After the last update for RM11. There is something weird going on with the pedigree view. When you are viewing the pedigree window, then switch to the family view window. Then switch back to pedigree, the root person (which I already had set) doesn’t show up where they should be. You have tap the home button to get that person back to were they should be. Anyone one else having this problem?
It may only be an issue of terminology, but there is only one root person for the whole database, and the root person for the whole database has nothing to do with with where a person is displayed in Pedigree View. So I think you are talking about the Primary position in the various views.
The Primary position for Pedigree View is the left position, for Family View is the parents position, and for Descendant View is the top position. An exception is that in Family View, a person with no spouses or children cannot be shown in the parents position so they are shown in a child position.
In RM1 through RM7, the highlighted person was always placed in the Primary position of the view to which you switched. Beginning with RM8, this behavior changed and I could never figure out how RM8/9/10 decided who was going to be in the Primary position when I switched views.
I much preferred the RM7 behavior, and to me it’s an important RM7 feature that has been lost. I agree that the behavior when switching to Pedigree View seems to have changed again in RM11. But I still can’t figure what rules RM is using for the Primary position when I switch views. So I wonder if the rules for Pedigree View have really changed again, or if the apparent change is only a figment of my imagination.
I would prefer the RM7 behavior back again, with an easily select-able option added for Pedigree View as to whether the Primary position is left most or is one position to the right of leftmost. If this option were available and if it were enabled, it would have to be like Family View in that a person without spouses or children would always have to be shown in the leftmost position.
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Even when I right click on the root person and select position, move to primary position. The root person gets put in the primary position in the left side of pedigree view. But when I move to family view and back to pedigree. The root person is still not in the primary position. I’m not liking this change at all.
So, I made myself as the root person. Then when switching between pedigree and family views. I stay as the root person. I did have my father as the root person.
The only mention in online Help informs that Shift+Ctrl+H is the keyboard shortcut for that menu option. It also states (Not Family View)
My quick observation is that the highlighted individual is maintained in all pertinent views EXCEPT Couples View.
Switching to Family View and back to Pedigree View consistently returns the highlighted individual to a non-primary position. Seems intentional for the layout (ie. Pedigree being a singular person at its root to the left with a pair of parents immediately to its right) but compensating for instances if and when that highlighted (non-primary) individual is succeeded downward in the Pedigree (left most primary position) by having children -or- is left blank in the case when no children.
It seems to be treating one position to the right of the left most position as the primary position of Pedigree View rather than treating the left most position as the primary position. It’s hard to remember for sure, but it seems to me that RM8, RM9, and R10 would do that some of the time but not all of the time. It seems to me that RM11 is doing it nearly all the time.
I have to admit that having the primary position be one position to the right of the leftmost position is sometimes very useful. For example, if the highlighted person is the spouse of a relative, it lets me see the ancestors of the relative. I have actually wanted that feature for many years, except that I have always wanted it to be an option I could set very easily - like with one click directly on the Pedigree View screen itself. So I could choose my primary position for Pedigree View to be either the left most position or else one position to the right of the leftmost position. Absent such an option, I would very much prefer for the primary position always to be the leftmost position.
It seems to me that the root cause of all these discussions is a change that was made in RM8. In RM7, the primary position for each view was well defined and if you switched views the currently highlighted person was placed in the primary position of the new view. But RM8 seemed to try to remember the previous status of a view. For example, if you were in Family View and switched to Pedigree View, you might highlight a different person in Pedigree View. Then if you switched back to Family View, instead of putting the highlighted person in the primary position of Family View it tried to restore Family View to the way it was before. To me, it was a very disconcerting and unfriendly behavior. I wished at the time that it would just go back to the RM7 behavior.
Now I don’t know what it’s trying to do when I switch views. I simply can’t figure out the rules it is following. I wish it would either go back to the RM7 behavior and stop. Or else I wish it would go back to the RM7 behavior and add my enhancement where I could very easily choose the location of the primary position for Pedigree View.
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