Can you use Field Name tags in Biographies?

Question

Can you use the Field Names from the profile to display information in the Biography?  I am working on my own Biography template of sorts.  Just some text I can copy and paste to new profiles.  I envision something like this:

[Proper First Name] [Last Name at Birth] was born on [Birth Date] in [Birth Place] .....

This would be a starting point for me to fill in a more complete Bio but the basics would just be there for me to add to.  I have found all sorts of ways to link to external links, to other profiles, to just about everything but not a way to actually pull in data from the profile I am working on.  Thanks.

BTW if I type in exactly what I have above is displays exactly like it is above:)

Answer 1

It can be done, the template that populates new profile pages does it. If you enter a new profile you get something like what you want if you leave the bio section empty.

To make your own you would need to know the field names to start with, and they may only be available on the add person pages. I am not sure the Bio wiki can read field names even if you knew them.

I like your idea but since Chris updated the profile creation template this week I am not sure if it is needed.

Comments

We could do a widget with all sorts of copy-and-paste recommendations.

It could have pre-formatted text for use in biographies.

It could have a citation for linking to the profile from elsewhere.

I'll whip something up when I get a chance, and then post to see if people have ideas for what else to add.

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Sweet! What I like about this is that (I'm assuming) if a correction is made to the date field, it would update the narrative text, too. Mmm... I bet that's not necessarily true, though.

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Hi Jillaine. What I mention here wouldn't be using true variables like Kim is asking for. It would just be making use of them once, for copy and paste purposes. Once they're back in the bio they'd be text.

Answer 2

I'm really hanging for an answer on this one as it would be such a time saver.  Is it possible?

Comments

Curious, Rhonda, how would this be a time saver?

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My Gedcom was uploaded before the current styling was introduced and I am still working my way through them to clean them up.  If there was a template that could be used to extract the data and then just add sources it would save a lot of time.  And I am sure that a lot of people could benefit as well, and it might encourage them to tidy profiles up (in my opinion).

For example, to be able to use the following field's to build the bio's would be wonferful.
(Field Profile ID) was born on (field DOB), at (field POB). (field profile ID) is the (field sex) of (field father ID) and (field mother ID).

And yes, importing existing gedcoms it is created for you, but to be able to apply to old profiles, time saving!

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Rhonda, sounds like we're on the same page; I was suggesting the same:

http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/172512/more-display-templates-pulling-profile-info-into-biographies