Headers

Identifying Data To FreeREG

Once parish data has been transcribed and formatted as a CSV file one additional step is required before submitting it to FreeREG. This is the step of adding "Header" information so that FreeREG can understand the data and who provided it. The HEADER is a group of 4 lines/records that are added at the start of a file before the first actual data record.

The first line has up to 10 data fields, 5 of which are mandatory.

+INFO,email@address,password,filetype,recordtype,chset

The first data field MUST be +INFO. The second data field is the e-mail address of the submitter. The third data field is a password that may be required in the future; at the present time simply use password for this field. The fourth data field is the nature of the data records. For FreeREG this must be SEQUENCED. The Fifth data field is the type of register information being submitted. It can be one of BAPTISMS, MARRIAGES, BURIALS.The sixth data field identifies the character set used in the file. If you used a windows application such as Excel to create the file then you may leave this field blank. If you used a DOS application such as SpeedREG then use one of cp437, cp850, cp852 for this field. (Type MODE to find out which one). Macintosh users should enter the word macintosh into the chset field. Others chset options can be identified by contacting the project manager.

The second line must be at least 6 data fields long, but no more than 10 data fields long and is used to identify the submitter.

#,CCC,submitter name,submitter county,transcribed filename,transcribed date

The first data field must be #. The second data field should be CCC. The third data field is the submitter's name. The forth data field is the group with which the sumitter is working. The fifth data field is the file name of the transcribed file. The file name must consist of: [three letter Chapman code for the county][a three letter placename code assigned by the person uploading the file][BA|BU|MA][part number, if any].CSV. The file name should be all upper case. ( The sixth data field contains the date of transcription (dd-mon-yyyy)

The third line must be 4 data fields long and is used to provide credit information for others involved in the transcription of the file.

#,Credit,Credit Name,Credit Email

The first data field must be #. The second data field should be CREDIT. The third data field is the submitter's name.The fourth data field is the submitter's e-mail address.

The fourth line must be between 1 and 10 data fields long. It is primarily for comments on the file.

#,modification date,comments1,comments2

The first data field must be #. The second data field should be the date the file was modified. The third and any other data fields are any comments the submitter wishes to make about the file.

Example

+INFO,kirk.dawson@shaw.ca,password,SEQUENCED,BAPTISMS,,
#,CCC,Kirk Dawson,Norfolk,NFKHHABA.CSV,05-Feb-2006
#,Credit,Bonnie Ostler,me@home.ca #,05-Feb-2006,data taken from computer records and converted using Excel

Adding the Headers

The easiest way of adding the Headers to the data file is as follows. Open the file with a simple text editor such as Microsoft Notepad. Type in the header text as the first four lines. Save the file using the same name that was included in the fifth field of the second line of the header.
You are now ready to upload the file to FreeREG.

WARNING

Do NOT attempt to add the header information in a spreadsheet processor such as Microsoft Excel as it will NOT process the first line correctly.

Last update
2 March 2008/DKD