Meaningful filenames
After thinking about the limits to how we can structure our files and folder (see Portable_Filenames) the next step is developing a semantic controlled vocabulary.
Before launching too deep into this lets look at what we want to achieve.
- Understandable filenames
- Computer readable filenames
- A system simple enough to remember
To be understandable we need to be able to use full words where appropriate.
To be computer readable we need to seperate the parts in a way which a script can easily recognise and, more importantly, in a way which would never occur in real language. So it would be no good to mark a name section with the word name if we also can use the word name somewhere in the file where it is not meant to be a marker.
To be simple enough to remember the system should not be too complicated, after all GRAMPS is meant to store the real information, this is just a supplement.
What name-parts do we need?
It would be nice if we could have files called
Marriage of Mary Angus Jones and Matthew Williams, 2nd Dec 1923 (William Angus is to Mary's right).jpg
But this meets only one of the criteria above, that of understandable filenames. How can a computer know who got married? what their surnames are? and so on. And anyway because of the limitations of Portable_Filenames we can't have file names like that. We have to drop the reliance on capitalisation, drop the spaces, drop the comma and drop the brackets. To be computer readable we need to separate the sections with a system of markers to indicate where the surname, event name etc are.
So what sections do we want to be able to identify? Here's a basic list that should be enough for most situation, remember that GRAMPS stores the more complex information, we're just trying to give a useful structure to our files.
- Surname
- Firstname
- Date
- Event type
- Place
- Source
- Note
Contents
GEDCOM based
Here is a proposed system contributed by Duncan Lithgow.
Each marker ends with two hyphens (--). Two because we can't rely on the marker being recognised as capitalised, so a surname like Besour-Jean could be mistaken for beSOUR-Jean and the system thinks that SOUR- marks a source section.
| Marker | Meaning | Example value | GRAMPS XML equivalent | GEDCOM equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAC-- | place marker | london__england | ? | ? |
| INDV-- | individual marker | mary_jones | ? | ? |
| EVNT-- | event marker | marriage | ? | ? |
| DATE-- | date marker | 2008-12-31 | ? | ? |
| SOUR-- | source marker | lds_church_website | ? | ? |
| SURN-- | family name marker | jones | ? | ? |
| FIRS-- | first name marker | mary | ? | ? |
| NOTE-- | note marker | is_that_marys_father_beside_her | ? | ? |
In order for the file name to be parsed as meaningful text I think some we also would need
| Marker | Description | Example | Rendering |
|---|---|---|---|
| _ | space indicator | mary_jones | mary jones |
| __ | comma followed by space indicator | jones__mary | jones, mary |
Examples
Image file
Filename
EVNT--marriage_SURN--jones_FIRS--mary-jean_SURN--williams_FIRS--matthew_DATE--1923-12-02_NOTE--william_angus_to_right_of_mary.jpg
This could be parsed (by GRAMPS?) as the description:
Event: Marriage Surname: Jones Firstname: Mary-jean Surname: Williams Firstname: Matthew Date: 2nd Jan, 1923 Note: William angus to the right of mary
or it could make the text:
Mary-jean Jones and Matthew Williams, marriage 2nd Jan 1923. (William angus to the right of mary)
Source text
File name
SOUR--uk_census_EVNT--census_PLAC--london__england_DATE--1840-03-21_SURN--jones_FIRS--mary-jean.pdf
This could be parsed (by GRAMPS?) as the description:
Source: Uk census Place: London, england Date: 21st March, 1840 Surname: Jones Firstname: Mary-jean
or it could make the text:
Uk census, Place: London, england, on 21st March 1840. This is a source connected to Mary-jean Jones
GRAMPS ID based
This is another attempt by Duncan Lithgow to find a good system.
GRAMPS ID's use the first character to denote the type of item the ID refers to. This could be converted to work in filenames.
| Marker | Description | GRAMPS ID equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| P-- | place | P |
| I-- | individual | I |
| F-- | family | F |
| E-- | event | E |
| S-- | source | S |
| O-- | media object | O |
| R-- | repository | R |
| N-- | note | N |
Extending this idea a bit with some more markers for firstname (FN--) and surname (SN--) we could get a filename like:
E--marriage_SN--jones_FN--mary_angus_SN--williams_FN--matthew_DT--1923-12-02_N--william_angus_to_right_of_mary.jpg
This can store the same information as in the GEDCOM based schema.