Dynamic Entries

[Chris Eichenberg]

aaah, it's me again. Thinking of a template to record Census entries. Of course some families might two entries some might have more than two. So I would like to find an alternate way (if such a thing is possible) that would be more efficient. Is there way to add new lines as required ( not tiddlers just lines ) within a given tiddler? 

there is other side of the coin, but going with "one crisis at a time" viewpoint.

[Jon]

Hi, Chris,

Not sure if I fully understand what you're shooting for. Are you looking for a textbox to show a certain number of lines, or for there to be a certain number of fields (input boxes) to record the entries? How is the number needed determined? That is, would the person first type the number of people into a field and then you'd want the right number of boxes/lines to appear?

Something along this line could certainly be done with a macro: for example, put a "plus" button in your template that runs a macro which adds a new input box to the form (maybe with a simple name like input1, input2, input3... to make it not too hard to collect the data later). I'm trying to think of how you could do it without programming; if you know you'll never need more than some number of fields, you could put them all on the form and use the venerable HideWhenPlugin to respond to an input number of people and un-hide the desired number of fields.

To do it with lines in a textbox, it seems like you'd have to have a text field that isn't on the form at first and appears after entering a number of people and clicking a button. But I'm not sure why you'd want to do it this way, because people can put whatever they want in a textbox and aren't limited to the visible lines.

Any of that helpful?

--Jon

[Yakov]

Hi Chris,

some more context is really needed to help. In what you're describing, "entry" = tiddler, "template" = a tiddler with template? Or is it like the template is the text which is the same for each "entry" tiddler and you use fields for the data?

For instance, for the latter case, say if you are using fields "name" and "age", you can probably substitute them with "name1" and "age1" and use "name2" and "age2" if you want to store the data for multiple "entries" in a single tiddler. How to modify the template also depends on what you are using already.

Me personally, I'd probably store data in a hidden section in JSON format, like this:

/%

!data

[

  {

    "name": "Molly",

    "age": "40"

  },

  {

    "name": "Ron",

    "age": "15"

  }

]

!%/

as it's easy to extract and modify both with JS and manually (well, for fields there's at least FieldsEditorPlugin, so they are also ok).

Best regards,

Yakov.

четверг, 9 ноября 2023 г. в 02:49:32 UTC+3, Jon:

[Chris Eichenberg]

basically, the form. . . 

father

mother

child1

+add child

instead of . . . 

father

mother

child1, , , child20  ( large farmer families, always best to hedge bets )

then a way to modify ForEachTiddler output to reflect this. both would be great, this at least this part would save some post editing to order to send to relatives. 

the first question is this possible in some way? or is there at least a K.I.S.S. ( keep it simple, stupid ) workaround to achieve the same ends?

hope this helps.

[Yakov]

This is surely possible, but the implementation details highly depend on what you're using already. For instance, when using FormTiddlerPlugin, you can do in your template something like:

<button onclick="

    const container = document.getElementById('<id of your form container>')

    const numberOfShownChildren = document.getElementsByClassName('<class of an input used for a child>').length

    container.innerHTML += `<a piece of form that is used per child: inputs etc; if you want to use numbered fields for storage, use ${numberOfShownChildren + 1} to get a number inside this template piece, like name2 ← name${numberOfShownChildren + 1}>`

"> +add child </button>

Substitute the <id of your form container>, <class of an input used for a child>, and <a piece of form ...> bits with what you need – start from something simple, like:

<div id='myForm'>

  <div class='child-subform'>child name 1</div>

</div>

<button onclick="

    const container = document.getElementById('myForm')

    const numberOfShownChildren = document.getElementsByClassName('child-subform').length

    container.innerHTML += `<div class='child-subform'>child name ${numberOfShownChildren + 1}</div>`

"> +add child </button>

четверг, 9 ноября 2023 г. в 21:34:06 UTC+3, komet...@gmail.com:

[Chris Eichenberg]

i ended up using a script with a prompt asking for a number with document.write ( based on an scripting sample I had in a very old tiddlywiki ) rendering the form so that the name is combination of base name and prompt number ( for instance "spouse.name.#" ) which is stored in <data>. serves the purpose i need, but if anyone got anything relatively simple but more effective . . . .

I would like to create a report with ForEachTiddlerPlugin ( 1.3.3 ). is possible have a prompt ( or something that serves the same purpose ) and have that added to the end of a tiddler.data field? for instance answer 2 to the prompt and it renders tiddler.data("spouse.name.2"). Search a bunch old TiddlyWiki Google Groups entries but nothing that fits my question.

I tried going document.write thing but i hit a snag on the output. I wanted most parts like they were monospaced except for the tiddler.data fields. the monospaced parts are snag, hit the limit of my somewhat limited knowledge. 

[Yakov]

Hi Chris, did I get you right that this report is something separate from the forms you were asking about previously? Is your question, basically, about what I've rephrased below?

> When I have several tiddlers that describe families, with fields like spouse.name.1 and spouse.name.2 (may be 1 or 2 fields, similarly there can be any number of fields for children, like child.name.#), how can I show a report, which will say something like:

> famility 1

> parents: John, Mary

> children: Bob, Ann, Cathy

> famility 2

> ...

If yes, you can do something like

<<fet filter '[tag[family]]'

  script '

    const getFieldNames = (tiddler) => Object.keys(tiddler.fields)

    const getFieldsValues = (tiddler, fieldNames) => fieldNames.map(fieldName => tiddler.fields[fieldName])

    function getParents(tiddler) {

    const fieldNames = getFieldNames(tiddler)

      .filter(fieldName => fieldName.match(/^spouse\.name\.\d+$/))

    return getFieldsValues(tiddler, fieldNames)

  }

  function getChildren(tiddler) {

    const fieldNames = getFieldNames(tiddler)
      .filter(fieldName => fieldName.match(/^child\.name\.\d+$/))
    return getFieldsValues(tiddler, fieldNames)

  }'

  write 'tiddler.title + "\n" +

    "parents: " + getParents(tiddler).join(", ") + "\n" +

    "children: " + getChildren(tiddler).join(", ") +

    "\n\n"'

>>

(haven't tested this yet, though, let me know if there's any issue)

понедельник, 6 января 2025 г. в 02:09:05 UTC+3, komet...@gmail.com:

[Chris Eichenberg]

This might be a dup, I swore I responded but I do not see it listed.

Nope it didn't work. Though what did show ( basic structure ) is probably more a family report, I am looking at a more of an individual report. I working off format from genealogy program. the report has a individual, parents, marriage, children, events, and section for notes.

For keeping track of data, ShowData ( from DataTiddlersPlugin ) is good for the basic output. I need/want to be able to create reports from simple to narrative to share with family. so in many cases i am dealing multiple marriages with multiple children ( not counting adoptions ). 

So one 2g uncle was married twice, 1st with 3 kids, 2nd with 4 kids. A g-grandfather was married 3 times. So if I know how create a tiddler.data("child.01.name") or tiddler.data("spouse.3.name") then I could structure reports around that. 

I found you can add a prompt in fet under script, but unfortunately loops. 

[Yakov]

Hi Chris, sorry to say that, but I've failed to allocate enough time to understand your case in-depth, but let me at least share some basic design thoughts that might be useful for you.

To implement what you're describing, you have to deal with 3 distinct parts of the "app": data storage, representation (reports), and input (how do you add data). The important thing is, the first one limits the other two, so you have to understand if your current storage schema allows to represent the real data or not. The key thing is if you are building a tree or a network, i.e. do you only track a single tree, or there's at least one marriage where you track both sides (i.e. trees of the wife and the husband). If the latter is the case, and you don't want to duplicate data and deal with inconsistencies in the future, you'll need to store marriages as separate tiddlers and point to the same marriage from the wife and the husband tiddler; this way, you can attach children to the marriage (or "pair") instead of repeating them for each spouse.

The problem is, such modeling will require creating reports in a more complex ways, and using just DataTiddlerPlugin won't be enough, but you may want to give ChatGPT a try to generate some code for that (it's not likely that it will give a full correct code, but it may help as a starting point).

Let me know if you have some questions, but please understand that I may not be capable of providing a full custom solution at the moment.

Best regards,

Yakov.

PS You've sent the previous message as a personal reply instead of writing it here, let me cite it in case it can be helpful in the future:

===

no it did not work. 

let me try to expand, genealogy never has easy answers. I'm been using tiddlywiki because it offers some flexibility.

this is from an old genealogy report which I'm using as a guide. it is part of individual report not family one. For instance I have grandfather that fought in the European theater in WWII which you cannot ready list in a family report

<hr>Spouses and Children<hr> # @ ( #### &ndash; #### ) {{space{ ::Marriage : # &mdash; # {{showage{ <<tiddler ShowAge with: #/#/#### #/##/####>> }}} 'age at marriage :::Status : ' marriage ending status widow/widower, divorced, etc. :::Seal to Spouse : ::Children : # @ ( #### &ndash; #### ) {{showage{ <<tiddler ShowAge with: #/#/#### #/##/####>> }}} 'age at child's birth }}}

some relatives had more than one marriage and more than 1 child. Let us use as an example a 2g maternal uncle. His 1st marriage produced 3 children, the 2nd produced 4 children. 

So . . . 

person

   spouse.name.1 ' as a link

    marrage.date.1 - marrage.place.1

     child.name.11 'as a link ( child.birth.11 - child.birth11 ) ' two numbers for grouping, current thought

      . . . 

    spouse.name.2

       child.name.21 ( . . . )

       . . . 

spouse.name.1, child.name.21 would be found in the <data>{}</data>

I think I need to know to create the tiddler.data("spouse.name.{1,2,3,etc.}") / tidder.data("child.name.{1,2,4,etch.}") using FET. With that knowledge I could create any report needing that data whether being a full individual report, family report, various narrative reports.

четверг, 9 января 2025 г. в 03:44:51 UTC+3, komet...@gmail.com: