The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding 5.1.0 (beta)

There is a new beta release of The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG) available to current users. TNG is an online genealogy application utilizing PHP and a database (MySQL for instance) to allow families to collaborate on genealogy research and viewing (the data can be updated in realtime, without having to upload anything – this is a true genealogy applications). NOTE: This is only to be installed as an upgrade from 5.0.9. The developer refers to it as a “beta” because the new “printer friendly” feature won’t work in some content management systems (CMSes). To download this beta, please refer to the email you should have received.

In addition to the new “printer friendly” feature, a file/script was added to make it easy for site owners to use meta tags to block crawlers from crawling various pages. Protection was added against injection attacks. Some LDS Temple Ordinance options were added. Custom events’ details can contain more data. GENDEX functionality has been restored, however the developers notes that he is coming up with his own GENDEX alternative (it will be a seperate utility, with its own domain). He has collected and categorized more than 300 suggestions, and is going to work on implementing them over the next year.

Full List of Updates:

  • Each public page now contains a “Print” option, which will allow for better printing by displaying the same page without the custom header and footer.
  • New file tngrobots.php was added to allow site owners to use meta tags to block crawlers for various TNG pages.
  • Forms that send e-mail were secured against injection attacks (but check on HTTP_REFERER that was in emergency patch
    has been removed).
  • If an admin user is allowed to see LDS information, the admin GEDCOM export feature will now offer a “TempleReady” option. Selecting that option will only export those individuals who need and are eligible for LDS temple ordinances.
  • Parentheses were added to queries across multiple tables to ensure correct grouping (necessary for MySQL 5.x).
  • Manually-entered detail for custom events may now contain multiple lines.
  • Confirmation is now required before restoring any one table.
  • The possibility existed (especially with “entangled” relationships) that the same people could be listed multiple
    times in one generation on the Ahnentafel report (fixed).
  • Links on the RSS page to histories created by pasting text into Admin/Histories were not correct (fixed).
  • In most cases, the “Last Import Date” was not showing on the What’s New page (fixed).
  • Some sources were showing up more than once on the individual page (fixed).
  • Random photoblock code now excludes documents.
  • On individual headstone pages, the name of the cemetery is now a link to that cemetery’s page (showmap.php).
  • E-mail sent by the Suggest/Contact Us page is now sent in the default language.
  • If death date of an individual was earlier than the birth date, the life span 365 days too high (fixed).
  • Photos where not shown on the individual page if “Show Names for Living” was set to “never”, even if the user was logged in. (fixed).
  • Multiple families could not be deleted at once (fixed).
  • When searching within a specific tree, the tree ID (instead of the tree name) was being displayed at the top of the results page (fixed).
  • A few lingering “short open tags” were removed from the Admin/Users page.
  • Omitting the e-mail address on the New User Registration form would cause the new user to be told that the username they entered already existed (fixed).
  • Several small HTML validation errors were fixed
  • Photos linked to sources that in turn were linked to living families were being displayed for all visitors (fixed).
  • Deleting an event would not delete any associated notes (fixed).
  • Diagnostics screen will no longer indicate a problem if you are using IIS or if the posix user ID does not match the user ID reported by PHP.
  • A date of “Y” will now trigger the message “Yes, date unknown”.
  • The import was replacing “@@” (used by some programs to “escape” the @ sign) with “/@/” instead of “@” (fixed).
  •  GENDEX functionality has been restored, in anticipation of a new GENDEX-compatible utility sponsored by TNG.

Developer’s Notes:

  • Robots. This release includes the new file “tngrobots.php”, which attempts to restrict crawler activity by using meta tags to tell the crawlers which pages to index and which pages to avoid. I have put much thought into this and have listened to many suggestions as to how to work this. Many of you may decide to tweak it a little, and that’s fine. If any of you feels strongly about your tweaks, I’d love to hear it.
  • GENDEX. No, it’s not coming back, but as I’ve mentioned before, I have been developing my own GENDEX alternative, and I’m about ready to launch that. Because of that, I have restored the GENDEX functionality that was removed in 5.0. To utilize this feature now, you will need to go to your General Settings and indicate a GENDEX folder. You’ll then need to create that folder and make it writeable. Next, go to Admin/Secondary Processes and create a GENDEX for one or more trees. Finally, go to http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net and register your GENDEX file there. Please take note that this link is only temporary. When I launch this utility for real, it will have its own domain.
  • And finally, come the beginning of the year I will start work in earnest toward adding many of the new features all of you have suggested. It will take me a while, however, as I have now collected and categorized more than 300 suggestions–and those are just the good ones!