A Python program to load and display a family-tree from a CSV-file.
Written for a personal project by Bryan Luu.
This program uses Python 3.8. It should be compatible with other Python 3 versions but no guarantees can be made (sorry!).
To install Python 3.8, you can get it from the official website.
The following Python libraries were used:
numpyto process numerical datapandasto read in the CSV filecairoto draw the family tree in SVG formatiofor display in JupyterIPythonfor display in Jupyter
Install numpy:
Run pip3 install numpy in the command line.
Install pandas:
Run pip3 install pandas in the command line.
Install cairo:
follow instructions to install Cairo first, then run pip3 install pycairo.
Install io: no installation needed.
Install IPython:
Run pip3 install ipython in the command line.
To load up your family tree, it is important that you follow the desired CSV format. An example CSV table is below:
| Full Name | Nickname | Year Born | Father | Mother | Spouse | Children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Father | Dad | 1965 | Paternal Grandfather | Paternal Grandmother | Mother | Me, Brother, Sister |
| Mother | Mom | 1969 | Maternal Grandfather | Maternal Grandmother | Father | Me, Brother, Sister |
| Me | 1994 | Father | Mother | |||
| Sister | Sis | 1990 | Father | Mother | ||
| Brother | Bro | 1998 | Father | Mother | ||
| Paternal Grandfather | PGP | 1938 | Paternal Grandmother | Father, Ben | ||
| Paternal Grandmother | PGM | 1940 | Paternal Grandfather | Father, Ben | ||
| Maternal Grandfather | MGP | 1941 | Maternal Grandmother | Mother, Sue | ||
| Maternal Grandmother | MGM | 1946 | Maternal Grandfather | Mother, Sue | ||
| Ben | 1960 | Paternal Grandfather | Paternal Grandmother | |||
| Sue | 1973 | Maternal Grandfather | Maternal Grandmother | Peter | Cousin | |
| Peter | 1968 | Sue | Cousin | |||
| Cousin | Charlie | 2000 | Peter | Sue |
Each row represents the information for one family member, and each column represents the info type:
- Full Name: the full name which should be unique
- Nickname: an optional moniker which will be displayed on the tree (it can be blank, which then displays the full name on the tree instead)
- Year Born: the year (in A.D.) the family member was born
- Father: the full name of the family member's father. If unknown, leave blank.
- Mother: the full name of the family member's mother. If unknown, leave blank.
- Spouse: the full name of the family member's spouse. If none/unknown, leave blank.
- Children: a comma-separated list of the full names of the family member's children. If no children, leave blank.
If you have your family tree as tree.csv, you can run the program and save it as a PDF tree.pdf by typing the following on the command line:
python FamTree.py tree.csv tree. This saves the entire tree to the file tree.pdf in the data folder. There are additional options you can use:
- You can save it to a different format by giving the option
-x extor--extension ext. The validextoptions aresvg,pdf, orpng. - You can specify the program to display an ancestral tree instead of the full tree by specifying
-a rootor--ancestor rootwhererootis the full-name of the family member you want to build an ancestor tree of. - You can specify the seed to use for the color selector with
-s seedor--seed seedwhereseedis the random integer seed. Each run displays the seed, so you can save it for another run.
As an example, let's show the tree of the above table. This is located in the file data/example.csv.
First, we'll output the entire tree into an svg: python FamTree.py data/example.csv tree -x svg. The result is shown below.
Next, we'll output the ancestry tree of "Me" into a PNG file: python FamTree.py data/example.csv tree -a Me. The result is shown below.
That's how to use the program to display arbitrary family trees. Note that the trees are color coded so that the top ancestors have randomized colors, then mix their colors for descendants. In future, I will work on making this a customizable option too. Stay tuned!