I am using RM v8.1.8.0 and have recently notticed a problem in the Index list of the People tab.
It is showing (in this case) a Died date when there isn’t one for the actual person
If I add a death date to the actual person record the Index shows this new date, however, if I delete the fact from the person it doesn’t remove it from the Index. Even if I restart RM.
There are a number of conditions in RM8 and also in RM7 where changes to the Birth or Death or Christening fact are not reflected correctly in the sidebar Index. The solution is always to run File => Tools => Rebuild Indexes. Restarting RM alone will not fix the problem.
Having the Rebuild Indexes tool available is not a bad thing, but I have never understood why it is necessary to use the Rebuild Indexes to correct the sidebar index. It’s like there are lots of bugs in the code that maintains the sidebar index, said bugs being in the code where you add, delete, or change Birth and Death and Christening facts. But rather than fixing those bugs, RM forces you to run the Rebuild Index tool. The logic to set the sidebar index birth and death dates correctly obviously exists in the Rebuild Index tool. Why can’t the same logic be applied just to one person after any changes are made to a person’s Birth and Death and Christening facts?
For example, just yesterday I had a situation where I added a Death fact and I was interrupted from what I was doing while the death date was still blank. Ten minutes later, I resumed work and by accident I entered the Death fact a second time, this time with the second Death fact having the correct death date and death place. I immediately noticed the blank Death fact and deleted it, leaving the good Death fact in place. I then noticed that the death date was blank in the sidebar index. The only way I knew to fix it was to stop what I was doing and run the Rebuild Indexes tool. So I really think the bad logic in the maintenance of the Birth and Death and Christening facts needs to be fixed.
That worked a treat. Many thanks.
All in all very bizarre and I would never have thought of doing that. Now I know and I guess I should find out what the other Database Tools do. Hopefully they are decsribed in the on-line help.
Maybe what this forum needs is a Tips & Tricks section detailing the things to do to resolve these weird issues as you have done.
Once again - many thanks.
