Hi Clair, and welcome to the forum and the Ideas Genie Community!
It was nice to have that chat this evening before you raced out to your badminton! I'm really pleased to learn you are a fellow software developer
RE:
can I copy across the Plant culture and Plant care files from the Master DB to my DB? And if so, how do I do it?
That is a very good question for someone with one day of IG experience
The answer at present is no, I'm afraid
The reason for this is pretty much as you have described. As you now know, each Culture/Property characteristic (which I referred to as a query statement) is made up of three elements. In the database, each element is stored as a single character - the non-visible information. Being user configurable, A, B and C could mean something entirely different in the database of User A to that in the database of User B, even when the descriptions are identical, and even that would also be pretty unlikely.
As explained on the phone, I do hope to offer an interactive solution, similar to that which you will probably come across when Plant Types dont match when copying a plant from the Master DB. The program offers the user a choice:
a) Create a Plant Type exactly as the Plant Type being copied or
b) Select a Plant type in your own database.(you can also use Files>GA018 to add Plant types to your own database, of course)
e.g. Heres an example where you may get that interactive screen. In your database, you (in the UK) may have a plant type called Hardy Annual.
I used to have that plant type in the Master Database.
However, Katie at Covington Water District (USA) asked me if it was an oxymoron!
With my sheltered life in Engineering, I'm afraid I had to do a bit of surfin' to find out what an Oxymoron was (quicky came up with one of my own - Personal Computer)
They dont use that "hardy" term in the USA for plant types.
On further investigation, the penny dropped on why the RHS A-Z book doesnt refer to "hardy perennial", "hardy annual" etc. Its because that book is also sold in the US. Instead, its Perennial and Annual. I followed their guidelines.
You can see the dilemna.
The intereactive solution will allow the user to see what the characteristics are for the plant being copied, and allow the same type of options as for Plant Types.
However, that would slow down the copy process - a lot.
So, Ive left it to the user at present.Its a quick copy from the Master database of the Plant Name and non-configurable data - very little user interaction required.
The user can then play with two of the three buttons in the Plant Profile (edit) screen GA100S36.
The a) Google button and b) The BBC button
Info on plants are easy to find using those resources, and better still, you can select a site which offers information relevant to your region - which as no doubt everyone knows by now can be "controversial". All part of the fun!
