The Compleat Botanica is composed of lists, views, filters, categories, templates, style sheets, and report layouts. Here's a quick introduction to the major components of the software.

  Lists

There are five lists used in the software (six if you count the list of Pathfinder documents). The first three were just introduced: the list of vernacular names, the taxonomic checklist, and the list of specimen in your collection. The other two lists are the set of filters that you define, and the list of custom categories supplied with the software. Both are described in more detail below.

  Views

There are 17 data entry views, one abstract view, and one gateway view.  A view, as used in this documentation, is simply a partial picture of a larger entity.  In this case the 19 views are partial pictures of the specimen list.  Each data entry view presents part of one specimen's data so that it can be modified.  All together, the data entry views allow you to examine and manipulate any data value associated with a specimen.

The abstract view is an HTML page that displays part or all of a specimen's data values.  The abstract view is based on a template (see below) that can be chosen and customized by you.  This gives you a birds-eye view of your data.

The gateway view is a collection of HTML templates that help you to conduct additional research on the World Wide Web.  This view is only available when your computer is connected to the Internet.  With the gateway view you can easily search for additional information available from highly respected sources.  Each template is programmed to search one Web site for a single species using either its botanical name or one of its common names.  Some templates also allow you to search for additional information on genus and family names.

  Filters

Filters are the multi-purpose definitions of what to include and what to exclude. With filters you define which set of records are to be displayed in the specimen list. You also specify which columns of data to display with each record. Both simple and sophisticated filters can be defined with ease. For example, all plants that exhibit some medicinal quality can be chosen by simply adding the medicinal properties item to the filter and choosing "all possible values". Refining the filter to show only plants with medicinal roots can be done by adding the medicinal parts item to the filter and selecting "bulbs", "corm", "rhizome", "root", "root bark", "rootstock", "shoots", sprouts", and "tubers" (all found adjacent to each other in the list of possibilities.) To include columns in the specimen list without restricting which data to include, simply add the item to the filter and select the "Include all . . ." button.  For example, the professional advice, pregnancy alert, and legally restricted items might be added to round out our sample filter for medicinal roots.

Filters also retain the sorting order, the column layout, and the column widths of the resulting specimen list. Sorting order is defined by simply clicking on a column header: click once for an alphabetical sort, click again for the reverse order, and click a third time to remove the sort criteria. Columns can be rearranged by clicking and dragging a column header to the left or to the right. Column widths can be adjusted by simply clicking the right-hand edge of a column header and dragging it to the desired width.

  Categories

Categories define the set of standard possibilities for each item in the specimen list.  The list of categories is fully customizable so that you can supplement each set of possibilities to include your own definitions and organizational rules.  The software when it's first installed comes with a good set of categorical entries for each of the 90 possible items.  As you first begin collecting and recording your plant-related data you'll want to use the standard categories that are supplied.  As you encounter exceptions to the rule, non-conforming specimen, and other hard to classify plants, you can enter free-form descriptions in the applicable data area.  Free-form data entry makes it easy to describe things when you don't yet know exactly how to classify what you have.  At a later time you can develop categorical entries to match the free-form entries that you've created.

  Templates

HTML templates are used in the publication process, in the abstract view and in the gateway view.  In each case, a template is a standard HTML document with special embedded replacement tags.  These replacement tags are used by the software to merge your specimen data with the template to produce a new browser-compatible document.

Two types of templates are provided:  detailed pages and summary tables.  Detailed page templates are used for the data of just a single specimen record.  Their counterpart, summary table templates, are used for the data of a set of specimen records -- usually this set of records is the collection defined by the currently selected filter.

Advanced users who understand HTML can produce their own templates using any standard web page editor.

  Style sheets

Each HTML document created by the software references one or more style sheets.  A style sheet describes how the document is to be displayed in the Web browser, for instance which font face and font size should be used, which colors should be used, or what type of borders should be applied.  Eight different types of style sheets are used by the software to produce every type of document from formal to garish, from plain to fancy, from simple to pizzazz.

The types of style sheets available include:  color schemes, font styles, point sizes, logos, banner backgrounds, banner borders, table backgrounds, and table borders.

Advanced users can create their own customized style sheets for use by the software.

  Report layouts

A report layout defines how a specimen report is to be formatted.  Specimen reports are high-resolution printer reports with precise control over margins, colors and fonts, frames and alignments.  Specimen reports give you more accurate control than HTML documents over such items as page breaks, headers, footers, and side-bars.  Report layouts work in conjunction with the current filter to fit your data onto printouts using any paper size and paper orientation.

Creating your own report layout is simple even for first timers.

 

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