Gedcom parser in Genes

- -

The intention of this page is to provide some explanation - of the gedcom parser, to aid development on and with it. Currently, - the parser is in a state that it works, but some parts are still missing, - notably the interface towards applications. First, some practical issues - of testing with the parser will be explained.
-
- -

Basic testing
-

- The parser is located in the "gedcom" subdirectory of the Genes source -code. You should be able to perform a basic test using the commands:
- -

make clean - make - make test
-

- If everything goes OK, you'll see that some gedcom files are parsed, and - that each parse is successful. Note that the used gedcom files are -made by Heiner Eichmann - and are an excellent way to test gedcom parsers thoroughly.
-
- -

Preparing for further testing

- The basic testing described above doesn't show anything else than "Parse - succeeded", which is nice, but not very interesting. Some more detailed - tests are possible, via the gedcom-parse program that is generated - by make test.
-
- However, since the output that gedcom-parse generates is -in UTF-8 format (more on this later), some preparation is necessary to have -a full view on it. Basically, you need a terminal that understands and -can display UTF-8 encoded characters, and you need to proper fonts installed - to display them. I'll give some advice on this here, based on the Red - Hat 7.1 distribution that I use, with glibc 2.2 and XFree86 4.0.x. Any - other distribution that has the same or newer versions for these components - should give the same results.
-
- For the first issue, the UTF-8 capable terminal, the safest bet is to -use xterm in its unicode mode (which is supported by the - xterm coming with XFree86 4.0.x). UTF-8 capabilities -have only recently been added to gnome-terminal, so probably -that is not in your distribution yet (it certainly isn't in Red Hat 7.1).
-
- For the second issue, you'll need the ISO 10646-1 fonts. These come - also with XFree86 4.0.x.
-
- The way to start xterm in unicode mode is then e.g. (put -everything on 1 line !):
- -

LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 xterm -bg 'black' -fg 'DarkGrey' -cm - -fn '-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-SemiCondensed--13-120-75-75-C-60-ISO10646-1'
-

- This first sets the LANG variable to a locale that uses - UTF-8, and then starts xterm with a proper Unicode font. Some - sample UTF-8 plain text files can be found - here - . Just cat them on the command line and see the result.
+ +

The Gedcom parser library

+ +

The intention of this page is to provide some explanation + of the gedcom parser, to aid development on and with it. First, some +practical issues of testing with the parser will be explained.

-

Testing the parser with debugging

- Given the UTF-8 capable terminal, you can now let the gedcom-parse - program print the values that it parses. An example of a command -line is (in the gedcom directory):
+

Basic testing
+

+ You should be able to perform a basic test using the commands:
-

./gedcom_parse -dg t/ulhc.ged
+
./configure + make + make check

- The -dg option instructs the parser to show its own debug -messages (see ./gedcom_parse -h for the full set of options). - If everything is OK, you'll see the values from the gedcom file, containing -a lot of special characters.
+ If everything goes OK, you'll see that some gedcom files are parsed, + and that each parse is successful. Note that the used gedcom files + are made by Heiner + Eichmann and are an excellent way to test gedcom parsers thoroughly.

- For the ANSEL test file (t/ansel.ged), you have to set the -environment variable GCONV_PATH to the ansel subdirectory -of the gedcom directory:
- -
export GCONV_PATH=./ansel - ./gedcom_parse -dg t/ansel.ged -
- This is because for the ANSEL character set an extra module is needed for - the iconv library (more on this later). But again, this should show - a lot of special characters.
+ +
Preparing for further testing
+ The basic testing described above doesn't show anything else than +"Parse succeeded", which is nice, but not very interesting. Some +more detailed tests are possible, via the testgedcom program +that is generated by make test.
+
+ However, since the output that testgedcom generates is + in UTF-8 format (more on this later), some preparation is necessary to +have a full view on it. Basically, you need a terminal that understands + and can display UTF-8 encoded characters, and you need to proper fonts installed + to display them. I'll give some advice on this here, based on the + Red Hat 7.1 distribution that I use, with glibc 2.2 and XFree86 4.0.x. Any + other distribution that has the same or newer versions for these components + should give the same results.
+
+ For the first issue, the UTF-8 capable terminal, the safest bet is +to use xterm in its unicode mode (which is supported by the + xterm coming with XFree86 4.0.x). UTF-8 capabilities + have only recently been added to gnome-terminal, so probably + that is not in your distribution yet (it certainly isn't in Red Hat 7.1).
+
+ For the second issue, you'll need the ISO 10646-1 fonts. These + come also with XFree86 4.0.x.
+
+ The way to start xterm in unicode mode is then e.g. (put + everything on 1 line !):
+ +
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 xterm -bg 'black' -fg 'DarkGrey' -cm + -fn '-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-SemiCondensed--13-120-75-75-C-60-ISO10646-1'
+
+ This first sets the LANG variable to a locale that + uses UTF-8, and then starts xterm with a proper Unicode font. + Some sample UTF-8 plain text files can be found + here . Just cat them on the command line +and see the result.

- -
Testing the lexers separately
- The lexers themselves can be tested separately. For the 1-byte lexer - (i.e. supporting the encodings with 1 byte per characters, such as ASCII, - ANSI and ANSEL), the sequence of commands would be:
- -
make clean - make test_1byte - cat t/allged.ged | ./test_1byte
+ +
Testing the parser with debugging
+ Given the UTF-8 capable terminal, you can now let the testgedcom + program print the values that it parses. An example of a command + line is (in the gedcom directory):
+ +
./testgedcom -dg t/ulhc.ged

- This will show all tokens in the t/allged.ged test file. With - the lexers you have to make sure that you use the proper lexer for each -test file. The test_1byte test program is OK for -allged.ged and ansel.ged (the last one again with the -environment variable set); for the uhl*.ged files you need -the test_hilo test program; for the ulh*.ged -files you need the test_lohi program.
-
- This concludes the testing setup. Now for some explanations...
+ The -dg option instructs the parser to show its own debug + messages (see ./testgedcom -h for the full set of options). + If everything is OK, you'll see the values from the gedcom file, containing + a lot of special characters.

- + For the ANSEL test file (t/ansel.ged), you have to set +the environment variable GCONV_PATH to the ansel + subdirectory of the gedcom directory:
+ +
export GCONV_PATH=./ansel + ./testgedcom -dg t/ansel.ged +
+ This is because for the ANSEL character set an extra module is needed + for the iconv library (more on this later). But again, this should + show a lot of special characters.
+
+ +
Testing the lexers separately
+ The lexers themselves can be tested separately. For the 1-byte + lexer (i.e. supporting the encodings with 1 byte per characters, such +as ASCII, ANSI and ANSEL), the sequence of commands would be:
+ +
make clean + make test_1byte +
+ This will show all tokens in the t/allged.ged test file. Similar + tests can be done using make test_hilo and make test_lohi + (for the unicode lexers).
+
+ This concludes the testing setup. Now for some explanations...
+
+
Structure of the parser
- I see the structure of a program using the gedcom parser as follows:
-
- -
-
-
- TO BE COMPLETED...
+ I see the structure of a program using the gedcom parser as follows:
+
+ +
+
+
+ TO BE COMPLETED...
+ +
+
$Id$
$Name$
-

- +

Gedcom parser in Genes

Basic testing -

Preparing for further testing

The Gedcom parser library

Testing the parser with debugging

Basic testing +

Preparing for further testing

Testing the lexers separately

Testing the parser with debugging

Testing the lexers separately

Structure of the parser

Basic testing
-

Basic testing
+