Diversity Collection

Optimized query

To speed up the query you may use the optimized version.

Icons

Standard query: Optimized query:

The optimized query in combination with the remembering option includes the functionality to preselect data depending on the query restrictions, e.g. if you search for an identification and enter a taxonomic name the first identification matching the restrictions will be preselected in the main window as shown below.

Default

To set the “optimized query” and the “remember last query” option as default, go to Administration → Customize display in the menu of the main window. In the tab Defaults and miscellaneous select the “Optimized and “Remember” option. The buttons are hidden in the main window, providing more space.


Many columns

The option to include several columns in the result list is only available for optimized queries . To display several columns in the result list, click on the button next to the order by column (see below). A window will open where you can select the next column for the sorting. Underneath the order by column the second column for the sorting will be added. To remove this sorting column you can click on the    button. By default the width for the columns is set to 10. You can change this according to content. To set the width to the maximal length of the current content, click on the button. To change the sorting of the added order column click on the button. The colums are separated via " | " as shown in the image below.

For an introduction see the videos:

• Mehrspaltige Suche:
• Sortierung:

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Predefined queries

Besides setting queries for specimens via the query options you may define separate predefined user-specific queries. These are listed in the menu topic Query - Predefined queries. 

If you choose one of these predefined queries, the query options will be hidden and the command of the query will be shown at the base of the specimen list. The first line shows the title of the query, the next lines contain the description followed by the part of the query command which restricts the selection of the data sets (= WHERE-clause of the SQL-statement).

To return to the user-defined query click on the Show query conditions button.

If you are an administrator, you may create new queries for users. To create a predefined query choose Administration - Queries... from the menu. A window will open as shown below, where you may create, edit and test your queries.

In the upper field you define the WHERE-clause of the SQL string of your query. Keep in mind that the queries can refer to different tables, depending on the order column chosen by the user. Thus, queries in DiversityCollection should start with the reference to the primary key of the main table (CollectionSpecimenID in table CollectionSpecimen and depending tables). The lower field contains the description for the query as shown in the user interface. To test a query use the Test count and Test query buttons.

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Query Operators

When entering your query conditions, you have various operators to choose from. The available operators are shown in the tables below.

Availability: t = text, n = numeric, d = date, h = hierarchy, x = XML, e = EXIF, g = geography, a = annotation, m = module\

Operators for datasets

Operators for text

Operators for numeric data

Operators for date values

Oparators for hierachy

Operators for XML

Operators for geography

Use (via local files or manual creation) resp. (via DiversityGazetteer) button to set geography

For yes/no fields exists a checkbox with 3 options: = yes, = no, = undefined

For a search within a lists (using the |, ∈ or ∉ operator) you may double click in the text field to open a window where you can enter your values. To separate the values either use the "|" sign or a new line as shown in the image below.

Wildcards in SQL

There are 4 different possibilities for wildcards in SQL:

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Saved queries

Save query

If you wish to save a current query, click on the button. A window will open as shown below where you may specify the title and description of you query.

After you entered title and description of the query, click OK to specify the query group. A window will open as shown below. Standard queries are symbolized with an icon while optimized queries are symbolized with an icon and yellow background (see below).

Choose a group from the tree or create a new one and click OK. The new query will be included in the selected group.

Finally, you may edit the titles and descriptions of the groups and queries. Click the button to store the changes. To delete items from the tree select the item and click on the button. Click OK to save the new query and close the window.

Load query

If you wish to load a query which has been stored previously, click on the button. A window will open as shown below. Please note that if the optimizer is activated, only the queries created with the optimizer are available (not optimized queries are disabled).

For not optimized queries, the optimized queries will be disabled as shown below.

Choose a query from the tree and click OK to close the form and filter the data sets according to the selected query.

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Query Wildcards

Wildcards in SQL

There are 4 different possibilities for wildcards in SQL:

Scan mode

Scanner

With the scan mode you may use a barcode scanner or the camera of your computer or tablet using e.g. bcWebCam to search for a specimen. To work with the scan mode select the Scan mode in the Query menu. The query part will be hidden and the field for the scanned identifier will be accessible for the entry via the scanner. As possible identifiers you can choose among the accession number of the specimen , the ID of the specimen ID, the accession number of the part or the identifier of the organism . If the field for the entry of the identifier is not activated, move the mouse to the field to activate it. Once you scan the barcode the program will start the search for the specimen in the database. To return to another query mode deselect the Scan mode.

If the results captured by the scanner do not correspond to the scanned codes, the timer intervall may need an adaption to your scanner. To set the timer interval of the scanner, click on the button. The default is set to 200 ms. Change it until the results captured by the scanner correspond to the codes.

The second scan mode for collection codes (stable identifier for collections) or the name of the collection will list all specimen within a collection. For the query of collection names these must be unique within the database. The query for collections may include depending collections. By default only specimen of the selected collection will be shown. Click on the button above the button to change to the mode including specimen in depending collections.

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Queries - many columns

The option to include several columns in the result list is only available for optimized queries . To display several columns in the result list, click on the button next to the order by column (see below). A window will open where you can select the next column for the sorting. Underneath the order by column the second column for the sorting will be added. To remove this sorting column you can click on the    button. By default the width for the columns is set to 10. You can change this according to content. To set the width to the maximal length of the current content, click on the button. To change the sorting of the added order column click on the button. The colums are separated via " | " as shown in the image below.

For an introduction see the videos:

• Mehrspaltige Suche:
• Sortierung:

Diversity Collection

Result list

The result list displays the specimens found in a query.

The specimens may be displayed with their e.g. with their accession number. To change the information of the specimen shown in the list, choose among the option provided in the order by: combobox. Some possibilities are shown above: identifications, storage location or collectors number. After you changed the selection of the displayed information, you have to start the query to see it in the result list. To view further information on the chosen field simply place the mouse in the field. A text box will appear with the description of the field (see below).

You may restrict the maximum number of specimens and queryoptions (click on the button), if you have for example a slow connection to the database. As a default the maximum number is set to 100. If the number of data sets according to your query is higher than the maximum value set in the query options, it will be indicated in the header of the list.

To ensure that restrictions set in the query conditions will be applied to the specimen list make sure that you choose matching restrictions and order columns as shown below. In the upper example corresponding fields were used for restricting the query and the display (Tax. name). Here the query results will be restricted to said field.

In the second example a different field for the restriction was chosen (Last ident. <> Tax. name). The query result in consequence will list all data sets with entries found in the field Tax. name and entries which match the restriction (see below).

To search for specimens enter the restrictions in the fields for the search conditions and click on the button. The specimens found in the database will be shown in the result list. To add specimens with differing search conditions click on the button. If the list of items is longer than your maximum number of returned items you may browse the next items with the button. If you wish to remove entries from the selected list, choose them in the list and click on the button. This will not delete the data from the database but remove them from your query result.

The result list will contain data with Read only access. For these data all controls and menus for editing the data will be disabled except the button for adding annotations .

Here are some examples you may select for display in the result list:

AccessionNumber: One entry is shown for each specimen with its corresponding accession number.

Last identification: The last identification for every unit in a specimen is shown in the list. As there can be several units in one specimen, several entries for one specimen may appear in the list.

Storage location: The storage location of every part of a specimen stored in the collections is shown in the list. As parts of a specimen can be stored in several collections under different names, several entries for one specimen may appear in the list.

Collecting number: The collecting number given by the collector of every sample of a specimen is shown in the list. A specimen may have several collectors each with a different number. Therefore, several entries for one collection specimen may appear in the list.