Show Notebook

Objective

The Show Notebook function is a research tool allowing users to selectively collect images or cropped elements from any number of surveys as entries in a notebook or work area. ??? By default, each notebook entry has a comment field. The user may design the format of a notebook entry to include other data fields. There are four types of data fields:

• headers

• fields for text entry

• check boxes for descriptive selection

• calculations that use the text entries.

Each user can have up to 100 notebooks; each notebook can have an unlimited number of entries.

Processing

Notebooks may be viewed, defined, revised, and deleted by clicking the Show Notebook function. If you do not have a notebook, clicking the Show Notebook functions displays the Create a New Notebook page. If you have a notebook, clicking the Show Notebook function displays the notebook most recently viewed or used. All of the notebook pages will provide the user with multiple options. These options include the creation of additional notebooks, viewing any notebook on the database or making copies of any notebook on the database.

On rare occasions, notebook entries can be adversely affected by changes made to a survey. Should an image or cropped element be deleted by the owner of the survey, viewers of the notebook will see a text message describing the former contents. Should this occur, the notebook owner must delete the obsolete entry and optionally find and add the revised image or element to the notebook.

Adding an Image or Cropped Element to Your Notebook

Images or elements are added to a notebook by clicking on an Image ID or Element ID found within the image or element captions of many recording function and reporting functions. Clicking on these hyperlinks will open a popup window with a form for adding additional data.

To add entries to your notebook, use any research function that displays an image or cropped element. Clicking on the Image ID or Element ID will open a new window.

@@@ show an example image or element with hyperlink in caption

If a user has not defined a notebook, a default notebook will be automatically created. If a user has several notebooks, the last used notebook name will be shown as the current selection in a drop down box. A different notebook may be used for the current entry by selecting the desired notebook from the drop down box.

@@@ show an example popup window adding an element to a notebook

To add the entry, complete the form and click the Submit button. The window will briefly display an acknowledgment message and then close automatically. You may not add the same image or element to a notebook twice; the second attempt will update the prior entry.

If there are no data fields defined, notebook entries will be sorted by the survey reference number, image category, cluster number, panel letter, and element number. If there are data fields defined, the default sequence of the notebook may be changed by selecting a data field as the primary sort sequence (see [#sortanotebook Sort a Notebook]).

"''Show a Notebook"''

The Show a Notebook page will display all of the entries of the selected or last notebook you viewed.

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The heading (below the system buttons) includes the number of entries in the notebook, the number of entries displayed on the current page and the sort sequence last chosen on the "Sort the Notebook" page.

Images and cropped elements within notebooks have the same features as images within other displays and reports, including hyperlinks to cluster, panel and element detail. Any data fields identified in the notebook design, including headers, text fields, selected check boxes and calculation are displayed.

Each image contains a "Remove entry from notebook" check box. Clicking on an entry's remove check box and clicking the Submit button deletes the entry from the notebook.

Buttons

• Drop Down Box: displays a list of all the notebooks in your library. You may view any notebook by clicking on a notebook name.

• Create: takes you to the Create a New Notebook page.

• Revise: takes you to the Revise a Notebook page.

• Copy: takes you to the Copy a Notebook page.

• Delete Notebook: a warning page requesting an acknowledgment that you intended to delete the notebook being displayed. Clicking Delete Notebook a second time deletes the entire notebook.

• All Notebooks: takes you to the Select a Notebook page.

• Sort: takes you to the Sort the Notebook page.

• Download: takes you to the Download page.

• Submit: removes any checked entries from the notebook and updates the page to reflect any changes.

• Remove All Entries: a warning message requesting an acknowledgment that you intend to remove all entries from the notebook is displayed. Clicking the Remove All Entries a second time removes all the entries from the notebook but retains the notebook design.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Create a New Notebook

The Create a New Notebook page is used to create a new notebook. "New Notebook" is displayed in the "Notebook name:" The Notebook name should be changed to indicate the use or contents of the notebook. The data fields to be used in the notebook should be entered in the "Define each data field on a separate line:" field. To create the notebook, click the Submit button.

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Buttons

• Submit: creates a new notebook and takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Cancel: takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Revise a Notebook

The Revise a Notebook page is used to revise an old notebook. The selected notebook name is displayed in the "Notebook name:" field and the previously designed data fields of the notebook's format are displayed in the "Define each data field on a separate line:" field. You may change the notebook name and add, change or delete any data field. To revise the notebook, click the Submit button.

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Buttons

• Submit: revises an old notebook and takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Cancel: takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Copy a Notebook

The Copy a Notebook page displays a copy of the current note book. The application generates a notebook name of "Copy of" appended with the former name of the notebook. The name may be changed.

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Buttons

• Submit: copies the notebook and takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Cancel: takes you to the Show a Notebook or Show a User's Notebook page.

Delete a Notebook

The Delete a Notebook page displays a warning requesting an acknowledgment that you intend to delete the notebook. Clicking Delete Notebook a second time deletes the entire notebook.

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Buttons

• Delete Notebook: deletes the notebook takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Cancel: takes you to the Show a Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

All Notebooks

The "All Notebooks" selection takes you to the "Select a Notebook" page.

Select a Notebook

The Select a Notebook page displays a list of all the notebooks on the database. The user ID number enclosed by a pair of asterisk (*) characters is your id. Because DigitalRockArt is a shared resource, you may view and copy another user's notebook. Clicking on a Notebook Name takes you to Show a Notebook if the notebook is yours or Show a User's Notebook if the notebook is not yours.

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Buttons

• Cancel: takes you to Show a Notebook or Show a User's Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Show a User's Notebook

The Show a Notebook page will display all of the entries of the selected user's notebook.

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The heading (below the system buttons) shows the number of entries in the notebook, the number of entries display on the current page and the last sort sequence chosen on the "Sort the Notebook" page. If the notebook has no data fields defined, the default sequence is the last entry are shown first.

Images and cropped elements within notebooks have the same features as images within other displays and reports, including hyperlinks to cluster, panel and element detail. All the data fields in the notebook design, headers, text entries, selected check boxes and calculation are also displayed.

Buttons

• Copy: takes you to the Copy a Notebook page.

• All Notebooks: takes you to the Select a Notebook page.

• My Notebooks: takes you to Show a Notebook displaying a the last notebook viewed.

• Download: takes you to the Download a Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Anchor(sortanotebook)

Sort a Notebook

The Sort a Notebook page display a list of the field names in the design of the notebook that may be used to sort the notebook entries. Clicking on a Field Name sorts the notebook entries on the selected field and takes you to Show a Notebook page.

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For sorting purposes, checked boxes have a lower value than unchecked boxes. All subsequent entries into the notebook will be sorted in the selected sequence.

If the notebook design is revised, the sequence of the entries reverts to the default sequence. The default sort sequence is survey reference number, cluster number, panel letter, element number.

Buttons

• Cancel: takes you to Show a Notebook or Show a User's Notebook page.

• Menu: takes you to the Main Menu.

Download a Notebook

The Download a Notebook allows data values entered into a notebook to be downloaded in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format. The CSV format is widely supported by spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Works, and Lotus 123.

The Download a Notebook page displays the file name of the notebook to be downloaded. Right click the file name and choose the "Save Target as.." option to initiate a file dialog.

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If you save the file to your hard drive and then open the saved file with a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel, you can view the contents and perform additional analysis on your data. Close the window by clicking on the "X" in the upper right hand corner.

Designing a Notebook

Before designing your notebook, you should establish a research goal - What is the objective of the notebook design - element comparison, statistical analysis, etc. Design your notebook for easy input. Group items of similar content together, e.g. descriptive attributes, measurements, calculations, etc. If a work sheet is the source of data input, the notebook fields should match the worksheets' field naming conventions and order.

It would be prudent to test your notebook design on a small sample before spending a large amount of time capturing data and then later discover your data is inadequate. If downloading into a spreadsheet it part of the analysis, test the download. The spreadsheet display may also indicate a shortcoming in your notebook design.

Data Field Types

There are four possible types of fields for your notebooks:

"Heading" - has only a name or phrase to be used to delineate groups of data fields. Headings should be used as descriptive names defining the use of the attribute being described by check boxes, measurement to be input, calculation to be performed. Headings will automatically be made bold when displayed. Example:

• Ground Stone Types

"Check box" - begins with a name and ends with an "*". Check boxes give you the ability to include attributes not found in the DigitalRockArt application. If you use check boxes, be sure to group them under appropriate headings because unchecked boxes are not displayed on the Show Notebook pages. Example:

• Basin Elongated * 
  Basin Oval * 
  Mortar * 
  Slick * 
  Trough Open * 
  Trough Closed *

"Text or numeric entry" - begins with a name and ends with a "#". Text or numeric entry give you the ability to enter text or numeric data that may be used in calculations. Example:

• Length cm # 
  Width cm # 
  Depth cm # 
  Length to Greatest Depth cm # 
  Volume dltr #

"Calculations" - begins with a name, has an =, and ends with a algebraic calculation. Calculations give you the ability to perform an algebraic calculation. If the numeric entry name has embedded blanks, you must replace the blanks with an underscore _ character in the formula. Example:

• Len Grt Depth to Length Pct = (100 * Length_to_Greatest_Depth_cm)/ Length_cm
  Width to Length Pct = (100 * Width_cm) / Length_cm

Calculations are evaluated after all other data fields are entered and may precede dependent data fields. This may be useful when you wish to sort entries based upon a calculated value.

If the calculation is an invalid expression, the field will be set to a value of "error". You may not use a calculated value to calculate another value. Formulas may include a call to any function in the Python Mathematical Functions library.

Changing the Design of a Notebook

It is best to test and critique your notebook design with small amounts of data. If you make any changes to the design of a large notebook (other than deleting fields) you must re-add every element to update the changed fields. If you wish to change the notebook design and retain any existing data, a good starting point is to make a copy of the notebook.

When changing the design of a notebook, you may change the positions of fields (under the same heading) and not lose any existing data. You may also change the positions of whole groups of fields, where a group is all the fields under a single heading.

However, any change to a checkbox or text / numeric field will result in null values being set for the field in all existing notebook entries. Changes to a calculation or adding a new calculation will be reflected in all notebook entries when the revised design is saved. Changing the spelling of a heading will result in null values for all fields under the heading.