Data Editing

Editing the data

The database of DiversityDescriptions consists of three major areas:  

  • The descriptive data (descriptions) reference elements of the descriptive terminology and add specific data, e.g. numeric values.
  • The descriptive terminology, consisting of descriptors, categorical states, statistical measures and modifiers. 
  • The project data build the administrative frame for terminology and descriptions. Each description belongs to exactly one project. By additional entities (descriptor tress) it is possible to restrict the descriptors, statistical measures and modifier that shall be used in a certain project.  

In almost all forms an Extended text editor can be opened for single text fields that provides additional editing features.  

Corresponding with that three major sections of the data model, the DiversityDewscriptions application provide three edit modes. The edit mode is diplayed at the bottom of the main window (see picture below). After the first start the edit mode is preselected to “Edit descriptions”. You can switch the edit mode using the menu Edit-> Descriptions, Edit-> Descriptors or Edit-> Projects. Alternatively you may switch the edit mode by click the mode button in the upper left corner of the header area (item 3 in picture below) or on the tiny triangle besides the edit mode display in the status line at the bottom (see item 4 in picture below).

The main window of the DiversityDescriptions client contains two main areas. At the left you find the query and the results of this query. In the right part the data of the dataset selected in the result list is shown.

 

Basic operations

In each edit mode there are some common functions for storing and reloading data, to create a new dataset or delete or copy the actual dataset. On top of the query results (item 1 in image above) there is button to store the actual dataset, button to delete the actual dataset and button to create a new dataset. By pressing button  the actual dataset is reloaded, i.e. changes that have been made will be dropped. Finally, button copies the data of the actual dataset to a new one.

Some of those buttons can be found in the tool bar at the right side of the edit window (item 2), too.

Additionally to explicit saving by pressing the button, an automatic saving of the dataset is done, if an entry in the query result list is selected or a new query is performed. If a dataset has been modified without saving, a message window will appear and ask if changes shall be saved for several actions, e.g. change of edit mode, connetion to a database or if the application is closed. 

 

Translations

For many database tables the text columns may be translated into different languages. To enter, modify or view the translated texts, use the translations editor. For an overview on multilingualism in Diversity Descriptions see chapter translations.  

 

Description HTML form

When you have started a query and selected a description, you may open an HTML form to view and edit the data (button marked as item 5 in image above). It provides a simplified user interface for access to a subset of the description data. 

 

Description grid view

An alternate form for editing or viewing the data of several descriptions in a grid is provided by the description gridview. It provides a simplified user interface for access to a subset of the description data. 

 

Sample data grid view

An alternate form for editing or viewing the sample data of several descriptions in a grid is provided by the sample data gridview. 

 

Table editors

For a selected set of database tables a direct data editing in a grid is provided by the table editors.