Features version 2.10 |
Comments |
1. Data input is now from any GEDCOM file from either LDS sources or from family history databases. GEDCOM 4 and 5.5 files are imported. Files from spreadsheets and databases in CSV format can also be imported and custom links made between their fields and BIRDIE 2.10's. |
As BIRDIE 2.10 is an event database it neither retains nor creates lineage links between people named in events. It is designed as a database for holding large numbers of (probably) unrelated events from which you can select the ones of interest and map, print or export them. BIRDIE 1.x database files can be imported via CSV. |
2. The GEDCOM parser is significantly faster, knows how to assign country codes to counties automatically, and creates lists of all places and counties that are unknown to it. |
You can use BIRDIE 2.10 to examine the consistency of your place data in GEDCOM files. If you have the county parish maps for a particular county installed, you can build up your own lookup tables of which place names will map to which civil parishes. |
3. The program can be configured to retain all the GEDCOM file information after an import so that anyone found in the database can immediately have their orignal GEDCOM text viewed. The pointers in the GEDCOM text are hyperlinked so that you can jump between children, parents, spouses and sources (in GEDCOM 5.5 only). This feature can be toggled on and off since it does slow down GEDCOM import & conversion. |
GEDCOM files are a mystery to many people, but this tool teaches you how the links and pointers within a GEDCOM file work. It also indents the levels of a GEDCOM file on display so that you can see how subsidiary information such as dates and places relates to an event further up the GEDCOM hierarchy. The viewer displays only one record at a time so there is no chance of confusing it with another. |
4. The CSV import facility lets you assign any field in the CSV file to any field in the standard BIRDIE 2.10 event record. The same field in the CSV file can be assigned to multiple BIRDIE 2.10 fields. The assignment form displays a user-definable number of records from the start of your CSV file, so it is not necessary to have field names in the first record of the CSV file. |
CSV files can be created from just about any spreadsheet or desktop database program, meaning that any data you currently have in these formats can be imported into BIRDIE 2.10. |
5.The grid for displaying the records of an imported GEDCOM or CSV file has improved functionality. Column headers can be clicked to find any text in that field. Records can be viewed, edited, inserted and deleted from the grid. Page Up and Page Down scrolling has been added. Records can be marked and shown with a coloured background in the grid. Columns can be reordered and resized, and returned to the default with a button click. |
All of these new functions are accessed either by a right click on a record to summon a pop-up menu, by double clicking, or by clicking on the top left corner zoom button to show a complete record. As blank records can be inserted, you can add your own data to existing BIRDIE 2.10 databases if you don't have the information in GEDCOM or CSV format. |
6. The Filter dialog has been upgraded to let you select from an array of checkboxes which event types to include in the result set. The sorting actions have been widened to allow sorting on any combination of any 3 fields in ascending or descending order. |
The range of events that BIRDIE 2.10 can store and filter on has been widened to include Wills, Census, and up to 3 user-defined tags. |
7. Three pre-set ranges of colour scales and thresholds at which those colours change are built in, and can be independently selected. Colour changing is now done with a full 24 bit colour picker that is accessed by just two clicks on the relevant colour patches. |
There are now 9 different map appearances for the same set of data that can be viewed instantly from the main form. User-defined colour scales can be stored, retrieved and used as the default ranges. |
8. As supplied BIRDIE 2.10 has a map shewing the county boundaries of the UK integrated with it. This lets you plot all the events in a file, or a filtered subset of them, onto a countrywide map. If you chose to purchase the parish maps of specific counties these can be integrated with BIRDIE 2.10 by a one button/one dialog process from within the program that only takes a couple of seconds. The Buckinghamshire parish boundary map and data that was included with BIRDIE 2 is sold seperately; there is however an on-going program of parish map preparation and one map of your choice from those available will normally be included in the purchase price of the program. |
The parish maps by county let you look at family clusters within a county. As it can be difficult to identify a parish on such a map, clicking on its name in the list of parishes in the data being mapped, highlights that parish for half a second in a bright colour. County mapping on the whole of the British Isles is still available. |
9. Soundex searching on the surname in an individual event is included. The Soundex algorithm used can be fine-tuned to accommodate variants in pronunciation and use of prefixes. |
Either standard NARA Soundex codes or extended ones that cover more similar sounding variants can be used. |
10. A comprehensive Configuration dialog has been included for setting map colours and thresholds, program options, actions on GEDCOM import, synonyms recognised for county codes, place and hamlet lookup table creation, spelling corrections in an entire database for place names, and custom reporting. |
BIRDIE 2.10 can be set up to suit your preferred method of working. |
11. A large online Help file is included, together with a Tutorial on how to operate the basic functions in BIRDIE 2.10. |
The Help is context-sensitive. Simply press F1 at any time to see pertinent advice on what to do next. |
