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Topic: Determiner field

Hello Jim/all,

There is a "Determiner" field in the test warehouse, can you confirm if this is the same as the "Identified by" field found at https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/enter-casual-record? In this link the field name is occAttr:18 suggesting this is a custom text field?

To give some background we're being asked to submit data to the BRC data warehouse with some text used to provide details if a recording was assisted by someone. This, we're told, is typically the determiner field but for the determiner field appears to be a lookup field rather than a simple text field:

occurrence:fk_determiner or occurrence:determiner    Occurrence determiner    Use fk_* to submit text for automatic lookup, otherwise a record ID

Can you shed any light on this, is the determiner field in the BRC warehouse something different to the "Identified by" field?

Many thanks
Andy

2 (edited by Jim Bacon 25-05-2017 14:51:09)

Re: Determiner field

Hi Andy

The 'identified by' field on the recording form, named occAttr:18, is a custom occurrence attribute which is used on many forms. It is a simple text field in to which a name may be typed. If you have sufficient permissions on the warehouse you can see its definition at http://warehouse1.indicia.org.uk/index. … te/edit/18

It is noteworthy that the definition of this field gives it a 'system function' of 'determiner full name'. Marking the field in this way informs the system of the meaning of the field which is useful when trying to output data.

The occurrence determiner_id field you have also observed is a core database field in the occurrence table. In answer to your question, it is a completely different way of trying to achieve exactly the same thing. The comment against the field in the database is 'Foreign key to the people table. Identifies the person who determined the record.'

In theory the determiner_id field is a superior option as it allows you to tie determinations to a unique person. If used, it would allow a person to see reports of the records they have determined as well as those they have submitted themselves. It would also allow verifiers to contact determiners.

In practise, the determiner may not have an Indicia account or the person entering the data might not know how to identify the determiner account. The result is that we end up having to collect text names.

If your work is with a known group of determiners who will all agree to have Indicia accounts then you might be able to use the determiner_id field to good effect. We have had to forego its use in IRecord as we want to remain open to allow anyone to submit records or determine them without that barrier.

Jim Bacon.

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Re: Determiner field

Hello Jim,

Many thanks for this information, there is a bit of crossover between the biological understanding needed when working with Indicia data and the technical understanding so this explanation is really helpful.

Thanks again
Andy