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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

The 6.9.3 upgrade is now available on the Recorder Software website at http://forums.nbn.org.uk/recorderWebsite/upgrades.htm. This includes an upgrade kit for any version of Recorder 6 and an upgrade kit for version 6.7.2 or later.

Please read the release notes and guidance given before running the upgrade and the dictionary update.

As this initial dictionary update is relatively large we strongly advise you to run this update overnight.

This update requires a large amount of processing power to run and therefore you may receive a message in the title bar of the ‘Recorder Dictionary Upgrade’ window that indicates that the application is not responding. PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL THE UPGRADE AT THIS STAGE. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and open Task Manager. Under the Applications tab the status of the ‘Recorder Dictionary Upgrade’ will also be displayed as not responding, however, if you click on the Performance tab, the CPU Usage will probably be nearing 100% and the CPU Usage history line will be at the top of the grid box. Unless the CPU Usage is low and static, the upgrade is still running. If you have a network version of Recorder 6, then you will need to monitor CPU usage both on the server and local machine to check that the upgrade is still running. The upgrade splits it’s time between the two and therefore the local machine may become inactive whilst the server continues to process the upgrade. A message is displayed when the upgrade is complete.

If any further guidance is required on running the upgrade or if you have any problems please do not hesitate to contact me, either directly or via the Recorder email:  Recorder@JNCC.gov.uk. Alternatively post a message on the troubleshooting section of this forum.

Many thanks,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

My update just finished; it really does take quite a while to complete (mine took over 5 hours to complete the dictionary upgrade). However, things are looking good from the quick look around I've had so far. My sincere thanks go out to Sarah, Steve and the rest of the gang there at JNCC (and everyone at Dorset) for their monumental effort in getting this release out the door; this is definitely a major step forward for Recorder.

Charles

Charles Roper
Digital Development Manager | Field Studies Council
http://www.field-studies-council.org | https://twitter.com/charlesroper | https://twitter.com/fsc_digital

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

I thought a concise list of some of the bigger enhancements might be in order:

* Can now install onto SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server Express.

* Dictionary updates are now decoupled from the main application.

* Numerous enhancements to XML Reports, including a new interface (select Reports > Run...).

* Browsing the dictionaries is now faster.

* Can export from the Report Wizard to a variety of formats including Excel, Access, text, PDF and many more.

* You can automatically populate a location's grid squares using a linked polygon.

* There's an enhanced term list for reference/document keywords

The new FEP checklists (thanks to John Tweddle!) should be invaluable for anyone involved in farm environment plan reporting. And at last we have a comprehensive Coleoptera checklist and a vagrant birds checklist. Good stuff.

There's lots more and I'd highly advise giving the release notes a thorough going over for more details.

Charles

Charles Roper
Digital Development Manager | Field Studies Council
http://www.field-studies-council.org | https://twitter.com/charlesroper | https://twitter.com/fsc_digital

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Sarah

I downloaded the V693 - Upgrade kit for 6.7.2.zip file and read the notes. I tried to start the RecorderUpgrade.exe file and got an error message:

Exception ESettings Error in module RecorderUpgrade.exe at 000A34D6. The backdrop image file is missing - upgrade kit incomplete and cannot proceed.

Disappointing.... Would you please post an amended zip file with the bit that is needed to make this run?

Thanks, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Ian,

Did you first extract all the files from the zip? It sounds like you may have run RecorderUpgrade.exe directly from the zip file. I've just tried re-downloading the file and the backdrop image file is definitely in there and working for me.

Sarah - perhaps it might be an idea to provide the upgrade as a self-extracting archive?

Charles Roper
Digital Development Manager | Field Studies Council
http://www.field-studies-council.org | https://twitter.com/charlesroper | https://twitter.com/fsc_digital

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi

Ian did you manage to run the upgrade?

Charles - thank you for your very  positive comments. We could look at providing something that is self-extracting in the future if more users have problems with this.

Many thanks,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Sarah

I followed the instructions in the release notes:

"To run the upgrade, unzip the file and double click on Recorder/Upgrade.exe"

There are other zipped files within the overall zipped file and no instructions about what to do with them. There are folders in the unzipped, downloaded file, but no instructions as to what to do with them. What needs to be extracted, to where to get the upgrade to work?

Cheers, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

I think that means unzip the whole zip file, then run the RecorderUpgrade.exe.

John van Breda
Biodiverse IT

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

John,
That is correct. You to download the file and unzip (extract) the whole thing and save that to somewhere on your hard drive. You also need to ensure you have the "Use folder names selected" when you extract it.
Steve

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Charles, Steve, John and Sarah

Thanks for the extra instructions - I like to 'do what it says on the tin' when playing with new programs or upgrades. Recorder is now successfully upgraded - so the message told me. I shall do the dictionary upgrade later (I guess it is large for everybody, not just users with lots of records) so that I can do other tasks this evening.

Thanks again, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Sarah

Unfortunately the dictionary upgrade has not gone so well. After about 3 hours running at 50%+ CPU usage, the following error message appeared:

Recorder Dictionary Upgrade
Error occurred running script 00000003.sql. The error is described as:
DELETE statement conflicted with COLUMN REFERENCE constraint 'FK_TAXON_FACT_TAXON_VERSION'. The conflict occurred in database 'NBNData' table 'TAXON_FACT' column 'TAXON_VERSION_KEY'.

I clicked OK and CPU usage dropped to 4% or less and after about 30 mins at 2% or less so I cancelled the program.

Should I just run it again, or is there something that needs to done / fixed first?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Cheers, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Ian
This sounds like more of a problem. I suspect what has happened here is something I didnt anticipate. It looks like you may have created taxon facts for names that the NHM have now removed from the dictionary. When the upgrade aattempts to synchronise your dictionary with the top NHM copy it tries to delete the entries but cant because there are now taxon facts hanging off them.
The good news is you have got through most of the upgrade (the package ought to be usable) but we do still need it to run the last file. Can you just confirm whether you have either SQL Server Enterprise Manager on your machine or Access 2000? Basically we need to try and find out how many entries have taxon facts associated with them and also check that they are definitely entries you have created and not a result of an usual upgrade path.
Steve

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

I am trying to upgrade my trial version of R6 using the update from any version function, but when I try to import Rec6V6_6_8.zip and Rec6V6_7_2.zip using Tools-Import Data, as instructed on the website, the imports fail on validation. This is a standalone installation (sharing a machine with R2k), and I am running the import as System Manager, so what am I doing wrong please?

Janet

Janet Simkin
British Lichen Society

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Janet
What version of Recorder 6 have got?
Steve

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Steve,

It was version 6.6.8, but has now been upgraded to 6.9.3 in the first stage of the update procedure.

Janet

Janet Simkin
British Lichen Society

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

I appear to have an identical problem to Janet.  The resulting ImportRejects.txt from importing Rec6V6_6_8.zip lists 23900 items rejected all of the following format, e.g.

Failed to insert NBNSYS0000001349 into NAMESERVER
Database Error Message:
UPDATE permission denied on object 'NAMESERVER', database 'NBNDATA', owner 'dbo'.


Alison

Alison Stewart
Dorset Environmental Records Centre

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Not quite the same, Alison's import seems to have got further than mine as there is nothing in my ImportRejects.txt. LastError.txt shows:

Exception occurred in application Recorder 6 at 15/12/2006 15-04-25.
Version : 6.9.3.102

Exception path:
EOleException : ClassFactory cannot supply requested class

Last event\actions:
  actLocations invoked
  TfrmLocations created
  TfrmLocations activated
  TfrmLocationDetails created
  actImport invoked
  TfrmImportWizard created
  TfrmLocations deactivated
  TfrmImportWizard activated

Operating System : Windows XP  5.01.2600  Service Pack 2
Physical Memory available : 1,047,548 KB

Janet

Janet Simkin
British Lichen Society

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi

My thanks to Steve Wilkinson for his assistance by phone on Friday. I look forward to completing the checks next week.

Although the dictionary upgrade did not complete, here, the BOU checklist is available - for which I am very grateful and I have imported about 1100 records as a test. Much more such work to do. However, there are some errors in the contents of the list that I would be grateful to have corrected at some time. The most striking error is the order is wrong at the start of the taxonomic list. Mute Swan is now the first bird in the list and the order should be:

Anseriformes
Galliformes
Gaviiformes
Podicipediformes
Procellariiformes
Pelecaniformes
Ciconiiiformes
Acciptriformes, etc etc

There may be some other 'order' issues to check.

Also, 'Canada Goose' should now be named 'Greater Canada Goose'.

However, many thanks for getting this list available!

All the best, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi

I have found another taxonomic issue with the implementation of the BOU Checklist 2006. In the taxonomic list is:

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba).  This is incorrect. The species is White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

What would be better is if the entry could be amended to:

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) with a subspecies Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)

How soon is it realistically likely to be possible to make these changes to the order? Does it have to be done centrally, or can we make such changes locally?

Cheers, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi

I have found another taxonomic issue with the implementation of the BOU Checklist 2006. In the taxonomic list is:

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba).  This is incorrect. The species is White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

What would be better is if the entry could be amended to:

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) with a subspecies Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)

How soon is it realistically likely to be possible to make these changes to the order? Does it have to be done centrally, or can we make such changes locally?

Cheers, Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi Janet and Alison

There is a problem with the instructions that go along with the upgrade from any version.

My sincerest apologies - we've taken this upgrade off the website temporarily and we are looking into it today.

I'll email you both as soon as it is resolved.

I'm really sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Best wishes,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Dear all,

I've a couple of quick points relating to the taxonomic aspects of the update. Sadly, neither is ideal, but now that the Dictionary updates have been decoupled from broader updates, we are able to provide a much more responsive service.

Firstly, an apology - the BOU birds list has now been updated in the master copy of the Species Dictionary (held at the NHM) to comply with the latest BOU publication. Unfortunately, the flag that lets Recorder know that this had happened wasn't completed, so the current Recorder version will not contain all of the changes. This includes the sort order, which will be a little idiosyncratic in places.

We are aiming for an update in the first week of January and this will solve all problems raised by Ian, with the exception of including subspecies (we had been asked by BOU to omit these, but I shall check that this is still the case).

The second point relates to the Coleoptera list. This is still only partially complete, but I am pursuing access to the remaining data.

The intention is to provide regular taxonomic updates, starting in January.

Regards,
John

Dr John Tweddle

Data Manager,
NBN Species Dictionary Project

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi John

Many thanks for the information you give. When you speak with the BOU, I know from my perspective there is a need to differentiate between White and Pied Wagtails for reporting purposes as one only appears here as a migrant the latter as a breeder. I guess this will be an issue for different species in other places, but for my example, it is the only case I can think of where the species name is a change from the one we normally and commonly record in north east Wales (and Britain?). Observers generally record 'Pied Wagtails' and we need to be able to differentiate them in Recorder - as a subspecies would be better than just as a comment.

I look forward to seeing what the upgrade in January does.

All the best and best wishes for Christmas to those kind people who have provided help via these very useful pages!

Ian

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

Hi everyone

I have looked into the issues raised with the 'upgrade from any version' to version 6.9.3, and it looks like there are some problems with upgrading Recorder 6 pre 6.7.2 straight to 6.9.3. There have been so many changes, both with the software and with the dictionary, that this upgrade isn't working as it should, and I think, on reflection, it is probably better to do the upgrade in two steps anyway (i.e. from 6.6.8 to 6.7.2, and then from 6.7.2 - 6.9.3) to avoid complications. We do however plan to review this situation in the new year.

I have uploaded a document (see uploads page http://forums.nbn.org.uk/uploads.php) 'Guidelines for upgrading to V6.9.3 from V6.6.8' giving detailed instructions of how to upgrade a standalone copy of Recorder 6 from V6.6.8 to V6.9.3 and I hope to provide similar guidelines for upgrading from versions pre 6.6.8 to 6.9.3 (if required) in January.

As always, particularly with live systems, I would strongly advise creating a back-up copy of the NBN database before proceeding with an upgrade.

I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by this.

Many thanks,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

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Re: V6.9.3 UPGRADE RELEASED

All,
Further to Sarahs post I dont think we have quite bottomed out the problems around this. I would like to thank Ian for his patience and John VB for help. It looks like there is a problem which has existed through the last four versions of Recorder 6 which has just come to light where the dictionary upgrades will not work completely if you are using the NBNuser account rather than trusted authentication.
Unfortunately we cant do anything more about this before Christmas but will pick it up again immediately we are back in in January. The solution is not too complex but just needs a bit of testing and guidance to make sure we get it right.
Many thanks for bearing with us through this.
Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year
Steve