OFB - Gedcom Profile Quick Guide

Following quick guide is for user with no or small Gedcom knowledge. In case of knowledge you may combine or skip various items of the description.

A Gedcom profile, stored in a Profile file, defines the rules for the transition of the genealogical data from the ged-files to the OFB. During importing of the ged-file by the OFB the data will be interpreted and transferred accordingly. Without such profile file the OFB can't process the genealogy data. The profile includes

the desired selection of Standard Gedcom Tags to be transferred to the ged-file
the specific features of the Genealogy program, creating the ged-file and
tags and attributes, which should be skipped during reading the data or writing the log-file.

Following document will support you

A detailed description of the Gedcom Subject you will find in the OFB-Service Program user guide. This is available in the Download area and should be read and available in a printed form.
The Gedcom specification in English is available at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride/gedcom/55gctoc.htm. This is recommended for specialists.

For several Genealogy programs base profiles with the most important data of the specific features are available at the Download area of the OFB. If your program isn't included, I'm happy to develop it with your assistance.

In following descriptions

[ xxx ] means buttons
{ color } means the color of the buttons, which will inform about their status.

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Generation of a Gedcom Profile

The Gedcom profile contains

the specific characteristics of the genealogy program, which has generated the Gedcom file and
the desired selection of standard tags for reading the data of the Gedcom file
Tags and attributes, which should be skipped during analysis or in the log file

For some genealogy programs base profiles with the most important data of their specific characteristics are made available at the Download area. The creation or modification will be done by following steps:

Loading of a profile file (*.ogp) and modify the data or enter the required data. These data controls the reading of the data from the Gedcom file, but not the output of data. But only data read can be used for output. [ General ] Select the data elements with special Gedcom definitions, the groups of data for standard Gedcom tags and the additional options. For this the Gedcom data file should be opened and analyzed by using a text editor. For the selected data elements first select the valid method, thereafter enter the tags and/or attributes, as they are used in the Gedcom file.
[ RefId + Relationship ] RefId-nbr (if selected): Enter the tag for a free selectable numbering system according the handling in the INDI data record Relationship (if selected): Defines the handling of relations between 2 persons or a FAM event and a person. - 4 methods available "Tag 1 ASSO" and "Tag 2 ASSO" both can be selected together. "Tag 1 ASSO with _EVN" is intended to be used for the data from "Brothers Keeper". The text for "Naming" and "xxx" may be modified by the Naming form.
[ Place of Citizenship ] (if selected): Defines the coding of the place of citizenship - 5 methods available [ Living place ] (if selected): Defines the coding of the living place - 6 methods available
[ Family + Partnership ] Family name by marriage (if selected): Defines the family name after marriage - 3 methods available None-marital relationship (if selected): Controls the correct insertion of the genealogy signs for marital resp. none-marital relationship. If the decision can't be made, marital will be used as default - 3 methods available
[ Address/Occupation/Diverse ] Address (if selected): To find the data elements for address - 2 methods available. Selection of "n CONT" will include the data of this tag Occupation (if selected): In addition to the standard tag "1 OCCU" all found occupations with the entered attribute will be collected at the data element "Occupations" Diverse entries (if selected): All data of a person with the entered user-defined tag, which has the sub tags TITL and NOTE will be grouped
[ Special group ] (if selected): 2 special data groups for data of persons out of the INDI data records and data of partnerships/ marriages out of the FAM data records. Each line defines 1 parameter and can be assigned to the INDI as well as to the FAM group. For the definition 1 or 2 tags can be used: if the level-1 tag TAG_1 is followed by an attribute enter TAG_1, TAG_2 stays empty if the level-2 tag TAG_2 is followed by an attribute enter TAG_1 and TAG_2 For each parameter entered, also enter the corresponding naming. (for more details see the User Guide). For TAG_1 no further level-2 tag will be analyzed
[ Standard INDI groups ] For each group all selected tags with their sub-tags shown under "Explanation" in the definition screen will be concatenated, separated by comma, in the sequence of their occurrence in the ged-file for the output. INDI - Attribute Structure (if selected): available are the tags CAST DSCR IDNO NATI NCHI NMR PROP RESI SSN TITL as well as AFN REFN RFN RIN. INDI - Event Structure (if selected): available are the tags ADOP BAPM BARM BASM BLES CENS CHRA CONF CREM EMIG EVEN FCOM GRAD IMMI NATU ORDN PROB RETI WILL
[ Standard FAM + LDS groups ] see "Standard INDI groups" FAM - Event Structure (if selected): available are the tags ANUL CENS DIVF ENGA EVEN MARB MARC MARL MARS as well as NCHI REFN RIN LDS - Event Structure (if selected): available are the tags BAPL CONL ENDL SLGC from INDI data records as well as SLGS from FAM data records
[ Tags added ] Most of the genealogy programs create their own user-defined tags. Therefore these additional required level-1 and level-2 tags can be added to different groups. For each tag select the group, enter the tag and the text for naming. This will be printed in the output before the text of the data field. Naming may stay empty. Up to 6 tags can be added to each group. The sequence of the entered tags in the list boxes can be modified. For additional level-1 tags 3 list boxes for the std Groups and 3 list boxes for the NOTE-, SOUR- and REPO data records are available For additional level-2 tags 4 list boxes for the standard groups, the NAME tag, the BIRTH, CHR, DEAD, BURI tags of the INDI data records and the MARR, DIV tags of the FAM data records and 1 list box for "additional level-1 tags" of the NOTE-, SOUR- and REPO data records are available.
[ Tags skipped ] Tags may be defined here, which will not be transferred to the log file, even in case of their ambiguous data. This is especially helpful during debug of a new Gedcom profile file to avoid long entries to the log file. Events, which should not be used for output can be defined. All events where the attribute of their TYPE tag is identical to the entered list will be skipped. Entry of the text for the attribute. Exclusion of several sub-tags for output can be defined. The selected tags will not be analyzed.

The User Guide will provide further details. In case you need help, please contact me at any time. To help you in generation of a Gedcom profile you should provide to me data from 10-15 persons with their FAM data with very different data elements created by your genealogy program.