Bandit Bander Reference Guide

The principal use of Bandit is to store data obtained during banding operations and facilitate the transfer of banding data to the BBL and the Canadian Bird Banding Office (BBO). Bandit allows the bander to enter and edit data associated with bands obtained from the BBL/BBO as well as data for recaptured birds, including those banded with bands not in the band inventory within Bandit. To submit banding data to the BBL/BBO, Bandit includes the ability to email the banding data directly, provided that the computer running Bandit is connected to the Internet.

Other major features of Bandit are itemized below:

The basic guiding principle in Bandit is simple. We have tried to make the process of maintaining a series of banding records as simple as possible. The road forward is meant to be easy.

If you need administrative access to install programs on your computer, you should request that the installation be performed by your system administrator. Double-click the installer to begin the process. The installer will ask where you want to install the program. The default is inside the Program Files folder on your computer. You can install the program somewhere else if you have limited space on your default hard drive. Click Next to go to the next screen.

The installer will put the program into a folder available under your Start menu. The default name for this folder is Bandit. You can give it a different name here. Click Next to go to the next screen.

You can have the installer create icons on the Desktop or in the Quick Launch bar at the bottom of the screen so you can get to the program without having to go back to the Start menu. If you want these icons, check the appropriate boxes. Then click Next to go to the next screen.

The program will show you a summary of the installation to make sure you want to proceed. Click the Install button to continue with the installation.

	Note
	You will also be given the opportunity of installing a utility program called PDFCreator. PDFCreator is used by Bandit to enable saving reports in Adobe Portable Document Format. This is useful for saving your reports for later viewing or for emailing the report to someone else. If you do not install PDFCreator, Bandit will not be able to save reports in PDF format.

The installer will extract all of the files and store them on your computer. Finally, you will see a screen indicating the installation was successful and asking you if you want to run Bandit. Click Finish to launch the program.

You may need to know the name and password of a user that has administrative privileges on your computer. If this is your own machine, it is just your regular login name and password. If you don’t know the name and password of a user with administrative privileges on your computer, you should request that the installation be performed by your system administrator. Alternatively, you can avoid this requirement by installing the software in a location other than the Applications folder.

If you downloaded the software directly from the BBL, first change the file extension on the Bandit installer file from .bin to .dmg. Click directly on the name under the icon and type .dmg instead of .bin. The icon will change to allow you to open the file. Double-click the icon and the system will check the disk image, then open a new window showing the contents of the disk image. Double-click the installer icon to begin the process. The installer will bring up a welcome screen. Click Continue to go to the next screen.

The installer will ask you to select the destination volume where Bandit will be installed. Typically you will only have one hard disk and it will have a green arrow on it, indicating this is the selected drive. If you have more than one drive and you want to store the software on one of the other drives, click on the drive and the green arrow will move to this selected drive. Click Continue to go to the next screen, then click Install.

Next the installer will ask where you want to install the program. By default, the program installs the software into a folder called Bandit in your Applications folder. You can install the program somewhere else if you have limited space on your main drive.

The installer installs the software and you will see a screen indicating the installation was successful. Click the Close button to exit the installer.

If you are updating from an earlier version of Bandit already installed on your computer, the program will automatically save a backup of your existing data file and reload the data from the backup once the new version of the software has started to run. You will see a pop-up box informing you that the program is going to reload the data from the previous version. If, for some reason, you do not wish to reload the data from the previous version, you can click Cancel here. Usually, though, you will want to click OK to reload the data from the previous version. After you click OK the reload will proceed and you will see a box showing the summary of the reload process. Click OK to continue. Next, you may see a box showing that the program is updating the values in the Wing and Weight tables. This patching process will only change values if they are the same as they were when the original Wing and Weight table was installed. (If you modified values in the Wing and Weight table, those values will not be changed.) Finally, a box will appear asking if you want to delete the backup file which was created during the installation process. Click OK to continue.

	Warning
	As mentioned above, the upgrade process automatically saves a backup of your existing data file prior to installation. We recommend, however, that you create your own backup using the regular backup facility within Bandit prior to performing the upgrade process. Store this backup in a safe place, such as a removable drive, a floppy disk, or a CD.

When you first launch Bandit, you will see the Bandit opening screen, and a small dialog box will appear asking if you want to save a backup of your current Bandit data file. It is a good idea to save a backup whenever you are going to be making changes to the file, in case you need to return to an earlier version of the database.

Figure 2.1. Bandit Opening Screen

After you have dispatched the Backup dialog box, you will be presented with an opening screen showing three ways of entering the program on the left and a summary of the banding data contained in the Bandit data files on the right. The three ways of entering the program are presented as a numbered list:

	Tip
	Unlike most other computer applications you have encountered, Bandit saves the information you enter automatically whenever you go to another record or screen.

Once past the opening screen, all of the screens in Bandit share a similar layout. For example, Figure 2.2, “Bandit Screen Layout” shows the Bands Table View screen, with numbers added to identify the various areas of the screen.

Figure 2.2. Bandit Screen Layout

Take a minute or two to look through the menus and familiarize yourself with the layout of the Bandit program. It will pay dividends in the future through increased efficiency and understanding all the features Bandit has to offer.

Each time you open Bandit you will see a pop-up box that asks you if you wish to create a backup file. It is recommended that you always choose OK. By selecting OK, a backup file is created and saved before you start making changes to the data with the program. The backup file is normally saved into your My Documents folder (Documents folder on the Macintosh) but you have the option of choosing an alternate location. Then, if something happens while you are in the program, you can use the backup file to restore the Bandit data up to the date of the backup. By selecting OK at the beginning of each session, there is no need to worry about being unable to recover from unanticipated problems. To identify the backup files, Bandit gives them a special name which includes the date and time the backup was created. (Bandit Data bak 200803141549.fp7 is the backup created March 14, 2008 at 3:49pm.) You may delete these files anytime you wish, but you may want to keep at least the latest two or three files in case you need to use them. You may also create a separate folder and move them there after they are created.

	Tip
	For additional protection against unforseen circumstances such as disk crashes, operating system corruption, etc. it is a good idea to store your backup files on a separate disk than the one containing your primary data file. You can store the files on a removable disk such as a floppy disk, a CD, a USB-based drive, or a different hard drive in your system, if you have more than one.

If you inadvertently delete your data file or you feel you have corrupted your data file to the point you must step back to a previous version, restoring from a backup file may be indicated. Keep in mind that if you choose to restore from a backup file, all of the data in the current data file will be lost.

Restoring data from a backup file created in Bandit 1.02 or later is quite simple. From the File menu at the top of the screen, click Restore From Backup. Navigate to your My Documents folder (Documents folder on the Macintosh) and select the backup file that you wish to use to restore your data. A pop-up box will appear showing you the results of the restore process.

Restoring data from a backup file created in Bandit 1.0 is a little more complicated. After you select the backup file you wish to use to restore your data, a series of dialog boxes will appear asking you to put in your Name and Password. In the name field, enter user for the name and leave the password field blank. At the end of this process, the pop-up box will appear showing you the results of the restore process.

If you choose 10-minute block, a 10 will be entered in the Loc Precision column and 00 will automatically be entered into the Sec column for both latitude and longitude. Next, enter a location description. The description must be identifiable on most common maps and should include miles and direction from an identifiable landmark such as a town, lake, highway, etc.

Note

It is important to describe the location in such a way that it can be relocated by others, because this information will be used for the Certificate of Appreciation provided to a person who may report this bird in the future. A good location description could help them locate (approximately) where the bird was banded using a common map. More importantly, at the BBL, we use the description you provide to confirm the coordinates. Do not put country, state, province, or county into the location description field. There are separate fields for this information.

After entering the description, enter the degrees and minutes of latitude that correspond to the banding location using the closest 10-minute line of latitude to the south. The number of minutes entered can only be 0 through 5. You may then press the Tab key and a 5 will automatically be inserted as the second digit. If you enter a second digit in the Minute field, the program will automatically change it to a 5. This is because if you selected 10-minute block as the location precision, the program is expecting the value entered to be the center of the 10-minute block. After the latitude, enter the number of degrees and minutes of Longitude to the closest 10-minute line of longitude to the east. The number of minutes entered again can only be 0 through 5 and after pressing the Tab key, the second digit will automatically default to 5 for the same reason as described in the latitude entry.

	Tip
	South of the equator, the closest 10-minute line of latitude to the north of the banding location should be chosen. Likewise, when banding east of Greenwich, choose the closest 10-minute line of longitude to the west of the banding location.

If you selected U.S. for where you want your data to be submitted during the Bander Info settings set up, United States will be the default in the Country field. If you are entering data for a non-U.S. location, you may change this by selecting the correct country from the drop down list. Typing the first few letters of the country will shorten the list closer to the correct country. Press the Tab key again to go to the State/Prov field and select the appropriate state or province. If your country is United States, the drop down list will be populated with the U.S. states and again, the list can be shortened by typing the first few letters of the state. If you selected data submission to Canada during the Bander Info settings set up, Canada will be the default country and the drop down list for State/Prov will be populated with the Canadian Provinces.

For U.S. locations, a county for the banding location will be required. After selecting United States as the country and selecting the appropriate state, the county list for that state will appear in the drop down list. Select the appropriate county from the list provided and again, typing the first few letters of the county will shorten the list.

If all of the information is correct, a Yes will appear under the Valid? column. If a No appears, place your cursor over the No to see why the location is invalid. It may be for one of several reasons: the latitude and longitude are not in the state or country entered, the second digit of the minutes field is not a 5, or the two digits of the seconds field are not zeros. If it is a U.S. location, the county must be entered. Check these fields and ensure they are correct.

If you choose 1-minute block, a 1 will be entered in the Loc Precision column and 30 will automatically be entered into the Sec column for both latitude and longitude. Next, enter a location description. The description must be identifiable on most common maps and should include miles and direction from an identifiable landmark such as a town, lake, highway, etc.

Note

It is important to describe the location in such a way that it can be relocated by others, because this information will be used for the Certificate of Appreciation provided to a person who may report this bird in the future. A good location description could help them locate (approximately) where the bird was banded using a common map. More importantly, at the BBL, we use the description you provide to confirm the coordinates. Do not put country, state, province, or county into the location description field. There are separate fields for this information.

After entering the description, enter the degrees and minutes of latitude that correspond to the banding location using the closest 1-minute line of latitude to the south. The number of minutes entered should be 00 through 59. You may then press the Tab key 3 times to tab to the Longitude degrees field. Next, repeat the process for the longitude degrees. Enter the degrees of longitude and press the Tab key to get to the Minute field. Then enter the closest 1-minute line of longitude to the east. the number of minutes entered again should be 00 through 59. Then press the Tab key 4 times to enter the State/Prov field.

	Tip
	South of the equator, the closest 1-minute line of latitude to the north of the banding location should be chosen. Likewise, when banding east of Greenwich, choose the closest 1-minute line of longitude to the west of the banding location.

If you selected U.S. for where you want your data to be submitted during the Bander Info settings set up, United States will will be the default in the Country field. If you are entering data for a non-U.S. location, you may change this by selecting the correct country from the drop down list. Typing the first few letters of the country will shorten the list closer to the correct country. Press the Tab key again to go to the State/Prov field and select the appropriate state or province. If your country is United States, the drop down list will be populated with the U.S. states and again, the list can be shortened by typing the first few letters of the state. If you selected data submission to Canada during the Bander Info settings set up, Canada will be the default country and the drop down list for State/Prov will be populated with the Canadian Provinces.

For U.S. locations, a county for the banding location will be required. After selecting United States as the country and selecting the appropriate state, the county list for that state will appear in the drop down list. Select the appropriate county from the list provided and again, typing the first few letters of the county will shorten the list.

If all of the information is correct, a Yes will appear under the Valid? column. If a No appears, place your cursor over the No to see why the location is invalid. It may be for one of several reasons: the latitude and longitude are not in the state or country entered, the minutes field is not in the range 00 through 59, or the two digits of the seconds field are not 30. If it is a U.S. location, the county must be entered. Check these fields and ensure they are correct.

If you choose Exact from the Loc Precision drop down menu, a 0 will be entered in the Loc Precision column and you will be required to fill in the exact degrees, minutes, and seconds in both the latitude and longitude columns. Next, enter a location description. The description must be identifiable on most common maps and should include miles and direction from an identifiable landmark such as a town, lake, highway, etc.

Note

It is important to describe the location in such a way that it can be relocated by others, because this information will be used for the Certificate of Appreciation provided to a person who may report this bird in the future. A good location description could help them locate (approximately) where the bird was banded using a common map. More importantly, at the BBL, we use the description you provide to confirm the coordinates. Do not put country, state, province, or county into the location description field. There are separate fields for this information.

After entering the description, enter the degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude that correspond to the banding location. The degrees entered should be in the range (longitude: 0-180, latitude 0-90). Minutes should be in the range 0-59, Seconds should be in the range 0-59.

In the Table view, Bandit allows you to set the relative position and width of each column. Once you set the widths and positions, the columns will remain the way you set them through each successive use of the program, until you change them again. To set the width of a column, position the cursor between two column headings. A double-headed arrow cursor will appear. Click and drag the cursor to the left to make the column smaller and right to make the column larger. To reposition a column, click and drag the column heading to a new location to the right or left. A dark line will appear to show you the position you are dragging to as you drag the column to the left or right. When you get the column where you want it, let go of the mouse button. The column will move in place.

Tip

There are 12 fields that are transmitted to the BBL/BBO when you submit data. These fields are Band Number, Disposition, Species, Age, How Aged, Sex, How Sexed, Banding Date, Bird Status, Location, Aux Marker Combined, and Remarks. All of the data in these fields must be error free in order for the data to be submitted. It is therefore recommended that you locate the Error Text column, click on the heading, and drag that column so it is immediately to the right of these columns. Any errors in the mandatory data will then be readily visible and can be corrected immediately.

Most of the time when you are entering data you will want to see the banding records sorted in band number order. For other uses, you can sort on any column by just clicking on the column header. Click once to sort in ascending order. Click again to sort in descending order. Click on another column to sort the records based on the value in that column. You can always sort records by using the Sort Records function found in the Records menu at the top of the screen. It can sort by multiple columns.

To enter banding data, click on one of the columns to start. You can see what is supposed to be entered into a particular column by pausing with your cursor over each column. A small text box will appear with details on what is supposed to be entered into each field. You cannot enter anything into the band number field as that field is pre-populated from the add bands to inventory process. Pausing over the band number field will give you a summary of information about the band.

Many of the fields have a list of possible values associated with them. You can click the little triangle to bring up the list or just type in the value yourself. For coded fields, you may wish to refer to the associated reference table. You may do so at any time by clicking on the Reference section button near the top of the screen. When you return to the Bands section, you will still be in the same place you were when you left the screen.

The Species, Age, and Sex fields can be coded using either alpha or numeric codes. Refer to the Data Entry section in Chapter 3, Bandit Settings, for details on how to tell Bandit which coding format you wish to use (and be sure the Settings section is completed prior to entering band information.)

Many of the fields feature type-ahead completion. As you type, the program looks through the list of possible values and finds the first one that matches what you have typed so far, completing the value. If this is the value you want you can just Tab to the next field. If this is not the value you want, continue typing until the value is matched. The Tab key takes you to the next field. Shift-Tab takes you to the previous field.

Most of the fields are self-explanatory, but a few things need extra attention to prevent errors. Most important is the banding date. The banding date must be after the date you received your bands. In most cases where you imported bands from Band Manager, the date received will be automatically defaulted to the date you completed the import process. If that date isn’t changed as described in the importing data and add to inventory process in Chapter 4, Band Inventory, you will get an “Invalid Banding Date” error.

Tip

Using the Filter function before entering banding data helps to focus on those bands you will be using during a session. Select the prefix and the starting and ending suffixes and click the Filter button. Only those records will appear in the table. Click the Show All button to see all of your bands in the table. See Section 5.6.1, “Filtering Banding Data” for more information about filtering banding data, and see Chapter 8, Find Mode for information about an alternative way to select banding records you want to operate on.

The Details view provides a navigation panel on the left-hand side of the screen. The navigation panel uses a book-of-banding-records metaphor. In the middle of the panel is an open book. Click on the left-hand page of the book to go to the previous banding record. Click on the right-hand page to go to the next banding record. Use the slider below the book to rapidly scroll ahead or back in the book of records.

The Details view has a handy tab named Aux Marker which is ideal for entering auxiliary marker data associated with a bird. First choose a marker type from the drop-down list in the Aux Marker Type field. If the auxiliary marker contains a code, click on the circle with Y in the Is Aux Marker Coded? field and fill out the left-hand side of the screen, indicating the code value, the color of the band, and the color of the code. If the bird is marked by a sequence of uncoded colored bands on one or both legs, click on the circle with N in the Is Aux Marker Coded? field and fill out the right-hand side of the screen, choosing the colors for the sequence of bands as appropriate. The Remarks field is repeated here, making it easy to add explanatory remarks.

Figure 5.3. Aux Marker tab on the Bands Screen—Details View

Figure 5.4. Aux Marker for a Sequence of Uncoded Colored Bands

The Aux Marker Combined field is automatically generated from the rest of the information on the screen. It summarizes the information entered into a single field suitable for submission. This is the auxiliary marker field that is submitted to BBL/BBO.

Note

The Aux Marker facility in Bandit is a work in progress, and currently only accomodates relatively simple auxiliary marking conditions. If you find that the marking you are doing cannot be described fully here, contact the BBL or BBO for advice. For example, if you used more than one type of marker, one of which is coded, we may advise you to describe only the coded one, and mention the others in remarks. In this case, you would set the Aux Marker Type field to match the type of the coded marker.

If your banding permit authorization allows it, the Details view makes it easy to add data for double banding birds. First, make sure the Disposition code associated with the band is D. Fill in the remaining data fields and then, in the field Second Band Number, type the band number for the other band. Then click the button next to the field labelled Fill Second Record. Bandit will copy the data from the current banding record into the record for the second band number, changing the Disposition code to S and setting the Second Band Number field to the starting band number.

If you want to record the recapture of a bird you banded previously, click the button next to the band number labelled Report Recapture. A new recapture record will be created and you will automatically be switched to the Recapture function. This feature will only work if you banded the bird and have the banding record in Bandit. See Chapter 6, Recaptures for complete details on recording recaptures.

You may select which bands are visible in the Table view by filtering by prefix, suffix range, used and submitted bands. If you fill in just the prefix, only those bands with that prefix will be on your screen. If you fill in only the first suffix, all the bands in the span starting with that suffix will be in view. If you fill in both suffix blocks, only those bands in that range will be in view. The Used and Submitted checkboxes can be checked to narrow the list even further. The Used and Submitted boxes can be checked and used without entering anything in either the prefix or suffix boxes as well. After you have entered your criteria click the Filter button. To go back and see all of your bands click the Show All button.

	Tip
	If you open Bandit and all of your bands are not visible as you may expect, you may have performed a filter operation the last time you used the program. In this case, be sure to click on the Show All button to bring all of your bands back into view.

	Tip
	See Chapter 8, Find Mode for an alternative way to select banding records you want to operate on. Find mode will permit you to do more complex searches and base your selection on any of the fields in either the Table or Detail view.

The fill-down feature lets you quickly enter large amounts of banding data, in much the same was as the Batch function in Band Manager. When using the fill-down feature all of the records in the set selected will be updated with the criteria you selected to be filled down. It is important that you perform a filter or find first so only the records you want will be updated.

Begin by filling in the prefix and suffix range for bands that have identical information for the fields you wish to fill, and click Filter. Verify that these bands are the only ones now visible on your screen. Next, fill in all of the blocks on the first line of the table. Go to the bottom of the screen and check each box to the right of Fill Down By, selecting which information you want to have filled in the remaining records on your screen. Then click Fill Down. A Verify Fill Down Operation box will appear, giving you the opportunity to confirm this is actually what you want to do. Click OK if it is correct or Cancel if you see something you do not intend to do. After clicking OK, all of the information in the selected columns will be repeated in the remaining records.

	Caution
	It is imperative that you have the band numbers correctly selected/filtered before the fill-down feature is used. This feature can modify large numbers of records at one time and the operation cannot be undone.

After completing the Fill Down function, either select the next range of bands you wish to perform this operation on or click Show All to return to the Table view showing all of your records.

You can duplicate one banding record at a time using the Duplicate Band function located under the Records menu found at the top of the screen. First, click with your cursor in any field in a row of completed data. Move to the top of the screen and select Records → Duplicate Band and all fields of the current row will be copied to the next row. CTRL-d is the shortcut for this function. To use the shortcut, click your cursor in the row containing the data to be duplicated and press the CTRL-d key combination. The next row will be populated with the same data.

Figure 5.6. Bands Screen Records Menu

You can clear banding data using the Clear Band Record function located under the Records menu at the top of the screen. Click in any field in a banding record to select that record and move to the top of the screen on the menu bar and select Records → Clear Band Record. All of the data will be removed from that banding record, returning it to the unused state.

The facility to submit banding data to the BBL and the BBO is initiated by picking the Submit Data function found on the Bands screen. Chapter 7, Data Submission, has detailed information about this capability. Before submission you may preview what data is going to be submitted by using the report "Banding Data to be Submitted".

Tip

If you wish to have a printed or electronic record of the data you are submitting, make sure you select the “Banding Data to be Submitted” report (or the “By Location: Banding Data to be Submitted” report) prior to submitting the data. This is the only means you have to create a schedule similar to the one you had using Band Manager. Look near the top of the screen and locate Report Name. Select Banding data to be Submitted or By