Upload a new GEDCOM: can't convert from ANSEL to UTF-8

[Chris Guirl]

Steps to reproduce:
go to FamilySearch.org
download a record
in webtrees, go to GEDCOM administration
under Upload a new GEDCOM select a file
a new GEDCOM is created above and shows this error:

Loading data from GEDCOM: 0.0%
Error: cannot convert GEDCOM file from ANSEL encoding to UTF-8 encoding.

Looking at the logs, I do not see any new errors, just a lot of entries where the new GEDCOM is getting setup.

Steps to work around:
run LifeLines, create a new database
u [utilities], R [read from file], select the file downloaded from FamilySearch.org
LifeLines says: Cannot convert codeset (from <ANSEL> to <UTF-8>) Enter codeset to assume (* for none)
enter *
u, s [save to file], enter new filename
repeat the steps to reproduce the bug above, except use the new file

[kiwi (kiwi3685-deactivatedaccount)]

See the ReadMe file, and the WIKI:

http://wiki.webtrees.net/GEDCOM_%28family_tree%29_FILES

"ANSEL - currently will not import. Gives warning Error: cannot convert GEDCOM file from ANSEL encoding to UTF-8 encoding. Later releases of webtrees may include translation from ANSEL to UTF8, but this is not a simple process."

So yes, a bug of sorts, but a known one (hence the error message), that is not high on the list of To-Do's, so I'll mark this as "wishlist".

[Chris Guirl (thelusiv-gmail)]

Ah, I hadn't read that, thanks. I think the error message is misleading. It is worded as if it tried to convert from ANSEL but failed. I think it should say that this is not yet supported.

[kiwi (kiwi3685-deactivatedaccount)]

A fair comment - I'll change it, but will leave the status of this "bug" as it is, so we can look into adding the ability in the future.

[fisharebest (fisharebest)]

FYI, I have already written a MySQL stored procedure which converts ANSEL to UTF-8.

The importer just needs to call it.

The only reason it wasn't included in the webtrees 1.0 release is that I am concerned that some hosts may restrict the ability to create stored procedures.

[Andrew Amos (andrew-amos)]

You could also suggest that people delete the line:

1 CHAR ANSEL

from the .GED file, as that may fix the problem (if they have already saved the file in some other format).