1

Re: Rucksack error

As part of a pond project being run by Naomi Ewald, LRCs were sent an excel file of species along with their taxon version keys so we could create a rucksack in Recorder with them.  Also Charles Roper posted a ready made rucksack on the ALERC forum for us to use.  Naomi's list as a rucksack caused Recorder to crash and the ready made one caused it to hang, but only if I chose 'Current Rucksack (expanded)'  rather than just 'Current Rucksack' in the checklist drop down.

This error message was also posted after trying to open Charles' rucksack:

lasterror.txt wrote:
version           : 6.16.2.241
madExcept version : 2.7k
exception class   : ERUKError
exception message : Unable to complete file operation.  Please ensure that the rucksack has not been deleted.

main thread ($178):
0082a908 RecorderApp.exe Rucksack    995 +22 TfrmRuckSack.LoadRucksack
00828d00 RecorderApp.exe Rucksack    652 +23 TfrmRuckSack.cmbRucksacksChange
004a7f8c RecorderApp.exe StdCtrls            TCustomCombo.Change

....

Exception Stack

----------------
EOleException : Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'PK__#TempList__380F9C18'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object '#TempList___________________________________________________________________________________________________________00000000E33D'

Any ideas what the problems are?

Thanks
Purgle

Purgle Linham
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre

2

Re: Rucksack error

Thanks for submitting Purgle - if anyone wants to try and replicate the problems, the rucksack is here:-
http://lrcs.org.uk/files/recorder_rucks … I_KEYS.zip

-----------------
Teresa Frost | Wetland Bird Survey National Organiser | BTO
Other hat  | National Forum for Biological Recording Council
(Old hats  | NBN Board, ALERC Board, CBDC, KMBRC)

3

Re: Rucksack error

Recorder 6 rucksacks need to contain taxon list item keys not taxon version keys. The NBN gateway uses taxon version keys but these would need to be converted to taxon list item keys for use in a rucksack. For some taxa these will be the same but not for all. When creating rucksacks outside Recorder 6 you need to check that they don’t contain duplicate keys as this also causes problems in Recorder 6.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687

4

Re: Rucksack error

How would I create a rucksack using Taxon List Item Keys? Would I do this within or outside Recorder?

Bob Marsh
Doncaster LRC
Coleoptera recorder for YNU

5

Re: Rucksack error

You can open a rucksack file using a text editor, if you do this with one created within recorder in the normal way the structure is pretty obvious. Just make sure that all the keys you use are unique or it will fall over.

Rob Large
Wildlife Sites Officer
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre

6

Re: Rucksack error

Thanks Rob - I'll try that...

Bob Marsh
Doncaster LRC
Coleoptera recorder for YNU

7

Re: Rucksack error

If there aren’t too many species to add to a rucksack it will be easiest to create it in Recorder 6 although it is rather tedious to have to add them all one by one. R6 will automatically add the taxon list item keys for the taxa added to the rucksack. If you want to create a rucksack outside R6 there is documentation on the subject at http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-4595 but contending with the complications of taxa appearing on multiple lists make this option less straight forward than you might expect.

I have been looking at the rucksack that Purgle and Teresa refer to.  It contains 28 taxa that are in Index_taxon_name if Recorder 6 is at dictionary version 0000000Y but not if it is at 0000000Q so your dictionaries need to be up to date to use it. However, it contains 3,717 taxon list item keys for only 488 taxa (Actual name in Index_taxon_name). 477 names appear in it between 2 and 24 times so it looks as though it contains every taxon list item key in the taxon dictionary for every taxon regardless of whether the list is allowed for data entry. Each name should be in the rucksack just once, preferably taken from a preferred list.  Is anyone available to tidy this up? I can do it but I am away at the moment so I’m not sure when I would be able to do it. I don’t believe these problems would have occurred if the rucksack had been created by Recorder 6 but it would be tiresome to put 488 taxa in a rucksack.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687

8

Re: Rucksack error

Thanks for looking at this Sally. I think the rucksack might have been created by CPERC from the list supplied by Pond Conservation and Charles Roper just uploaded it (might have been wrong). I'll email you the TVK list it was created from in case you do get chance to sort it out.

I know that the dictionary is a tricky thing, but there does seem to be considerable room for confusion in cases like this that the Gateway primarily uses Taxon Version Keys whereas Recorder uses Taxon List Item keys for rucksacks etc, particularly when people are sending us long lists of species to report on and the TVKs being more available publically.

We could really do with the R6 documentation on creating a rucksack outside Recorder being extended with instructions on how to take a TVK list and turn it into a rucksack. At the moment it is very hard for the semi-initiated like me to work out how to use Taxon Name matching to get a TLIK list, especially if only the preferred names should be used. Which is why I haven't attempted it...

-----------------
Teresa Frost | Wetland Bird Survey National Organiser | BTO
Other hat  | National Forum for Biological Recording Council
(Old hats  | NBN Board, ALERC Board, CBDC, KMBRC)

9

Re: Rucksack error

Funny enough I had a go at building an XML report to do this last week. It hasn't been tested in anger yet. The CSV file is a text file with a single column headed by 'TVK' and a list of the TVKs on subsequent lines - one per line.

Rich

<?xml version='1.0' ?>


<!-- MBB report 
    taxon list item keys from CSV of taxon version keys 
 --> 


<CustomReport  title="MBB taxon list item keys from CSV of taxon version keys" menupath="MBB"  
description="Get list of taxon list item keys suitable for building a rucksack from a user-supplied CSV file of TVKs" >


<CSVTables>
        <CSVTable name="#CSV1">
            <CSVFile description="Keys" />
            <CSVColumn name = "TVK" datatype="Char" size="16" />
        </CSVTable>
    </CSVTables>

    <SQL>
        SELECT distinct INDEX_TAXON_NAME.TAXON_LIST_ITEM_KEY
        FROM INDEX_TAXON_NAME INNER JOIN
        INDEX_TAXON_NAME AS ITN2 ON ITN2.RECOMMENDED_TAXON_LIST_ITEM_KEY = INDEX_TAXON_NAME.TAXON_LIST_ITEM_KEY INNER JOIN
        TAXON_LIST_ITEM AS TLI ON TLI.TAXON_LIST_ITEM_KEY = ITN2.TAXON_LIST_ITEM_KEY
        INNER JOIN #CSV1
        ON #CSV1.TVK = TLI.TAXON_VERSION_KEY
          
        <Where keytype="Default">       
        </Where>
</SQL>

<Columns>  
    
</Columns>


</CustomReport>
Richard Burkmar
Biodiversity Project Officer
Field Studies Council

10

Re: Rucksack error

Mike Weideli has developed an add-in for Recorder 6 that will generate a rucksack from a species list. It will also update existing rucksacks to use the taxa from the preferred lists so, for example, it could be used to update a rucksack created using the Recorder 3 list to use taxa from the preferred lists. It also creates a log file to enable users to examine the selection of taxa. I have tested this on the Pond Conservation species list provided by Teresa and I have uploaded the resulting files to http://forums.nbn.org.uk/uploads.php .

My first attempt produced a rucksack containing 483 of the original 492 taxa. It was missing the following taxa:

Epidalea calamita (Bufo calamita)
Chaetarthria seminulum sensu stricto
Hygrotus parallellogrammus
Plateumaris rustica
Wiedemannia lota
Gammarus insensibils
Prostoma jenningsi
Utricularia vulgaris (s.l.) (inc australis)
Nitella opaca

After changing the corresponding names to Epidalea calamita, Hygrotus parallelogrammus, Gammarus insensibilis it then generated a rucksack (Species list UK IAP 2010 b.ruk) containing 486 taxa.

Chaetarthria seminulum is on the BEETLES list but not C. seminulum sensu stricto. As C. Seminulum is on the rucksack generated, it should’t be added again.
Plateumaris rustica is only on the Scottish Biodiversity list
Wiedemannia lota isn’t found because of the attribute ‘justified emend’ in the Taxon_Version table.
Prostoma jenningsi can be added from the Recorder 3.3 list or the List of additional names
Utricularia vulgaris (s.l.) (inc australis) – in this case users could add Utricularia vulgaris or Utricularia vulgaris agg. from the VASCULAR PLANTS AND STONEWORTS list but there are also other options like Utricularia vulgaris sens.lat. [Agg] from the List of additional names
Nitella opaca isn’t added because it would give rise to duplicate Actual Names.

Anyone using the rucksack should add in these 6 taxa manually, where possible, or add in appropriate alternatives. If any issues or problems arise from using it please report them here on the forum.

Users should examine the log file carefully to ensure they are happy with the selections made, for example, they should watch out for cases like Chara pedunculata which picked up Chara aculeolata from ALGAE although C. aculeolata is also on the VASCULAR PLANTS AND STONEWORTS list. Also watch out for different spellings included in some lists like the ‘List of additional names’, e.g. Rorripa islandica. Rorippa islandica from the ‘VASCULAR PLANTS AND STONEWORTS BSBI List of British & Irish Vascular Plants and Stoneworts’ should probably be used instead.

If anyone would like to use the rucksack generator please let us know and we will supply the add-in with documentation.

Sally Rankin, JNCC Recorder Approved Expert
E-mail: s.rankin@btinternet.com
Telephone: 01491 578633
Mobile: 07941 207687