Maintenance Broken Links

Maintenance - Broken links

Broken links to other databases occur when the database’s name has been change or if it was moved to a different server. To find and repair broken links to the modules of the Diversity Workbench select the Synchronize databases tab and choose the tab Broken links. The meaning of some generally used controls is explained in the introduction page of database synchronization. 

Select the Link type, e.g. “Taxon name” to search broken links to DiversityTaxonNames and the Descriptions project. Select the Search for broken links option and start the query with a click on the Search for broken links button. If the link type “Geographic area” or “Specimen” has been selected, an additional selection box for the Descriptions table appears, where you may select from “Description scope” or " Sampling event" rsp. " Sampling unit". Each link of the selected type and project will checked if it can be connected to the referenced database and unsuccessful connection attemts will be listed in the data grid view (see image below).

Keep in mind that the connection check might be unsuccessful for remote databases, if the database connection was not set up before! 

If you prefer to remove some broken links, you may now select them and then click button . If you want to connect the links to a database, chose the new target in combo box Database and click the Check matches in database button. The check is successful, if the new databese contains an entry with the same ID and display text and the results will be selected and shown with white background (see image below).

If in the new database a matching link was found but the display text differs, the entries are marked  with yellow background. For these lines you should check the “New name” column and if the found entry is applicable you may select the entry for update. If no matching entry in the database was found, it is marked with grey background (see image above). To update the database click on the button.

Delete unlinked scope entries

As an additional option you may search for unlinked scope entries and remove them completely from the database. Select the option Search for unlinked entries and then click on the Search for broken links button. Select the entries you want to delete and click button (see image below).

Find and correct links to old “Catalogue of Life” webservices

The webservice “Catalogue of Life” was changed several times. Links to old versions are not readable anymore, therefore new matching entries have to be found. Select the option Search for old Catalogue of Life links and then click on the Search for broken links button. If you only want to remove the invalid links and keep the unlinked scope entry, click on button (see image below).

To find matching entries in the current webservice, select a option Check full name or Compare first parts and click on the Check matches in the database button. If the name in your data does not match the name in the webservice perfectly, it will be marked with a yellow background. If no name matches exactly and there are several entries, the line is marked with blue background (see image below). 

You have the option to select the best match by a click on button Select name (see image below).

Finally, click on the button to enter the results in the database.