What am I doing wrong?
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Just began this project, but find I am unable to enter any collection dates, either beginning or ending. I've tried all sorts of different date formats, but the field(s) remain empty. What am I doing wrong?
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There was also some mention of "dropdown menus", but I haven't seen those, either. I'm having to type in all the data in full.
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SandersClan
Hi, George! Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, but I wanted to tell you don't give up if it takes a day or two for a moderator to get back to you, since it's the weekend. Also, you may want to state whether you're doing CalBug, Herbarium, or both.
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I'm doing the CalBug. I am able to input ALL the location, country, state, collector, etc. data, but the system will not accept my date inputs.
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I'm afraid to just enter what I can, then go on to the next bug, as I figure that'll just leave a partially-completed transcription, which won't do anybody much good.
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Let me make sure I'm doing this right:
I get a picture of a "bug", with the collection label.
I click on the "1/10" area, and I get a screen which lists ten possible categories. I select an appropriate one (e.g., "Country"), then type in "Mexico", for example, and hit "OK".
The area then moves to "2/10" and I click again, select another category (e.g., "State"), and type in "Chiapas". Repeat for all pertinent categories, skipping those categories for which no data is given.
When I click on either "beginning" or "ending" date categories, I can type the date info into the input box; however, when I hit "OK", NOTHING happens and the data is not recorded.Posted
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ghewson
in response to georgesims@hotmail.com's comment.
It's better to go through the fields in order rather than selecting them by clicking on 1/10, etc.
When you see a new specimen, the entry box should contain "-- Country --". To the right of that is a downward-pointing arrow, and to the right of that is the "OK" button. Instead of typing Mexico, you can click the arrow and then a list of countries pops up. This is a so-called drop-down menu, or pop-up list. From the list you can select the country (though in practice it's easier to type the country, as you've been doing).
Click the OK box, and the entry box should contain "State/Province" in light grey if the country was Mexico, so here you can enter "Chiapas".
Carry on like this, pressing OK or Skip after each field.
When you get to Begin Date Collected, you should see the Month, Day and Year fields have arrows on them, which you can click to select the appropriate values with your mouse. Does it work then when you click on OK?
What browser are you using, with what operating system?
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SandersClan
Thank goodness for computer-y guys!
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ghewson
in response to SandersClan's comment.
Hardware, software and wetware!
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robgur
scientist, admin
in response to georgesims@hotmail.com's comment.
Hey George! You are getting some great advice from @SandersClan and @ghewson regarding how to use the interface. We really need to get a more comprehensive help guide up there because we know this can be frustrating for first-time users. We have some tutorials in the works.
I think we viewed the "X/10" pop-up to be a way to check progress and make sure you could go back and fix a mistake if you hit "ok" and moved to a next field. But that has proven to be a hard thing for us to get right with some unanticipated behaviors. I think I will "ticket" this item as a bug in how Notes from Nature work. You should be able to get the drop down menus if you do move in an order we don't expect using the "X/10" pop-up.
Hope this helps and thanks for your efforts!
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George_Sims
Although I am a complete "computer doofus", I came back to the site (before reading your suggestions). THIS time, I signed in with Mozilla Firefox instead of my edition of IE, which may be dated. Everything works great now. I DO wish, however, that "United States" was listed first on the dropdown, so I don't have to scroll down every time. Regardless, I'm ROLLING now. Thanks.
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xairbusdriver
in response to georgesims@hotmail.com's comment.
I [...] type in "Mexico", for example, and hit "OK". [...] select
another category (e.g., "State"), and type in "Chiapas".Just remember/notice that you don't have to type the whole word in any popup/dropdown fields (Month/Day/Year work this way, also). Just start typing and the list should automatically move to the first item in the list with all those characters. When it 'hits' the country/state/county you want, stop typing and press enter or return. Press enter or return again and you'll move to the next field.
Unfortunately, they stuck "United States" way down after three other countries with 'united' at the beginning. We've complained for several weeks but it's not really a 'hot' item for those in control (and there are more important problems). But you can still save some typing, even when selecting "United States." Here are the steps:1. Click in the 'Country' field so it's 'active'/available.
2. Type just two letters: "un" (note, you don't need to capitalize anything)
3. You should now be seeing "United Arab Emerates" (which is probably not what you want, of course)
4. Press your down arrow key twice
5. You should now see "United States" (at last!)
6. Now press enter or return (all this does is close the list, BTW)
7. Now press enter/return (which activates the "OK" button) and takes you to the next fieldSame process works for 'state' and 'county' with many less name starting with more than the same two letters, of course. This same process should work in your OS anywhere you have any kind of list (file/application names, etc.). Sure beats typing with one finger! 😉
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SandersClan
in response to robgur's comment.
(Wiping away a tear) Thanks, Rob! 😛
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SandersClan
in response to ghewson's comment.
See, I don't even know what wetware is. 😛
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