Log of Changes

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:31 pm

Originally posted by guyholmes

I seem to keep about 3 different Genealogy programs current, over three different computers - An old Mac, a PC and a new Intel Mac. Whilst I keep one as 'The Bible' with the master copy of my family tree (and this is the Intel Mac with iFamily) it would be useful to be able to look at a list of all of the last changes I have made to my database in chrolological order.

I don't understand CoreData or SQL, all I know is that I don't have to save my work when I enter things on iFamily. I never get asked if I want to save new entries, it is all saved as the data is entered. This all works perfectly, but if I ever start entering an incorrect thread or family, I feel it might be useful to be able to retrace my steps with a log of changes. Any chance ?

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:03 am

A great question. I understand exactly what you want because I want it too.

When I started building iFamily I used my own database engine which has a complete audit trail from day one of every small change that the user made to each database. It could be rolled back to individual changes made in previous sessions.

For very good reasons, I subsequently decided to use the Apple CoreData functions to manage the data and with SQLite persistent store. I tried very hard to create a complete Audit Trail (like I was used to having) but I failed. I will revisit this concept but it will have to wait until after OSX 10.5 (Leopard) is released.

Keith

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:49 am

Originally posted by guyholmes

Hey Keith,

Well, I'm sure you knew I'd come back to you with this one !!!

Will the concept of an audit trail be any more likely with Leopard ? Or, perhaps easier, you have the 'Compare & Merge' function for looking at 2 databases side by side - Unfortunately, with 900 people in my tree, its a bit laborious for checking each individual. Could it be adjusted to give you the option just to present the differences between two databases ???

I still have a nightmare keeping my databases synchronised and every so often copy the whole database between my iMac and Laptop depending on which one is the 'Bible' at the time and whether I'm out on the road or at home. I'm sure must have lost data in this process before and hope we can find a great way to 'Sync' databases between computers or between Databases.

Cheers for all your excellent work

Guy

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:55 am

Hi Guy

There are basically three approaches to providing a Log of Changes

Option 1: A complete Audit Trail of every change to every field of every record with comparison against a particular point in time, etc. And maybe roll-back to a point in time and roll-forward. This is the type of functionality that some accounting programs provide. iFamily for Tiger started out with this type of Audit Trail - it worked well but was scrapped - the KISS principle was applied. This approach is too cumbersome for a genealogy application.

Option 2. TimeStamp every change to the database and then provide a report of all changes since a certain date including who made the change. iFamily for Tiger does timestamp every change but it is done at record level, not at field level, so the user then has to try to remember which field value was changed and make a guess at what the value was before the change. This is only slightly useful and can be painful.

Option 3. Make a backup of the database at regular intervals (monthly?) and then compare every field of every record and, where there are differences, report the previous value and the current value. I believe that this is probably the most sensible approach for a genealogy application.

The last option, Option 3, is partly done in " Compare and Merge Two Databases" and there is a button at the top RH corner of the dialog called " Auto Compare" that maybe you have missed or maybe (probably) it did not provide what you needed.

I will do some more work on " Compare and Merge Two Databases" and maybe prompt the user to make regular monthly (weekly?) backups. Maybe you could assist by doing some testing for (with) me? Anyone else want to get involved?

Keith

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:30 am

Originally posted by guyholmes

Hey Keith,

Yes always happy to help out with some testing - Particularly when it comes to my own demanding requests !!!

Yes, I had found the Auto Compare but never quite got it to work. I found with the Compare and Merge fields set to 'Match on ID Number' the Auto Compare didn't work. When I switched it to Match on Individuals Name, the Auto Compare certainly looked as if it was working, but then presented a very long report advising me of 510 people who were in the source but not the target database. I haven't checked them all, but the first few certainly seem to be there where they are supposed to be, and the rest will be as well as there will only by a small number of differences.

Anyway, will be happy to test what ever you need

Best regards

Guy

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Keith Wilson
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Log of Changes

Post by Keith Wilson » Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:26 pm

Hi Guy

I have sent you V2.291 that contains a rework of the Compare and merge function. Also a few other changes that are listed under What's new in V2.291.

Keith

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