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Adding Data Items

1. In order to add items to the database, you must first login to the system as a Privileged User.
   
   
2. Navigate to the Experiment Main Menu for the experiment you wish to add data.
   
   
3. Scroll down to the Data Entry and Retrieval section. Find the data type for which you want to add items.
   
   
4. Select the Create New link under the Actions column.
   
   
5. The Create New Item Menu page should appear. Select the method which you want to use to enter new data, described below:
   
   

Create Single Item

This method allows you add one item to the database at a time.

1. From the Create New Item Menu page, select the Create Single Item link.
   
   
2. The Create New page should appear. Fill in the fields for the new item and click Create.

Upload Data From Spreadsheet

This method allows you to first organize your data in a spreadsheet, and then upload the data to the database.

1. Open a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.
   
   
2. In the first row of the spreadsheet, specify the attributes of the data type you are adding items for (do not specify the oid attribute that is automatically defined for every data type. The value for this attribute is automatically assigned by the database when creating the items). For example, if your data type has attributes Promoter, Repeats, Transgene line, Founder, and Sex, enter these attributes as the column headers for your spreadsheet.
   
   Note that attributes of type File cannot be automatically uploaded by the spreadsheet (due to security limitations enforced by web standards). Leave the column specifying any File type attribute blank. Once you upload the other data, you can browse for the files manually using the typical Browse button.
   
3. Now enter the values for the data you want to add into the spreadsheet (note that this function has not been tested with large numbers of data - i.e. greater than 10 items)
   
   
   
4. Once finished entering the data, save the spreadsheet file as a .csv file (select File | Save As... and then change the value in the Save as type dropdown to CSV (MS-DOS) (*.csv)). Enter a name for the file and then select Save.
   
   
5. Return to the browser window. From the Create New Item Menu page, select the Upload Data From Spreadsheet link.
   
   
6. The Upload Data from Spreadsheet page should appear. Select the Browse button and navigate to the .csv file you just created.
   
   
7. Click the Submit button to upload the data.
   
   
8. The Bulk Upload page should appear with the data from the spreadsheet automatically filling in the input fields. If there are any errors, check that the spreadsheet is in the correct format. If the problem persists, contact your administrator. Make any adjustments to the data values that you see necessary.
   
   
   
   
9. Click Add to add the data items to the database. If problems were encountered adding any of the items, a message should be displayed noting this.
   

Create Items in Bulk

This method allows you to add multiple items at once using a single web page.

1. From the Create New Item Menu page, select the Create Items in Bulk link.
   
   
2. The Select the Number of Items to Add page should appear. Enter the number of items you want to add (note that this has not been tested for a large number of items - i.e. greater than 10).
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Submit button.
   
   
4. A Create New Items page should appear with rows of input fields for entering data. This should look similar to the screen shot above for the uploaded spreadsheet data except that the input fields are all set to default values. Enter the data for the items you want to add.
   
   
5. Click Add when finished.