How To Get Your Ged
Q: i desperately need too convert html files back into gedcom files can this
be done if so please tell me how
A:I haven't heard of a program which can convert HTML files to .ged
files, but you may be able to do it yourself in a semi-automatic
fashion by doing the following:
(1) Insert all the data into a word processing program which has a
facility to "find + change" characters.
(2) Make a copy of a small .ged file and import it into the program to
see how it SHOULD look as text.
(3) Compare the appearance of both the HTML file and the text version
of the .ged file.
(4) Get the program to "find + replace" any superfluous HTML
characters (or series of them)with something innocent like a space -
or something obvious like a # - which could be removed afterwards.
(5) Find out what characters are being used in the HTML doc for "Name"
"Mother" "Father" etc - and if they are unique, "find + replace" the
HTML with the appropriate word (for the whole document).
It may be necessary to manually add a specific character to every HTML
prefix which indicates "Name" (such as "n") and then afterwards "find
+ change" (all automatically) every occurance of (say) ">>>n" to
"Name" and then do the same for other categories.
(6) Find any unique coding in the *text version* of your "sample .ged
file" and copy / paste that into the document being modified (or
alternatively copy the HTML text into your "sample .ged file" so that
when the GED program reads the text file, it will read the essential
stuff which says "Hey - this is a .ged file". [This may not be at all
necessary]
(7) Change your word processing (modified doc) to a real GED document
by changing the coding in the document. (This will give the modified
document the correct icon, and your GED program will be happy to read
it if you have no errors. This can be done by looking at the modified
doc in a program like "ResEdit" or "Diskdoubler" or other programs
which let you look at the hidden coding for documents. You will find a
small panel when you tell "ResEdit" to "get info" and that panel will
show "TYPE" and "CREATOR". In the case of a word processing doc it
might say "TEXT" (for file) and "R*ch" (for creator).
You need to change the "creator" code to whatever your .ged docs use -
such as "@GN4". The TEXT is usually the same and does not need
altering.
You will receive dire warnings on "ResEdit" program like "Get out of
here unless you know what you are doing!" but if you only alter the
creator you shouldn't ge into too much trouble. If you are too scared
- get someone else to do it on their computer!
(8) Be careful to delete all spaces AFTER the last entry because they
might