Where are the defaults for new objects defined?

Help
1

Where can the defaults for a new object be changed?

I want the default Confidence for a new Citation to be changed from Normal to Low

While fleshing out an old stub article (so there would be at least one full article linked to the new outline of features to find insufficient research), it became obvious that I had been overlooking the Confidence feature for Citations.

In my research tree, I intend to drop the existing "Normal"s to “Low”. That will indicate that the Citation has not been manually validated. Solid indicators that the data is true (or untrue) will change the Confidence up (or down) a level.

The default of “Normal” encourages complacency and even ignoring the feature. GEDCOM (version 5.5.1 and 7) and only has 4 “[Quay)” levels (0-3) for confidence. Not very useful while researching but probably sufficient for a completed work.

v.7.0.15 g7:enumset-QUAY

v.5.5.1 : CERTAINTY_ASSESSMENT:= {Size=1:1}

[ 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 ]
The QUAY tag’s value conveys the submitter’s quantitative evaluation of the credibility of a piece of
information, based upon its supporting evidence. Some systems use this feature to rank multiple
conflicting opinions for display of most likely information first. It is not intended to eliminate the
receiver’s need to evaluate the evidence for themselves.
0 = Unreliable evidence or estimated data
1 = Questionable reliability of evidence (interviews, census, oral genealogies, or potential for bias
for example, an autobiography)
2 = Secondary evidence, data officially recorded sometime after event
3 = Direct and primary evidence used, or by dominance of the evidence

2

Why is it that Gramps’ values don’t correspond to the GEDCOM spec?

On the other hand, the GEDCOM values seem to be a mix of two different concepts. The difference between “Secondary” vs. “Direct and primary” is important to know, and such sources may correlate with greater reliability, but they don’t guarantee it.

I guess, as with so many things, the decision of what value to use depends on whether or not you intend to export the data, and what the receiving system does with it.

3

Like a lot of things I gave up trying to make sense of the Confidence
terminology
So I settled for my own Quality terms in the form of Tags that I can use
anywhere/everywhere

  1. Pure Speculation
  2. Not Proven
  3. On Balance of Probabilities
  4. Beyond Reasonable Doubt
    All relatively understandable in Plain English after all there appears
    to be no mathematical methodology for determining the quality of the
    data and it is therefore down to an individuals judgement call.
    phil
4

Edit gramps\gen\lib\citation.py

at line 84 (5.2.3)

self.confidence = Citation.CONF_NORMAL # 4

to

self.confidence = Citation.CONF_LOW # 4

1 Like
5

Alternatively, you could change the description of the default value from “Normal” to “Not yet validated”. Otherwise, how will you distinguish between citations that you have already reviewed and deemed to be Low, versus those you haven’t yet reviewed?

1 Like
6

Changing the description would be counter-productive.

Low just means they need more investigation. They need to been dismissed as very low, or gain the superficial approval (or neutrality) of Normal.

They cannot achieve High or Very high confidence without a substantial amount of research.

7

New Object defaults in gramps/gen/lib

  • Person:
    • Type: Birth Name
    • Origin: Null (Should be based on Name guessing. e.g., Patrilineal )
  • Family
  • Event (code comments indicate some kind of adaptive Event type based on the source)
    • Type: Birth (Person), Marriage (Family)
    • Role: Primary (Person), Family (Family)
  • Place
  • Citation
  • Repository
  • Note
    • Type: General (adaptive if secondary to a object: <object type> Note)
  • Attribute
  • Internet
  • Association
  • LDS
    • Ordinance: Baptism (Person), Sealed to Spouse (Family)
    • Status: <No Status>
8

Most defaults are set in gramps\gen\lib\ and then the different files ending in ....type.py. These files set up the defined Gramps types and usually there will be a line…

_DEFAULT = LIBRARY (this from repotype.py)

1 Like
9

Godfather is hard coded as the only option. I changed all of mine to “Guardian”.

Edit gramps\gui\editors\displaytabs\personrefembedlist.py

If you search for “ref.rel = _(” you will find one “Godfather” and two “Unknown”.

I changed all three to “Guardian”. Now if I d-n-d a person into the list, the association will be Guardian instead of Unknown.

1 Like
10

That may be imprudent. Godparent has no civil standing. It tends to be conferred as part of a Baptism or Christening.

But Guardian is a designation in Wills with legal standing. And the legal status is conferred in probate or by the State if parents are declared unfit or die intestate.

Regardless, I rarely use Godparent as an Association. But I’m not sure what would be a better, more common default Association.

11

Most of my use of guardian are from colonial records when a guardian was selected for someone under age when the father died. The mother was often still living. The child often selected their guardian. The child often stayed living with their mother.

1 Like
12

How about DNA the only one I use

Regardless, I rarely use Godparent as an Association. But I’m not
sure what would be a better, more common default Association.

phil

13

I only have enough DNA data to test new features. And the DNA evaluation tools are all addons at this point. So “DNA” default Associations wouldn’t be something that I can endorse.

But… now you know where to look and can tweak the defaults for your instance of Gramps.

If you do make such a change, be certain to add a Note to your Placeholder person in Gramps about how to do the tweak and why. So when you upgrade Gramps and that tweak is wiped out, you have a better chance of remembering your customizations.

14

Thanks Brian

Was just being a little cheeky mods already made and noted.

phil

1 Like
15

Cool. Just converted the list to a Wiki.

If anyone wants to add links to the specific line numbers for where a default is defined, that would be great.

For example, from the @DaveSch hint, I found and linked the “Primary” role for the Events under Persons. But have not found the “Family” role for Events under Families

gramps/gen/lib

16

gramp\gen\lib\eventroletype.py

Lines 71-81 (5.2.3)


    def is_primary(self):
        """
        Returns True if EventRoleType is PRIMARY, False otherwise.
        """
        return self.value == self.PRIMARY

    def is_family(self):
        """
        Returns True if EventRoleType is FAMILY, False otherwise.
        """
        return self.value == self.FAMILY
17

Aren’t those the compares to see if then Events are part of the Person or Family’s timelines rather than the defaults.

Thanks for the feedback. The new Event list had the default ‘Primary’ role cross-linked to the Attributes Types module. It is fixed and set to Line 68 now.

18

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.