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Three different
query forms, accessible via the tabs labeled Genus, Species, and Publications, enable records to be retrieved from their corresponding data sources. Enter one or more search criteria using the
inputs described below, and press the "Search" button at the bottom
of the form. Records matching all search criteria will be retrieved.
Searches are not case sensitive.
Input Types On The Form
- Text Box
-
A simple text
box accepts a string of alpha-numeric characters and compares it against values
in the database. If the field in the database contains only numbers (e.g.,
"Publication Year" or "Accession Number"), only exact
matches will be retrieved -- wildcards and ranges cannot be used. If the field
is for text, a "sub-string search" will be performed. Searching
for "stella" in the species field would match "stella"
as well as "constellatus" and "castellatum", among others.
- Single-Select
List Box
-
A single-select
list box displays all the values that occur in the database, but allows only
one value to be used in a given query. The default value, [any]
causes the field to be ignored.
- Multi-Select
List Box
-
A multi-select
list box displays all the values that occur in the database and allows multiple
values to be used in a given query. Use Ctrl-Click to toggle individual selections
on and off; i.e., hold the Control key down (PC), or the Command key (Mac)
when you click on a value. Note, clicking a value without holding down
the control key (i.e., a simple click) clears all other selections in the
list box and leaves the most recently clicked value as the only selection.
Note also that some browsers "remember" selected values between
queries even though the selected values are not visible (i.e., have scrolled
off) the list box. Press the Clear button to clear the form.
- Radio Button
-
A radio button must have one and only one selection chosen out of two or more choices.
Input Fields
- First author
- First author of the publication.
- Coauthors
- Names of coauthors.
- Title
- Normally consists of the full title (no abbreviations) of the original title, in the language as written.
- Journal/book (=source)
- Source of the publication, including books, journals, serials. For example, this field may contain "Bacillaria", "Diatom Research" and "Mikrogeologie".
- Publication number
- A unique number given to each publication by the Diatom Collection of the California Academy of Sciences. The publication numbers are also the same as published in: Fourtanier, E. & Kociolek, J.P. Catalogue of the diatom genera. Diatom Research, 14: 1-190.
- Publication year
- Year of publication, usually as given on the publication itself. The actual date/year of publication, if known or suspected to be different, is listed in comments.
- Display options
- Page Style - Multiple Pages/Single Page
- Choose Multiple Pages if you would like the results displayed 20 per page, one page at a time. If you would like all the results displayed on one page, choose Single Page.
- Record Style - Brief Records/Full Records
- Brief Records will display only a few fields of data for each record. Full Records will display all of the data for each record. Be warned that choosing Single Page and Full Records can take a long time to download if there are a large number of records.
Results
- Query feedback
- The query parameters entered on the form are summarized in query language at
the top of every result page. Read the query statement to be sure that the query
being processed is what you intended. Some browsers have a tendency to "remember"
parameters from previous queries. Press the Clear button between queries
to clear previously used parameters.
- Number of records
- The number of records retrieved by every query is reported immediately after
the query feedback (near the top of the page) as the results are being formatted.
If the number returned is much larger than you expected or want to wait for,
press the "STOP" button on your browser to cancel the query. You can
create a more restrictive query by entering additional search criteria on the
form.
- Retrieval limit
- The number of records retrieved is limited to 500 to prevent "excessive
resource consumption" by a single user and to prevent browser crashes;
large result sets can cause some computers to lock up. Note that 500 taxonomic
records amounts to more than a megabyte of data. If you need a result set larger
than 500 records please contact Sarah Spaulding or Jean DeMouthe.
- Output format
- We hope the content and structure of retrieved records will be self explanatory, but
some of the field definitions below may provide additional insight. At present
the only type of output is HTML. We hope to provide structured text and XML
in the future.
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