rootsPersona creates one or more pages of family history using data imported from a Gedcom file (version 5.5).
Description
rootsPersona creates one or more pages of family history using data imported from one or more Gedcom files.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/rootspersona/
For a sample family history website, see the one at thompson-hayward-snypes-moore.net
Features
- Support for Gedcom Version 5.5
- Ability to upload more than one Gedcom file from the same source and link families together
- Ability to select which persons from the Gedcom file to create pages for
- As updates are made, Gedcom files can be reloaded and existing pages will be updated
- Each page includes links to children and spouses
- Each page displays a visual family tree that includes three generations
- Ability to link pictures uploaded to WordPress to each person (up to 7)
- Pages identified as ‘Permission Required’ will only be displayed to users who are logged into your WordPress site
Installation
- Install rootsPersona from the WordPress plugin site, or use the Add Plugins button on the Plugins page of your WordPress instance.
- (optional) Set a Parent Page for the created pages on the rootsPersona Options page.
At this point the plugin is ready to use!
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I just started using this plug-in yesterday; this appears to be exactly what we have been looking for especially the ability to upload a GEDCOM file.
I have a couple of questions: Can I set up multiple parent pages to separate family surnames?
For example; a “Hart Family Page” and a “McCormick Family Page” without having to change the parent page manually for each family.
How do I sort the Names on the parent page they seem to be in the order they were added?
Can I delete the GEDCOM file and enter a new one (I entered a modified GEDCOM to try out the plug-in now I want to enter the full file)
Thank you for all the hard work to produce this great plug-in.
Mike
Good questions. From the top:
Right now there is only one parent page. You’re the second one to request this feature, and I am working on a version 2.0 that will support that. Might be a month or so.
No way I know of to sort the names showing up under the parent page. There are some other plugins that might give more control over the display f child pages, but this is a wordpress issue, not a roots person issue.
To delete GEDCOM and start again, got to Tools->rootsPersona and select the delete pages link.
(Hmm, wonder how that should work when I support multiple ‘parent pages’
After our last discussion I did the deleted pages link; updated to the lasted version.
And downloaded my full GEDCOM.
The first result was none of the pages located under the parent, so I had a 1000 pages spread across my site Yikes!. So I deleted those pages and tried again, then I got “all available files have been added”
but there were no pages for the individuals. So I deleted pages again and I deleted the plug-in, I deleted all the rootspersonal files from wp-content and started over. Again I loaded the GEDCOM
and again I get the message “all available files have been added”. But there are no individual pages.
This time there is info in the evidence page, but thats it.
I must be missing a step, do you know what it could be??
as a add on to my prior comments: ” idMap.xlm is empty”, “Your rootsPersona setup is VALID.”, “Issues found with your evidence file.”
Hi,
I have downloaded and activated this plugin on one of my sites. When I go to run the gedcom upload I get the prompt for the files and when I select the file and hit the upload button all I get back after a very short time is the same window without the selection option.
It does not appear to have processed anything – there are no pages or files created – and there are no error/warning messages that I can see.
Any thoughts – I would like to get this going as it looks very useful for what i need.
Additionaly I am using WordPress 3.1.1 and version 1.6.4 of rootsPersona.
Run the validation routines off the Tools/persona menu, and let me know what it returns.
Validate idMap.xml : idMap.xml is empty.
Validate persona pages: Your rootsPersona setup is VALID.
Validate evidence pages: Your rootsPersona setup is VALID.
Hmmm.
Hmmm.
Is it a large file? Can you try a smaller one first? You can use delete pages afterwards to delete it.
Tried two files – the first was 246Kb the second 69Kb.
Have tried a 9Kb and get the same happen. I have a multisite set up – and the one I am using rootsPersona on is not the main site – if that makes sense.
The GED file was generated from Legacy Family Tree.
Hmmm.
Haven’t tried the multi site scenario. I wonder…
Is there a rootsPersonaData directory under wp-content? If so how many files are in it?
Directory is there -containing
evidence.xml
f000.xml
idMap.xml
p000.xml
README.txt
templatePerson .xml
Hi – any comment on the problem I am having?
My apologies, I have been swamped at work.
Can you try some of the steps indicated in this discussion:
http://ed4becky.net/homepage/?page_id=85/rootspersona/ged-upload-empty/
Thanks – I will do and get back to you
Ed, Did not seem to do any good. Not sure what problem is.
Regards
Thanks for the emails Ed – it seems the problem was an issue with permissions using IIS. I have changed the permissions according to the information you sent me and it has now worked happily and created the pages.
I thank you for your prompt attention to my problem and the resolution.
Regards
Hello,
I have this running on a HostGator server perfectly, but I’m trying to get it going on a Synology NAS and I ran into an issue. (partial white/blank screen on rootsPersonaIndexPage page where data should load). I assume it’s a permissions issue. Could you tell me exactly what files need what permissions for this to function properly? Thanks so much….
Fred
Fred – wp-content/rootsDataDir has to be RW, as does rootspersona/stage, but the rest can be R.
On the forum site there are some debugging approaches that others have found helpful. If nothing else, model it after your HostGator setup.
Thanks Ed. The debug error I’m getting is “Fatal error: Class ‘XsltProcessor’ not found” which appears to mean the php XLS extension is not installed on this machine. Now I just have to see if I can alter/install the necessary files without voiding my warranty or else I’m out of luck.
Thanks again!
Fred
oops, i meant xsl
I am sorry, its not workig, i cant upload anything. When I click on upload I see:
Privat: Upload GEDCOM File
and nothing else. How can I fix it, all the directorys have 755 permission. And I cant run any validate tests. WHen I run Validate idMap.xml I can only see: “Privat: Persona Utility” and nothing happens.
What can I do?
Thanx
If you look on the forum you can see some debug options you can set in wp_config.php Can you try that and send me the debug file?
Did you manage to get to the bottom of the “idMap.xml is empty” problem? I’m faced with the same issue. My gedcom file is 143kb.
I believe its basically a timeout issue. Sometimes its permissions.
The new version (released in about 10 days) doesn’t use files, addressing the permissions issue and addresses SOME of the timeout issues.
I’m looking forward to the new version. I’d be surprised if it’s a timeout issue. After hitting “upload” there’s only a few seconds until whatever happens happens. But maybe it’s a permissions thing.
If you’re willing, I can set up a beta site for you to try it on!? I’d love another set of eyes.
email me at ed@ed4becky.org
Plugin is awesome… and thank you for setting a default Parent for those of us who click first and read the docs later.
I am having an issue however. In the Admin when I go to Tools/rootsPersona the following links result in a 404 error: Add Evidence Pages, Review Excluded Persons, Validate persona Pages, Delete persona Pages.
Any idea what might be up?
The site is actually at http://wp.mccool.com at the moment during development.
thanks!
Can you add the following to wp-config.ogo and see if a debug file is created in wp-content when it happens?
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true ); // turn on debug mode
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true ); // log to wp-content/debug.log
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, false ); // don’t force display_errors to on
@ini_set( ‘display_errors’, 0 ); // hide errors
Hello Ed,
thanks for the plugin. it seems to be what I was looking for. I have a little problem, though. I am German so many names in my family have umlauts in it. When uploading the GEDCOM file it deletes the letters that are umlauts. I can change it again in the page title but not in the actual person’s information.
Is there a work around for this?
The plugin converts everything to UTF8, so this should NOT be a problem. Any chance the umlauts are lost when you export to the GEDCOM? What CHARSET doe sthe GEDCOM say it is in? (Look for the CHARSET record in the first few lines)
thanks for getting back to me
Charset is ANSI. When I view the GEDCOM file in a text editor the umlauts are still there.
ANSI tends to have issues with umlauts and other special characters. Do you have the option of exporting the GEDCOM as UTF8? That’s the best.
Unfortunately the program I am working with doesn’t let me. Thank you anyways. I will see how I can handle this.
Katrin > I had the same problem with special characters. I opened my gedcom in another program (Ancestris, but the free Legacy version should work as well) which let me export in utf-8 instead of ANSI. Problem solved!
Ed> Thank you for everything.
Rootpersonna really is an invaluable tool. Without it I probably never would have thought of all the cool stuff I’m currently working on for the soon-to-be-released families website.
It can be improved, sure, but it’s more flexible that I ever thought possible.
For example, I just added unique sidebars for each persona page, so I can add information or media that cannot be written in the gedcom file or read by RP ; i.e social networks profiles/websites links, email contact form for the living, documents or face tag on Picasa/Flickr, place of burial on google maps, contact form for people to report missing or correct informations about the person, etc..
So thank you Ed, none of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for Rootpersona.
I have a few questions, tho:
1) Is it possible to change the “rootpersona-tree” folder name (if i wanted someting like “website.com/catchyfoldernameofmychoosing/name” instead of the current “website.com/rootspersona-tree/name”), or is it fixed in stone ?
2) Where does the “Bio” panel take its informations? I enabled it, but it doesn’t show up on individual pages. Is there a gedcom tag that should write this bio informations in ?
Is there a way to display the “Alias”/”nicknames”/”occupation” tag contained in the gedcom ?
3) Is there a way to build (in a future update) a “quick summary sheet” of all the family names, gender, oldest & youngest persons encuntered in the gedcom ?
4) French translation is incomplete (Menus are ok, but the panel header/index columns, among other things, aren’t). As I need a complete french translation anyway before the site goes live, I offer to complete that translation
Anyway, thanks again & keep up the good work!
Hey Fabien, glad your finding it helpful.
1) rootspersona-tree must be how you set up your site, or how your service provider did? It’s nothing the plugin does. Really its just how you setup wordpress. For instance, I have a URL thompson-hayward-snypes-moore.net, And if one juts navigates to that URL, you get my wordpress site. From their I put a link to a page that starts the tree.
2a) Bio data was a late minute edition to fulfill a request from a long time user. The data comes from the NOTE records attached to the person. NOTE records can be attached to about anything in the GEDCOM – events, places, people, etc…
2b) Are those not being displayed in the Facts panel? I’ll have to check. If you have an idea re: how best to display those outside of the facts panel, let me know.
3) Possibly – if you spec out a more details ‘requirement’ I will consider it in a future release. You can use the discussion board for it if you like (in fact I encourage it)
4) That would be great! I made a lot of changes after the first translation was done, and my translator has been swamped. Check out PoEdit and pull the po file from the rootspersona directory. When you’re done send the file and I will include in the release
Thanks for your support, and feel free to suggest enhancements.
Just wished to submit and want to know where you obtained your theme? I’m shopping around for one for my new blogging site and really appreciate yours. Thanks.
I wrote it myself. Based on a Drupal theme I liked.
Just had to say “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ” I have been working on my family tree for quite some time and HAD a website up but wanted to change to WordPress format. Had trouble, as you can image, getting all the info posted, so the site has floundered for the last few years while other projects took priority. Literally, just found your plugin, rootsPersona, and within an hour of finding the plugin, had all the info up and posted. Have 1300+ people in the family tree and was concerned that it might timeout or fail, but works like a charm. Did I mention… Thank you!
I am glad your experience has been so positive!
Hi Ed, I’m having some trouble … sure hope you can help me out! Yesterday, I installed the plugin, uploaded my gedcom file… started adding people, testing the website after each dozen or so added and it was working beautifully! However, when I got down to the last bunch and tested the site, it gave me an error message about it being over the limit. So, I removed the last batch of pages that had been added (didn’t want to have to do all 3300+ over again, so I deleted them from the ‘view all pages’ menu. Went back and checked the site and it was working again. However, then I tried adding the last bunch again, went to check the website and it was totally blank… nothing… nada! I have tried everything since then… deleted all pages… cleared the database… reuploaded the gedcom (at this point, it the site was back, except none of the links would work. So, I did all the above again, and, thinking that my gedcom might be the problem because of a lot of names in my database have no surnames, I fixed them all with ‘UNKNOWN’ in the surname field, re-uploaded it again… added names a few at first, checked the site… nothing still. I’ve tried deactivating and reactivating the plugin. still nothing. I looked on the server and it seems the wp-content/rootsPersonaData directory is not there. Is it supposed to be with the newest version? There is also no ‘plugins/rootspersona/rootsdata’. Maybe these were from an earlier version? Anyway, I’m getting the header of the page, but nothing else now and it seems so odd since it WAS working when I first installed it. It seems to mess up when I get down to the last few names… maybe there are too many?
Hey Virgina, welcome to rootspersona. Sorry you are having issues.
Bottom up…
wp-content/rootsPersonaData and plugins/rootspersona/rootsdata, as you suspected, are from the 1.x version, and are no longer needed. Also, missing surnames should not cause issues either.
The only size restriction I am aware of is that 3300+ might REALLY slow down WordPress. Loading few hundred at a time was a good idea, since loading that many at a time might cause the upload to time out.
Your message about “it gave me an error message about it being over the limit” is curious, as the plugin itself has no limit error message. I am wondering where you saw that message? What were you doing at the time? What limit? I don’t know of a page limit that is enforced by WordPress either.
Totally blank usually means a PHP error that I can’t trap is occuring and the page just stops. Annoying I know.
A couple of things to try. First deactivate then delete the plugin. This should delete all (most) pages and all tables the plugin uses. Make sure the only pages in WordPress are ones you expect – no rootspersona “litter”
Second, install the plugin from scratch. This will create a bunch of empty database tables, and 2 or three pages.
Third, go to the options page for rootspersona and check (and save) the debug option.
Fourth, try to upload the LAST GEDCOM file, the one you think pushed you over the edge.
Fifth, add pages for the people in that file.
If at ANY point there is a problem, look for debug.log in WP_CONTENT, or error.log in the apache (are you using apache?) log directory. If you are using a hosted site, there might be an error.log in the root directory of your site.
Send the file to me and I’ll get back to you.
If no error, continue uploading and adding, but work backwords through your files this time.
If your willing to send me your GEDCOM, I don’t mind testing it on my test site either. ed at ed4becky dot org
We’ll get it working!
Hi Ed, I wished I had checked here sooner to see if you had left a reply! I was expecting a notification in my email.
Ok, first, I should mention that the problem doesn’t happen as a result of uploading the gedcom file. That’s fine. It occurs when I ‘Add uploaded Persons’. Even if I add them 50-100 at a time, once I get down to the last 100 or so of the 3300 names, the front end website crashes (not the rootsPersona tool.)
Since I posted my message, I contacted my hosting support and explained what was happening… here is their reply:
——-
There are several of these errors in MySQL’s error log, which are likely
from what you described:
120124 10:39:34 [Warning] Aborted connection 11474314 to db:
‘morand_wardfamily’ user: ‘morand_4′ host: ’209.68.2.43′ (Got timeout
reading communication packets)
MySQL’s documentation lists several possible causes for that, with the
most likely caused being that your MySQL connection exceeded the
wait_timeout setting or the max_allowed_packet setting. Here are how those
settings are set on your server:
wait_timeout = 120
max_allowed_packet = 2M
Those settings cannot be changed on any shared DB server, so you may want
to make sure that your scripts work within those settings. If you need
those settings to be raised that would only be possible on a dedicated or
virtual private server.
Here is a link to the MySQL documentation that I mentioned:
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/communication-errors.html
——-
This answer has me baffled because of the fact that this problem happens even when I only add a small number of people at a time…. so how can it exceed the max_allowed_packet ?
Also, I do not see an error.log in the root directory of my site. Nor do I have debug.log in WP_CONTENT (even though I have it in debug mode).
I have started everything over again and am as we speak adding back the the people pages a small number at a time… again (I’ve done this so many times now that the page numbers are now like this:
Page 22552 created for I1690
LOL
Hope we can sort this out,
Virginia
btw, I see now that I need to click the ‘notify’ box to get an email notification
Hi, firstly thanks for the plugin, it sounds great, just what I am looking for! I am currently trying to get it up and running on my personal WP 3.3.1 network site. I can see rootspersona 2.5.0 under the settings tab and its options, but the rootspersona under the tools tab shows a blank page. I am presuming this is where I should be able to upload my GEDCOM file and get things set up? Any plans to get it running on WP 3.3.1 on a network setup (I see it is not yet compatible with the latest version as yet)? Any ideas on what may be wrong and things I could try? Cheers, Michelle
I’ve seen that before when it didn’t install properly. I’v e never been able to determine why it doesn’t install the database 100% of the time. Can you uninstall and try installing again? How are you installing?
I am running it on 3.3.1 myself – its just that no one hit the works on button…
What do you mean by network setup? I run in locally and on a hosted server…
Thanks for such a quick reply Ed! Originally installed via the WP Admin interface, will manually try to re-install it now and see how I go. By network setup I mean I am running multiple WP sites on the one WP install. So I install plugins via network manager admin and network activate it, then go through to the individual site dashboard and customise it for that particular site I want it on. Will let you know how I go. Cheers, Michelle
Hi Ed, Just an update to let you know I have manually re-installed the plugin and have discovered it seems to work for my main site, but for the other multisites the rootspersona under the tools tab still shows a blank page. I actually want to use it on my personal site which is one of the additional sites attached to my network (I have a multisite setup as outlined here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network).
I will have a see if I can work out what is happening and let you know how I go. Thanks again for your help so far. Cheers, Michelle
The plugin is not working for me in multisite either. Had no problem with single site install.
I’ll try to do some multisite testing this weekend. Sorry you’re having issues!
Have not been able to work it out for multisite myself as yet, please keep me posted if you do get it sorted
Hi Ed! Quick (or maybe not) question. Does rootspersona allow separate trees, and if so how do I implement that feature. I tried to, but it kept trying to tie them together and mix a couple of pages together, picture from one tree to a page on another, and adding people from one to the other. If this is done in the batch id’s, I couldn’t get the 2nd batch of people to integrate with the people’s list. I do have several trees that do not intersect (that I have worked out yet, fingers crossed though) and I wanted to display what I have in easy to manage trees.
Thanks for your time!
The batch id is meant to manage what you are looking for. GEDCOM file loaded into separate batches have NO links to each other – they are totally separate (unless something goes wrong).
The reason the second batch doesn’t show up is that no index is create form them automatically – you have to create an index for the second batch yourself.
If you edit the Person Index page, you will see this: [rootsPersonaIndexPage batchId="1"/]
Just create a new page, Title it what you will, and add this is the content: [rootsPersonaIndexPage batchId="2"/] (or 3, 4, etc…) Viola, an index for the second batch…
Thank you so much! Couldn’t figure it out for the life of me!