GenoPro - Introduction

This page explains the basic steps to create your genealogy tree using GenoPro.

Adding Members

To get started, let's introduce the most common toolbar buttons to build your family tree.  To add individuals to your tree, use a short-cut key, such as the letter F, P, S, D, or right-click with the mouse button and select the equivalent command in the context menu .  For instance, you can press the keyboard key F to invoke the Family Wizard to create a family.

	New Male (W).  A male is represented by a square and can be inserted by pressing the keyboard key W.  Use the mouse to position the individual (male) where you want him to be displayed in your family tree.
	New Female (E).  A female is represented by a circle.  The toolbar buttons "New Male" and "New Female" are the simplest and the slowest method to grow a genealogy tree.  All males and females must be linked to a given family, otherwise you have a list individuals without any pedigree.  To link (bind) an object (individual) to a family, you right-click on it, select "Link as Parent" or "Link as Child" to assign the individual as a parent or a child of the family. More details about Creating Links below...
	New Mate (M).  Creates a mate (husband or wife) for the selected male or female.  This button is very handy to create a second marriage for an individual.
	New Parents (P). Creates parents to the selected individual.  If parents already exists, GenoPro will prompt to create adoptive parents instead.
	New Son (S).  Adds a son to the selected marriage.
	New Daughter (D).  Adds a daughter to the selected marriage.
	New Alias (A).  Creates a mirror copy of the selected member without including him/her as an additional member of the family.  An alias is useful for a large family tree where the same individual should appear simultaneously into two different areas of the family tree.
	Family Wizard (F).  Displays a dialog to create a new family and/or add children to an existing family.

Here is a sample of a family of three children.

GenoPro uses the paradigm of "links" to determine the role of each individual in a family tree.  There are two fundamental type of links: parent link and child link.  The idea is similar to the following statement: A is the parent of B, C is the child of D, and so on.  When you build your family tree, you add individuals (males and females) and link them together as parent and child.  Links are very powerful to outline the pedigree, and one individual may have more than one link.  Typically an individual has one child link and one parent link, but it can have more child link if adopted or more parent link if married more than once.

Creating Links

To create a link, you select the individual you want to bind to the family tree, right-click with the mouse and select "Link as Parent" if the individual is a parent, or select "Link as Child" if the individual is a child.  The mouse cursor will change to so you point-and-click to the family (marriage object) where the individual is the parent or the child.  All links originate from an individual and terminate at a marriage object (family).  Many users often ask: How do I link a child to its parent?  The answer is simple, you create a marriage object, link the parent to the marriage object and link the child to the same marriage object.  All children linked to the same marriage object are siblings.  Please take a look at the figures Child Link, Parent Link and Marriage Object to see where such links do appear in a genogram. It is very important to grasp this model, otherwise you will be confused when an individual has been married multiple times, or when a child has been adopted by foster parents.

If you select the wrong link, you can delete it, create a new one or simply change it.  To change a link, double-click on it to bring this dialog.

• Link As Parent.  The member is a parent (or a potential future parent).
• Link As Child.  Biological child from two parents.
• Link As Adopted Child.  This is the case of a child adopted by a family.  Adopted child are displayed by a blue line.

Adding male and females and linking them to families is tedious.  GenoPro offers toolbar buttons to make your job easier. 

	New Parents (P). Creates parents for the selected individual.  Underneath GenoPro creates all the necessary links so you don't have to select "Link as Parent" and "Link as Child" to link the parents to the family tree.
	New Mate (M).  Creates a mate for the selected male or female.  This toolbar button creates a new marriage object, a mate (individual), and link them together as parents.  As a convention, the husband is displayed to the left and the wife is displayed to the right.  The horizontal bar between the two individuals is the marriage object.  Marriage objects can be manually inserted by using the keyboard key R.
	New Son (S).  Adds a son to the selected marriage or individual.
	New Daughter (D).  Adds a daughter to the selected marriage or individual.

Next Chapter: Marriages and Families