Use this window to exchange data between different Birder's Diary databases and for importing taxonomic and checklist data files purchased from the Online Store.
There are 5 TABs on this window, each of which relate to importing or exporting data specific to the name on the TAB. Each TAB and its use is discussed below.
All data exported from this window is exported in
comma-separated format (CSV format).
These files can be opened using common spreadsheet tools (e.g. Microsoft
Excel®). Where they differ from Excel is that they have a blank first
row in the file where Excel would create a header
row, containing the column names. If you create a CSV file using
Excel, note that you will have to edit it afterwards using NotePad, WordPad
or some other text editor to remove the header
row and replace it with a blank/empty first row. By default, Excel
will not save a blank first line.
Here is a sample sightings export file opened in Microsoft Notepad:
Here is the same file opened in Microsoft Excel:
The format for each of the files used
by each TAB is stated under the section for that TAB. File formats are
shown only so experienced users can manipulate and import data from other
sources.
In this Topic Hide
Use this TAB to export sightings from your database. You may want to do this to easily mail them to a colleague/friend/family-member, regional sighting compiler also using Birder's Diary, or to another computer where you have Birder's Diary installed. The recipient can easily import the file into their Birder's Diary database. Use the date and observer filters to limit the sightings data being exported.
Also, use this TAB to import sightings from a Birder's Diary export or from another data source where the import file has been formatted as per the information provided below.
You might also export this data so it
can be imported into a spreadsheet tool (such as Microsoft Excel) for
data analysis and graphing. But, consider using the Export feature from
the View/Edit Sightings window
in order to include user-defined data information as well.
This will set a starting date filter for limiting
the data exported.
This will set an ending date filter for limiting
the data exported.
This will select the observer to export sightings
for. Leave this dropdown blank to export sightings for all observers.
Click this button to export sightings data based
on your selected filters. You will be prompted for the output file location
and name.
This is the default. If selected, it expects the
import file selected by the user to be created by a Birder's Diary export
function. It expects that the name of the thing being imported to primarily
be that of an internal Birder's Diary thing.
Use this when importing a sightings file created
by a Birder's Diary export; such as one created on this window using the
Export function.
If selected, it expects the import file selected
by the user to be created by something other than a Birder's Diary export
function. It expects that the name of the thing being imported to be that
of a common or scientific name used by one or more taxonomic lists loaded
in your Birder's Diary database. If it doesn't match on either,
then you will be prompted to specify the target thing manually.
Use this when importing a sightings file created
by something other than a Birder's Diary export. This is usually the case
when converting your sightings data from some other source such as your
own database or another piece of birding software.
Click this button to import sightings from a valid
Birder's Diary sightings export file. You will be prompted to select the
import file.
Check this checkbox in order to have your export
appended to the end of an existing export file.
You would use this when you want to export several
different sets of sightings data, but have it all imported on the destination
machine as one import file.
Click this button to open the Log file in your default
text editor.
You might want to view the log file for errors or
specific information pertaining to an import or export.
The first row of this CSV file must be blank. All other rows have the following format:
Example:
"Sample","I","Observer","SIO","American Wood Duck","COLORADO","Bosque 2005",3/14/2007,1,1,"Nice day!","F"
Column |
Description |
Values |
1 |
First Name |
Text; Note: if the observer does not exist, it will be added. |
2 |
Middle Initial |
One character |
3 |
Last Name |
Text |
4 |
Initials |
1-3 chars |
5 |
Thing Name or Common Name (Note: see above for which to use.) |
This can be an internal Birder's Diary thing name, common name or scientific name. Note: if the name cannot be resolved, the user will be asked to manually match the name to an existing thing in the database. |
6 |
Location |
Text; Note: if the location does not exist, it will be added as a child under the "$Orphaned Locations$" location. |
7 |
Trip |
Text; if this trip does not exist in the import database it will not be added. |
8 |
Date/Time |
Valid date/time specification. Time is optional. Note: This should be in a format as specified in the regional settings of your computer. |
9 |
Min Count |
Integer |
10 |
Max Count |
Integer |
11 |
Comments |
Text |
12 |
Life List Disabler |
"T" or "F"; if "T", do not count this sighting against life list counts. |
Use this TAB to export your location hierarchy information for easily importing into another Birder's Diary installation.
You might use this feature, for example, if you have created a regional location hierarchy for your country, county, state, province, etc that others can use by importing your information.
Specify the top node in the location hierarchy that
you want to export. Leave this blank to export your entire location tree.
You would use this to only export the branch in
your location hierarchy that you want to share with others.
Click this button to export the specified location
tree. You will be prompted for the output file location and name.
Click this button to import a location hierarchy
into your database. You will be prompted to select the import file.
Click this button to open the Log file in your default
text editor.
You might want to view the log file for errors or
specific information pertaining to an import or export.
The first row of this CSV file must be blank. All other rows have the following format:
Example:
"ALABAMA","LOWER 48 UNITED STATES","Description","Habitat","Comments","F"
Column |
Description |
Values |
1 |
Location Name |
Text |
2 |
Parent Location Name |
Text |
3 |
Description |
Text |
4 |
Habitat |
Text |
5 |
Comments |
Text |
6 |
Top Location |
"T" if location is WORLD; else "F" |
This is a multi-functional TAB design for importing and exporting checklist data. Note: importing or exporting a checklist file will not alter the specified taxonomic list in any way.
Exporting data is fairly straight forward. You can specify a tax list to act as a filter for the things exported and then either export by location (exporting all things for that location) or by thing (exporting all locations for a given thing).
Importing data has the functionality required to get checklist data into Birder's Diary from a variety of sources. Since this data is in constant flux around the world, especially for our feathered friends, this portion has been designed to aid in keeping such data as current as possible. The most important feature now available since v3.6.39 is the Free-Form Text File Import functionality. You can take checklist data you find in almost any source (e.g. Web site, PDF file, etc) and as long as you can save it as a text file or put in your Copy/Paste buffer, this process will process that data and update checklist data for any location in the world. You will be given a chance to review the proposed changes and accept/reject individual modifications! For a tutorial on this process, please see this topic in the How To section.
Checklist imports come in one of two flavors:
All things for a given location
For example, all reptiles for Denmark. You may be the reptile expert
for Denmark and have updated all reptiles known to occur in Denmark.
All locations for a given thing
For example, all locations for a European Robin. You may be the European
Robin expert and have updated all known locations for this bird.
This TAB gives you the ability to export or import each type.
Each row in a checklist file lists
A location name,
a thing name and
a flag to indicate whether the thing is common at that location.
This will allow you to specify a taxonomic list
that required for "Export by Location", "Overwrite Locations"
and "Import Free-form Text". Specifying a taxonomic list will
filter what is exported or imported to those things defined by the selected
list.
Use this on "Export by Location" when
you only want to export the things classified by the selected taxonomic
list. Use this on Import with "Overwrite Locations" so that
you do not remove things for other taxonomic lists not included in the
import file. For example, you do not want to remove butterflies known
to occur in Colorado when importing new checklist data for birds in Colorado.
Use this on Import with "Free-form Text" to specify the names
that the import should be looking for in the text file.
Checking this box will include any checklist data
associated with the specified location's descendants. For example, if
you specify North America, any checklist data associated with states or
provinces will also be exported. Only applicable to "Export by Location".
Use this when you are exporting checklist data associated
with a taxonomic list. In this case, specify the taxonomic list and the
location which contains all areas associated with the taxonomic list.
Then this export will pick up all locations where checklist data is specified
for the things associated with the taxonomic list. For example, when exporting
data for the ABA taxonomic list, you would specify the "ABA AREA"
as the location, the ABA tax list and check this checkbox. Since checklist
data for the ABA AREA and ABA tax list is specified at the state/province
level, it will pick up all of that data and export it.
If this checkbox is not checked, you will only get things associated with
the specified location.
Setting this value will specify the location to
export things for when the Export by
Location button is clicked.
Use this when you want to export checklist data
for a specific location and/or all contained locations by using the checkbox
above it. For example, if you have updated the list of Trees that occur
in Alaska, you would specify the Tree taxonomic list, enter Alaska into
this field and click on the Export by Location button. This will create
a checklist export/import file that you can share with other Birder's
Diary users so that they can update the list of trees that occur in Alaska
by using the import features on this TAB.
Clicking this button will prompt you for a filename
to save the export to. It will export all things associated with the specified
location; filtered by a taxonomic list if specified.
Use this when you want to export a list of things
associated with a location. You should specify a taxonomic list if your
intent is to export only the set of things associated with a specific
tax list.
Setting this value will specify the thing to export
all associated locations for.
Use this when you have updated all locations for
a specific thing, e.g. bird, butterfly, tree, etc. and want to share this
updated location information with other Birder's Diary users. This field
will accept common, alias and scientific names.
Clicking this button will prompt you for a filename
to save the export to. It will export all locations associated with the
specified thing.
Use this when you have updated all known locations
for a thing in Birder's Diary and want to export this information for
other Birder's Diary users.
Checking this option will display an analysis
window after reading and analyzing the specified checklist file but
before updating your database. In the analysis window, you will have the
option of reviewing the proposed changes to your database's checklist
data; accepting or rejecting individual updates or canceling the entire
import. If you leave this button unchecked, the import will run to completion
with no input required from you.
Use this feature when you want to review the changes
that would be made to your checklist data before completing the import.
You will have the opportunity to accept/reject changes, write the proposed
changes to a log file, view the log file, or cancel the import altogether.
Checking this option will cause the import to neither
add nor remove subspecies. This is only valid with the "Overwrite
Locations" option.
Use this when the data you are importing does not
contain subspecies information. If you didn't use this, then the subspecies
associated with the locations contained in the import file will be removed.
For example, say you have butterfly subspecies checklist data for Mexico
already in your database. But you found a source for checklist information
that you want to import - but this information does not contain checklist
data for subspecies. An "overwrite locations" import assumes
that the import data is complete for the locations contained in the import
file. When the import process analyzes import file versus the data in
your database, it will assume anything in your database that is not in
the import file should be removed. Checking this option will save your
subspecies data.
Choosing this option will only add records to your
database. It will ignore records that already exist in your database and
will not remove any records based on what is not in the import file.
You would rarely use this option. Typically, if
you are concerned about what might be removed from an import, you would
choose either "Overwrite Things" or "Overwrite Locations"
with the "Analyze..." option.
Choosing this option will assume the import file
is a complete list of locations for a given thing (or group of things).
Therefore, it will completely update your checklist data for each thing
in the import file. This will cause some new locations to be added per
thing along with some locations in your database to be removed. This type
of import file is usually created using the Export
by Name feature on this TAB.
Use this option when you are importing a checklist
data file that contains all known locations for each thing in the checklist
file. Typically you would use this only on files created by the Export by Name feature on this TAB.
Choosing this option will assume that the import
file contains a complete list of things per each location referenced in
the import file. You must specify a taxonomic list for this option. Otherwise,
importing a bird checklist for Colorado would result in removing all other
things from Colorado, e.g. butterflies, mammals, etc. This type of import
file is usually created using the Export
by Location feature on this TAB.
This is the option to use when importing
checklist files available from the Birder's Diary web site - on the Downloads
page.
Use this option when you are importing a checklist
data file that contains all known things, as defined by the specified
tax list, for each location in the checklist file. Typically you would
use this on files created by the Export
by Location feature on this TAB - which is exactly how all checklist
data files on the web site Downloads page are created!
Clicking this button will prompt you for the file
to be imported.
You would use this button for checklist data import
files created by a Birder's Diary export. This includes all checklist
data files found on the Birder's Diary web site Downloads page.
Specifies that the data to be used for import and
name matching is to be grabbed directly from the Copy/Paste buffer, instead
of from a data file created with the same data.
Use this to save the step of copying checklist data
for a location to a text file first. Just be sure the data with the names
for a given location is in your Copy/Paste buffer and then click on the
Import button. If this option is checked (by default), then you will not
be prompted for a file containing the data, and the data will be read
automatically from your Copy/Paste buffer.
Specifies the location that this free-form text
import file is for. You must also specify the taxonomic list to use for
name matching.
Use this when importing a free-form text data that
contains names to be associated with a location. You will often find electronic/soft-copy
data on the web or otherwise which contains, for example, the list of
birds to be found in Australia. The file simply contains a list of bird
names. In order to process it correctly, this process needs to know which
location in Birder's Diary that this data is for.
Clicking this button will prompt you for the file
to be imported if the "Copy/Paste" checkbox is not checked.
Otherwise, it will grab the data from the Copy/Paste buffer and begin
the import process.
Use this when importing a list of names for a specific
taxonomic list that occur at a specific location. All the data needs to
include is a list of common and/or scientific names. You must specify
the Location.
Check this checkbox in order to have your export
appended to the end of an existing export file.
You would use this when you want to export several
different sets of checklist data, but have it all imported on the destination
machine as one import file.
Click this button to open the Log file in your default
text editor.
You might want to view the log file for errors or
specific information pertaining to an import or export.
This only applies to Birder's Diary import/export files. The free-form import file does not need to have any format. Rather, just a list of names for a specific location pertaining to a specified taxonomic list.
The first row of this CSV file must be blank. All other rows have the following format:
Example:
"ALABAMA","Allegheny Chinkapin","F"
Column |
Description |
Values |
1 |
Location Name - if location does not exist in database, it will be added under $Orphaned Locations$ during import. |
Text |
2 |
Name - can be common name, scientific name or band code |
Text |
3 |
Common |
"T" or "F" |
This TAB allows you to import and export taxonomic lists.
You will probably only ever use the import feature of this TAB as you add additional taxonomic lists from the Downloads page at the Birder's Diary web site.
You might use the export feature if you create your own taxonomic lists or before you remove an old taxonomic list from your database, you may want to export it first, just in case you want to re-import it later for reference.
Specify the taxonomy to export.
Use this when exporting a taxonomy. It is required.
Clicking this will prompt you for the export file
location and name, and then perform the export.
Clicking this will prompt you for the import file
location and name. It will then perform the import.
You would use this when importing taxonomic lists
purchased from the Online Store and downloaded from the Birder's Diary
web site's Download page.
Click this button to open the Log file in your default
text editor.
You might want to view the log file for errors or
specific information pertaining to an import or export.
This file format is protected by checksum security and you can only create a taxonomic list using the Birder's Diary Tax and Thing Editors along with the Tax Viewer.
This TAB allows you to import and export report templates. In this way, you can share report templates you have created with other Birder's Diary users!
The selected report template will be the template
exported.
Use this to select the report template you want
to export.
Clicking this will prompt you for the export file
location and name, and then perform the export.
Clicking this will prompt you for the import file
location and name. It will then perform the import.
Click this button to open the Log file in your default
text editor.
You might want to view the log file for errors or
specific information pertaining to an import or export.
This file format is undocumented and not supported. You can and should only create report templates using the Report designer. However, once created by the Report designer, it can be exported and imported to another Birder's Diary database.