• FAQ

The FAQ is divided into the following sections:

• General questions

• Installation questions

• Mapping questions

• Software questions

General Questions

• What is the BioCASe provider software?
• Is it possible to share my data with GBIF using the BioCASe software?

  • --> YES!

• What is ABCD & Darwin Core?

  • --> They are data standards used to share data in an specific xml format.

• is it true that you cannot request for a count with a scan request (like with a search request)?

  • --> that’s right. Fortunately this is possible in TAPIR.

Installation Questions

• When using Python 2.3 on Windows, the library test may report "not installed" even though it is. In this case, go to the biocase directory, sub-folder /lib/biocase/configtool/utilities/metakit. Rename the file Mk4py.dll to something you like and the file Mk4py_py23.dll to Mk4py.dll.

• (ABCD 1.2) After installation and mapping, the capabilities test runs ok but the Scan request test fails. In the diagnostics, the SQL statement looks like this: "SELECT * FROM ( SELECT DISTINCT SPECIMENS.UNITID FROM ABCDMANAGER.SPECIMENS AS SPECIMENS WHERE False ORDER BY SPECIMENS.UNITID) WHERE ROWNUM <= 11". The syntax ...WHERE False... is obviously wrong. What is the matter?

  • --> This is actually a mapping problem. The scan test runs on the Element ../Identification/TaxonIdentified/NameAuthorYearString, which should be present in all database mappings, but the concept does not exist. Add a field containing the full taxon name of the identification to the mapping, and the Scan request should run.

Mapping Questions

• ABCD documentation is available on the TDWG/CODATA ABCD site as well on a ABCD documentation wiki.

• (ABCD 1.2) I did include a mapping to NameAuthorYearString, following the mapping instructions. But when running the Search test, I still get an error message like this: "The requested concept /DataSets/DataSet/Units/Unit/Identifications/Identification/TaxonIdentified/NameAuthorYearString is not searchable for this provider! Please do a capabilities request to see all searchable concepts." What went wrong?

  • --> The element name NameAuthorYearString exists twice in ABCD 1.2: once under the path above, and then again in the Synecology branch. This can be a bit confusing, and probably you accidentally mapped to the wrong path. Change the mapping to the path above, and it should work.

• What are the recommended and most frequently used optional concepts in ABCD?

  • --> see CommonAbcdConcepts

Software Questions

• How do I create my own custom CMF?

  • --> See GenerateCmFiles