The FieldNotes interface allows you to view your data in a number of different ways:

• Session mode - summarises your activities with associated errors and warnings
• Data mode - displays selected records in a single-line (worksheet-style) format
• Map mode - displays selected data as a map

This document describes aspects of working in Data mode. For details of how to use other work modes, refer to the FieldNotes overview help page.

Switching to Data mode

To use Data mode, select the 'Data' button on the Task-bar (or use the View | Data mode menu option).

Selecting Data mode
from the Task-bar.

The display is updated to a worksheet format (one record per line), together with a relevant set of subtask buttons:

FieldNotes Data mode (worksheet display).

Working in Data Mode

1. Viewing your Data

Information is stored in your FieldNotes database in a number of different tables (for example, all your Observations are stored together, regardless of their content). Data mode displays the contents of a single table with one record per line, allowing you to examine and compare field values.

1.1 Viewing different sets of stored data (Tables)

Use the selector tool on the tool-bar (initially set to Observations) to choose which table records are displayed in Data mode. Selecting different tables will update the window with the appropriate data records.

If the table contains more records than will fit in the worksheet window, use the scroll-bar on the right of the worksheet window to move up and down through the table contents.

Table records are initially listed in alphabetical order, generally by the first column. Click on a column-header to rank the records by the relevant column.

FieldNotes Data mode - selecting the (Date/time) column header for ranking data.

1.2 Viewing separate fields

In the Data mode each record is displayed on a single line, with the separate fields delimited by faint grey lines.

Depending on which table is being viewed (and what level-of-detail you are using), some of the fields in a table may lie beyond the right-hand edge of the worksheet and may not be displayed. Use the scroll-bar to scroll the worksheet display left and right in order to review all field values.

If a field contains too much information to be displayed in the relevant region, it will be truncated at the right-hand border. To increase the size of a field (in order to display more of the contents), drag the edge of the field on the table-bar to resize the field width.

FieldNotes Data mode - increasing the size of a field by dragging the column header-bar

1.3 Reviewing Record data (Browsing records)

Records displayed in Data mode can be viewed in the context of the original data-entry form without fear of changing the contents by:

1. picking a record in the worksheet window (click on it - the record will be highlighted), then;
2. selecting the 'Browse' button (on the tool-bar).

The selected record is displayed in the data-entry form.

Note that the Help, Save and Cancel at the bottom of the data entry form are replaced by <Prev, Next> and End buttons with the following functions:

• <Prev - display the previous record (ranked in worksheet order, with filtering)
• Next> - display the next record (ranked in worksheet order, with filtering)
• End - close the data-entry form.

2. Processing your data records

The task-bar includes the following set of sub-tasks that apply to Data mode:

FieldNotes Data mode - sub-tasks

Sub-task	Notes
Edit Record	Update information in a record
Delete Record	Delete a single record
Filter Records	Select a subset of the worksheet data
Copy	Copy worksheet data to the clipboard
Save	Save the worksheet data to a file
Print	Print the worksheet
Map	Create a map from the worksheet data
Report	Create a simple report from the worksheet data

The function of these sub-tasks is described below.

2.1 Updating Record data (Editing records)

Records displayed in Data mode may be updated in the context of the original data-entry form by either:

• picking a record in the worksheet window (click on it - the record will be highlighted), then selecting the 'Edit' sub-task button, or;
• double-clicking on any record in the worksheet window.

The selected record is displayed in the original data-entry form.

Update the required fields in the data-entry form - then use the OK button to save the record with the updated information, or Cancel to discard the changes you have made. The relevant field information in the worksheet view will be updated to show the changes.

2.2 Deleting Records

Records displayed in Data mode can be quickly deleted from the database by:

1. selecting the record (by clicking on it), then;
2. using the 'Delete' taskbar button.

2.3 Filtering Records

Sometimes it is easier to compare records when only the subset that you are interested in are displayed. For example, you may wish to examine records for one particular species in your database, to target areas where they are absent.

The Filter tool allows you to exclude or include individual data records, using selection criteria based on field-contents, in order to display a useful subset of your data. Records which are not shown due to filter settings are not removed from the database, but simply ignored in the current context. Most of the other sub-tasks in Data mode (eg. Save, Print, Map, Report) will respect the filter criteria when displaying or processing records.

The Record filter form

The Filter records subtask button opens the 'Data Filters' form, which allows you to apply field-based filter criteria to the table contents.

The Data Filter tool is common to a number of processes in FieldNotes - see the Data Filters help pages for more information about its use.

2.4 Copying Worksheet data

The Copy subtask button copies the selected record information to the clipboard. You can paste the clipboard data into many text-editors using CTRL+V (control and V keys).

2.5 Saving Worksheet data

The Save subtask button saves the records currently displayed in the worksheet window (ie. observing any filter constraints on the worksheet contents) as a file in one of the following formats:

• CSV (comma-delimited) - output one record per line, with each field separated by a comma.
• Text (tab-delimited) - output one record per line, with each field separated by a tab character.
• Formatted text (space-delimited) - output one record per line, with each field separated by a space character.
• Web page (HTML) - output in HTML format as a simple web-page, containing the selected records (as a table) with an explanatory header.

2.6 Printing Worksheet data

The Print subtask button prints the records currently displayed in the worksheet window (ie. observing any filter constraints on the worksheet contents).

2.7 Creating a Map from the Worksheet data

The Map subtask button plots the records currently displayed in the worksheet window (ie. observing any filter constraints on the worksheet contents) as a map. After the map is created FieldNotes switches to Map mode to display the map.

A worksheet-based map.

See the FieldNotes Map mode help pages for further information about mapping data.

2.8 Creating a simple Report from the Worksheet data

The Report subtask button generates a simple (list-style) report from the records currently displayed in the worksheet window (ie. observing any filter constraints on the worksheet contents). The report is displayed in a separate window.

A simple worksheet-based report.

The entire report (or selected portions of it) may be copied to the clipboard, saved to a file or printed using the relevant taskbar buttons.

The report is simple formatted (ascii) text. The fields included in the report depend on the Level-of-detail setting used when creating the report - for best results choose the same Level-of-detail used for data-entry.