Input your data

[This page originated as suggestions for recorders in Cumbria, but Phill would be delighted if his data-input forms (below) could be trialled more widely!]

Update, 4 June 16: List-inputForm_EXM0306 for Excel, below, addresses a problem with data exporting in the previous version, _EXM0304.

A: Several members have their own copies of the standard MapMate database application, which can easily be synchronised with Phill Brown’s ‘master’ copy for Cumbrian data. You can find out about buying and running your own copy of MapMate (nb: Windows only) here. Do ask Phill about this option if it sounds interesting.

B: Alternatively, you can try the two simple forms which Phill has prepared. You enter your records, and the form then generates a file which you send to Phill, by e-mail, tindalepegman [at] gmail.com (or via Dropbox, on memory stick, on CD, etc.).  The two forms are:

The List-input Form

… is ideal for entering a longer list of species names (such as from a recording card), where you want all the other details (GR, locality, recorder, etc.) to stay the same.

The Data Entry Form

… is ideal for entering shorter sequences of species, when the other data (say, the GRs) need to alter.

For each form, there are three versions: see below. Click the links to download the version for you! The latest versions (identified by the codes in the filenames) will always be downloadable here.

(Note: Disappointingly, one tester (John A.) reports that neither of the Excel versions function on OSX (Mac) with ‘Excel 2011 for Mac’. They also fail on the Excel version for iOS on iPad, due to macros not running.)

Instructions

… are available for each form (in PDF format). NB: the current instructions were written for the Open/LibreOffice version. You may find a few minor differences using these instructions for the Excel versions. For instance, the message you get on loading the form, to “Enable Macros”, appears in the latest version of Excel as a “Security warning” banner, “Some active content has been disabled.. Enable content.” In any version, you will need to click “enable”, however worded.

1: Download Instructions (PDFs, 300KB); click to open in a new window/tab; right-click for a Save or Download menu:

Instructions for Data Entry Form 3 Mar

Instructions for List-input Form 3 Mar

2: Download the forms appropriate for your system:

A: for Excel 2007 or later, ‘Macro-enabled Workbook’ (filetype .xlsm):

DataEntryForm_EXM0304 for Excel 2007 and later

List-input Form_EXM0306 for Excel 2007 and later

Note: _EXM0306 addresses a problem (data export) in the previous version, _EXM0304

B: for older Excel (prior to Excel 2007) (filetype .xls):

DataEntryForm_EXL0304 for Excel pre-2007

List-input Form_EXL0304 for Excel pre-2007

C: for those without Excel: a version for OpenOffice or LibreOffice (filetype .ods), . Open- and LibreOffice are open-source free alternatives to Microsoft Office Suite, for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. LibreOffice (preferred for these Forms) is downloaded from here. Once LibreOffice is installed, these files load within it.

DataEntryForm_LBE0304 for OpenOffice/LibreOffice

List-input Form_OOF0304 for OpenOffice/LibreOffice

Please do contact Phill or Jeremy for advice on any aspect of running these applications. One-to-one instruction may be arranged.

You may also email Phill, who will send the relevant version(s) to you – say whether or not you have Excel (and which version).

 

[⇠⇠ Back to Recording Cumbria’s Flora…]

2 thoughts on “Input your data”

  1. I’m running Excel for Mac 2011. Neither of the Excel formats seem to work. the .xls one looks OK but the drop-down lists don’t open. .xlsm needs ActiveX which Macs don’t like. time to have a go with Libre Office.

    1. Hi John – thanks for this feedback – disappointing! I don’t try Excel on my Mac(s) and so neither Phill nor I have been able to test the .xls and .xlsm versions OFF Windows. (I HAVE tried them in the freely-downloadable version of XL for iOS on the iPad, but that fails, apparently due to THAT version not being able to run macros.)

      Doh.

      I have both OpenOffice and LibreOffice (and indeed NeoOffice, which is designed specifically for OSX), and am impressed by their usability. Besides Calc – the OO/LO version of XL you’ll be using – I have done a lot of DTP work with them, in Writer, and use them particularly for opening and editing Word docs.

      Let me know how you get on.

      For various complicated reasons (which I don’t fully understand when Phill explains them!), the LO versions seem to run slower than the XL versions. This is noticeable when the FIRST entry is made in the various fields, presumably as the macros run for the first time that session. THEN they are almost instantaneous.

      Thanks for you interest.

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