Tips for a successful v14 upgrade

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With the impending release of TNG 14, I thought I’d take a minute to go over some of the things to watch out for while you’re upgrading your site. All of these apply no matter which version you’re installing.

  • Make sure you choose the right upgrade. Before you begin, go to your TNG Admin menu and look at the top of the screen. It should say there what your current version is. Anything that starts with “13” (like 13.0.1 or 13.1.2) counts as “13.x”. You will see links for several different upgrades on the v14 downloads page. Be sure to get the one most appropriate for your currently installed version. If you install the wrong upgrade, you will likely notice errors when you’re done.
  • Install the upgrade, not the full version. When you get to the v14 downloads page, the first links near the top will be for brand new TNG users. What you want is a little further down in the Updates section. Look for the upgrade most appropriate for your currently installed version, then look next to the download link for the name of the file that will include the upgrade instructions. Note: A new version of the full version “readme.html” file will also be included with your upgrade, but you can ignore that since you’re upgrading. If you accidentally open that file, it should warn you that you’re about to install the full version. If you see that, go back! Installing the full version on top of an existing install will cause you to lose your data and your customizations.
  • Don’t forget the backup. At the top of the instructions, you’re advised to back up your key files (mainly the configuration files, like config.php, pedconfig.php, etc., but also any others that you may have customized) and your database tables. If you do make a mistake at some point, having a backup can save you a lot of headaches. Once the upgrade is finished and everything is running smoothly, back up your tables again.
  • Remember to view the upgrade readme from your browser, not your home computer. One of the first steps is to upload the files to your site. After that, you need to load the instructions again from your site. In other words, if your site is www.mysite.com and you’re upgrading from 13.0.1, open your web browser and go to http://www.mysite.com/readme13x-14x.html from there. If you continue with the local copy you opened immediately after downloading, some of the later steps won’t work.
  • Update your template. For most people, this should be simple. If you’ve never tinkered with the HTML or PHP in your template files, just upload the entire “templates” folder from the upgrade and that’s it. If you have made any customizations (not the Template Settings or the mytngstyle.css style sheets) and you want to keep those, then you’ll probably want to merge your changes into the latest files instead of just uploading those new files. Some of the new features may not work unless you’re using the latest template files.
  • Watch for the twist. Large upgrades usually include a step to update your database table structures, but a lot of people miss it and then wonder why things are broken. This time the database update step directs you to visit the TNG Admin menu on your site, where you’ll be given the next steps. If you skip those, you’ll be reminded again each time you visit the admin area. Don’t forget to click the final link to delete the upgrade files when you’re done (the upgrade page will still show until that happens).
  • Clear your browser cache. Once you’re done, go into your browser settings or preferences and clear the cache (or “temporary Internet files”). Until you do that, your browser might decide to hang on to some of the old pages, and that could present a conflict. Some features might not work. The instructions for clearing the cache vary from one browser to another, so do a Google search on this if you’re not sure how to do it.

TNG 14: Feature Preview

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TNG 14 is almost here! This major upgrade includes more than 100 enhancements, fixes and new features. Here’s a quick summary of the most significant changes:

  • Import: The inner workings of the GEDCOM import have been improved to make the process much more robust. Unresponsiveness issues have been addressed, and “resume” operations should be seamless. Also, support has been added for some GEDCOM 7.0 features. Media included with a zipped GEDCOM file can now be extracted at the time of import.
  • Admin Home Redesign: The look and feel of the Admin home page has been modernized. Menu items are larger, and excess text has been removed. The redundant left-side menu has been removed, and rotating banner images display at the top. The number of mods installed is also now visible on the Admin home page.
  • Connections: The Relationship tab has been supplemented by an advanced relationship/connection search, powered by the Connections mod (by Michal Jarocinski). This will allow you to quickly find more connections between two individuals, including those that include one or more marriages/pairings along the way.
  • Style Upgrades: The size and font of most form fields has been increased to 14px. Rounded corners and extra padding have been added to most tables, and a drop shadow has been added on some tables. These and other elements combine for a softer, more modern look and feel for all pages, both public and admin.
  • Media: Several here too, including: 1) Image tags may now point to places, families, sources, repos and citations (in addition to people). The tree selection defaults to either the tree assigned to the image or the one used for already existing media links. 2) Image tags can also be just a label (any text or name), which can optionally point to any URL. 3) DOC and DOCX files can now be viewed inline instead of being automatically downloaded (based on Michel Kirsch’s “Office Viewer” mod).
  • Search: The submit button on the Advanced Search page is now fixed so you never have to scroll to find it. Most search fields have also been widened, and the “Other events” list starts off as collapsed, but the form remembers ones you have used before and sorts those at the top.
  • Descendant Tables: Jim Graham’s Table of Descendants mod has been incorporated. Visitors will see a “Tables” option on the Descendants tab. Click through to see a tabular list of all descendants for a particular individual. Choose any row to instantly list all individuals from that generation.
  • Charts: Zoom and drag functions have been added to several more charts. Also, birth and death years are now displayed on the fan chart.
  • Report Generator: The report builder interface has been redesigned to be more modern, easier to use, and more functional on mobile. The Custom SQL box has also been enlarged.
  • Backups: Backups can now be created as SQL files (the old method will still be supported). They can also be downloaded with a download icon. Backups may also include DROP and CREATE table directives. A restore operation may be made to drop all existing records or not.
  • Additional Genders: Other gender choices can now be entered on the Admin/People pages.
  • Alternate Birth Events: A list of acceptable “alternate birth event types” can now be maintained in the settings, and users may choose the alternate birth event for each individual from the Edit Person page.
  • Mod Manager: Many improvements, including 1) The source code has been restructured to improve the Mod Manager internal structure. New diagnostic error prefix is included on messages in Mod List. 2) Michel Kirsch’s “Analyze only install mods” mod has been incorporated. 3) A fixed-position header now applies to all screens and includes the table column header line.
  • PHP Compatibility: Pro-active changes will make sure TNG remains compatible with the latest versions of PHP and MySQL.

You will be able to get the upgrade at a discount by going back to your previous downloads page after the release is officially announced. If you’ve lost the URL or access info, send me a message at darrin@lythgoes.net and I’ll send it to you again. If you purchased TNG 13 or the v13 upgrade at any time in the six months prior to the upgrade release date, you’ll be eligible to get the upgrade for free. Information on that will be sent out in the next few days to those who are eligible.

Tips for a successful v13 upgrade

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With TNG 13 being released today (Sep. 21, 2020), I thought I’d take a minute to go over some of the things to watch out for while you’re upgrading your site. All of these apply no matter which version you’re installing.

  • Install the upgrade, not the full version. When you get to the v13 downloads page, the first link near the top will be for brand new TNG users. What you want is a little further down in the Updates section. Also take note that a new version of the full version readme.html file will be included with your upgrade, but the installation instructions for the upgrade will be in a different file. The name of that file will be listed next to the download link. For example, if you’re coming from version 12, the file will be called readme12x-13x.html or readme123-13x.html. If you accidentally open readme.html, it should warn you that you’re about to install the full version. If you see that, go back! Installing the full version on top of an existing install will cause you to lose your data and your customizations.
  • Make sure you choose the right upgrade. Before you begin, go to your TNG Admin menu and look at the top of the screen. It should say there what your current version is. Anything that starts with “12” (like 12.0.1 or 12.1.1) counts as “12.x”. You will see links for several different upgrades on the v13 downloads page. Be sure to get the one most appropriate for your currently installed version. If you have v11 but you install the upgrade for users with 12.x, you will likely notice errors when you’re done.
  • Don’t forget the backup. At the top of the instructions, you’re advised to back up your key files (mainly the configuration files, like config.php, pedconfig.php, etc., but also any others that you may have customized). If you do make a mistake at some point, having a backup can save you a lot of headaches. Once the upgrade is finished and everything is running smoothly, back up your tables again.
  • Remember to view the upgrade readme from your browser, not your home computer. One of the first steps is to upload the files to your site. After that, you need to load the instructions again from your site. In other words, if your site is www.mysite.com and you’re upgrading from 12.0.1, open your web browser and go to http://www.mysite.com/readme12x-13x.html from there. If you continue with the local copy you opened immediately after downloading, some of the later steps won’t work.
  • Don’t skip any steps. A lot of people think they just have to upload the files, but there’s a little more to it than that. The step most people still skip is the one relating to database structure changes (if you see a bunch of database query errors after installing the upgrade, this is probably what you did). There’s usually just a simple link you have to click. Doing that will open another page that runs through a list of database updates. Depending on the version you had previously, some of the items may say “Failed or done previously”. Don’t be alarmed if you see some of those.
  • Update your template. For most people, this should be simple. If you’ve never tinkered with the HTML or PHP in your template files, just upload the entire “templates” folder from the upgrade and that’s it. If you have made any customizations (not the Template Settings or the mytngstyle.css style sheets) and you want to keep those , then you’ll probably want to merge your changes in with the latest files. Some of the new features may not work unless you’re using the latest template files.
  • Clear your browser cache. Once you’re done, go into your browser settings or preferences and clear the cache (or “temporary Internet files”). Until you do that, your browser might decide to hang on to some of the old pages, and that could present a conflict. Some features might not work. The instructions for clearing the cache vary from one browser to another, so do a Google search on this if you’re not sure how to do it.

If you still have issues and you think you may have botched the instructions, feel free to ask for help from me or the user list (tngusers2). If you think you might have found a program bug, please contact me directly (darrin@lythgoes.net).

Despite the possible pitfalls described here, the upgrade process should be fairly easy. If you’re still sure you won’t be able to do the upgrade yourself, there are other options though. Simply Hosting no longer does upgrades, but I can do it for an extra $15, and others could be hired as well. I might be swamped at first if too many people request this, so please be patient.

TNG 13: Feature Preview

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TNG 13 is just around the corner! This major upgrade includes more than 100 enhancements, fixes and new features. Here’s a quick summary of the most significant changes:

  • New Templates: Two new templates have been added, and more third-party templates are also available for purchase at Genealogy Web Templates. One of the two was contributed by Marsha at GWT.
  • Media Enhancements: Many improvements and small changes have been made to the way TNG handles photos and other media. These include a more advanced method of image tagging, being able to embed PDFs and text files in the public pages, and the ability to geocode individual headstones within a cemetery.
  • New and Improved Charts: A vertical descendants chart provides a different way to look at your data, and some of existing charts now allow dragging to easily manipulate the display.
  • Admin Usability Upgrades: TNG’s admin area now has improved sorting and save options. Event listings are more streamlined, and the old HTML frameset environment has been replaced with a more robust infrastructure that preserves the original functionality.
  • PHP Compatibility: Pro-active changes will make sure TNG remains compatible with the latest versions of PHP and MySQL.

You will be able to get the upgrade at a discount by going back to your previous downloads page after the release is officially announced. If you’ve lost the URL or access info, send me a message at darrin@lythgoes.net and I’ll send it to you again. If you purchased TNG 12 or the v12 upgrade at any time in the six months prior to the upgrade release date, you’ll be eligible to get the upgrade for free. Information on that will be sent out to those affected.

TNG wins users choice award for 2018, tenth year in a row

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gensoftreviews2018For the tenth year in a row, TNG is a winner of the GenSoftReviews Users Choice Award! Thanks to all who contributed!

Awards are presented to all programs achieving a 4.00 or more star rating
based on 10 or more total user reviews, with at least one review in the qualifying year. TNG has 158 total reviews (10 in 2018), and has an average rating of 4.83 stars. That’s good enough for 5th best among 287 different programs that received at least one review!

More information on the awards can be found at GenSoftReviews (full rankings at http://www.gensoftreviews.com/rankings.php). All GenSoftReviews for TNG are posted at http://www.gensoftreviews.com/?p=825.

TNG 12: Feature Preview

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TNG 12 is almost here! This major upgrade includes dozens of enhancements, fixes and new features. Here’s a summary of the most significant changes:

  • DNA: Jeff Robison’s DNA mod has been incorporated, providing several significant enhancements to the previous method of tracking DNA tests.
  • Mod Manager: Rick Bisbee, Ken Roy and others have added significant improvements to this utility that allows users to easily install or remove code modifications and add-ons.
  • Translations: TNG has now been translated into Chinese, as well as 20 other languages. Google Translate tools have also been added to the online help pages and the installation guide to allow users to view those resources in their own language.
  • New Designs: Three new templates have been added, and improvements have been made to several others. The template settings have also been moved to a more robust location, within the database.
  • Media Enhancements: Many improvements have been made in the way TNG handles photos and other media. These include importing media linked to citations, creating thumbnails from some PDFs, being able to show thumbnails in a single horizontal row if desired, and showing captions on top of image previews.
  • Libraries Upgraded: Third party libraries for jQuery, jQueryUI and PHP Mailer have been upgraded to the latest versions. The C3 and D3 charting libraries have also been added.
  • New Visualizations: A First Names page (like the existing Surnames page) provides a different way to look at your data, and the new C3/D3 charting libraries allow for pie chart representations on those pages and on the Statistics page.
  • Security: The reCaptcha mod has been incorporated, giving TNG site owners a way to fight spam from bots. A few other security updates will prevent unauthorized access in previously vulnerable areas.
  • User Access: Registered site users can now be assigned to multiple trees. Admins and editors will still see only one tree at a time, but they can easily switch from one tree to another without logging in multiple times.
  • New Tools: A “Refresh Living” utility will re-mark people as living or deceased, depending on dates entered or time elapsed from birth, while a “Make Private” tool will mark people as private if they have been deceased less than the configured number of years.
  • Compatibility: Pro-active changes will make sure TNG remains compatible with the latest versions of PHP and MySQL.

You will be able to get the upgrade at a discount (starting at $15.99) by going back to your previous downloads page after the release is officially announced. If you’ve lost the URL or access info, send me a message at darrin@lythgoes.net and I’ll send it to you again. If you purchased TNG 11 or the v11 upgrade at any time in the six months prior to the upgrade release date, you’ll be eligible to get the upgrade for free. Information on that will be sent out to those affected.

If you purchased TNG through a third party (like the Guild of One-Name Studies), please contact them for information on upgrading your site.

Also take note that Simply Hosting does not install upgrades. A helpful 15-minute video will be available to walk you through the process, but there will also be an option to pay an extra $15 to have the upgrade installed for you. If you’re doing the upgrade yourself, take a minute to review the post here from the v10 release on helpful tips for a successful upgrade.

“Undefined function”: Time to upgrade

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Like TNG, the underlying PHP is constantly changing, and new updates are released every few months. Hosting providers don’t always install the latest version right away, but they almost always get to it eventually.

When that happens, there are usually a handful of PHP functions that for whatever reason are no longer supported in the newer version. For example, the “session_register” and “session_unregister” functions were removed a while back, and all the “mysql” functions (like mysql_query) were removed with the jump to PHP 7.0.

I have always tried to keep pace with these changes, removing functions like that from the TNG code before PHP removes them, so if you keep your TNG up to date you shouldn’t experience any problems. If you’re still running an older version of TNG, however, you may suddenly run into trouble if your hosting provider upgrades PHP without notice. It won’t affect every page on your site, but if you happen to execute some of the problem code, you’ll be stopped short. Sometimes you might get a blank page, but most of the time you’ll see an error message like this:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function session_register() in /public_html/genealogy/globallib.php on line 5

It’s possible that a message like this would refer to a TNG problem, like if a key file was missing. If you want to know for sure, do a Google search on the the middle part of the error message (“Call to undefined function session_register()”, in this instance). If it’s just a problem with your TNG files, you probably won’t get many results. If the function named is one that PHP has removed though, you should see several hits referring to that fact, and you can know that it’s time to upgrade TNG.

To get the upgrade at a discount, you can always go back to your previous TNG downloads page. The payment options will be visible in the “TNG Updates” section. If you’ve lost the access info for that page, please feel free to drop me a note.

Translating TNG into other languages

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Parts of TNG have already been translated into 21 languages (besides English), but there are quite a few languages that are not supported as of yet. If you have thought about translating TNG into a new language, here’s what you’ll need to do.

First, use an FTP program or the file manager on your site control panel to navigate into the “languages” folder and create a new folder for your new language. You should see folders for all the other languages there, like this:

  • Afrikaans
  • Afrikaans-UTF8
  • Arabic-UTF8
  • Croatian
  • Croatian-UTF8

The “-UTF8” at the end of some folders means that the files in that folder are UTF-8 encoded. If your data or your new language uses letters or characters outside of the standard 26-character alphabet used in English, you should name your new folder in similar fashion (e.g., “Hebrew-UTF8”).

Next, copy the files from the folder of your native language (use the “-UTF8” version if your new language will also be using UTF-8) and paste them into your new folder. The files should be named admintext.php, alltext.php and text.php.

Now go in TNG to Admin/Languages and create a new language record for your new language. Select your new language folder in the “Language folder” dropdown box. Put “UTF-8” in the character set field if your new language will be UTF-8 encoded. Otherwise use “ISO-8859-1” as the character set. Click the “Help for this area” link for hints on any of the fields or options. Don’t forget to save. Also, if this is the first language record you’ve created under Admin/Languages, you must also create a record for your primary language. If you forget to do that, you won’t be able switch back when you try out your new language later!

Finally (and this is the biggest step), edit the files you pasted into your new folder and translate the messages. You can do this by editing the files right on your site, or you can download them to your computer and edit them there. Be sure to use a pure text editor (not MS Word or anything that will add formatting). Notepad++ (Windows) and TextEdit (Mac) are good options. If you are creating a UTF-8 file, you might need to select UTF-8 as the encoding type (no byte order mark, or BOM).

When you’re doing the translations, be sure to translate only the messages and not the “keys”. For example, the messages you see will look something like this:

  • $text[‘family’] = “Family”;
  • $text[‘birth’] = “Birth”;

In these examples, the keys are what you see inside the square brackets. The messages are what you see between the double quotes. In the end, your new translations will look something like this:

  • $text[‘family’] = “сям’я”;
  • $text[‘birth’] = “нараджэння”;

One other thing to remember is that double quotes within the message need to be “escaped” with a backslash. An escaped message looks something like this:

  • $text[‘message’] = “This is an \”escaped\” message”;

If you forget to escape the nested quotes, your site may show only blank pages until you fix it.

When you’re done, save the files and copy them back to your website if necessary. To see your work in action, choose the new language from the language dropdown box on any page of your site. If you weren’t sure of the context while doing the translation, you might want to check to see if any guesses you made were correct, then go back and correct them if necessary.

And one more thing: If you feel inclined to share, I would love to include your new translations in future versions of TNG so others can benefit. Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions!

 

TNG 11 Feature Highlight: Fan Charts

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fanchart2Today I’m putting the spotlight on a feature that’s new in TNG 11, the fan chart. First of all, many thanks go to Ben Wagner, a TNG user who contributed most of the code. Great job, Ben!

To find a fan chart on any TNG 11 site, just search for any individual, then click the Ancestors tab near the top of the page. Finally, click the Fan Chart option on the menu bar just below the tabs.

I love the fan chart because it gives you a great visual sense of a person’s ancestry while making more efficient use of the space than a standard pedigree chart. In other words, there are no empty holes like you get with a large pedigree chart, even when you’re viewing a large number of generations. It’s great for showing off your tree at family reunions.

The primary individual (in the sample image here it’s my grandfather Leo Lythgoe) is at the center in the bottom, with each ring around that person representing a new generation (parents, grandparents, etc.). It’s even color coded for the eight largest families. To see more for a particular individual (like birth, marriage and death dates and places), just hold your mouse pointer over any name shown. Doing that will display a small pop-up window containing the information. Of course you can also jump right to the page of any individual listed there by clicking on their name.

I should also mention that the chart makes good use of the new HTML5 “canvas” element, which lets you draw arcs and show text on an angle. Because of that, you’ll notice that the chart is not an image, it’s just HTML, and that helps keep the bandwidth down.

As with the other TNG ancestry charts, you can choose a different number of generations by adjusting the number just above the chart on the left. And if you love the fan chart an extra large amount, you can go to Admin/Setup/Chart Settings/Pedigree Chart and set the Initial Display so that the fan chart is the first chart you see whenever you click the Ancestors tab for any person on your site.

And now that you’re done reading this, click the image above to jump to the actual page and see the fan chart in action.

So what else would you like to see on this blog? Please comment!

TNG wins award for top-rated genealogy software in 2016!

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gensoftreviews2016For the eighth year in a row, TNG is a winner of the GenSoftReviews Users Choice Award! TNG is one of only six programs to do that. Thanks to all of you for all the wonderful reviews!

Awards are presented to all programs achieving a 4.00 or more star rating
based on 10 or more total user reviews with at least one review in the qualifying year. TNG had 136 total reviews in 2016 and received an average rating of 4.87 stars. That was ninth best among more than 250 different programs that received at least one review. Most of the programs ranked above TNG had fewer than 20 reviews.

More information on the awards can be found at GenSoftReviews (full rankings at http://www.gensoftreviews.com/rankings.php). A press release on the subject can be found at GeneaPress.

All GenSoftReviews for TNG are posted at http://www.gensoftreviews.com/?p=825.