Notes From Nature Talk

HERBARIUM RECORDS

  • darryluk by darryluk

    You need to take caution on the year input. If you select it from the pull down menu then click on ok, it retains the information. If you type in the date which also brings the the pull down to the date, it DOES NOT! I'm not sure how many hundreds of records have no date because of this, but it is a shame if records are incomplete for no logical reason.

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  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    D'oh!

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to darryluk's comment.

    Sorry, I don't follow your description.

    I've noticed that if I enter the month and/or day using the keyboard and accidentally press Enter instead of Tab, the software goes on to the next record without warning, that is if I've entered fields 1-9. If there's a missing field, so the software stays on the current record, I can see the software has thrown away the month/day I've entered, and the Collection Date field is empty (coloured orange).

    I've done this several times, so these transcriptions of mine have fields 1-9 completed and no Collection Date.

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  • SandersClan by SandersClan

    I just noticed the same issue.

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to ghewson's comment.

    This is still happening. (For fields 1-9 read fields 1-8 now, as the Scientific Author is no longer required.)

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  • xairbusdriver by xairbusdriver

    (This lengthy explanation applies to the Herbarium collection, I think the Insect thing has two dates or a different set up.)

    The last 'field' in the list is actually three separate fields. It's unlike all the other fields. This has caused problems since the project started and doesn't seem to be a priority to get fixed. The enter/return key will operate the "OK" field even if you don't have all the date fields filled in. And the software does not seem to recognize this, so it leaves the specimen and brings up the next one. I suspect and hope that all of us who have botched this three-part field have still had our transcriptions recorded. And it will be viewed again, anyway, maybe even by you. Hopefully, by then the procedure below will have become a habit and you'll get the whole record completed. 8]

    In the meantime, there is still a simple way to enter the required data without tripping the dreaded "Loss of Date and/or Record" bug:

    Note that when you normally get to the date field, the 'Month' field is active/selected, no tabbing or mousing/button clicking required. Don't be tempted to click the field!

    1. The 'Months' actually have numbers in their name. January is "01 - January". You can easily get any of the 12 months in the field by typing two numbers. That's a maximum of two digits to type - period. You can even get October by typing only the number "1" (just like anywhere else on your computer, typing the first few letters of something in a list will take you to that item, let the computer do some work for you! 😃 ). For January through September, you must type the zero "0" and one other number ("1" thru "9"). November and December all require typing a "1" and then a "1" or a "2". That's it. No need to type any of the letters of the month. DO NOT PRESS ENTER OR RETURN!

    2. After getting the month entered, press the Tab key. You should now be in the activated/selected 'Day' field. DO NOT PRESS ENTER OR RETURN!

    3. The day is entered by always typing two digits. The first nine days of the month require a zero and the number. You'll soon get into the habit and it will come in handy for those month entries, also. 😃 DO NOT PRESS ENTER OR RETURN!

    4. After getting the day entered, press the Tab key. You will now be in the activated/selected 'Year' field. DO NOT PRESS ENTER OR RETURN!

    5. The year must be four digits. Type then in, that is much faster than the horribly long list!

    6. Verify the date is as you want.

    7. Now and only now, you may press the enter/return key. You are welcome. 😉

    a. If all fields have been entered, that key will activate the "OK" button and you will have your transcription recorded and will get your next one.

    b. If any field has been skipped or left empty, you will have to manually save your info by using the "FINISH THIS RECORD" button, confirming you meant to skip/leave those fields empty.

    This may sound complicated. It's certainly 'wordy.' 😮 But it is purely logical to the computer (and probably to the site designers 😛 ). And we all know that sometimes we have to do things the way the computer wants or it simply doesn't cooperate. Just try to remember that you are smarter than the computer! LOL! We really are!

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  • ghewson by ghewson in response to xairbusdriver's comment.

    Yes. The key word in my earlier entry is "accidentally".

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