Maintenance Clean Scopes

Maintenance - Clean empty scopes

If you want to find and delete scope entries that do not contain any data, select the Update description scopes tab and choose the tab Clean empty scopes.

Select the Scope type, e.g. “Taxon name” and the Project. Click on Check for empty scopes and all descriptions will be listed where no scope of the specified type is present and source data are available (see image below).

The size of the query result list may be adapted by changing the value Number of results or unchecking this option to get the complete list. You may select or deselect all entries of the result list for the database update by clicking the buttons Select all rsp. Select none. 

If you select the option Include description IDs and start a new query (button Check for empty scopes) the result list will include the column DescriptionID. By selecting an entry and clicking the button Inspect dataset you may directly navigate to that dataset. If you click on button Close form and check list in database , you will return to the main form and find the selected entries in the description result list.

To update the database click on the button.

Maintenance Generate Scopes

Maintenance - Generate scopes

Especially if data are imported, e.g. from a DELTA file, data that can be stored as scope of a description are often contained in dedicated text or categorical descriptor data. For taxonomic descriptions often the item/description names reflect the taxonomic names. To generate formal scopes from such “embedded” data select the Update description scopes tab and choose the tab Generate scopes.

Select the Scope type, e.g. “Taxon name” and the Project. You may generate the Scope from description name or select a Source descriptor and the type Text or Categorical. Furthermore the whole source text (description name or text descriptor data) may be selected (option Copy whole text) or only the first parts (option Copy first parts). Click on Check for missing scopes and all descriptions will be listed where no scope of the specified type is present and source data are available (see image below).

The size of the query result list may be adapted by changing the value Number of results or unchecking this option to get the complete list (see image below). You may select or deselect all entries of the result list for the database update by clicking the buttons Select all rsp. Select none. 

If you select the option Include description IDs the button Inspect dataset will be shown (see image below). By starting a new query (button Check for missing scopes) the result list will now include the column DescriptionID. By selecting an entry and clicking the button Inspect dataset you may directly navigate to that dataset. To update the database click on the button. 

Maintenance Import Scopes

Maintenance - Import scopes

If you have linked description items to DiversityCollection, either by as scope type “Specimen” or “Observation”, you have the option to import links to other databases e.g. to a taxon entry that is present in DiversityCollection. Select the Update description scopes tab and choose the tab Import scopes.

Select the Scope type that shall be imported, e.g. “Sampling plot” and the Project. The Link to collection may be “Specimen” or “Observation”. You have three options to search for descriptions that are liked to DiversityCollection:

• Insert missing scopes searches any description item that is linked to DiversityCollection and you may import the specified links as new scope values.
• Insert if no scope is present searches only description items that are linked to DiversityCollection and do not yet have an entry of the selected Scope type.
• Delete not matching scopes offers the option to remove scope entries from description items of the selected Scope type that are not present in the references collection entry.   

For the latter two options you may decide to Ignore unlinked scopes. Click on Search for descriptions and all descriptions will be listed where the selected conditions match (see image below). You may select or deselect all entries of the description list for the database query by clicking the buttons Select all descriptions rsp. Select no description . If you want to view a single description item, click on it in the result list and then click button Inspect dataset .

In a second step you can now check the linked collection entries for matching links to the selected scope type. The size of the query result list may be adapted by changing the value Number of results. Click on button to open the connections administration form where you may connect missing collection databases.

Start a query for links in DiversityCollection with button Check for matching entries. Description entries with found links are marked with green background, without links with yellow background. If Number of results is selected, only the specified number of entries in the descriptions list will be processed. Depending on the selected options the modified entries will be shown and the “Action” will be “INSERT” or “DELETE” (see image below). After updatig the database, you may process the next package in the description list by a further click on Check for matching entries. 

In case of new entries the “Scope text” will be taken over from DiversityCollection if possible, otherwise it will be set to the selected scope type. After updating the database, you may use Synchronize databases to update the display text in DiversityDescriptions.  

You may select or deselect all entries of the result list for the database update by clicking the buttons Select all rsp. Select none. To update the database click on the button. 

Maintenance Link Scopes

Maintenance - Link entries

If you have entries in DiversityDescriptions that shall be linked with data in other DiversityWorkbench databases that have a partly equal name, this may generally be done with two subsequent maintenance tasks. An example are taxonomic descriptions in that shall be linked with their corresponding entries in DiversityTaxonNames. In a first step taxon scopes must be generates, e.g. from the first two parts of the description names with Generate scopes. With a second step the generated scope may be linked to the target database using Synchroniuze databases. For descriptions without matching entries in the target database unlinked scopes will be remaining.

To generate the links with one step and avoid generating unlinked scopes select the Update description scopes tab and choose the tab Link entries. Select the Scope type, the Project and the Target database. Option Only if no scope present filters for description items that do not have a scope entry of the selected scope type. Furthermore the whole description name may be selected (option Compare whole text) or only the first parts (option Compare first parts). Click on Check for missing scopes and all descriptions will be listed where no scope of the specified type is present and source data are available (see image below).

The size of the query result list may be adapted by changing the value Number of results or unchecking this option to get the complete list (see image below). You may select or deselect all entries of the result list for the database update by clicking the buttons Select all rsp. Select none. 

If you select the option Include description IDs the button Inspect dataset will be shown (see image above). By starting a new query (button Check for missing scopes) the result list will now include the column DescriptionID. By selecting an entry and clicking the button Inspect dataset you may directly navigate to that dataset. To update the database click on the button. 

If more than one matching entry is available in the Target database the entry is marked with blue background in the result list (see image above). With button Select value   you may view the available alternatives and select the correct entry (see image below).