Overview

Multiple Relationship Charts are User Items that produce charts that are similar to traditional descendant charts where lines of descent are arranged in rows and columns. The chart starts with a progenitor and proceeds down through generations of descendants. Unlike a descendant chart, however, the user specifies one or more descendants in addition to the progenitor, and the chart is constrained to the lines of descent between the progenitor and those descendants. This makes the chart far more sparse than a typical descendant chart.

In the Multiple Relationship Chart, the progenitor is called the MRCA, the most recent common ancestor. The progenitor must be an ancestor that is shared by all the descendants, but it is not necessary to make the person the most recent common ancestor; any common ancestor will work.

Windows

Two windows are part of the user interface for the Multiple Relationship Chart.

  1. The Edit Multiple Relationship Chart window is the main window users see when they edit a Multiple Relationship Chart. It contains the properties that apply to the chart including the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) and a list of the descendants of interest.
  2. The Edit Member window is a sub-window of the Edit Multiple Relationship Chart window. It is used to add descendants to the chart.

Edit Multiple Relationship Chart

The Edit Multiple Relationship Chart window controls the properties of a Multiple Relationship Chart.

Shared Properties

Second Site uses many of the same properties for all the different chart types. If you do not see a property explained here, look for it on the Chart Properties page.

Chart colors are determined by the Theme but can be changed by the user via the properties in the Stylesheets.Theme.Chart section. Other stylesheet options are controlled via the chart-related styles in the Stylesheet.System section.

MRCA ID

Enter the TMG ID number of the most recent common ancestor in the MRCA ID property.

Descendants

Use the Descendants list to manage the descendants included in the chart.

  • Use the [Add...] button to add a descendant to the list.
  • Use the [Edit...] button to edit an entry.
  • Use the [Delete] button to delete an entry.
  • Use the [Up Arrow] to move an entry up in the list.
  • Use the [Down Arrow] to move an entry down in the list.

The sequence of the descendant entries influences the appearance of the chart. Second Site will attempt to honor the sequence of the descendants, with entries near the top of the list appearing above (top-to-bottom) or to the left (left-to-right) of entries near the bottom of the list. Second Site will re-sequence descendants on the chart to accommodate shared ancestors. So, for example, if the user specifies a set of descendents in the sequence 1-2-3, but descendants 1 and 3 share more common ancestors than descendants 1 and 2, the output sequence will be 1-3-2.

Direction

The Direction property on the Boxes Tab controls whether generations increase by row or by column. The choices are "Top to Bottom", where generations increase by row, and "Left to Right", where generations increase by column. The default is "Top to Bottom".

Optimize Space

The Optimize Space property on the Boxes Tab controls whether or not all the generations are shown in a line of descent. If Optimize Space is set to "No optimization", all the generations are included. If Optimize Space is set to "Some optimization" or "More optimization" (which are treated the same for this chart), Second Site will remove people who can be ignored for the purposes of analyzing the DNA evidence. When optimizing:

  • The MRCA is always retained, as are the descendants who were specifically identified by the user.
  • Parents who have more than one child in the chart are always retained, as are all of those children.

When generations are removed during optimization, Second Site displays the number of skipped generations in the chart.

On This Page

See also: