I am therefore attempting to put all the information in one place, namely the attached .gno file.

There are four basic mechanisms to help you customise your report without resorting to editing the scripts in a custom version of the Report skin.

1. General appearance of HTML Narrative report. e..g changing background, fonts and colours. This is achieved using a custom HTML CSS 'stylesheet'. Knowledge of HTML styling is required here. The additional stylesheet is specified using a config parameter (see 4 below).
   
2. Adding extra HTML code to the report pages. This can be achieved using 'Custom Markup' - a series of special codes and text you can add to data fields in your .gno file.
   
3. Custom Markup is documented in the Document 'Description' field of the attached .gno file. Use GenoPro 'File/Properties' or 'Tools/Generate Report menu options and select the Document Tab to see this.  I have also copied the details below:
   
   The first thing many users want to do is use their own background image and change fonts etc. The custom style sheet feature is used to achieve this. There is a Config parameter 'StyleSheet' that can be set via a Document Custom Tag StyleSheet, or via the Change Parameters dialog, to specify a file containing the user's replacements for some of standard styles in style.css. Ii is suggested that users look at the style.css file generated in their (local) report folder and ONLY extract the bits they want to change and add it to their custom style sheet. When the Report is generated the contents of this file will be appended to style.css, replacing any earlier definitions. To replace a background image the file specified in the custom style sheet must exist in the generated Report folder. To do this without using  a custom skin I suggest adding the new background image as a picture to a dummy individual in the GenoPro file. If the image is say background.jpg then it can be specified in the style sheet as pictures/background.jpg. The dummy individual can be excluded from the report by setting the 'Make label / exclude from report' flag under the 'Family' tag of the Individual properties dialog.
   Most of the descriptive text fields can contain 'Custom Markup'. This provides a shorthand way of including extra HTML in your report to provide functions to add many useful features such as custom 'subsections' (like Occupations, Educations etc.) and custom note entries. There are also easy ways to add photos and to add 'multimedia' links to appear in the 'popup' frame. These can even be used on the home page. The Custom Markup instructions:
        <?html?>             indicates the following text up to next Custom Markup instruction is HTML (displayed on HTML reports only)
        <?text?>             indicates the following text up to next Custom Markup instruction  is text (displayed on both text and HTML reports)
        <?plain?>            indicates the following text up to next Custom Markup instruction  is plain text (displayed on text  reports only)
        <?hide?>             indicates the following text up to next Custom Markup instruction is not to be generated.
        <?merge param1 param2 .... paramn?> inserts items specified in param list.
                                     The params in the list are each separated by a space. Each param is either HTML enclosed in double quotes ("....")
                                     excluding Custom Markup instructions or Tag Names (custom or standard) that can contain HTML and/or
                                    Custom Markup instructions.
        <?note "subtitle" param1 param2 .... paramn?>  inserts 'note' style collapse/expand item containing content as per param list (see merge above)
        <?subsection "subtitle" param1 param2 .... paramn?>  inserts 'subsection' style collapse/expand item containing content as per param list
                                                                                             (see merge above)
       <?popup "subtitle" "hyperlink text" param1 param2 .... paramn?>  inserts a link "hyperlink text" to a 'popup' frame with "subtitle" as its title
                                                                         containing content as per param list (see merge above)
        <?image ref width height?>  inserts an image/photo. 'ref' is either the path to the required image in the generated Report (Web) folder enclosed
                                                    in double quotes ("...") or the 'ID' of a picture within the .gno file e.g. pic00051. In the latter case the picture may also
                                                    have an associated image map in its Custom _AreaMap tag. 'width' & 'height' are in pixels and are optional.
                                                    They must be omitted if the image has an associated image map, otherwise the mapping is invalidated. If omitted the
                                                    image is shown full size, with scroll bars if required. Using the picture ID means to image gets included in the Report
                                                    automatically. To get other pictures/images into the Report folder see above regarding the background image.
         <?movie type ref name width height align quality wmode background-color?>
                                                   inserts a movie/video. 'type' is the file type of the video. At present only Flash, representing .swf files is allowed.
                                                   'ref' is either the path to the required image in the generated Report (Web) folder enclosed in double quotes ("...")
                                                   or the 'ID' of a 'picture' within the .gno file e.g. pic00051.Using the picture ID means that the image gets included in
                                                   the Report automatically. Although GenoPro does not display .swf files internally they are still accepted as 'pictures'. 
                                                   'width' & 'height' are in pixels. The align, quality, wmode and background-colour are optional values.
       <?url href?>  insert a link to another webpage 'ref' e.g. <?url www.genopro.com?>
        <?email emailaddress?> or <?mail emailaddress?> insert a 'mailto' link e.g. <?email me@here.com?>
   There is also the ability to add custom narrative to individuals, families, pictures, places and sources. Simply place the required narrative in a Custom Tag named _Narrative and this will get added to the report immediately after the standard narrative. This means that all those fascinating anecdotes about people are no longer consigned to live behind the Comments toggle.
   N.B. At present  a Custom Tag cannot contain newline characters. So if you prepare your tag contents elsewhere (e.g. in Comment field or by using Notepad) you must remove all newlines before pasting the desired content into the Custom Tag field. If you do not do this then everything after the 1st newline will be ignored. However if you use Custom Markup <?html?> you can still add newlines to the Report using the HTML 'break' tag i.e.  <br/>
   The Harry Potter sample report at http://familytrees.genopro.com/Ron/HarryPotter/default.htm shows many of these enhancements, including a custom style sheet (sorry about the colours!). The home page shows a custom 'subsection' with embedded 'note' and 'image' instructions. So does the Harry Potter page, but also has a 'popup' link. Download the 'FamilyTree.gno' from there to see how it was done
4. Using Custom Tags in your .gno file to add extra detail and modify the behaviour of the script generating the report. You can group the tags into one or more 'Custom Tag Layouts'
   All Custom Tags will be included in the Narrative and Descendants Reports unless the name starts with an underscore '_'. Alternatively you can exclude all Custom Tags in a particular Custom Tag Layout by prefixing the Layout Description with an underscore '_'.
   By default your custom tag data items will be shown in a table in the Narrative Report, with a separate table for each layout. Column 1 holds the Tag display names and Column 2 the tag contents with one tag per row. Alternatively you can create a phrase template for each of your Custom Tag Layouts so that the data items are reported as a narrative phrase. These 'phrase templates' are constructed using GenoPro's phrase generator syntax and can be created and tested using the Phrase Editor on GenoPro's Tools menu.
   The parameters 0-4 for the phrase are fixed as follows:
     0=name, 1=Personal pronoun, 2=Relative Pronoun, 3=Objective pronoun, 4=Is Alive?/Is Extant/Are Together?
   Whilst parameters 10 onwards are the Custom Tag values in the order they are defined in the layout.
   
   An example will make this clearer. The HarryPotter sample .gno included with GenoPro (under Help/Sample Files) has the following Custom Tags definition for Individuals
   
   
   We can construct a sample phrase template:
   {\U}[[{!2} blood purity [{?4}is][{!}was] {10h}[{?11} and ]][{!1} held allegiance to {11h}].][[{?10|11}  ]{!0} was in {13h} house at Hogwarts.][[{?10|11|13}  ]{12h} played {!0} in the films.]
   N.B. The 'h' suffix is used on the custom tag arguments (e.g. 10h, 11h etc.) because their content is already HTML encoded.
   This template could be stored in the Dictionary but an alternative is to store it in a Document Custom Tag. In either case the template is assigned a name consisting of the prefix PhCT_ followed by the layout name with spaces removed. So in this case the name is PhCT_CustomTags because the layout Name is Custom Tags.
   To store in a Document Custom Tag first create a layout to hold all such tags. i.e. click Tools, Tag Editor and then click the Document tab. Add a new layout called say Custom Phrases and add a tag named PhCT_CustomTags. Enter a description of your choice.  Click OK to close the dialog.
   Now click File/Properties and you should see a new Custom Phrases tab. Click it and enter the template into the PhCT_CustomTags field.
   
   
   We can then paste this phrase template into the phrase editor and test it by supplying values for each of the parameters (See Phrase Arguments). Note how the phrase editor tests every combination of optional parameters.
   
   
   
   If we then generate the Report we see the phrase under Additional Information
   
   
5. Amending configuration parameters. This can be done at the time the report is generated by displaying the 'View and Amend Configuration Parameters' dialog when prompted. Alternatively the required values can be preset in the Document Custom Tags in your .gno file.

The attached file has all the Custom Tags used in the reports already defined  and described and grouped into a 'Report Options' tab for each object type. Download the .gno file and use GenoPro 'Tools/Tag Editor' menu option to explore these. The Document Custom Tags are also defined and grouped under a separate tab for each report type. All Custom Tag definitions can be easily copied to your own .gno files. Open the attached .gno file for more information.

Update 2008/03/25 attached .gno updated
Update 2008/04/06 info re custom tag phrases added
Update 2008/04/18 attached .gno updated with JC's recommendations.
Update 2008/06/09 included Custom Msrkup documentation.

Update: 5) The fields are too long as some titles are truncated (Doc Prop panel new tabs).

I agree I need to improve the tag descriptions and display names, I am currently working on this. I also want to add some examples of tag usage and custom markup.

Having the tag description appear as a tooltip on the GenoPro dialog when entering Custom Tag values would certainly be a great help to users. So a request to Dan: please add this if at all possible!

The content of all tags is initially blank, including ChangeParameters. These are just tag definitions and no default value can be associated with the definition. GenoPro only creates an actual instance of a tag once you set it to a value.

For Configuration Parameters (i.e. Document Custom Tags matching Config.xml Parameter definitions) then initial defaults are taken from the Config.xml but are then overridden by any non-blank value in the Document Custom Tag. The 'View and Change Parameters' dialog should show this situation, i.e. Custom Tags taking precedence.

I cannot speak for Dan and Jean-Claude of GenoPro but I can not see parameters being removed from Config.xml. I have merely used some Document Custom Tags, a standard feature of GenoPro, to simplify changing or presetting Configuration parameters for your report, with needing a custom skin, which many users find daunting. The 'Change Parameters' dialog extends this idea.

The only way 'Custom tags' can be available in a new .gno is for them to become standard rather than custom tags. I for one would like to see the non 'Config Param' custom tags used incorporated as GenoPro standard tags. Several would be better represented as boolean data types (true/false) instead of text Y/N values e.g. Extant, HideLabel and Place.Name.Plural. Regarding 'Config Param' Document Custom Tags, it would be nice if GenoPro itself could process the Config.xml of a Report, extracting the Parameters and storing them in the users .gno file with their default values and provide a facility to amend these and save in the .gno. I.e. automate the Config Params dialog and associated custom tag creation.

Unfortunately I can offer no easy solution for translation. Perhaps we just have to rely on users such as yourself to translate the text in this .gno sample, once a little more stable, in the same way as Dictionary.xml, Config.xml and GenoPro dialogs, menus etc.

on the Left: params tag names from CustomReport\Data.xml
on the right: from the 3 config.xml files

1) Narrative Rep:
fJoinSourceNames          fJoinSourceCitationNames
fUsePictureThumbnalis    fUsePictureThumbnails
GoogleMapsLink             fGoogleMapsLink
fSvfZoomExtent            fSvgZoomExtent

2) Descendants Rep:
fJoinPlacesNames          fJoinPlaceNames
MSWordSavePages1       MSWordSavePages
FontName                   Font

3) Export to Gedcom
UseGedcom551Draft       ???
IsLivingAction               LivingAction
IsYoungsterAction         YoungsterAction
XrefPictures                  ???

Note on the tooltips (if implemented): Please make sure the display timing is long enough, if adjustable, as we don't have enough time to read a multi-line tooltip.

JC

I agree there is a strong need for a better way to integrate the report parameters in GenoPro.  Modifying the file Config.xml is not the long term solution.

In Ron's previous post #21120 there is an attached CustomReport.gno file and the text talks about a gno file, but the CustomReport.gno is actually a .zip file that contains only a Data.xml file.

Since jcguasp has used it and works, I must have misunderstood how it is to be used. Can someone please explain how to use the Data.xml file.

Thanks

Frank1