Tracy
a Herbarium Management System
 
by
M. David Minnigerode
Center for the Study of Digital Libraries

The Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group
 
 
Some data contained in the system is copyright John Kartesz and BONAP, denoted where used by the term BONAP

 
 
 

Most Recent Updates


 
 
 
Tracy is a system for the management of herbarium collections. It is not a huge, all inclusive database tool. Rather it was specifically designed to: 
  • Facilitate rapid entry of specimen data by relatively un-skilled operators. 
  • To provide mechanisms that allow complex queries of the data to be carried out with a minimum of training. 
The underlying data model has been designed to be  understandable by the novice and still remain extensible  to more complex schemes as needed. 

Tracy is a Win32 system that can run on Win95 and NT systems. It was built with Borland's Delphi, C++ Builder and Paradox. The underlying data tables are in a Paradox format. Currently, Tracy is at version 2.2 and has been deployed locally at two herbaria. At the S. M. Tracy Herbarium, it is configured as multiple stand alone input stations with associated tools for periodically updating the data at each station to reflect the changes made to the data at every station. At the Texas A&M Biology Department Herbarium, Tracy is being used to update and manage a pre-existing data set. As of July 1998 there are over 100,000 specimens being handled with Tracy by the two herbaria.
 
 

 
 


 
 
Overview of Tracy
Basic Users Guide to Tracy
Useful Tips
System Requirements
How to Get Tracy
Misc. Utilities

 
 


 
 
Contacting the author:
minniger@cs.tamu.edu
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/~minniger

To report problems or get assistance using the system:
bwg-dev@csdl.tamu.edu

 
 


 
 

These pages are still under construction.  Check back or contact the author for updates.

8/27/1998

  • Help files updated to include a description of the Distinct Values Option and help for writing custom SQL's

    • 8/3/1998

    Version 2.2 made available.
  • Changed the County, State and Country drop down menus to behave like the taxa menus.  The PlaceName drop down still acts as it always has. 
  • Added the ability to find lists of distinct results. 
  • Added locations database with USA county level and MEX & CAN state level locations.  Additions must be made using Paradox or from within the Tracy program's "Edit Drop Down Menus" command.
  • The installation was (hopefully) made more reliable and less complicated.


    • 2/4/1998

    • Added an utilities page with tools for merging tables, dumping tables to delimited ascii, and more.
    1/14/1998
    • Replaced the Basic Users Guide Page with a frameset. Non-frame browsers can still access the monolithic page.
    10/19/1997
    • Added a page for choosing to download a full version of Tracy or just an update.
    • Added some sample records (60) to the distribution package so people new to the system would have something to play around with.
    • Enhanced parts of the install program.  Configure.exe is now much better behaved.
    • Fixed a few bugs relating to the "Use Last buttons" in the Edit Record Form.
    • Fixed problem with the manner in which the BONAP ID's were recorded (or more to the point, not recorded).
    • Included a VerifyBonap.exe program in the distribution so users can retroactively fix the above problem in their data.
    10/2/1997
    • Major editing of site content.  Added many english (!) sentences. 
    9/30/1997
    • Replaced "bunch of zip files" with an install routine.
    9/20/1997
    • Site created.