fact Note field in a role sentence (using something like [Note] ).
The Note field is included in the Gedcom exported from RM8, and post-processors such as GedSite can access the Note text and include it in their role sentences.
Has anyone found a way to access the Note field in RM8? Would there be any interest in an enhancement request for something like [Note] in Fact sentence templates in RM8?
Cheers JohnJ.
There is no explicit way to access RM8’s Note field for sentences in reports. The only access to the Note field is the same as in RM7. Namely, if you don’t exclude the Note field from reports, it’s included in reports automatically. The note is included at the end of the rest of the sentence for a fact, after the citation superscripts. This is an all or nothing selection for all notes.
I would love to see a [Note] variable added to RM. The main benefit for me would be that I have several fact types whose only purpose is to display a note. Such notes look pretty ugly in printed reports because they are preceded by their citation superscripts rather than being followed by their citation superscripts.
I think the transition to a version of RM that included a [Note] variable could be tricky. RM itself would need to add the [Note] variable to all it’s sentences. Then all users who had user defined fact types or who had customized the built-in fact types would need to add the [Note] variable to all or most of their sentences.
GedSite does an excellent job of importing RM’s GEDCOM, including that it will import and use RM’s sentence template information and it will import and retain RM’s shared facts. However, I came to realize pretty early on in my use of GedSite that sentences for my printed reports as produced by RM were not the best sentences to display on my Web pages as created by GedSite. So I don’t use RM’s sentences in GedSite. Instead, I use GedSite’s sentence template language to produce sentences for my Web pages as created by GedSite. GedSite’s sentence template language does include the equivalent of a [Note] variable.
Hi John,
I’d certainly welcome this enhancement. I want to publish an Individual Summary Report (running v8) which includes Notes for Events. I use these to provide historical information context for the person, so I really don’t want to lose them.
It’s frustrating, as I can see the Notes in the Edit Person screen, but when I publish the Report, only the Event Description is included. I get what you’re both saying, so I guess there’s currently no chance of getting a full Notes-included report. That’s why I’d certainly vote for this enhancement ! In the meantime, I guess I’ll try out Gedsite.
Here is some follow-up to my original message in this thread.
Even though there is no [Note] variable in RM’s Sentence Template Language, notes can be included in RM’s narrative reports. It’s as if each sentence template ends with a hidden [Note] variable. The selection to include notes in narrative reports is all or nothing. For example, you can’t include notes for all the Birth facts without including all the notes for Death facts. Because RM operates as if there were a [Note] variable at the end of each sentence template, the note for each fact prints along with the rest of the fact.
RM’s Individual Summary reports have their own format which is not based on the sentence templates. Notes can be included or excluded. But if notes are included, all the notes are printed after all the facts, so the note for a fact is completely separated from the fact itself.
You can adjust RM’s sentence templates so that a narrative report looks much like an individual summary, except that doing so keeps the notes for a fact together with the rest of the fact. For an example of what this can look like, look at Sample RM Report with Point Form Sentences
Here is one more thing. You initial message mentioned notes in role sentences. When you share a role in RM, there is a place where you can fill in a note for that particular sharing of that role. If you do so, that role shows up in Narrative reports when the role sentence is printed. Just like with notes for regular facts, notes for shared roles show up as if the sentence template ends with a [Note] variable.
The situation with notes for roles is similar for Individual Summary reports. Sentence templates are not used, but if there is a note associated with a particular instance of sharing a role, the note does show up in an an Individual Summary report, down in the section of the report that contains all the notes and which is separated from the section of the report that contains all the facts.
Thanks Jerry, very helpful, as usual. This is interesting. I’ll try to get my head around all this - much appreciated.