Bandit User Manual

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 or import data and edit data associated with bands obtained from the BBL/BBO as well as data for recaptured or resighted birds, including those banded by other banders.

Other major features of Bandit are itemized below:

Double-click the installer to begin the process. The installer will ask where you want to install the program. The default is under C drive for new installation, and previously installed directory for upgrade installation. 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.

	Tip
	For Windows Vista, it is recommended not to install Bandit under Program Files, use C drive (For example C:\Bandit ).

	Tip
	If you manage data for more than one banding permit, you will need an installation of Bandit for each permit. You may want to make each Bandit folder easily identifiable by adding an appropriate permit number, e.g. Bandit55555.

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 (PDF). This is useful for saving your reports for later viewing or printing 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. You may see error messages generated by PDFCreator during installation; they may be disregarded.

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.

	Warning
	Users need to have full access to the directory where Bandit is installed.

If you are updating from an earlier version of Bandit already installed on your computer, the program will ask if you want to 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. 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.) See Figure 2.1, “Patch Log”. Finally, a box will appear asking if you want to delete the backup file which was created during the installation process. Click Yes to delete or No to skip.

Figure 2.1. Patch Log

	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 (see Chapter 13, Bandit Backup File) prior to performing the upgrade process. Store this backup in a safe place, such as a removable drive, or a CD.

	Warning
	For Windows Vista save backup prior to upgrade, and use Restore From Backup in File menu to load data from this backup after upgrade.

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 2.2. Bandit Opening Screen

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

	Tip
	You can place your cursor over any link on this page to see a pop-up box, called a “tool tip” with description of the link.

	Tip
	Unlike most other computer applications you have encountered, Bandit saves the information you enter automatically whenever you go to another record or screen. Therefore, you never need to click save or append.

	Tip
	Navigation between all the screens is possible from any screen without going back to opening screen.

Once past the opening screen, all of the screens in Bandit share a similar layout. For example, Figure 2.3, “Bandit Screen Layout” shows the Bands Table View screen, with numbers added to identify the various areas of the screen.

Figure 2.3. 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.

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 (or upgrade to new version). 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. When you get the column where you want it, let go of the mouse button. The column will move in place.

The other way to rearrange columns is to use the Modify button in the upper right part of the screen. This button allows you to modify Table view by showing or hiding columns and changing the order of the columns. If a checkbox is checked – the column is shown in the view. To hide a column simply uncheck it. To change the order of the columns, you can drag and drop any column up or down in this pop-up window (point to double arrow symbol , when cursor changes, left mouse click and while holding the key, start dragging, release the mouse key to drop the column in the appropriate place). See Figure 5.2, “Modify Table View”

Figure 5.2. Modify Table View

Another way to get to modify Table view is to Right mouse click on any column header, choose Modify Table View from pop-up menu as shown in Figure 5.3, “Column Header popup menu”

Figure 5.3. Column Header popup menu

Most of the time when you are entering data you will want to see the locations records sorted in some order. You can sort location records on any field by clicking on the column header. Click once to sort in ascending order. Click again to sort in descending order. Click on another column header to sort the records based on the value in that field. You can also sort records by using Sort Records in the Records menu at the top of the screen. It can sort by multiple columns.

To enter location data, click in one of the cells to start. You can see what is supposed to be entered into a particular column by pausing with your cursor over any cell in a column. The Tab key takes you to the next field. Shift-Tab takes you to the previous field.

	Caution
	If you click on any cell in the blank line at the bottom of the list (the one with a + on the left) Bandit thinks you are trying to add a location and will not let you leave that page until you either enter data or choose delete.

	Tip
	Using the Find function before entering location data helps to focus on those locations you will be using during a session, see Chapter 9, Find Mode for information about the way to select records you want to operate on.

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, mountain peak 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 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 you selected 10-minute block as the location precision and Bandit 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 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 and 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. Since v 3.0 of Bandit the Nearest Place/Town field is required. 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, mountain peak 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. As mentioned above, the seconds will be 30. This is because Bandit is expecting the point to be the center of a 1-minute block. 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 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 and 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, mountain peak 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. This is the default in Bandit, however, you can sort on any field by clicking on the column header. Click once to sort in ascending order. Click again to sort in descending order. Click on another column header to sort the records based on the value in that field. You can also sort records by using Sort Records in the Records menu at the top of the screen. It can sort by multiple columns.

To enter banding data, click in one of the cells to start. You can see what is supposed to be entered into a particular column by pausing with your cursor over any cell in a column. You cannot enter anything into the band number field as that field is pre-populated from the inventory. 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. When you click in a cell a small triangle will appear. You can click the triangle to bring up the list or 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 green part 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 banding 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 Banding Date needs extra attention to prevent errors. The banding date must be after the Received Date in your inventory. If you imported data from Band Manager or any other file, the received date will be automatically defaulted to the date you imported. If that date isn't changed as described in Chapter 4, Band Inventory, you will get Banding Date VS Received 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. You can return to showing all bands in the table by clicking the Show All button. See Section 6.6.1, “Filtering Banding Data” for more information about filtering banding data, and see Chapter 9, Find Mode for information about an alternative way to select banding records you want to work with.

The Details view provides a gray navigation panel at the top of the screen. The navigation panel includes a small book icon to flip forward (right-hand page) or backward (left-hand page) through pages. Use the slider below the book to rapidly scroll ahead or back in the book of records.

The Details view has a tab named Aux Marker which is 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 under Is Aux Marker Coded? and fill out the left-hand side of the screen, indicating the actual code, 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 under Is Aux Marker Coded? 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 6.3. Aux Marker tab for a coded marker

Figure 6.4. 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 into a single field. This is the field that is submitted to BBL/BBO.

Note

The Aux Marker page in Bandit is a work in progress, and currently only accommodates relatively simple auxiliary marking conditions. If the bird has more than one type of marker, one of which is coded, describe only the coded one and mention the other(s) in remarks. In this case, you would set the Aux Marker Type field to match the type of the coded marker. In any combination of markers, the default one to be reported here is the one most likely to be seen and reported by the public.

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 labeled 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.

	Note
	Double-banding of birds can only be done with permission from the appropriate Banding Office. It is preferred that this be done with two separate strings, rather than adding adjacent band numbers to the same bird. Be consistent: If you use two strings of bands, one string should all have Disposition code set to D and other to S. If one string is used, odd numbers may be set to D and even to S.

From time to time, it is necessary or desirable to replace a band on a bird. Often this is because the band is too worn to be read or is close to being that worn. If you do replace a band, use the Replaced or Second Band # field to enter the REPLACED band. If the number can’t be read completely, fill the missing numbers with question marks. The unreadable band must be sent to the BBL or BBO for etching. It is extremely important that each band that is sent has the replacement number associated with it. Recommended is a piece of masking tape on the back of the flattened band with the replacement number on it.

Occasionally a bird is captured with an auxiliary marker but no Federal leg band. In this case, if you know the band number that was originally on the bird, use it and explain in Remarks. If you do not know the original band number, you can put the auxiliary marker code in the REPLACED field and explain in Remarks. It may be possible to determine the original band at the BBL or BBO.

If you want to record the recapture of a bird you banded previously, click the button next to the band number labeled Report Recapture. A new recapture record will be created and you will automatically be switched to the Recapture function. See Chapter 7, Entering recapture and other re-encounter data 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 data 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 9, Find Mode for an alternative way to select banding records. Find mode will permit you to do more complex searches and base your selection on any of the fields in either the Table or Details view.

The fill-down feature lets you quickly enter large amounts of banding data, in much the same way 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. In the menu bar at the top of the screen 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. This feature cannot be undone.

Figure 6.6. Bands Screen Records Menu

You can clear banding data using the Clear Band Record function located under the Records menu in the menu bar 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. This feature cannot be undone.

The facility to submit banding data to the BBL and the BBO is initiated by picking Submit New Data or Submit Modified Data function found on the Bands screen. Chapter 8, Data Submission, has detailed information about this capability. Before submission you may preview what data is going to be submitted by using the report "New Banding Data to be Submitted" or "Banding Data Modified After Submission".

Tip

If you wish to have a printed or electronic record of the data you are submitting, make sure you select the “New Banding Data to be Submitted” report (or the “By Location: New 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 green part of the screen and locate Report Name. Select the name of the report in the drop down list and click Show/Print Report. You will get a Print Options box where you may choose to print or export the report. If you choose Print, you will have the choice of saving as PDF. This will be your only chance to print a schedule. After the data are submitted they will no longer show in this report.

Banding data can be imported by selecting the File → Import Data From File → Bands/Recaptures item from the File menu. See Chapter 12, Importing and Exporting, for more details on this capability.

Tip

Data quality checking constraints inside Bandit require the use of an ordered import sequence. Bands must be added into your inventory before banding data can be imported. Likewise, banding location data must be imported or created before banding data is imported to avoid location errors. Finally, bander information must be available before banding data is imported to avoid bander identification errors. Importing in this order: inventory, locations, bander information, and importing bands last will ensure consistency.

If you want to export banding data for use in another program or to share it with other people you can use one of several methods for data export found on the banding screen:

The Banding screen provides easy access to a variety of reports. Select the report you want to see from the drop-down list and click the Show/Print Report button. The report will be created in another window. You can flip through the pages by using the book icon in the navigation panel along the left side of the window and then choose to send the output to the printer, save the results in Microsoft Excel format, or create an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file. See Chapter 10, Reports, for more details on the reports provided and detailed instructions for using the report facilities.

Begin the process by exporting your inventory in Band Manager as a dbf (dBase IV) file into the Band Manager Export folder and be sure to name it as something you will remember. Also check the box in Band Manager at the bottom of the Export screen for the No. of Bands and note that number. Switch to Bandit and click on the File menu and then select Import from Band Manager → Band Inventory from the submenu. A dialog box will appear asking you to locate the file containing the data you exported from Band Manager. Navigate to the Band Manager Export folder and click on the inventory file you exported from Band Manager and wish to import into Bandit. A results box will appear telling you how many bands were successfully imported as well as the number of spans added to your inventory. Ensure that the total number of bands that were imported matches the number of bands shown on the inventory Export screen as mentioned above. This will ensure that you successfully exported all of your bands from Band Manager and imported them into Bandit.

Warning

Import Inventory from Band Manager may take a long time if you have a large number of bands. The process is fairly quick (minutes) for less than 10,000 bands but may take some time (hours) if your inventory in Band Manager is extensive, particularly in the 100,000 band range. Do not interrupt this process. After the import has started, clicking anywhere else in the program will interrupt it. Interrupting the import process will result in erroneous records being entered into the band number field and the only way to correct this is to reload the program.

Begin the process by opening Band Manager and navigating to the export function for locations by clicking this sequence of buttons: Utilities, Program Lookups, Locations, Export. Your locations table will open. Select dBase IV as the format and export the locations table to the Export folder by clicking on Export. Switch to Bandit and click on the File menu and then select Import from Band Manager → Locations. A dialog box will appear asking you to locate the file containing the data you exported from Band Manager. Navigate to the Band Manager Export folder and click on the locations file you exported from Band Manager and wish to import into Bandit. An Import Field Mapping box will appear. About 2/3 of the way down the window on the right side, just at the top of the gray area, there will be an Arrange By drop-down list. Select Matching Names from the drop-down list if it is not already there and then click the Import button at the bottom right of the window. An Import Summary box will appear showing you how many locations were successfully imported. Make sure this is the same number of locations you had in Band Manager. Click OK. An Import Locations Result box will appear showing you how many locations were added to the Bandit locations table. Click OK. The locations will now be in your table, added to the bottom if you already had locations entered into the table. You must now add the counties to the table to get the Valid? column to say Yes. County is required in Bandit for U.S. locations. Click on the Location tab to navigate to the location table.

Begin the process by opening Band Manager and navigating to the export function by clicking this sequence of buttons: Utilities, Program Lookups, Banders, and Export. Once again, select dBase IV as the appropriate format and click Export. Name the file and save it in the Band Manager Export folder. Switch to Bandit and click on the File menu and then select Import from Band Manager → Banders. A dialog box will appear asking you to locate the file containing the data you exported from Band Manager. Navigate to the Band Manager Export folder and click on the banders file you exported from Band Manager and wish to import into Bandit. An Import Field Mapping box will appear. About 2/3 of the way down the window on the right side, just at the top of the gray area, there will be an Arrange By drop-down list. Select Matching Names from the drop-down list if it is not already there and then click the Import button at the bottom right of the window. An Import Summary box will appear showing you how many banders were successfully imported. Make sure this is the same number of banders you had in Band Manager. Click OK. An Import Banders Result box will appear showing you how many banders were actually added to the Bandit bander information table. Click OK. The banders will now be in your table, added to the bottom if you already had banders entered into the table. You can now add the email addresses and phone numbers for sub banders by clicking in the appropriate fields on the banders information table. The banders information table is located by clicking the Settings section button and then the Bander Info tab.

Begin the process by opening Band Manager and selecting the file containing the banding records you wish to import into Bandit. Open that file and then click Export and go through the Band Manager export fields process. Select the dBase IV format and click Export. Name the file and save it in the Band Manager Export folder. Switch to Bandit and click on the File menu and then select Import from Band Manager → Bands/Recaptures. A dialog box will appear asking you to locate the file containing the data you exported from Band Manager. Navigate to the Band Manager Export folder and click on the banding records file you exported from Band Manager and wish to import into Bandit. An Import Field Mapping box will appear. About 2/3 of the way down the window on the right side, just at the top of the gray area, there will be an Arrange By drop-down list. Select Matching Names from the drop-down list if it is not already there and then click the Import button at the bottom right of the window. An Import Summary box will appear showing you how many bands were successfully imported. Make sure this is the same number of bands you had in Band Manager. Click OK. An Import Banders Result box will appear showing you how many band records were actually assimilated into the Bandit banding records table. Click OK.

To export bands from Bandit go to the File menu. Then go to the Export Into File sub menu and select Bands. A dialog box will appear asking you to name the file you want to export the records to, where you want to put the file, and the type of file you want to create. When you click Save (or just press Enter) a new dialog box will appear allowing you to select the fields you want to export and the order in which you want them to appear in the exported file. A number of fields have already been selected and will appear in the box labelled Field export order. You can select additional fields from the list on the left and click Move to add it to the Field export order box, click a field in the Field export order box and click Clear to remove the field from the export list, or click and drag up and down with your cursor on the little double-pointed arrow icon to move the fields up or down in the Field export order box. Finally, click Export to complete the operation.

Use a similar procedure to export band inventory, banders, locations, and recaptures. Each of these items appears under the Export Into File sub menu under the Files menu. To export band inventory go to the File menu. Then go to the Export Into File sub menu and select Band Inventory. To export banders go to the File menu. Then go to the Export Into File sub menu and select Banders. To export locations go to the File menu. Then go to the Export Into File sub menu and select Locations. To export recaptures go to the File menu. Then go to the Export Into File sub menu and select Recaptures.

	Tip
	Bander information, banding locations, and wing and weight data can also be exported directly from the tabbed screens associated with each of these collections in the Settings section. See Chapter 3, Bandit Settings.

To export reference tables go to the tab page with the reference table you want to export. Then click the Export button in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Enter in the file name and select the file type. Tab-separated Text Files (*.tab), comma-separated Text Files and Excel Files (*.xls) are the most common.