Quick Start | read-gedcom

1. Install

Install the package from npm:

$ npm install read-gedcom

Or, include it as a javascript file:

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/read-gedcom/dist/read-gedcom.min.js"></script>

2. Test code

Standalone

You can then use the following piece of code to check that everything is working properly:

import { readGedcom } from 'read-gedcom';

const promise = fetch('https://mon.arbre.app/gedcoms/royal92.ged')
  .then(r => r.arrayBuffer())
  .then(readGedcom);

promise.then(gedcom => {
  console.log(gedcom.getHeader().toString());
});

Or, if you have included the library from read-gedcom.min.js, all the members will be provided in the global variable Gedcom. For instance readGedcom becomes Gedcom.readGedcom. All the following examples assume a npm environment but the required changes will be analogous.

Note: If you attempt to load a different URL, make sure that the resource has CORS enabled! The example URL is safe to use, feel free to test your code with it. You can find other sample Gedcom files at arbre-app/public-gedcoms.

File input

Alternatively, if you want to load a local file you should use the following code:

import { readGedcom } from 'read-gedcom';

document.getElementById('gedcomFile').addEventListener('change', e => {
  const file = e.target.files[0];
  if (file) {
    const reader = new FileReader();
    reader.addEventListener('load', () => {
      const buffer = reader.result;
      const gedcom = readGedcom(buffer);
      document.getElementById('head').textContent =
          gedcom.getHeader().toString();
    });
    reader.readAsArrayBuffer(file);
  }
});

And the corresponding HTML snippet:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head><meta charset="UTF-8"><title>read-gedcom test</title></head>
<body>
  <label for="gedcomFile">Choose a Gedcom file:</label>
  <input type="file" id="gedcomFile" name="gedcomFile" accept=".ged,.gedcom">
  <div id="head" style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: monospace;"></div>
</body>
</html>

Node.js local file

Similar to the first example, but for loading a locally available file:

import { readGedcom } from 'read-gedcom';
import fs from 'fs';

fs.readFile('your_file_here.ged', (error, buffer) => {
  if (error) throw error;
  const gedcom = readGedcom(buffer);
  console.log(gedcom.getHeader().toString());
});

3. What's next?

You can move to the Basic Examples page to familiarize yourself with the API.