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Topic: Species Linked Help Messages

Given that you can use custom attributes to display additional boxes on a form when a species is selected, is there a simple way of getting message box that displays on commonly mis-selected species:
'Are you sure you meant Painted-lady (Echeveria derenbergii, a plant) rather than Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui, a butterfly)?'
I presume it will be in the 'Create popups for certain species', but rather than the example given (Lasius niger|Additional info|Colony info) which adds new boxes for the user to fill in, I just want a label to appear that I can modify for any given species. Seems simple enough!

Dave Slade
Senior IT & Records Officer,
15 Talbot Road, Talbot Green, Pontyclun, CF72 8AD
www.sewbrec.org.uk, www.sewbrecord.org.uk

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Re: Species Linked Help Messages

Hi Dave
I've done a similar thing before for incorrectly entered grid references, but it was with some specific custom JavaScript added to the page. How are your JavaScript & jQuery skills?
The requirement here might be better met by some automatic flagging up of dangerous names within a list where a name is shared between 2 different taxa. That could probably be build into the index tables used when searching so that these names could be flagged up. It would take a bit more effort, but could be quite an elegant solution.
Regards
John

John van Breda
Biodiverse IT

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Re: Species Linked Help Messages

I like the idea of the flag being built in, since my solution required me to be aware of these name clashes and I'd never heard of the plant in my example above before I had two records of it entered by two different recorders. It also has the advantage of being done at source (i.e. not by me?) and frankly my grasp of JavaScript is sketchy! Or are the index tables local to my Indicia website meaning I'll actually have to do something myself?

Dave Slade
Senior IT & Records Officer,
15 Talbot Road, Talbot Green, Pontyclun, CF72 8AD
www.sewbrec.org.uk, www.sewbrecord.org.uk