1 Topic by Darwyn Sumner

  • Darwyn Sumner
  • Darwyn Sumner
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  • Registered: 10-05-2006
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Topic: Archive a Survey

Seems the most succinct title, here's the situation:
A Survey (I'm an NSS) has old records from a contributor (a lot of them).
That contributor has sent me an update telling me that he's revised some of that original batch.
I want to somehow archive that original file, make it non-reportable and then start afresh with the resubmitted records.
There seem to be a handful of ways I could do this:
1. Export the old Survey in its entirety, delete it from my current database then import his new data afresh (disadvantage is that I then wouldn't have his old records to check duplicates at leisure)
2. Invalidate all of the old survey (there are a couple of ancient threads related to this at http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=1277 & http://forums.nbn.org.uk/viewtopic.php?id=182) all I can think of for this is unchecking the entire survey, there's no bulk means of doing that for a whole survey, it'd have to be a tedious one-by-one unchecking job. Then find a way of checking duplicates.
3. Rely on the duplicate detection system in the import (well, that's even more tedious, and you've got to do it all in one operation)

I'm inclined to method 2 at the moment, it seems the safest

Did I miss some other method? Can we have a bulk uncheck addin or a survey invalidator please?

2 Reply by MikeWeideli

  • MikeWeideli
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Re: Archive a Survey

The attached Batch Update will change 'Checked' on a selected  Survey.  Works only as a quick report (right click on Survey and look in Extra Reports ).  Doesn't change biotopes.  Make sure you take a back up and check the results  before adding new data.

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LC_Update_Checked_On_Survey.xml 754 b, 5 downloads since 2016-01-31 

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Mike Weideli

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3 Reply by Darwyn Sumner

  • Darwyn Sumner
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Re: Archive a Survey

Thanks Mike. I've done all that now, using method 2.
I used the laborious method (before your reply), eventually rediscovering the * on the numeric keypad for expanding an entire Survey (it's been a long time, one forgets these tricks).
On reflection, there's a good reason to retain an invalidated Survey within Recorder. Records from that will have found their way into a Gateway upload, the unchecked records in the archived invalidated Survey provide provenance should enquiries ever be made about records which were once on the Gateway but subsequently disappear.
This "start afresh" method will only have limited appeal I guess, just applicable to single batches from single sources. I suppose LERCs tend to pour lots of batches into the same Survey, as a small NSS my Surveys are based on single contributors.

4 Reply by MikeWeideli

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Re: Archive a Survey

As far as the Gateway is concerned it should be fine to replace an entire dataset. No one should be loading Gareway data into their system on a permanent basis, although it is acceptable to load the data on a temporary basis as long as it isnt passed on to anyone else  including back to the Gateway.  I think would be impossible to track changes or deletions on the Gateway. There are just too many variables involved 

There are some good reasons for managing some datasets on the basis of replacing the whole dataset, but where this is done the data should not be passed to on using the R6 export facilities. 

R6 allows the import of' 'temporary data'  so that data can be imported for reporting purposes only. This data cannot be exported. An additional feature of these temporary imports is that you do not need to parse the Observers, thus avoiding cluttering your system with names which may not remain valid.

Mike Weideli

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5 Reply by Darwyn Sumner

  • Darwyn Sumner
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Re: Archive a Survey

Can't get that file to work, Mike. I popped it into C:\Users\Public\Documents\Recorder 6\User Files\Reports and get an error report that it could not be parsed on R6 startup.

6 Reply by MikeWeideli

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Re: Archive a Survey

Hi

It is Batch Update, so needs to go in the Batch Update Folder.  Suspect this is the problem.

Mike Weideli

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7 Reply by Darwyn Sumner

  • Darwyn Sumner
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Re: Archive a Survey

You're right. I tried that. Tested it on a survey with only one Event, Sample & Taxon. It hung. Had to Task Manger my way out.

8 Reply by MikeWeideli

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Re: Archive a Survey

I have run it on very large Surveys and it does run. The SQL is very simple so I can't think why it should cause a  problem. If it hangs rather than stops with an error message,   watch for hidden messages, which require a response. These can sometimes get hidden behind the current window.

If you Management Studio you can run the query in there. The Survey Key can be obtained from the Survey Meta data in R6.

  Update Taxon_Occurrence SET Checked = 0
  From Taxon_Occurrence
  Inner Join Sample S on S.Sample_Key = Taxon_Occurrence.Sample_Key
  INNER Join Survey_Event SE ON SE.Survey_Event_Key = S.Survey_Event_Key
  WHERE SE.Survey_Key = 'Survey key here'

Mike Weideli

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