Using the Data Entry Form to Retrieve Records

The fields of the 'Data Entry' form can be used to specify records to be retrieved from your database. If you enter values into one or more fields of the 'Data Entry' form and then use the 'Data Entry' > 'Query' > 'Records for All valid fields...' menu (or press 'F5') all the records that match those values will be displayed, provided they are not excluded by your Defaults (Restrictions) settings. A field is not valid for Query until 'Enter' has been pressed in it, to match the entry against the appropriate table or to resolve the date (e.g. if you type in a date as "1-4-1999" the 'Data Entry' > 'Query' > 'Records for All valid fields...' menu will be 'greyed-out' until you press 'Enter' in the 'Date' field and the date is resolved as "01 Apr 1999"). 

To match records with any text in a field enter the 'star' ('*') character in that field. A question mark character ('?') will match any single character at that position in the field.

Empty, or blank, fields are not included in the Query. However in the case of the 'Comment' field you may want to leave it empty so that the contents of this field are not used in selecting records, or you may actually want to select records having no text in their 'Comment' field. If you press 'Enter' in the 'Comment' field before using the 'Query' menu (or pressing 'F5) this will set the value of 'Comment' as 'blank' (containing no text) for the purpose of the Query and only records with blank 'Comment' fields will be matched. If you do not press 'Enter' in the 'Comment' field then the Query will ignore the contents of the 'Comment' field. If you have pressed 'Enter' or set some text in the 'Comment' field pressing the Escape ('Esc') key in this field will reset it to the 'do not include in Query selection' state. 

Records that match the valid fields are shown in a Data Browser window, allowing you to View or Edit the records as for a Query from the 'Analysis' menu.

In addition to the 'Data Entry' > 'Query' > 'Records for All valid fields...' menu ('F5') you can Query for Sites (''F6'), Taxa ('F7') or Events ('F8') for the validated fields or use a Custom ('F9') query where you can select the fields to be included in the report (see below). 

The 'Data Entry' > 'Query' > 'Records in export format...' menu item is provided to list records with the data fields that you need to export your data to other programs as a Tab-Delimited Text File.

Custom Reporting with F9

Whereas the F5 and 'Export' queries always report a standard set of fields you can use the F9 query (from the Query menu) to create a report with any fields of your choosing.

To customise your results choose 'Query' > 'Configure F9 Custom Query'.  You will see the dialog below:

To add fields to your output: select a filed by name in the list on the left and then click on the 'add' button in the middle of the form.  To remove a field from the output list: select the field and click on the 'remove' button.  You can change the order of the results using the 'up' and 'down' buttons - fields are reported in the results in the listed order.  When done click on the 'OK' button.

To show results simply choose any fields as in the example given above and then press F9 - or choose 'Query' > 'Records Custom Query'.