Iâve been thinking about this for a long time, but I eventually dropped the whole idea because there was so much negativity around Main/SubâEvents and hierarchical Events on Places. The thing is, what youâre describing fits directly into the same workflow. Itâs essentially the same concept, except your proposal assumes a flat event structure with no hierarchy inside the events themselves.
Thatâs why Iâm starting to wonder whether what youâre describing could actually fit naturally into the new Forms Gramplet that RenTheRoot is working on, instead of introducing a completely new âtemplate objectâ system.
I believe I understand what youâre trying to achieve. Before I moved to Zotero and Obsidian, I was looking for exactly the same kind of workflow using the old Forms addon. It didnât quite work the way I needed back then, but the idea was very similar.
What I imagine is a more flexible Forms template where you can define multiple households within the same form. Based on line numbers or post numbers, the form could automatically create separate âapartmentâhouseholdsâ under the same main event. For example, the main event could be tied to the address, while subâentries could be grouped by line ranges (line 0â5 as one household, 6â9 as another, and so on).
It would also help to have an option to mark that the following lines belong to the same person, so you could add multiple subâevents (like several residences or other details) for that person from the same source without having to save and start a new Forms sequence each time.
This kind of structure would also handle sources like crew lists or address directories, where you may need to register multiple entries with individuals who do not necessarily belong to the same topâlevel address, and where each entry contains different details. In crew lists, for example, you might want to register nationality as an originâtype event, or record other attributes as separate events. Address directories often list many individuals under the same street but not the same household, and this kind of flexibility would make it possible to register all of them in one workflow.
This would also make it possible to generate citations at the line/post level. A post number could be automatically assigned for creating a detailed citation, controlled by a simple checkbox such as âcreate a new citation for this line/postâ. If the box is not checked, the previous citation would be reused for the following entries. This would allow users to choose between lineâlevel citations or broader sectionâbased citations depending on the structure of the source.
This is actually one of the main reasons why Iâve been advocating so strongly for Main/SubâEvents, and for allowing the same Main/Sub structure on Places as well. Many sources naturally contain hierarchical or grouped information, and having a way to reflect that structure directly in the data entry process would make things much more efficient.
To me, this feels like something that could be implemented as an extension of Forms rather than a new template system, but I may be misunderstanding your intention. If your goal is to clone a complete event with all secondary objects because the source contains repeated patterns of information, then I can see why youâre exploring this direction â but I still think an extension to Forms would be a better solution than introducing an entirely new template system.
Iâm also a bit surprised I havenât seen this idea earlier. I fully support a flexible approach like this, especially if it could be combined with the eventâstructure changes Iâve suggested in the past, including hierarchical events on Places. And if this structure could also be reflected in CSV import â perhaps by reusing templates stored as JSON or XML settings files â that would make the workflow close to perfect.
Note: This text was originally written in Norwegian and translated/edited into English with help from Copilot AI. I (the author) have reviewed the final version to ensure it matches the meaning of what I wrote in Norwegian.