VWL Plant DB entries

[lcunning]

I'm running Ver 10.1.2. I found that entering new plants into the Plant Reference Data was cumbersome & did not allow sorting for alpha. order. I entered some sample entries - they did not enter in alphabetical order, nor could I successfully delete the erroneous entries I made from the Plant Ref. Data screen. (5-8 of Land. manual)

I went to the VWL Plant DB Utility, entered a 'blank' for password to access, and entered more sample entries. I could successfully add & sort from this database window. (A-9 of Land. manual) However, when I went into a file to access the new records from the Plant Ref. Data window, new records I entered are not shown.

I have no exist. DB to import & I need an easy way to enter new plants.

[Robert Anderson]

There appears to be a previously-unreported bug in the Plant Reference Database in that it always sorts the list according to Latin name when entering new entries. So (for the short term, until this bug is fixed) you can see alphabetically sorted entries in the PRD if you sort the list by Latin and not common name.

Can you elaborate how you were unable to delete entries from the list? I'm unable to reproduce this.

[Petri Sakkinen]

While we are at it...

The database structure is somewhat unfortunate. Instead of a single Latin Name field, it should have fields

- genus

- species

- subspecies / variety

- cultivar / provenance

and a way of quickly accessing all entries of a genus.

At least 'optional' short names would be advantegeous: I have implemented several plant database systems (relational databases) using species codes AND developed a landscape module of my own for VW, also using them to great efficiency, especially as comes to plant species 'tags' in working drawings.

Since the idea is not mine*, I can even reveal it: the syntax is GEN.SPE, optionally GEN.SPE.VAR where VAR can be the hybrid species, variety or cultivar.

So far, this has never failed, even in projects with hundreds of species & varieties. Fast, efficient, legible without redundancy...

Phew.

Also a means of specifying different types of stock of the same species (etc) is necessary for serious work.

*) courtesy of Melbourne (AU, not FL) City Council's 'nurserycode' system

[lcunning]

thanks for reply. I do begin any Plant list w/ Latin . . .Latin as a system has always worked well for me!! I entered new entries in the Plant Ref. Data screen in Latin - they did not sort after I entered about 5 or 6 entries from this screen. Nor could I delete the erroneous entries. The DB seemed stalled out & sluggish after multiple entries.

Today I entered 2 records from the PRD screen, inserting in alpha order initially. I toggled between 'Common' & 'Latin' & got the list to sort.

Here's a puzzler - I entered a new record, deleted it & found that an adjacent record also got deleted as well.

Which brings me back to my orig. question - what is easiest / quickest way to input into VWL DB Util. or into the PRD screen?

I agree w/ the Melbourne input, having separate records w/ Genus/species/variety would be aligned w/ the plant databases I've worked with.

[lcunning]

It took 3 tries to get an error free export, but it did work by inputting new files in the DB Utility, sorting from there & creating an Export file which I placed in the Plugins\VW_Land\Data folder.

thanks!

[Robert Anderson]

When using the plant database utility, did you export the records to VWL format? You may want to look at the help screens on the plant database utility.

[Gaetan]

I'm sorry to ask this question, but i'm reading some topics since two hours and I've read a lot about the "VWL Plant Database Utility", and I just can't find it on my computer. I'm using VW Landmark 11.5 on MacOS X.

May someone help me to manage my plant database (adding, editing, etc.) ?

Thank you very much.

Gaetan