- When attempting to import a GEDCOM file into a BK database I get an `Error 14'.
- When importing a GEDCOM file into a new database it trimmed the last 40 characters off the message lines.
- I am having trouble importing a GEDCOM file from FTW.
- When generating the GEDCOM I received an Error 5 illegal function error message. What does this Error 5 mean?
- Can I use GIM to convert a ROOTS III file to GEDCOM for import into BK?
- Is there a utility somewhere that I can use to convert a GEDCOM created with FTM for import into BK?
- When I have the "Export Gedcom Options" page on my screen, the bottom line is 75% off the page.
- From a user using BK version dated 11-feb-97 and importing a GEDCOM-file under Norwegian Win95. Receive a lot of messages.
- Importing GEDCOM files which had been e-mailed within the body of a message, or attached to a message as a text file..
1: When attempting to import a GEDCOM file into a BK database I get an `Error 14'. On exiting I am told the GEDCOM lacks hard returns. How can I fix this problem?
Load it into your word processor and save it as TEXT ONLY or ASCII with carriage returns.
2: When importing a GEDCOM file into a new database it trimmed the last 40 characters off the message lines and from each line in any attached text files. What happened?
If the GEDCOM file contained lines that are longer than 190 characters then you need a new version of BK (December 96 or January or Feb97) and then it will read all 255 characters in the GEDCOM file lines. Lines should not be longer than 255 characters.
3: I am having trouble importing a GEDCOM file from FTW. I installed the Feb 11 version tonight and imported a GEDCOM file from FTW. I am finding a couple of strange things that I do not know how to repair. The problem is that when I:
1. Open an Ancestor chart on which I am number 1
2. And then double click on myself to open the edit screen
3. Then click on PARENTS on the right side of the screen.
4. Then click on PARENTS in the listing for my father.
So far OK, but if I try to go back by double clicking on my father's name in the lower field, he shows up OK, but NOT ENTERED shows up for my mother. There are a couple of other entries where this also happens, but the others work correctly. Is this just corruption of the database that is only resolvable by deleting the database and restoring a backup or is it repairable.?
Answer 1: A possibility is that you are listed with two sets of parents. One set with your father and mother and the other set with your father and no spouse. If this is the case then an "other parents" button will show up on the LEFT side of the screen. To fix this, with your father showing with no spouse entered, delete the LINK to spouse. DO NOT delete the individual which is your father, just the link to the "not entered" spouse. Find the appropriate choices in the menu on the edit screen.
Answer 2: When it shows Not Entered as a spouse of your father, does it show an up and down arrow to the right of that box? If so, click the down arrow to show other spouses. Are you attached as a child of your Father and Not Entered or does that screen show no children? If it shows no children, and if you are attached to another spouse then you can delete the link to the Not Entered spouse. However, if you are a child of the not entered spouse, then you should run the Quality check (File, Quality check from the main screen.) If all checks out ok, you can enter your mother by clicking on the Not Entered box and telling the program to enter someone for that spouse.
4: I was trying to generate a GEDCOM from 3003 people. A quality check on the database reported no errors, but when generating the GEDCOM I received an Error 5 illegal function error message. What does this Error 5 mean?
Regarding the illegal function call for Gedcom export. Perhaps the problem is related to a directory name over 8 letters long, or perhaps something about the options for the Gedcom file is not set right. Find out what the directory and gedcom file name is set to.
5: Can I use GIM to convert a ROOTS III file to GEDCOM for import into BK?
Yes. After you import the Roots gedcom into GIM, change the name of the GIM database to something else and export a new gedcom from GIM done in PAF format, which BK will import. Be sure to get the new ver. 3.16 of GIM. It's possible that Roots III may have some quirks in its gedcom files that even GIM won't recognize. But you'll get an error log that tells what items on what lines were missed. So you'll be able to see that data.
6: Is there a utility somewhere that I can use to convert a GEDCOM created with FTM for import into BK?
If you have a GEDCOM file made by FTM and BK will not import it correctly, you can use GIM to convert it. The latest version of GIM is 3.16 and you can download it from: ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/users/dblaine/gimdos/. Import the FTM GEDCOM file into a GIM database and then have it export a new GEDCOM file in PAF format. Brother's Keeper will import that.
7: When I have the "Export Gedcom Options" page on my screen, the bottom line, i.e. the line under "(checkbox) include addresses if present", is 75% off the page (it looks sort of rolled under) and cannot be read at all, as only the top 25% is visible. What is this last line and can this fault be corrected?
Your computer must be using a larger font that is causing the check box to move down a little. The line below the address check box on the gedcom screen is "include divorce information".
8: From a user using BK version dated 11-feb-97 and importing a GEDCOM- file under Norwegian Win95. Receive a lot of messages such as:
'Data Base Error file: BKPERSON.DT5 Compression Buffer Too Short, Btrieve error 58'
When verifying VBX, receive the following errors: Incompatible file WBTRCALL.VBX. He is told that the reference file is from 192, but as far as he can see the file is dated 1995 and there are no other versions on the disk. When deleting the file, BKW will not start.
If a user gets the message "compression buffer to short" and the Help, Verify VBX routine shows a newer version of WBTRCALL.DLL then there are two ways to fix the problem. One way is to leave the newer version of that file and modify the BTI.INI file in the C:\WINDOWS directory so that it has /U:1 on the Options line. If it has /U:0 then change the 0 to a 1.
The other way to fix the problem is to rename WBTRCALL.DLL to something else, like WBTRCALL.XXX and then run BKSETUP again to install BK's version of that file. This version does not require the BTI.INI file and will make the BK data files compatible with the DOS BK5 program.
9: Importing GEDCOM files which had been e-mailed within the body of a message, or attached to a message as a text file.
What was happening: For a 10,000k GEDCOM BKv5.2b for DOS was saying the file didn't end with "0 TRLR"...and for a 130,000k GED BK5 was saying there was a "stack overflow in module...."
The reason: Most all Internet traffic is handled by UNIX computers. UNIX strips off characters from the ends of lines of text, such as the carriage returns. BK was reading the large GED as a single giantic block of text, and therefore the stack overflow. BK was reading the small GED the same way, and therefore could not "see" a last line with "0 TRLR" in it.
The solution: Have your people FIRST zip their GEDs and send the zip file as an attachment. If you access the Internet via UNIX don't unzip the file, look at it, re-zip and download to your DOS machine...you'll loose the format of the GED file as above.
"Solution was to simply read the FTM created GEDCOM file into my word processor and then re-save the GEDCOM file as a plain text file. Re- saving the GEDCOM file added back the missing hard carriage returns and then BK imported it OK."
These web pages have first been created by Simon Quill,
but now updated by James J. Dell and
Otto Jørgensen
