Blueprints (STLM)

A blueprint is a set of parameters used to customize the display of an entity in certain views of Ancestris.

Views using blueprints

Only the following views use blueprints. For each, an example lets you see what the blueprints look like.

Dynamic tree

The Dynamic Tree uses blueprints for individuals and families. Blueprints are the areas displayed inside the frames.

Entity card

The Entity Card uses blueprints for all categories of entities.

We can have the same individual blueprint as for the dynamic tree. Here, the individual blueprint is inside the Entity card.

Extended navigator

The Extended Navigator uses blueprints for both individuals and families.

Here, the blueprints used for the individuals of the selected couple. You may notice that they are not the same. The spouse blueprint does not display the Sosa number and displays the entity number above the name.

And here's a blueprint for the selected family.

Gedcom editor

The Gedcom Editor uses blueprints in its lower part for all entity categories.

As for the entity card, the Gedcom Editor uses blueprints of individuals or families, but also of other entities.

For example here is a simple blueprint of a Repository entity.

Or a simple blueprint of a Multimedia entity.

Now that you've seen what a blueprint looks like and where they're used, let's see how it works.

General principles

A blueprint is a template defining what to display of an entity, and how to display it.

A blueprint is assigned to a given entity category (individual, family, source, etc.) for a given view (Dynamic tree, Entity file, etc.).

You can define your own blueprints rather than using the ones already provided within Ancestris.

Several blueprints exist in Ancestris and are already selected by default for each of the entity categories, and in each view where blueprints apply.

Blueprints constitute a way to customize Ancestris. You are free to keep blueprints as they are or modify them to your needs.

You can define your own blueprints, i.e. both the information to display for an individual or a family (name, address, etc.) and how to display this information (color, font, alignment, layout, etc.).

If you want to make some changes regarding the blueprints, you will need to learn a little more about them. This is the subject of the following sections in this page.

Technically, a blueprint is a piece of HTML code written into a file located on your disk. Refer to the paragraph Directory containing layers for more information.

Managing blueprints

Managing blueprints consists in performing two types of activities.

assign blueprints to entities and views
build your own blueprints and delete them

This is done using the Blueprint window.

The Blueprint window is specific for each entity category.

This window is the same regardless of the type of entity, but the difference is that it only contains blueprints attached to the given type of entity. Also, the way to access the window starts from the corresponding entity.

To access the Blueprint window for a given entity category, you must use the Ancestris context menu from an entity of the corresponding entity.

Right-click on an individual in the Entity card view, then select "Change display of individuals" to open the Blueprint window for individual.
Right-click on a family in the Entity card view, then select "Change display of families" to open the Blueprint window for families.
Ditto for Notes, Sources, Multimedia, Repositories, etc. This can be done from the Entity card or the Gedcom Editor for the corresponding entities.

Here is how to access the Blueprint window for individuals, from the Entity card, Contextual menu by right-clicking, then choose "Change display of individuals".

The Blueprint window for Individuals appears.

Whatever the category of entity, the operations in this window are the same. We will use the example of the Blueprint window for individuals in the description that follows.

Description

The Blueprint window contains the following areas.

The list of blueprints on the left shows the blueprintss currently available for the previously selected entity category. To work on a blueprint, select it from the list.

The preview area at the top right shows a preview of the blueprint selected in the list.

The HTML editor at the bottom right displays the HTML code of the layer selected in the list on the left, and where you can edit the code. The horizontal separator bar with the preview must be dragged up with the mouse to see the code.

Meaning of the buttons:
- The New button adds a copy of the currently selected blueprint to the list, and asks you to input another name. This will become the newly selected layer and you will be able to modify it.
- The Delete button removes the selected layer from the list
- The Insert Property button appears when you edit HTML code. Use it to inserts a TAG in the HTML code. It will insert it at the cursor position.
- The OK button validates the changes and exists the window.
- The Cancel button closes the window without validating the changes.

The Blueprint window size can be changed by pulling the lower right corner.

The preview area and the Text Editor area can be adjusted by moving the separator of these two areas with the mouse or by clicking on the arrows of the separator on the left:

Usage

The Blueprint window cover the following needs:

Discover the available blueprints. To discover the available blueprints without activating them (therefore, without closing the panel), click successively on each of them in the left-hand side list, and check the result in the preview area.
Choose a different blueprint. To assign another blueprint to the currently selected entity category in one of the views, click a blueprint in the list, then validate by pressing the OK button.
Modify a blueprint. For security reasons, the blueprints already available cannot be modified. To modify an existing blueprint, you must first make a copy of it. Select it in the list, click New and give it a new name. Then use the HTML editor paneel to make your changes.
Create a blueprint. To create a new blueprint, it is recommended to copy an existing one. See above.
Delete a layer. To delete a blueprint, select it in the list and click the Delete button. You are then asked to confirm the deletion which will be final. Note: for security reasons, blueprints provied with Ancestris cannot be deleted.

Case study

Suppose we have a single blueprint without a photo for the individuals in the dynamic tree, and want to insert a photo. The steps to do this are detailed below. They are the as follows:

Identify where the photo data item is inside the data of the individual. Use the Gedcom editor for that.
Open the Blueprint window for individuals
Create a new blueprint by copying 'simple layer' without image. Rename it 'MyBlueprint-Indi-Tree'
Modify the blueprint to insert the photo property identified above, and adjust its size in the frame using the preview
Save the blueprint and observe the result

Identify where the photo data item is

The Gedcom editor allows you to locate the photo items for all individuals. We see below that it is the FILE tag, attached to the OBJE tag, which itself is attached to the INDI tag. Al together, you will need to remember that photo files are at the address 'INDI:OBJE:FILE'. That's what we wanted to know.

Open the Blueprint window for individuals

As we want to change the blueprint for Individuals in the Dynamic view, we need to first select an individual in the Dynamic view.

Then we right-click on the individual. In the contextual menu that appears, we choose "Change display of individuals".

Create a new blueprint

The Blueprint window for Individuals appears.

As we want to make a new blueprint as an extension of the Simple blueprint, we make a copy of the "Simple" Blueprint.

To do so, we select it in the list. Then in the preview, we see what this Blueprint displays for an individual : simple text without a photo. What we want to do is to add the photo of the individual.

We then click "New". Ancestris asks the name of the new blueprint:

We type 'MyBlueprint-Indi-Tree' and press OK.

We are then on the previous Blueprint window with a new editable blueprint.

We have the new blueprint selected in the list on the left, the same preview at the top right, and the HTML code at the bottom right.

We see that this blueprint is editable, because the buttons "Delete" and "Insert property..." are visible and enabled.

We will now change the HTML code so that it displays the photo.

Modify the blueprint

We can see that there are 4 lines of properties in the HTML code: name, birth, death, occupation.

The HTML <prop> tag and everything in it is Ancestris specific. This makes it possible to manipulate the genealogical data of the Gedcom file.

We want to put the photo at the bottom of the display, so we insert another property, the one identified above: INDI:OBJE:FILE, after the 4 already showing properties.

We place the cursor under </table>, the label that marks the end of a table.

We press the button "Insert property...". A window appears listing a choice of possible properties.

In this window, we find the Multimedia Element OBJE line, we unfold the flap to show the content of OBJE, and we see the line File. We check the box. And we press "OK".

We now see that the preview has changed.

But that's not yet finished, because in the preview you can see that the photo is too big. And we hange our moind and want to position the photo at the top right corner of the text.

As the text was structured inside a table, it is in fact necessary to put the image in the table, to the right of the text. To do this, we modify the HTML code as follows: we move the line that we have just inserted in the table structure by adding a cell using the <td> </td> tags.

As we also want to limit the size of the image, we add an Ancestris specificity: we add "max = 20" at the end, inside the <prop ...> tag, which means to limit the photo size at 20% of the available width. The preview changes as you change the code. This is handy and immediately lets you see if what you are doing is right. Once the code has changed, the preview looks correct, and the window looks like this

The code below in yellow does its job: the photo is in a cell on the right of the table and limited to 20% of the width.

Save the blueprint and check the result

We can save. We click on OK and we look at the dynamic tree at the same time. The layer changes.

It's good, we have what we wanted!

Going further

Of course, the hardest part therefore remains knowing HTML on the one hand, and knowing the specificities added by Ancestris to handle genealogical data on the other.

As far as HTML language is concerned, there are many sites to help you. Please refer to them.

Regarding Ancestris specificities, the tags added to the HTML are

<prop> or <ifvalue>
<name> or <i18n>
<media>

The foloowing sections describe how to manipulate them.

<prop> or <ifvalue> tags

Displays the property of the entity defined by the path. If a default path is also specified, it is the one that is used if the first property is not found.

The format and max parameters are explained below.

The img parameter can be set to 'yes' or 'no' to display the property's icon. By default, it is 'no'.

The txt parameter can be set to 'yes' or 'no' to display the property name or not. Default is 'yes'.

Parameters in square brackets are optional.

Either 'prop' or 'ifvalue' can be used.

Case of names (NAME property)

To customize the display of the name, you can use the name sub-properties.

Example : <prop path=INDI:NAME > a.k.a <prop path=INDI:NAME:NICK> will display the full name and the nick name.

Example : John F. Kennedy a.k.a Jack

Case of places (PLAC property)

It is possible to force the level of jurisdictions that you want to see displayed for a place.

The syntax of the line to put in the HTML editor is of the following form

<prop path=INDI:BIRT:PLAC format="2 (5)">

where 2 and 5 are the jurisdication ranks in the Place criteria definition (see File/Properties).

Example, assuming that all our places follow the following format (as per the PLAC tag in the Gedcom file or in File/Properties):

Suburb, City, ZIP code, State, Country

Pour savoir le rang, on compte à partir de 1, donc 2 est la Ville, et 7 est le pays.

Dans ce cas, on peut dire que

<prop path=INDI:BIRT:PLAC format="2 (7)"> affichera Ville (Pays)
<prop path=INDI:BIRT:PLAC format="2, 1"> affichera Ville, Village
<prop path=INDI:BIRT:PLAC format="2 (5)"> affichera Ville (Département)

Autres cas de formatage

format="$D" : affiche la date complète d'un événement
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:BIRT" format="{$D}"> affichera 10 fév 1876.

format="$y" : affiche l'année de la date d'un événement
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:BIRT" format="{$y}"> affichera 1876.

format="$P" : affiche le lieu complet d'un événement
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:BIRT" format="{$P}"> affichera Lyon, 69002, Rhône, France.

format="$p" : affiche la ville de l'événement
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:BIRT" format="{$p}"> affichera Lyon.

format="$n" : affiche le nom de l'entité liée si elle existe
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:CHR:XREF" format="{$n}"> affichera Marie STUART, la marraine du baptème.

format="$N" : affiche le nom complet de l'entité liée si elle existe
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:CHR:XREF" format="{$N}"> affichera STUART, Marie (° 30 mars 1909 + 16 décembre 2008) (I0298).

format="$v" : affiche le nom complet de l'entité liée si elle existe avec sa nature
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:CHR:XREF" format="{$v}"> affichera Marraine : STUART, Marie (° 30 mars 1909 + 16 décembre 2008) (I0298).

format="$V" : affiche le numéro d'entité uniquement
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:CHR:XREF" format="{$V}"> affichera I0298 si l'on reste dans l'exemple ci-dessus.
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:BIRT:SOUR" format="{$V}"> affichera S134 l'identifiant de la source de la naissance.

format="text{$e}" : affiche le texte "text" si la donnée existe, rien sinon.
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:NAME:SOUR" format="{(*)$e}"> affichera (*) si INDI:NAME:SOUR existe, rien sinon.

max="n" : limite l'affichage à n% de la largeur disponible. Valable pour une image ou pour du texte.
- Exemple : <prop path="INDI:NAME" max=10"> affichera le nom complet tronqué à 10% de la largeur disponible.

Balise <media>

Affiche un media de l'entité. Si un chemin est indiqué (path), le media correspondant est utilisé sinon le premier média trouvé est affiché.

Le paramètre "max" limite la taille en largeur comme ci-dessus.

Les paramètres entre crochets sont facultatifs.

Balise <name> ou <i18n>

<name|i18n [tag="tag"] [path="path:to:prop"] [entity="tag"] >

Affiche le nom de l'étiquette donnée par tag, path ou entity.

Il faut spécifier un des 3 attributs. tag est prioritaire sur path, qui est prioritaire sur entity.

Exemple :

<name tag="NAME"> affichera Nom.
<name path="INDI:NAME"> affichera Nom.
<name entity="SUBM"> affichera Fournisseur d'information.

Répertoire contenant les calques

Les calques sont sauvegardés dans le Répertoire utilisateur, dans un sous-répertoire dénommé "ancestris/blueprints".

Le répertoire blueprints, contient lui-même plusieurs sous-répertoires, chacun d'eux ayant l'intitulé de l'étiquette correspondant à l'entité concernée : c'est dans chacun de ces sous-répertoires que se trouvent les différents calques.

INDI pour les calques des entités individus
FAM pour les calques des entités familles
OBJE pour les calques des entités élément multimédias
NOTE pour les calques des entités notes
SOUR pour les calques des entités sources
SUBM pour les calques des entités fournisseurs d'informations
REPO pour les calques des entités dépôts

Comme ce sont des fichiers au format HTML, vous pouvez les ouvrir avec votre navigateur internet favori.

Et vous pouvez même les partager sur la communauté Ancestris ! Merci par avance.

B-A BA

Il existe un B-A-BA pédagogique sur les calques au format PDF. Vous pouvez le télécharger.