dustymc
commented
5 years ago Dependencies aside, most anything that's "required" in the specimen bulkloader is because someone's asked for it to be. We can't create locality data without specimen_event_type (a NOT NULL field in a 'root' table, from that perspective), but we can certainly create a specimen record which contains no locality information.
I agree with your approach: get what you have saved with everything else when you have it. Doing that is likely to somewhat complicate the specimen data entry screen, and might require some more training ("you CAN leave that NULL, but don't...").
I don't see any insurmountable technical hurdles; this looks like a social issue.
Failing all of that, the loader/unloader approach seems to be working well for other things and I think it would be fairly straightforward to introduce a specimen event de-bulkloader. Who knows how that might ultimately work, but using named Events is very likely to make it easier. I suggest you create a "delete me" event for this until/unless the core issue is resolved.
Jegelewicz
campmlc
Issue Documentation is http://handbook.arctosdb.org/how_to/How-to-Use-Issues-in-Arctos.html
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Due to the way data is accumulated in the field for some of our collections, locality information is separate from specimen part information. Some of the parts are tissues that are frozen in the field and end up in a freezer with no data, just a barcode. This makes it difficult to make use of the tissues.
Describe the solution you'd like We would like to be able to enter a specimen record without any events. In order to get tissues cataloged quickly, we would like to be able to enter specimen records that only include identification, collector, and part information. Events would be added later using the Specimen Event Bulkload Tool. (We would also like a "low quality data" report that would list the records without events so that these could be noted and followed up on.)
Describe alternatives you've considered The standard practice has been to wait to catalog anything until all of the data is compiled and the specimen preparation has been completed (which may be years after collection). Recently an enterprising student has entered "skeletal" records that include a generic locality with the idea that the actual locality will be added later using the Specimen Event Bulkload Tool. The problem with this solution is that this means each of these specimens will now include two events that create occurrences at GBIF and iDigBio and manually "unaccepting" the event with the generic locality will be too time consuming. We have considered the possibility of a "make existing event(s) unaccepted" option as part of the Specimen Event Bulkload Tool, but we would prefer in this case not to have the generic event appear at all.
Additional context We realize that workflows may be the issue here, but at this time we are unable to change the way field/prep work is completed by the research teams and we still need to properly manage the tissues which are in our freezers. Our enterprising student is trying to write a protocol so that those who come after her can follow it and make the process run smoothly.
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