Special Paste Clipboard Filters

In GenScriber version 2.2, external clipboard filters were introduced.
There was a need to expand these filters. So, external clipboard filters were introduced.

The purpose of these external filters is to filter and format data that has an unusual layout. For example, the SSDI records from AmericanAncestors.org.
There are 2 internal filters. TABLE and RECORD, These filter will format standard table and record formats found on web pages and spreadsheet apps etc.

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Details about each filter and how to use them

The TABLE filter will paste from the clipboard multiple records formatted as tabulated data.
The data can be taken from other applications (i.e. excel, openoffice etc.), or from websites that display formatted records in tables.

'Smart Paste' is on by default when pasting. This can be turned off during pasting if required.

When Smart Paste is ON
The clipboard data must contain column titles in the first row.

Column order is not important. Column titles are compared to the existing worksheet, and any columns with matching titles will be used. Other columns will be discarded.

If 'Create New Document' is selected from the Paste dialogue, any column titles found are automatically entered for you.

When Smart Paste is OFF
Data is pasted 'As Is'. Even if column titles do not match. This is useful for cases where there are no column titles.

The RECORD filter will format a single list style record found on several websites.

Example record formatted as a list
FirstName: John
Surname: Hunt
BuriedBy: Joshua Brookes Chaplain
Relationship: son
MotherFirst: Mary
MotherSurname: Hunt
Source: LDS Film 2356998
Parish: Manchester
Church: Cathedral
Register: Burials 1792-1800

The TABLE_FreeCEN filter will correctly format data from FreeCEN search results.

1. Copy your search results table from the web page. (including table titles).
Copy only the table. Take care not to copy any surrounding webpage items.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Choose 'TABLE_FreeCEN' from the 'filter type' pull down list. The search results should now be correctly formatted in the preview table.

4. Click 'Paste' to add the records to your worksheet.

The TABLE_FindMyPast filter will correctly format data from FindMyPast search results.

1. Copy your search results table from the web page. (including table titles).
Copy only the table. Take care not to copy any surrounding webpage items.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Choose 'TABLE_FindMyPast' from the 'filter type' pull down list. The search results should now be correctly formatted in the preview table.

4. Click 'Paste' to add the records to your worksheet.

Filter for SSDI at americanAncestors.org

The SSDI search results at americanancestors.org require considerable editing before they can be used in a spreadsheet. This filter will make it easy to copy/paste SSDI data.

1. Copy your search results from the web page. Be sure to copy only the table data.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Choose 'SSDI_LIST_AmericanAncestors' from the 'filter type' pull down list. The search results should now be correctly formatted in the preview table.

4. Click 'Paste' to add the records to your worksheet.

The 'SSDI_RECORD_GenealogyBank' filter will format a single list style record found on genealogybank.com Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Death Record results.

1. Copy the record from the web page. Be sure to copy only the record data. (Starting 'Name' ending 'Zip Code'.) Do not copy the big title above the record.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Choose 'SSDI_RECORD_GenealogyBank' from the 'filter type' pull down list. The search results should now be correctly formatted in the preview table.

4. Click 'Paste' to add the records to your worksheet.


Example record from GenealogyBank

Name: John G. Hardy
State of Issue: Mississippi
Date of Birth: Monday August 17, 1908
Date of Death: Friday December 13, 2002
Est. Age at Death: 94 years, 3 months, 26 days
Confirmation: Verified
Last known residence:
City: Grenada; Dubard; Futheyville; Geeslin Corner; Hardy; Sunnycrest
County: Grenada
State: Mississippi
ZIP Code: 38901
Latitude: 33.8096
Longitude: -89.8042
Location of Last Benefit Paid:
City: Grenada; Dubard; Futheyville; Geeslin Corner; Hardy; Sunnycrest
County: Grenada
State: Mississippi
ZIP Code: 38901

The 'SSDI_INDEX_GenealogyBank' filter will correctly format data from genealogybank.com/gbnk/ssdi/ search results.

1. Copy your search results table from the web page. (including table titles).
Copy only the table. Take care not to copy any surrounding webpage items.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Choose 'SSDI_INDEX_GenealogyBank' from the 'filter type' pull down list. The search results should now be correctly formatted in the preview table.

4. Click 'Paste' to add the records to your worksheet.

Example GenealogyBank SSDI index

John G. Hardy
Born: 1908 Died: 2002
State of last residence: Mississippi
State issued: Mississippi

Richard Hardy
Born: 1917 Died: 1984
State of last residence: Mississippi
State issued: Mississippi

Ida V. Hardy
Born: 1916 Died: 1995
State of last residence: West Virginia
State issued: West Virginia

Special Paste Clipboard Filters.
There are two preset internal filters. TABLE and RECORD, These will filter standard table and record formats found on web pages and spreadsheet apps etc.

There was a need to expand these filters without having to rebuild GenScriber every time a new filter was needed. So, in version 2.2, external clipboard filters were introduced.

The purpose of these external filters is to filter and format clipboard data that has been copied from a web page. For example, the SSDI records from AmericanAncestors.org.

When a working filter is selected from within genscriber, the data will be displayed correctly in the preview grid. A wrong filter selection will usually just display nothing.

Developer Information
Filters can be programmed in any language capable of creating a command line application that can be called from genscriber.

The external filter application will input the raw data from a file (filter.tmp), filter and format it into a csv format, and set the first row as column titles. The data is then written back to the 'filter.tmp' file.

If the raw data is not suitable for the filter app, the 'filter.tmp' file is saved as empty by the app.

Filter apps are stored in the folder '/include/filters/'.
They may be written in any programming language that can be launched from the command line.
No values are passed to the filter app, and none are returned.
The filenames of the filter apps are used in the 'Special Paste' dropdown filter list, so filenames should be explanatory and must be a reasonable length.

After a filter has run, if the 'filter.tmp' file contains data (> 10 characters), it is assumed that the filtering was successful.

The filter app will do the following…

1. Open and read the raw data from 'filter.tmp'.
2. If data is missing or not suitable for this filter, then save empty 'filter.tmp' and exit.
3. Parse and filter the data as needed.
4. Format as csv (comma separated values, with first row as column titles)
5. Save formatted data to 'filter.tmp' and exit.

An example vb app

Dim sBuf As String
Dim sTempIn As String
Dim sTempOut As String
Dim iFileNum As Integer
Dim sFileName As String
sFileName = "filter.tmp"

'open the 'filter.tmp' file
iFileNum = FreeFile
Open sFileName For Input As iFileNum

' read in the data
Do Until EOF(iFileNum)
  Line Input #iFileNum, sBuf
  sTempIn = sTempIn & sBuf & vbCrLf
Loop
Close iFileNum

'your filter code goes here...
'filter the sTempIn >> sTempOut
'format it as csv
'----------------------------

'Now save formatted data...
iFileNum = FreeFile
Open sFileName For Output As iFileNum
Print #iFileNum, sTempOut
Close iFileNum 

Special Paste Clipboard Filters.
There are two preset internal filters. TABLE and RECORD, These will filter standard table and record formats found on web pages and spreadsheet apps etc.

There was a need to expand these filters without having to rebuild GenScriber every time a new filter was needed. So, in version 2.2, external clipboard filters were introduced.

The purpose of these external filters is to filter and format clipboard data that has been copied from a web page. For example, the SSDI records from AmericanAncestors.org.

When a working filter is selected from within genscriber, the data will be displayed correctly in the preview grid. A wrong filter selection will usually just display nothing.

User Information
1. Select and copy the data from the web page as required by the filter you are using.

2. Click the 'Special Paste' button.

3. Select the filter type from the drop down list. The formatted data should display in the preview grid.

4. Click the 'Paste' button to paste into the worksheet. If a document is not already open, you will usually need to 'Create new Document' before pasting.