AviSys 6.00M Program Update Download (December 2011)

This program update is specifically required to be installed before the Clements 2011 Taxonomy Update. It has features and functions specific to the update process and certain Clements 2011 data formats. While older Version can be used, this update is highly recommended. NOTE: This is a PROGRAM update NOT a taxonomy update.

REPEAT: this is NOT a taxonomy update!

Download and install this update if you received AviSys 6 prior to November 21, 2011 or if you have downloaded and installed an update to 6.00A . . . . L. With AviSys running, you can click Help | About AviSys to see which version you are running. If you are uncertain, there is no harm in installing this update a second time.

You download UPDATE6M.EXE and SAVE it, either to your desktop or a folder of your choice, such as C:\AVI6. REMEMBER where you saved it.

To update your installation of AviSys 6, run (double-click) UPDATE6M.EXE. It will find your installation of AviSys 6 and prepare to install a new program file, AVISYS60.EXE, plus additional utility files. If you have more than one instance of AviSys 6 on the same computer, you will have the opportunity to re-direct the update to another folder.

DOWNLOAD THE AVISYS 6.00M UPDATE

To see just the eBird Export instructions, HERE

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Changes for this and the prior updates, MOST RECENT AT THE BOTTOM . . .

* Enhancements to how quantity (bird count) entry is handled during sighting entry and during record editing (**see further discussion below):

(This stuff seems a little complicated. Unless you are an avid user of quantities, just ignore it -- AviSys will respond correctly. If you use quantities a lot, study this stuff to help you establish a strategy for the most efficient quantity data entry.)

• When the Comments dialog is reached during normal sighting record entry, the Comment edit will have focus and the text cursor.
  If, while in the Comment edit, the Up arrow or Down arrow key is pressed, focus will shift to the Quantity edit, and the current quantity will be selected.
  Likewise, while in the Comment edit, if Alt-Q (or Shift-Tab) is pressed, focus will shift to the Quantity edit, with the current quantity will be selected.
  In either case, Tab will shift focus and cursor back to the Comment edit.
  
  
• When the Comments dialog is reached during sighting entry with the Comment "fixed" and repeating only PART of the comment (see Chapter 1, Putting the Fix On, Repeating Only Part of a Comment) and the (new) Options menu item Quantity Focus With Fixed Comment checked, the Quantity edit will have focus.

• If, during record editing, while in the Record Edit dialog, the Comment button is clicked, the Comment dialog is presented with focus and cursor in the Comment edit.
  If, during record editing, while in the Record Edit dialog, the Quantity button is clicked, the Comment dialog is presented with focus and cursor in the Quantity edit, and the current quantity selected.
  In both cases, the behavior of the Comment dialog is as described above.

* Enhancement: per requests, the Quantity checkbox in the Sighting Record Listing window now "sticks" for successive uses of AviSys.

* Enhancement: per a request, the Places Table is now configured to eliminate horizontal scrolling when the last displayed column, even if empty, is clicked. This standard Windows behavior, which displayed a false empty table, has been overridden.

* Corrects problems, in some environments, with keyboard selection of the "Fix" buttons

* Corrects Checklist menu issues when more than eight checklists reside in the Checklist menu. If you have more than eight checklists in the menu, after this update delete and re-add all checklists.

* Enlarges the County Summary viewer dialog.

* Scales the action of the main screen "enlarge" button to a somewhat smaller size to accommodate certain screen sizes/resolutions.

* Corrects a problem where, in some environments, Sighting Record Streaming would issue an error message.

* Enhances the Text File Save As dialog to assert a .TXT extension if the user forgets to add it.

* Places the cursor in the correct position, the Print Preview button, in the Print Options dialog.

* Properly locates Key Words and Attributes beyond the 48th character in comments during report assembly.

* Enables canceling out of the Report Legend dialog.

* Palm data import now properly parses the first characters of the comment field to extract the quantities for sighting records.

* The Jump Tables will now accept a right-click to rotate to the next/prior table.

. . . AND FOR 6.00B

* Focus behavior on the Quantity edit is improved even more.

* Ctrl-[arrow] now works to skip from word to word in the comment edit.

* AviSys does not now parse an (illegal) 7th Attribute in a comment and give a "Range Check" error.

* The back up facility now preserves the default back up target location.

* The Trip Log dialog now scales properly, providing a larger dialog and preventing occlusion of header text when "Windows Large Fonts" is used.

* In Print Preview, "GoTo 1st" now (again) works.

* The "Lifer" and "Duplicate?" announcements in record confirmation are now highlighted with color.

* Other minor fixes and enhancements . . .

. . . AND FOR 6.00C

* Fixes a problem with Palm Support caused by a problem with the compiler used to build AviSys.

* Improves the Checklist menu, providing explanations.

* Expands the size of the standard AviSys message dialog to avoid some truncated messages.

* Eliminates a Windows habit of appending an extraneous .TXT when saving a checklist .CLB file.

* Other minor fixes and enhancements . . .

. . . AND for 6.00D

* Fixes a problem that occurred under highly unusual circumstances, a cryptic message "FindMasterRecord . . . " Data was not affected.

* Adds a Utilities function, Restructure Sighting File.

* Improves formatting of record comments in Field Notes.

. . . AND for 6.00E

* Miscellaneous changes to accommodate Clements 6th Edition 2007 Taxonomy.

. . . AND for 6.00F

* Adds the Family seen count to Species Seen Reports sent to Report Viewer, Print Preview, or Printer. This meets the requirements of the new ABA reporting category, and saves you the time of counting families on the report.

. . . AND for 6.00G

* Adds comprehensive support for the upload of AviSys records to Cornell's eBird facility.

* Adds a 'Ditto' (") button on the Ending Date date entry dialog, which repeats the Starting Date and closes the dialog -- dramatically improves date range entry for a single date or a short range of dates.

* Increases the size of the window and text in the Report Viewer for the State Summary and State Checklist Summary reports for improved legibility.

* Fixes a problem where a County Summary report could not be sent to a text file.

* Other minor changes.

. . . AND for 6.00H

* Provides new code for handling Hot Keys, Jump Tables, and Band Codes in the new Clements 2008 Taxonomy.

* Provides new code to handle the new Cornell subspecies scheme, which includes subspecies groups, in the Clements 2008 Taxonomy.

* Creates an informative file, FAMILYTRACK.TXT, in the base AviSys folder, which enumerates the World and North America families in taxonomic sequence, and provides counts of each. (The "Seen" family counts are provided in Species Seen reports.)

* Other minor changes.

. . . AND for 6.00J

* Provides support for "netbooks," very small computers with screen resolutions of 1024 x 600. When a "netbook" environment is sensed, AviSys shrinks the sizes of impacted windows to properly fit on the small screen.

* Improved Backup facility. Backup is now embedded in the AviSys program, instead of a separate program as in prior versions. This will sidestep issues caused by some anti-virus programs. Backup is also changed to eliminate "Drag-and-Drop," which caused trouble for users who didn't understand standard Windows functions --- "Copy and Paste" is now provided as the safer, and equivalent, alternative.

* "Backup" is now a separate item on the main menu bar, for ease of access.

. . . AND for 6.00K

* Miscellaneous changes to accommodate Clements 2009 Taxonomy published January 2010.

* Provides for N+tilde (ñ) in adding and editing English bird names (and in Find for English bird names) and in Place names and comments.

* Improves the presentation of subspecies "groups."

* Automatically provides one-on-one English name changes during the 2009 taxonomy update, relieving the user of significant workload.

. . . AND for 6.00L

* Miscellaneous changes to accommodate Clements 2010 Taxonomy published January 2011.

* Automatically provides one-on-one English name changes during the 2010 taxonomy update, relieving the user of significant workload.

. . . AND for 6.00M

* Miscellaneous changes to accommodate Clements 2011 Taxonomy published December 2011.

* Automatically provides one-on-one English name changes during the 2011 taxonomy update, relieving the user of significant workload.

** More discussion about comment/quantity entry and editing.

The movement of the quantity number from the leading characters of the comment to a separate quantity field presented several dilemmas which I will try to describe.

Originally, the quantity was positioned in the comment as a means of avoiding an additional step, quantity entry, during data entry. Parsing the quantity number from the comment when needed was so easy to do that I almost never considered a separate quantity field in the sighting record. Many users, however, considered that creative (yes, brilliant) approach "clunky." Other adjectives, and even adverbs, were used -- I choose to not recall them. Those critics, of course, were close-minded, rigid database geeks. Lately, there seem to be more of those geeks -- probably due to reverse evolution, survival of the geekiest.

For several reasons, mainly that quantity is of interest to only a few AviSys users, I continue to hold to the original concept -- I will not create a separate quantity entry dialog and data entry step. I have been asked by users who use quantities regularly to add that extra step, but I resist. I have tried, however, to make that omission transparent, and the quantity function quick and easy to use.

In Version 6, the entry of quantity remains in the Comments dialog. There is still an edit for the comment, and a separate edit for the quantity, combined with a spinner.

The problem is that sometimes, when arriving at the Comments dialog, the user is interested only in entering a comment. Other times, the user has only quantities in mind and never wants to fool around with a comment. (My Mind-Reading function has not yet passed the beta test stage.) Of course, there are those souls who have the time and diligence to do both!

So, from sighting record entry, I place the focus and cursor in the comment edit, the most frequently used. I've provided one keystroke (of a choice of three) to jump to the quantity edit, and one keystroke to get back to the comment.

However, in the special situation where the user has "fixed" the comment, and placed a semi-colon at the end of the fixed (repeating) comment to force the Comment dialog to appear with each record, if the (new) Options menu item Quantity Focus With Fixed Comment is checked, the quantity edit will receive focus. (Without the menu item, the comment edit will have focus.) Thus, anybody can force a "quantity dialog" to appear while repeating a comment. Even if you don't want a repeating comment, you can just enter a semi-colon as the initial comment to force the dialog to appear with quantity focus -- you have created a "quantity entry dialog." And if the semi-colon is the only character in the comment, it will appear in the Record Confirmation dialog so that you can see what you are doing, but it will be stripped out of the actual comment written to the record (because it's extraneous -- used as a "command" only).

In the Record Edit dialog, you have a choice of a Comment button or a Quantity button. Both take you to the Comments dialog, but focus and cursor are placed as dictated by the source button, thus reading your mind.

I think I've reached an optimum solution. If you think not, you have my email address. As always, if you, or many of you, make the case, I will change. I look forward to messages from the close-minded, rigid database geeks.

Why Does AviSys Not Use the Windows Registry?

You may have discovered that you can copy the base AviSys folder (which automatically includes its underlying data set folders) to a CD, external drive, or flash drive, and then copy that structure to a new computer, effectively moving AviSys and all your data to a new machine in one operation (or one swell foop, as we technical people say). That sometimes tremendously useful function is possible because, unlike 99% of all non-trivial programs, AviSys does not use the Windows Registry. Instead, AviSys uses .INI (and binary) files for its internal purposes.

To be kind, the Windows Registry is a kludge. I have other adjectives that I will spare you. Having program data and properties stored in the Windows Registry seems like the cool and modern thing to do, while using .INI files seems old-fashioned and un-cool, which has generated a few questions to me. Maybe the function in the paragraph, above, demonstrates why un-cool can be really cool. But let's continue . . .

To quote one highly esteemed and widely published programmer/author, " . . . having a centralized repository for the settings of each application was an architectural error --- even Microsoft acknowledges that fact (without really admitting the error, of course) by suggesting, in the Windows 2000 Compatibility Requirements, that [software developers] no longer use the Registry for application settings, but instead go back to using .INI files . . . "

If application authors like the idea of having vital program settings and information in a global structure that other programmers regularly use, sometimes wiping out whole sections of it, they are welcome to it. AviSys will continue to encapsulate its data and settings in its own hard drive space.