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I have uploaded a gedcom with media links. All the media files uploaded by FTP in the media folder. In media management I sorted the media files to type document and photos and set some photos as highligted.
By updating the website with a new gedcom import and uploading old(overwritten)and new mediafiles, all the photos and documents type settings were gone and the highlighted images too.
Is what I’m doing, not possible? Or is it better to add the media only in kiwitrees or ftp and import a gedcom with media links?
What happens if I import a gedcom with no media links?

Wim

Wim

stamboommeijberg.nl

 

 

Wim. Lots of questions, and on one of the more complex subjects 🙂

First, some short answers to short questions:

Is what I’m doing, not possible?

No, it should be possible – perhaps. It depends on the behaviour of your offline software.

Or is it better to add the media only in kiwitrees or ftp and import a gedcom with media links?

It should not be. That will quickly become annoying, I’m sure.

What happens if I import a gedcom with no media links?

The you will have no media links any more in kiwitrees. When you import a GEDCOM it completely replaces whatever was there before.

Before I launch into a long and complicated explanation of how media is managed in kiwitrees I would like to get some more background from you. So my turn for some questions.

1. Is this import a once-only thing to start your kiwitrees site, or is it something you expect to do often / regularly?
2. If the answer is “often / regularly”, why? For what purpose? Have you considered alternative choices?
3. What is the structure of the media links in your imported GEDCOM file? An example would help.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Nigel,
1 The import of a gedcom and mediafiles would be regularly. About once a month.
2 I find every day new data to add to my familytree and I have a lot of documents and images to add to individuals. I have considered to start over with a gedcom with no medialinks and add mediafiles in kiwitrees. But now I understand this won’t work.

Not sorting the media in kiwitrees on TYPE. is a possibilty. But the highlighted images will be a problem.

3 1 OBJE
2 FORM jpg
2 FILE filename.jpg
2 TITL nameofaperson

The program I use is Aldfaer.

Wim

Wim

stamboommeijberg.nl

 

 

Thanks, that gives a very clear picture. There are a number of possible solutions:

My best advice is to use only one software. Transferring data between products using GEDCOM “should” work. But in many cases it almost, but not quite works. This is because many products have interpreted GEDCOM in different ways. When you add the complication of media handling it only gets worse.

If you use one software, and that is kiwitrees, there are two ways to do it:

1. Do everything online / internet. This is how I operate. Every change / addition I make is done online. It is what kiwitrees was designed for, to allow family members around the world to collaborate and all edit the data at the same time. This way there are never any issues with transferring data or media.
2. If it is really necessary to work offline you can still use kiwitrees. It can be used very easily on your desktop computer (with the addition of “virtual web server” software, which is free and easily installed), not connected to the internet. Then you can safely transfer GEDCOM files between the two. If you prefer not to edit online at all, you can switch off “edit” there. Then you only need to upload from your local copy, not both directions.

If you absolutely still need to use two different software products (Aldfaer and kiwitrees) there will always be risks and compromises. The question then is how much can these be reduced.

If you add media TYPE and highlight tags to your kiwitrees GEDCOM file, then export it; and import it into Aldfaer, what does it do with those tags? Will it keep them, or will it delete them. Try that, then re-export the GEDCOM out of Aldfaer and look to see if it retains those tags. If it does then that process might help.

But the other complication is the structure of media in Aldfaer. You say that is:

1 OBJE
2 FORM jpg
2 FILE filename.jpg
2 TITL nameofaperson

I assume this is inside an INDI record? When that is imported to kiwitrees it is updated to the GEDCOM specification 5.5.1 (Aldfaer is using something older):

1 OBJE @Mxxxxx@
——————–
0 @Mxxxxx@ OBJE
1 FILE filename.jpg
2 FORM jpeg
2 nameofaperson

This is important because it allows a single media object to be attached to multiple individuals, families, events etc. But what does Aldfaer do with these “0 @Mxxxxx@ OBJE” records? If it deletes them, then you should be able to avoid the issues on re-import into kiwitrees. The kiwitrees GEDCOM import screen has a check box with the explanation “If you have created media objects in kiwitrees, and have edited your GEDCOM off-line using a program that deletes media objects, then check this box to merge the current media objects with the new GEDCOM.” So you could experiment with this. I don’t know Aldfaer well enough to tell you if it will help or not I’m afraid.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Nigel,

Thanks, this explains a lot. I know what to do.

Wim

Wim

stamboommeijberg.nl

 

 

Win
Let me know how you get on, and how you eventually decide to work. It might be valuable for others with similar issues. But don’t rush. There’s a lot to experiment with.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Nigel,

I start working with only kiwitrees, I don’t want to experiment, only make a website in the easiest way possible.

Wim

Wim

stamboommeijberg.nl

 

 

Wim Meijberg wrote:

I start working with only kiwitrees,

A good choice 😄
I’m sure you will find that much easier.

I received your Transifex message. I’ll send the .mo file tomorrow.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info