WMGS

This page is an information page for those helping in the transcription of the Veterans Home Records. For this project we are using a "stand alone" database prepared in FileMaker Pro for the data input. It is hoped that this will help with more consistent data entry, making checking and compiling easier. The screen you will use is shown below.

The software for both Macintosh and Windows 95/98 users can be downloaded from the links below.

In both cases the download is a self extracting archive that can be expanded on your computer without the use of any other software. When the file has been downloaded double click it to expand it. Once installed, you will end up with a folder called Veterans Data Entry on your computer.

(NOTE - this can't be run using Windows 3.1 without the use of additional software required to be installed into the Windows software which I'm not prepared to be involved in).

Macintosh users will see

To open the database ready for data entry double click either of the files in the folder. The screen shown below will appear.

Windows users will see

Depending on various settings made in Windows on your computer you may see other files, but these two are the important files.

To open the database ready for data entry, double click the file called "Double Click Data Entry". If you double click the file called Veterans, you will get a dialog asking you to choose a program to associate with .usr files, and once "Double Click Data Entry" is chosen, future database projects will also try to run in this, which won't necessarily be correct.

For both Macintosh and Windows users, the data you enter is stored in the file called "Veterans". This is the file that must be returned to me (preferably by eMail) when you are done transcribing.

NOTE!!!!!! do NOT send me the file called "VeteransDataEntry.exe". This is NOT the file with the data in it, but is the file you originally downloaded that expanded to the above window.

The file with the data in it is "Veterans" (or "Veterans.USR" if your computer is set to show the extension on the name) from inside the folder shown above.

Data Entry Screen

The Windows screen is similar to this, the only difference being that the 4th line from bottom says "Press Control N to enter the next record."

Most of the required information is shown right on the screen. The 3 fields that have * beside them MUST have data entered into them from the photocopied records you are transcribing. If you leave them blank an alert will appear on screen before you can move to the next record.

Please use "Sentence Case" for both the Surname and the First Name - ie first letter capitalised. Please do NOT use ALL CAPS for the Surname.

If the records you are transcribing have complete death dates on them, they must be entered in the form m/d/yyyy where

m = month number - 1 for January, 2 for February, 8 for August, 12 for December, etc
d = day number - from 1 to 31
yyyy = year in 4 digit form.

The database will check for a valid date, and put up a warning dialog if you do NOT enter a valid date.

Use the appropriate link here to download the file:

Mac users Click Here

Windows 95/98 users Click Here

If you have any questions about the data entry aspects of this, please contact me by eMail