Modifying Options Settings

GEDCOM Viewer has a number of options that can be changed to modify its behavior. These options can be accessed via the items in the Options menu. When GEDCOM Viewer starts, options settings are loaded automatically from the file default.ini in the installation folder. When GEDCOM Viewer terminates normally, for example via the Quit item on the File menu, the current options settings are written to the default.ini file. In addition, it is possible to save the current options settings to a file that you specify using the Save options item of the Options menu. Only the values of options variables that have been changed from their default values are actually saved to this file. Options that were previously saved to a file can be loaded into GEDCOM Viewer using the Load options item of the Options menu.

Selecting the Edit options item opens the Options Editor screen. On the left-hand side of this screen is a scrollable list of option variables. Clicking on one of these variables causes information about that variable to be displayed on the right-hand side of the screen. A description of the option variable and its possible settings are shown in the "Description" field. Each option variable has a type, which is displayed in the "Type" field. The current value of the variable is shown in the "Value" field. The "Status" field indicates whether the variable is set to its default value or whether it has been changed from the default. To change the value of the displayed option variable, enter the new value in the "Value" field and press ENTER. The "Status" field should then display "changed", indicating that the value has been changed from the default.

New option variables can be created using the Add button. Option variables you add will be saved to and restored from options files just as the predefined option variables are. In the current version of GEDCOM Viewer there is little point in creating new option variables, because the program has no provision for using them. This may change in later versions. You can also delete the displayed option variable by clicking on Delete. The selected option variable will be removed from the list of available options. Note that although you can permanently remove a new option variable that you have created, it is not possible to permanently remove a predefined option variable -- the next time the program is started any predefined option variables that were previously deleted are restored and revert to their default values.

The precise set of option variables that are predefined in GEDCOM Viewer will vary, depending whether you have any add-ons installed. The basic program has a certain set of predefined option variables to configure its behavior. These variables may also affect the behavior of add-ons. In addition, each add-on will in general include other predefined option variables specific to the functionality of that add-on. If you have previously installed an add-on, changed the value of one of the option variables from its default, and then update to a new version of GEDCOM Viewer, that option variable and its setting will persist even if you do not install the same add-on in the new version. If the option variable is no longer desired, it can be removed using the Delete button in the Options Editor. Once the options have been saved, the variable will remain deleted unless the add-on that defines it is reinstalled, in which case the variable will reappear with its default value.

The option variable LANGUAGE controls the human language that is used in generating the text labels that are used in the formatted information display. In addition, the setting of this variable affects the formatting of dates in the information display. It also affects the collating sequence used in constructing the surname and individual index displays, which may in turn affect the order in which the names are presented in those displays. The Set language item of the Options menu provides an alternative way of setting this variable. When this item is selected, a list of the supported languages is presented. Choosing one of the languages immediately updates the displayed information accordingly. For large GEDCOM files there may be a short delay while the list of individuals is resorted according to the new collating sequence.