Group Queries #namedgroup #colorcoding #rm8 #rm7

In RootsMagic 7 group names are stored in the LabelTable and the group members in GroupTable with group id and RIN. The LabelTypes in the LabelTable are 0 – groups,  and thus it is the label value field that links to the group id in the group table.

Each person can only be in one group and the colour of that group is stored not against the group, but against each person on the person table. So only the last applied colour is valid.

The colour codes are:

Colour IDColour
1red
2lime
3blue
4fuschia
5yellow
6aqua
7silver
8maroon
9green
10navy
11purple
12brown
13teal
14grey

However being RootsMagic there’s a gotcha of course, since the GroupTable doesn’t have the obvious one entry for each person in a group but stores the start and end RIN of clusters of people in the group.
SQLite however can cope with this by using the BETWEEN keyword so we have

WHERE RIN BETWEEN StartNo AND EndNo

which is the tidy readable equivalent of

WHERE (RIN >= StartNo) AND (RIN <= EndNo)

and both methods work perfectly.

So the SQL to list all the people in all the groups is:

with n as 
(Select
         NameTable.OwnerID AS 'RIN1',
         NameTable.Surname COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Surname',
         NameTable.Given COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Given'
FROM NameTable		 
where NameTable.IsPrimary = 1)

Select LabelValue as GroupID, LabelName as GroupName, Description COLLATE RMNOCASE as Description,
n.RIN1 as RIN, n.Surname, n.Given, p.Color
FROM LabelTable l INNER JOIN GroupTable g
ON l.LabelValue = g.GroupID 
INNER JOIN PersonTable p
ON n.RIN1 = p.PersonID
LEFT OUTER JOIN n on n.RIN1 BETWEEN g.StartID AND g.EndId
WHERE LabelType = 0
ORDER BY GroupID, Surname, Given, RIN

For RootsMagic8, the table names and structures have changed a little.

The GroupTable is still the same structure but group numbers have been changed by adding 1000 to the RM7 value. The LabelTable is renamed to the TagTable and LabelID becomes TagID and LabelType becomes TagType. Groups are still TagType 0 but TagType 1 is Research Log names.

So our SQL for RM8 is

with n as 
(Select
         NameTable.OwnerID AS 'RIN1',
         NameTable.Surname COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Surname',
         NameTable.Given COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Given'
FROM NameTable		 
where NameTable.IsPrimary = 1)

Select TagValue as GroupID, TagName as GroupName, Description COLLATE RMNOCASE as Description,
n.RIN1 as RIN, n.Surname, n.Given, p.Color
FROM TagTable l INNER JOIN GroupTable g
ON l.TagValue = g.GroupID 
INNER JOIN PersonTable p
ON n.RIN1 = p.PersonID
LEFT OUTER JOIN n on n.RIN1 BETWEEN g.StartID and g.EndId
WHERE TagType = 0
ORDER BY GroupID, Surname, Given, RIN

Having done this it is quite straightforward to update an existing group from a SQL query. I have two groups that I like to update in this way, the first is all those marked as Living and the second is all those who died before they reached the age of 14 so are unlikely to have descendants. All following code is for RootsMagic 7 and will not work with version 8.

/* Update people in living group */
/* List all living */
With liv as
(Select
         n.OwnerID AS 'OwnerID', g.GroupID
	 FROM NameTable n INNER JOIN PersonTable p
ON n.OwnerID = p.PersonID		 
LEFT OUTER JOIN GroupTable g
ON g.GroupID = 1 -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
AND n.OwnerID BETWEEN g.StartID and g.EndID
where n.IsPrimary = 1 
and p.living=1
)
INSERT INTO GroupTable (GroupID, StartID, EndID) 
  SELECT 1 as GroupID, -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
	liv.OwnerID,liv.OwnerID
	FROM liv
	Where liv.GroupID IS NULL;

Now update the colour by using the same CTE

With liv as
(Select
         n.OwnerID AS 'OwnerID', g.GroupID
	 FROM NameTable n INNER JOIN PersonTable p
ON n.OwnerID = p.PersonID		 
LEFT OUTER JOIN GroupTable g
ON g.GroupID = 1 -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
AND n.OwnerID BETWEEN g.StartID and g.EndID
where n.IsPrimary = 1 
and p.living=1
)
UPDATE PersonTable 
SET p.Color = 2 –- replace the 2 with the desired colour number
WHERE EXISTS (
        SELECT OwnerID
        FROM liv
        WHERE liv.OwnerID = PersonTable.PersonID);

The final WHERE EXISTS construct is required by a quirk of SQLite that it does not have the UPDATE… FROM syntax of standard SQL in the version used by RootsMagic 7. This may change in future.

The similar code for updating the group for those who died before age 14 is

with per as
(Select
         NameTable.OwnerID AS 'OwnerID',
         NameTable.Surname COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Surname',
         NameTable.Given COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Given',
		 NameTable.BirthYear,
		 NameTable.DeathYear,
		 GroupTable.GroupID
FROM NameTable LEFT OUTER JOIN GroupTable
ON GroupTable.GroupID = 1   -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
AND NameTable.OwnerID BETWEEN GroupTable.StartID and GroupTable.EndID	
where NameTable.IsPrimary = 1 and (DeathYear > 0) and (DeathYear - BirthYear) < 14)
INSERT INTO GroupTable (GroupID, StartID, EndID) 
 SELECT 1 as GroupID, -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
per.OwnerID,per.OwnerID
	FROM per
	Where per.GroupID IS NULL;

Now update the colour by using the same CTE

with per as
(Select
         NameTable.OwnerID AS 'OwnerID',
         NameTable.Surname COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Surname',
         NameTable.Given COLLATE NOCASE AS 'Given',
		 NameTable.BirthYear,
		 NameTable.DeathYear,
		 GroupTable.GroupID
FROM NameTable LEFT OUTER JOIN GroupTable
ON GroupTable.GroupID = 1   -- replace the 1 with the correct group id
AND NameTable.OwnerID BETWEEN GroupTable.StartID and GroupTable.EndID	
where NameTable.IsPrimary = 1 and (DeathYear > 0) and (DeathYear - BirthYear) < 14)
UPDATE PersonTable 
SET Color = 2 –- replace the 2 with the desired colour number
WHERE EXISTS (
        SELECT OwnerID
        FROM per
        WHERE per.OwnerID = PersonTable.PersonID);

I use these SQL scripts to ensure that my groups are updated when I have made changes to my databases and they ensure I don’t miss adding people who should be in the groups.

Pat Jones
SQL and Business Intelligence Developer

Common Table Expressions – The Building Blocks of SQL

Common Table Expressions (CTE) are a feature that was first introduced to SQL in about 2005 and provide a method of defining a temporary result set then using that in the query as if it were another table.

Yes, subqueries do the same thing but a CTE can be used repeatedly in the query after it has been declared without further re-declaration whereas a sub-query has to be declared every time it is used. Views could also be created but that involves a physical object within the database being created and remembering to tidy up and delete it later.

The CTE is declared at the start of a query using the WITH construct so I can write:

WITH pers AS
(
Select
         NameTable.OwnerID AS RIN1,
         NameTable.Surname COLLATE NOCASE AS Surname,
         NameTable.Given  COLLATE NOCASE AS Given
FROM NameTable		 
where NameTable.IsPrimary = 1
)

The very first word of the first CTE has to be WITH and this has to be the very start of the query, apart from comments. Then the name of the CTE is declared folowed by AS then its definition in brackets. CTE names are best kept short as they will be used further on in the query. Now I have an item I can use in the rest of my query so that continues:

SELECT 
EventID, 
EventType,
pers.RIN1,
pers.Surname,
pers.Given
FROM EventTable as ev
LEFT OUTER JOIN pers ON
ev.OwnerID = pers.RIN1 
AND ev.OwnerType = 0

so you can see pers is treated as if it were another table or view in the query.

This is just a simple example using a CTE once. A query can contain multiple CTE and once the first has been declared, subsequent CTE are declared by continuing the WITH clause and putting
, ctename AS
(
my cte code
)
rather than another WITH. So I can add another CTE to get both parent details for a family and this can (but does not have to) use the first CTE.

,fam as
(
select FamilyID, RIN1, Surname, Given
from FamilyTable f inner join pers
on f.FatherID = pers.RIN1
where f.FatherID > 0
UNION
select FamilyID, RIN1, Surname, Given
from FamilyTable f inner join pers
on f.MotherID = pers.RIN1
where f.MotherID > 0
)

All this happens before the main query and the main query simply uses those CTE as if they were tables.
So main query could now be

SELECT 
EventID, 
EventType,
f.Name COLLATE NOCASE AS FactType,
ev.OwnerType,
ev.OwnerTypeN, 
case when ev.OwnerType = 1 THEN fam.Surname
	ELSE pers.Surname
	END as Surname,
case when ev.OwnerType = 1 THEN fam.Given
	ELSE pers.Given
	END as Given,
case when ev.OwnerType = 1 THEN fam.RIN1
	ELSE pers.RIN1
	END as RIN1,
ev.Eventdate,
ev.proof,
ev.placeID,
ev.SiteID, 
ev.details
from ev /* join in person where owner type is person */
INNER JOIN FactTypeTable f ON
         e.EventType = f.FactTypeID
LEFT OUTER JOIN pers ON
         ev.OwnerID = pers.RIN1 and ev.OwnerType = 0
/* join in the family persons for owner type = family */
LEFT OUTER JOIN fam ON
         ev.OwnerID = fam.FamilyID and ev.OwnerType = 1
WHERE    ev.EventType <> 35 /* ignore reference numbers */
/* and (ev.Proof = 0) – not proven (remove surrounding comment markers /* and */ to include this restriction)*/
ORDER BY Surname, given, RIN1, eventtype

The overall layout is
WITH a AS (something) , b AS (something else) , c AS (something more) SELECT ……….

Note the left outer join syntax which allows all records from the left hand table to be included even if there is not a matching record on the right hand side. Missing data is set to null values. Inner JOIN and just plain JOIN would leave out records which do not have a match for the person id and an owner type of 0 and in fact the whole query would just mess up.

A good rule for SQL readability is to always fully specify the join type so never use just JOIN but always INNER JOIN or LEFT OUTER JOIN.
There is also a RIGHT OUTER JOIN and a FULL OUTER JOIN but SQLite does not support these constructs.

Another useful implementation of the CTE is to expand out tables in RM that contain dates and fields that need collation changes. The date expansion code is longwinded and distracting from the main query. Putting it in a CTE gets it out of the way, leaving the main query readable.

My full query example attached is a list of facts and their citations, including the owner (person or family). By altering the where clause this can list facts without citations or facts not marked proven (or both).

With the database changes between RM7 and RM8 the CTE is most useful to convert queries written for version 7 to run against a version 8 database. The CitationTable from version 7 has been split into CitationTable and CitationLinkTable in version 8 but using a CTE we can emulate the version 7 structure then just change the table name in the main query.

So we have:

With Cit8 as
(Select c.CitationID, cl.OwnerType, cl.OwnerID, c.SourceID, cl.Quality, cl.IsPrivate, c.Comments, c.ActualText, c.RefNumber, cl.Flags, c.Fields
from CitationTable c INNER JOIN CitationLinkTable cl
ON c.CitationID = cl.CitationID)

then continue with original query but change all occurrences of CitationTable to Cit8
So a simple list of citations with their sources becomes:

With Cit8 as
(Select c.CitationID, cl.OwnerType, cl.OwnerID, c.SourceID, cl.Quality, cl.IsPrivate, c.Comments, c.ActualText, c.RefNumber, cl.Flags, c.Fields

from CitationTable c INNER JOIN CitationLinkTable cl
ON c.CitationID = cl.CitationID)
SELECT * FROM Cit8 LEFT OUTER JOIN SourceTable ON CitationTable.SourceID = SourceTable.SourceID

I have built queries with many CTE to progressively build up data for complex reporting and find it a far more efficient way of coding which can be easily tested level by level.

My query to list facts and their citations is attached in two versions, cte-facts-citations-RM7.sql for RootsMagic version 7 databases
and cte-facts-citations-RM8.sql for RootsMagic version 8 databases.

Further Reading:

This article is aimed at SQL Server but SQLite uses the same syntax.
https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/sql/t-sql-programming/sql-server-cte-basics/

Pat Jones
SQL and Business Intelligence Developer

Comparing #Database Definitions RM8 versus RM7 #datadefinitions

Comparing the CREATE statements for a database file of each version reveals changes to persisting tables in addition to tables deleted and added per First Look at RM8 #Database. This post provides DDL files from RM7.6.5 and the RM8 Preview 7.9.101. The two files can be compared line by line in Notepad++ using the Compare plugin, a screenshot of which is shown below.

By rearranging the order of statements in the two different files to juxtapose tables whose names have changed, the coloured comparison is even more effective. The next screenshot shows how RM7’s LabelTable has been transformed to RM8’s TagTable. RM7’s ResearchItemTable and ResearchTable have been consolidated into RM8’s TaskTable with an indirection via the new TaskLinkTable.

Comparison after rearranging DDL files for improved juxtapositioning of similar statements.

These graphical comparisons help in finding the more subtle changes that may imply things to watch out for. For example, why has SortDate been changed from Integer to BigInt?

First Look at RM8 #Database

More changes than expected with the result that many (most?) of the queries and scripts published on this site won’t work with RM8 databases.

New Tables

CitationLinkTable: was expected to support the announced new feature of master citations.

AncestryTable and FamilySearchTable: replace the former LinkAncestryTable and LinkTable, now gone.

TagTable: looks to have replaced LabelTable, now gone.

TaskTable and TaskLinkTable: appear to have replaced ResearchTable and ResearchItemTable, now gone.

Global Change

Every Table has, as its last column, a new column named UTCModDate, apparently intended to track the date on which a record was added or last changed.

Query to Search Parents by Children’s Given Names #search #family

File above incorporates revision from discussion below to correct the count of children. Tested with #rm7 #rm8 and should be compatible with prior versions. TH 2021-03-03

The following script was developed in response to the discussion Search for family by given names of children (was RM-8)

-- three_childrens_names.sql
-- Jerry Bryan, 22 May 2020
-- This query searches for parents based on given names of their children.
-- It gets a hit when three or more children have any primary or alternate
-- given names that are in a hardwired list. The report lists the parents.

SELECT COUNT(C.ChildID) AS fam_size,
F.FatherID, father.Given, father.Surname, F.MotherID, mother.Given, mother.Surname
FROM ChildTable AS C
JOIN
(SELECT DISTINCT NN.OwnerID
FROM NameTable AS NN
WHERE NN.Given LIKE("%Mary%") OR NN.Given LIKE ("%John%") OR NN.Given LIKE("%Elizabeth%"))
AS N ON N.OwnerID = C.ChildID
JOIN
FamilyTable AS F ON F.FamilyID = C.FamilyID
JOIN
NameTable AS father ON father.OwnerID = F.FatherID
JOIN
NameTable AS mother ON mother.OwnerID = F.MotherID
GROUP BY C.FamilyID
HAVING fam_size >= 3
ORDER BY father.Surname, father.Given, mother.Surname, mother.Given;

Jerry

Aargh! Systemic Error re: GroupID

I've just discovered that I caused a systemic error in several scripts dealing with Groups in relating the LabelTable.LabelID to the GroupTable.GroupID when the latter is actually related to LabelTable.LabelValue. It's of no consequence when groups are consecutively created but not deleted because the LabelID and LabelValue match. The problem arises when a group before the latest created is deleted; the LabelID for a subsequently created group could point to the wrong or a non-existent GroupID.

Over the next while, I will try to find and correct those scripts. A starting point for identifying them would be a site search using both terms "LabelID" and "GroupID".

UPDATE 2020-05-16: not as bad as I feared. The original error was corrected in many but not all scripts in 2011. Here are the exceptions that have been found and are now corrected:

Copy RIN to REFN and embedded script
Copy Fact to Group and CopyFact2Group.sql
Census Needed: Named Group and CensusNeededGroup2.sql

Names – Set Alternate of type Birth to Primary #names #alternatenames #birth

This script does two things:

  1. For those persons having one Alternate Name of type “Birth” and a Primary name of “undefined” type, it sets the Alt name as the Primary name and changes the previous Primary name to an Alternate Name.
  2. For those persons having more than one Name of type “Birth”, it lists the Record Number (RIN) and Surname and Given Names so that the user may resolve the ambiguity down to one so that the script may swap it on the next pass.

If the conclusion is that the current Primary (birth) name is the preferred name, the user may choose to delete the Alternate Name, modify its name type or leave it as is. Either way, the script will not change the Primary to Alternate unless the Primary type is “undefined”.

Sources and media remain attached to the name, whatever its Primary/Alternate state is. However, until RM8, those attached to the Primary Name are essentially inaccessible and unusable (see Citations Invisible – Reveal and Revert).

Download

Names-Swap_AltBirth_to_Primary.sql

 

Combining the contents of 2 queries on the same file

I am having trouble setting up this query.

I want the results of the first query to merge/join/union with the second query where the ownerid from the first query equals the ownerid from the second query. The bold line should not be part of the query. I put it in to get the records from the second that equal the ownerid from the first query.

Select n1.ownerid, n1.surname, n1.given, n1.nametype, n1.prefix, n1.isprimary

from nametable n1

where n1.nametype = 1

and n1.isprimary = 0

order by surname, given

I get the results in Pic 1

select n2.ownerid, n2.surname, n2.given, n2.nametype, n2.prefix, n2.isprimary

from nametable n2

where n2.nametype = 0

and n2.isprimary = 1

and ownerid in(10518, 10519, 11626, 11976, 3536, 11805, 10773, 11655, 16605, 11802, 255, 129, 130, 15721, 9046, 11495, 11531)

order by surname, given

I get the results in Pic 2

I want the results of query 1 to be combined with the results of query 2 where the ownerids from the first query are only the ownerids of the second query.

So I get something like Pic 3