Easy Filter Builder

A beginner-friendly way to build person filters in Gramps.

Easy Filter Builder is not a replacement for Gramps' Filter Editor – quite the opposite: everything goes through it. What you build here is saved as ordinary Gramps custom filters, so they show up in the Filter Editor, the sidebar filter, reports and exports, and keep working without the addon.

The focus is on making a filter simple to build. Real-world questions – "everyone in my tree, except my wife's relatives and their spouses" – normally need several helper filters, inverted rules and careful all / at least one choices. Here you build small blocks from ordinary Gramps rules and combine them in three baskets, while a live count shows how many people match. The helper filters are still there – Easy Filter Builder creates them for you as ze_ filters, which sort to the bottom of the filter list.

When the baskets aren't enough, you can write a formula instead – and it may be as complex as you like, even so complex that it can no longer be shown in the simple baskets.

Made for Gramps 5.1, 5.2, 6.0 and 6.1 (Tested on Gramps 5.1, 5.2, 6.0.8 and 6.1.0-beta2-1 in Windows and 6.0.8 in Linux Zorin.

Install

Close Gramps.
Extract the downloaded ZIP archive.
Copy or extract the project folder into your Gramps user plugin folder. Keep the complete folder structure unchanged, including any locale folder included with the project.

The user plugin folder is normally located here:
- Windows: %AppData%\gramps\gramps<version>\plugins\
- Linux: ~/.gramps/gramps<version>/plugins/
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/gramps/gramps<version>/plugins/
Replace <version> with the Gramps version folder used on your system.
Start Gramps again.
Check that the installed filter, rule, gramplet or tool is available where described in the project documentation.

If the project does not appear or fails to load, check Help → Plugin Manager for an error message.

Removing the test version

Close Gramps.
Delete the project folder that you added to the Gramps user plugin folder.
Start Gramps again.

Because the project was installed only in the user plugin folder, removing that folder removes the test installation without changing the original Gramps program files.

Saved json files lives separately, in …/gramps<XY>/easyfilterbuilder/ — not in the plugin folder — so replacing or removing the plugin folder never touches them.

How it works

The window has the person list on the left and the build area on the right.

1. Make blocks

Under Build/Edit blocks, press Add rule and pick any Gramps person rule (right-click a rule to add it to your favorites). Choose how the rules combine – All rules must apply or One rule is enough – and press Create block. The block appears in Your blocks, with its own match count.

2. Combine them – Simple

Select a block and press + to put it in a basket:

Basket	Meaning
(top)	Included only if it matches every block
But also (&)	…and matches at least one of these blocks
Except (-)	These people are taken out

2. …or combine them – Formula

Every block gets a letter, and a letter can be used as often as you like – e.g. (A & B) / (A & C) - (B & D) (/ or, & and, - except, ( ) group). Mistakes are explained as you type.

3. Save

Give the filter a name (and an optional comment) and press Save to Gramps…. Press Test filter at any time to show the matching people in the list. Live counts updates the numbers while you edit – turn it off if it slows things down, then press Test to get a number.

Saved filters…

Edit – open a filter again, with its blocks back in the baskets (or its formula). Keep the name to update it; type a new name to rename it.
Clone – open a copy and save it under a new name; the original is kept.
Add to blocks – reuse a whole saved filter as a block in a new filter.
Delete – remove a filter. Its blocks and any filters it reuses are kept unless you tick the boxes.

A filter that something else uses – another filter, or a block in Your blocks – can't be deleted or renamed. The message tells you exactly which filter and block to change first.

What it writes to Gramps

On disk	What it is
`My filter(EFB)`	the filter you saved – use this one
`ze_…`	your blocks – they become the helper filters in Gramps
`efbop_…`	internal structure (and/or/except)

All of them carry (EasyFilterBuilder) at the end of the comment. Leave the ze_ and efbop_ filters alone – Easy Filter Builder manages and removes them for you.

Good to know

Only person filters.
Filters made in Gramps' Filter Editor can't be opened in Easy Filter Builder – only the ones it has saved itself.
Saved filters are shared by all family trees, like any Gramps filter. Loose blocks you haven't saved into a filter belong to the tree you made them in.
Blocks that use a person ID, a tag or other tree-specific values may not match anything in another tree – the same as in Gramps.
On GNOME-based Linux desktops, the Saved filters and Clear dialogs are attached to the Gramps window and move with it. That is a desktop setting: gsettings set org.gnome.mutter attach-modal-dialogs false
Renaming a filter: report options or sidebar selections that remembered the old name have to be picked again.

Easy Filter Builder is a sibling of FilterWorkbench (same filter engine, different goal: FilterWorkbench is the full workbench, Easy Filter Builder the easy path). They can be installed side by side.

Feedback

Questions and bug reports are welcome on GitHub https://github.com/HN1962/Gramps-Tools-and-Filters or in the Gramps Discourse forum.

License

GNU General Public License v2 or later, like Gramps.

PROJECT WEBSITE

https://myown-project.dk/