Quick Start Instructions |
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These "Quick Start" instructions were sent to banders with the initial CD release of version 2.1.
To use this Band manager CD, you need either a PC with Windows (486 at absolute minimum with 16 megs of memory or preferably a Pentium) or a Mac that can run a Windows emulator. There is a User’s Manual for this program. To access the Manual, put the CD in the CD drive, select the “run” option, and enter “d:” (or the letter designating your CD-ROM drive) to view the contents of the CD. Click on the “docs” folder to select a version of the Band Manager Manual (available in Word Perfect 5.0 and 6.0, Word, and Adobe Acrobat—see the readme file on the CD [click the “run” then enter d: and click on “readme.txt”]). Updates to the program are posted as needed on the Band Manager website at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/homepage/resource.htm and click on “Band Manager”. There are also FAQ’s and help materials (including the user’s manual) available at this website. If you need assistance with the program, additional CD’s, or would like to receive a disc update you can call the Band Manager Help Line at 301-497-5845 or e-mail to Bandmgr@usgs.gov.
To install Band Manager, place the CD into the drive. If you have “Auto Run” enabled in Windows 95/98, then Band Manager Setup program will automatically start. If you do not (nothing happens when you put the CD in), then click the Start button at the left end of the task bar at the bottom of the screen (Windows 95/98 users) and select the Run option (with Windows 3.11, Run is found under the File menu). On the command line, type d:/setup (use the drive letter that is appropriate for your system which could be d: for a CD install, or a: or B: for a diskette install) and then press Enter.
At this point (in all cases), the Band Manager Setup program starts and asks you to enter your name and organization (with Windows 95/98 the information may already be filled in and you will simply need to confirm it). You are then shown the default directory where Setup will install Band Manager (c:/bandmgr). You can change the directory if you need to, but we strongly recommend that you accept the default directory, and the instructions in this manual assume that you do. After asking you to confirm your entries, the program tells you to click on the large button to begin installation. At this point, click on the picture of the computer, and Setup will install Band Manager onto your computer. If you are installing from diskettes, Setup will prompt you for each of the diskettes in order until it has completed installation. Once complete, you will be returned to your Windows Desktop. There should be a Band Manager icon on your desktop. However, if you did not install to the c:/bandmgr directory, the icon may not be there, or may not work correctly. If this is the case (or one simply did not appear for unknown reasons), then you can create an icon (see section 2.2 in the Band Manager Manual for instructions). You have now completed the installation of Band Manager.
After installing Band Manager, you need to start the program. If Setup created an icon on your desktop, or you created one, then double-click on the Band Manager icon to start the program. If you do not have an icon on your desktop, you can start Band Manager by clicking the Start button at the lower left of your screen and selecting Run (in Windows 3.11, Start is found in the File menu). At the prompt, type c:/bandmgr/bandmgr and press Enter.
After pausing briefly on the title screen, the Band Manager Main Menu screen will appear. It is from this screen that you will access all of Band Manager’s features and functions. If this is the first time that you have started Band Manager, you will see a Welcome Screen (over top of the Main Menu screen) welcoming you to the program. The Welcome Screen will encourage you to work through the “Automated Setup”. This automated sequence will step you through the setup requirements of the program (the next several steps below) and will explain them as it goes. You are strongly encouraged to follow the Automated Setup because it will ensure that the program is properly set up for you.
The first step in the setup is to enter some basic information and set some program options. If you are following the Automated Setup, Band Manager will open the Options screen for you. If not, then from the Main Menu, click Utilities, and then Setup Options. On this screen, you will need to enter your Permit Number, and Permittee Name (*exactly as it appears on the MASTER permit—Station Permit holders should enter the name of the station), and some initials to designate the station of master permittee. If you are unsure of the permit number at this time, enter “00000”. If you do not enter a permit number, you will not be allowed to exit this screen. The permit number is checked during scheduling and at that time, you will be reminded to correct it if you entered “00000” during setup. Be sure to enter all five digits of the permit number; if your permit number has less than five digits, enter a leading zero(s) to complete all five digits (e.g., 05986 or 00762). At this time, you should also check the other options on this screen including date, sex, and age format; species display language; Alpha Code or Species Number; and the Country that you band in ( USA or Canada). There options can also be changed later (see the online help for more information on the options). Click Done to return to the Utilities Menu, and Done again to return to the Main Menu.
Next, enter your Location Code(s). Every banding record must include a banding location, which is represented by a location code that refers to the location table, which stores the location codes, along with all of the geographical information for each location (lat/long, province or state code, region and direction code). If you are using the Automated Setup, after closing the Options screen, you will be asked if you want to add locations to the location table. To do this manually, from the Main Menu click Utilities, Program Lookups, and finally Locations to open the location table. Band manager allows you to store more than one location for a 10-minute block. For each 10-minute block where you band, add a “Master Block” record to the table. Enter the keystrokes you want to use to represent the block in the “code” column (there are the characters you use during data entry). Put a T for “True” in the “Master?” column, leave the “Master Name” column blank, enter the latitude and longitude of the block, region, and for the description of the block please give the miles and direction from the nearest town. For any 10-minute block where you want more than one location within the block in your records, after adding a Master Block record to name the block for scheduling purposes, then add a sub-location for each site within the Master Block. To enter a sub-location, enter F (for False) in the “Master?” column, enter the Master Block name in the “Master Name” column and complete the rest of the record as for the Master Block record.
Next, you may want to add some or all of your bands to the inventory. During data entry you may only add new banding records for the bands that are in your inventory. You can add bands to the inventory during data entry, but it is easier to do so in advance. Again, if you are running the Automated Setup, you will be prompted to do this. Otherwise, click Inventory from the Main Menu to open the Band Inventory Screen. See Section 3.0, or the on-line help for detailed instructions on developing your band inventory. If you are importing data that are already computerized, you may be able to create the inventory automatically—see Section 10.0 for details.
Next, you may wish to enter remarks (extra pieces of information that you provide with a banding record for printing on the bottom of the schedule) into the remarks table. This table is only for remarks in the same way that the location table was used. If you have standard remarks that you know you need to use, then you should add them to the Remarks table before beginning data entry. The Automated Setup will prompt you to see if you want to enter Remark codes during setup. If you are not using the Automated Setup, then you may add Remark Codes by clicking Utilities, Program Lookups, and Remarks from the Main Menu. You can also open this table during data entry, by double-clicking in the Remarks field. See the instruction in Section 8.1.3, or the on-line help for assistance in completing this table.
The last task before entering banding data is to create a data table. Band Manager provides a basic table structure including the required fields and a few commonly used optional fields. You may add more fields, drop any of the optional fields, and change the order of the fields for display and data entry. The Automated Setup will prompt you to create a data table (or you can do this at any time by clicking Utilities and Table Designer from the Main Menu) (See Section 7.0 in the manual or the on-line help for instructions on creating tables). If you like, you can create multiple tables to help you organize your data. After creating a data table, the Automated Setup will be complete.
Use the Data Entry and Editing module to enter and edit all of your data into a data table that you created. Open the Data Entry and Editing screen by clicking Data from the Main Menu and selecting the data file that you created. See Section 4.0 for details on using this module. Once you have entered all of your data, you need to schedule the data and send it to the appropriate banding office. See Section 5.0, or the on-line help for assistance with preparing for and producing schedules.
All of the instructions provided in the manual are also available in the on-line help files (click on the“?” at the top left of the screen for context-sensitive help anywhere in Band Manager)