Hi Ian

This should be fixed as part of the next dictionary update - we plan to test and release this after we have released the 6.10 CD's.

Kind regards,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Hi Ian

There has been previous requests for the ability easily update 'batches' of records - I am right in thinking that essentially your request is to be able to re-determine records (so in essense adding a new determination for multiple occurrences and flagging this as the preferred determination)?

Just incase you're not aware of it, there is an existing facility in R6 whereby you can add your own names for things such as locations or taxa, and select to display these names in the observation hierarchy etc. - though I'm not entirely sure how this is displayed when reporting.

Does any other users add their own names and use them in this way?

Kind regards,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Hi Ian

Sorry my previous post wasn't very clear.

Yes, when I was talking about adding your own names to taxa, this would just be for personal preference and these would not exported.

So what you are looking for is a way of permanently changing a batch of records and being able to export them. You could potentially achieve this two ways, but one method isn't really appropriate:

Solution 1: Users being able to permanently change the common names of taxa on the checklists themselves.

This would not be appropriate for a number of reasons, for example;
i) This would mean the common names associated with each checklist would not be as the original list providers specified
ii) This would lead to Recorder 6 users having many different copies of the same dictionary - which would be impossible to update en masse, cause complications with sharing data etc.

Solution 2 (much more preferable): Users being able to add new determinations to a batch of species records within the database. For example;

Originally a record of 'Reed Warbler' was added to the database using the RSPB list - this has one determination of 'Reed Warbler' (flagged as preferred).

You would then add an additional determination of 'Eurasian Reed Warbler' using the BOU list, which could be flagged as the preferred determination. The record would now have 2 determinations, the 'original' determination of 'Reed Warbler', and a new, preferred determination of 'Eurasian Reed Warbler'.

As the 'Eurasian Reed Warbler' is the preferred determination, it would be this species name that would be shown in the observation hierarchy and in reports etc. When this record is exported, the two determinations would go with it. The advantages of this would be;

i) We do not change the dictionary itself
ii) You keep information on what was originally recorded - in this case you just want the new name, but if you felt a species was wrongly identified it's important to keep the original identification - you could add a comment to the new determination to say 'new determination added as new common name preferable to old one'.

Hope that makes sense :) but please let me know if it doesn't!

Many thanks,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Hi Ian

Solution 2 would be a feature request.

There is nothing available within the Recorder 6 interface at present to edit and add batches (rather than single) records - but this does seem to be a general requirement of the user community (there are previous discussions dotted around the forum).

I'll ensure your specific request to add determinations is added to these.

Best wishes,

Sarah

Sarah Shaw
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC

Hi Ian

Just wanted to add...

I believe there is potential to do this sort of adding/editing through XML reports - perhaps John from Dorset Software could confirm what can and can't be done via XML reports.

The other option would be the development of an addin to add/edit multiple records.

Kind regards,

Sarah
Biodiversity Information Assistant
JNCC