Citation ‘Uses’ and Duplicates #rm8 #citations #duplicates

RootsMagic 8 introduced indirection between citation data (text fields) and the fact to which a citation is attached, In RM7, the citation data and linkage was combined in the CitationTable. To use the same citation data for more than one fact meant that it had to be replicated in another record, making revisions to the data repetitious and onerous. RM8 adds the CitationLinkTable which allows one set of citation data to be linked to or ‘used’ by multiple facts. The one set of citation data then becomes a ‘master’ citation whose edits then carry through to all ‘uses’ of it, just as revisions to a Master Source affect all citations of it in all versions of RM. This is an example of improved database normalisation.

Concomitant with this change is an added feature “Merge All Duplicate Citations” whose effect is to replace all records in the CitationTable having the same Master Source and matching text fields (Citation Details) with one record linked via the CitationLinkTable to all the facts that its duplicates were previously attached. RM7 has no equivalent.

However, as of RM8 Preview 7.9.310, “Merge All Duplicate Citations” can result in duplicate ‘uses’ of the merged or master citation where there were previously duplicate but independent citations linked to the same fact. Outputs, such as reports, will still show duplicate footnotes for the fact. In this case, “Merge All Duplicate Citations” fails to deliver the desired (and logically expected) result. The problem was raised and illustrated with screenshots in a 2021-07-19 post by Tom Holden to the RootsMagic 8 Community Preview Users facebook Group.

At the time of writing, there is no provision in RM8 to automatically or manually delete duplicate uses of citation. The following SQL script does the job and shows that it should be a pretty trivial addition to “Merge All Duplicate Citations” requiring no change to the User Interface.

6 Replies to “Citation ‘Uses’ and Duplicates #rm8 #citations #duplicates

    • This script deletes citations that are duplicated for the same person, couple and their events. It does not resolve duplicate people with different RINs but what you see as duplicate parental or spousal relationships between the same RINs is caused by duplicate links. You would need to remove the duplicate links. RM has the Unlink command to do that, one at a time. I don’t know if it is practical to use a batch process; it is not hard to invent one.

  1. Thanks. Most of the RINs are the same. I have about 1000 duplicate links and was hoping to be able to do a batch process.
    I am brand new to SQL. I will do some research on how to use it.

    • You have to Subscribe to the Forum in addition to registering and logging into the website. Open the Chit-chat section (it’s the only one) and click on “New Topic” to start a new subject. That will open the message editor.

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