Questions & Answers - OFB + GSP

• Data fieds + Index lists
• Can additional data fields and associated index listings be created?
• Error messages
• The installation of OFB does not work. What should I do?
• What should I do when a program error occurs?
• Error message: "... in Module [ xyz ] for "New Streamwriter": ..."!
• Error message: "... the directory or file can not be created"!
• What to do, if the message "... unexpected error ..." pops up?
• GEDCOM
• How can I determine how my program interprets the GEDCOM standard?
• What should I do if for my program no Gedcom profile file exists?
• Licenses
• License file "ofb.lic" resp. "gsp.lic" can't be found!
• The output is limited to 50 persons, even though the license file is available!
• Output
• Why is the number of persons found different than the number of entries in the list?
• Recommendations for output via internet and for printer!
• How I can create from a html-file a printable book?
• Genealogy font or graphic character for further processing with MS Word?
• Button "Create Output" is deactivated!
• How can I burn the OFB output on CD/DVD or copy it to an USB stick for sharing my data?
• Same-sex Partnerships
• How are the Same-sex Partnerships processed by the OFB ?
• Others
• Why new entered data are missing in the OFB?
• The program slows down when processing high number of persons. Why?
• Will the OFB also run from an USB stick?

• New data fields + index lists: Can I also create new data fields and index lists with the OFB?
  New data can be defined using the profile management tab "Tags Standard + Addition" > tab "Tags 1 added". However, these are stored in the data fields of the standard tag groups, an index list is not possible with this feature.

  You can, however, convert an existing data field with associated index list which is not required for your own purposes. For example, the data field "Farm name" is suitable for this. You will find a detailed description here.

• Error message during installation of the OFB: What should I do?
  Install version 4.0 of the MS Framework. The link can be found at "System requirements".
• Error message in general: What should I do when a program error occurs?
  First, check whether you have the latest version by the update function of the start center. If a newer version exists on the homepage, install it and restart the analysis. It could be that the error is already eliminated.
• Error message: I'm getting the message:
  "Error message in Module [ xyz ] for "New Streamwriter": ... File could not be saved". What can I do?
  This usually occurs only if the specified file is locked by another program. This can also happen if the OFB or the service programs are opened several times.
• Error message: I'm getting the message:
  "Error in ... for : " E:\ofb\ofb3k25200.htm " ("E:\...htm " as example) The directory or file can not be created."
  What can I do?
  This usually occurs only with a large number (>20,000) of files. There are two possibilities:
  • For older PCs (Pentium II), the number of entries of long filenames is limited. Use the option "Output files in 8.3 format" of the settings screen or split the output into various subdirectories by the main screen.
  • Program folders and output folders are located on 2 different partitions (e.g., C:\ and E:\) and are formatted differently (NTFS and FAT32). Both partitions must have the same formatting!
• Error message: What to do, if the message "... unexpected error ..." pops up?
  Details are given in the appendix of the user guide part 1. The OFB author needs the respective error file for analysis.

• Gedcom Interpretation: How can I determine how my program interprets the GEDCOM standard?
  Follow these steps:
  • Create a new empty genealogy file with your program
  • Enter 5 persons
    • 1 male (husband) – with all possible data fields
    • 2 female (wife + liaison) – with the important data fileds
    • 2 any gender (children) – with the important data fileds
  • Enter 1 marriage (husband + wife) – with all possible data fields + 1 child
    • Enter the divorce – with all possible data fields
  • Enter 1 none-marital relation (husband + liaison) – with all data fields + 1 child
    • Enter the separation – with all possible data fields
  • Export the data as ged-file, preferably utf-8 coded
  • Open the ged-file by a text editor (-> printout)
  • Compare the ged file with the entries in the genealogy program
  • From this, draw your conclusions for the Gedcom definitions
• Gedcom Profile file: I am working with a genealogy program for which no profiling file exists. What should I do?
  There are the following possibilities:
  • Create a Gedcom profile by using the step-by-step description at menue "OFB Service Programs" > "Quick Guide for Profile Management".
  • Contact me to create the profile. In this case I need a Gedcom file from your genealogy program to understand the structures created.

• License error: What to do if I get the error message that the license file "ofb.lic" resp. "gsp.lic" is not found?
  Activate your license again via the OFB start center resp. the GSP start center.
• License error: What to do when I get the message that the output is limited to 50 persons?
  There may be 2 causes.
  • You did not enter a license for the program through the start center.
  • If you have successfully entered a license, you must also select it at "License owner" in the OFB main screen.
  You may check the installed licenses by pushing the button "Info" at the top right of the start center.

• Difference between the number of persons found and the number of entries in the list:
  The index list "all Persons" lists at the head of the list the number of entries, which are the name entries of the list.Same name entries, even for different persons, are listed only once. However, the list contains links to all persons of the OFB. Therefor the number of entries is independent of the number of persons!
• Ouput for Internet and for Printing:
  Depending on how the output data should be used, I recommend 2 items, for choosing output options within the OFB:
  1. Use the "cum list" only for printouts but suppress this list for a Homepage on the Internet. To load the high number of MBs (up to xx MB) will need to much time for loading.
  2. For printing the index lists they should not be split to pieces, but split them for Internet use.
  These two options will help that only relatively small files to be loaded quickly reside on the internet. In addition, it is not so easy to copy the entire data easily from the net, since now many small files would have to be copied and not everything is contained in 1 file.
• Printable book from a html-file:
  Using the option "Optimize for Print/Word" and selecting the respective "Print/Word Options" will provide the best results. Details and in particular recommendations for the sequence of the individual steps can be found in the OFB user guide part 2 at "Print/Word Options". Also use one of the two print-optimized ocf files for output.
• Genealogy font or graphic character for further processing with MS Word: What is better?
  If the standard graphic characters are used, Word converts each graphic character separately into many bytes, resulting in very large Word files. These can hardly be processed.
  If larger html files are to be processed further in MS Word, it is strongly recommended to select at "Print/Word Options" > tab "Genealogy Font Definition" the option "Select genealogy font" and choose the "Genealogic New" font. This font first must be downloaded from the OFB homepage under "Download" and installed. Further details can be found in the OFB manual part 2 under "Print/Word Options".
• Create Output ...:The button is gray and I can not create an output. What am I doing wrong?
  This is for your protection. It is only inactive and grayed out when buttons or field names are "red" (not "magenta"), indicating errors that need to be eliminated before starting the output process.
• Burning the OFB output on CD/DVD or copying to an USB stick: How can I use this for sharing the data?
  The OFB allows you to copy all files of the current output directory to a transfer directory immediately after completion of the output. To do this, press the blue "CD" button on the OFB main page below of the output directory. A window opens, where you define the transfer directory - this can be directly an USB stick. You can also set up an "autorun.inf" file to enable the CD/DVD autostart. For futher details see the user guide part 2.

• How are the Same-sex Partnerships processed by the OFB ?
  As standard, all same-sex partnerships will be processed. After reading the data and the data processing, a check is made of gender and the assignment of HUSB and WIFE. Expected are for HUSB "M" and for WIFE "F". If this is not the case, an entry is made into the log file and a modification will be made internally, whereby the original value still will be listed in the output.
  However, if a person is entered several times differently in the ged file, this can't be processed by the OFB. In the OFB a person can not simultaneously be HUSB and mother or WIFE and father. In this case, an appropriate message is issued and the program terminates. Now the ged file should be scanned for the person in question and, if necessary, the ID numbers of HUSB and WIFE should be switched. The better solution, as permanent, would be the switch in the genealogy program.

• Data are missing: The last entered data into my genealogy program are missing in the OFB?
  Before starting the OFB, you must export the genealogy data again to a ged file. Only then the new data are available for the OFB.
• Runtime of program: The program slows down, when processing a high number of persons?
  This is caused by the PC. Since the OFB processes a lot of text data, the PC cleans up its memory from time to time.
• USB stick: Will the OFB also run from an USB stick?
  Yes. See the description at "Installation".