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3.3  Special Cases

There may be a few cases that require a special approach while populating the MagIC SmartBooks. In this Chapter we treat these special cases by briefly describing the issue and a possible solution.

3.3.1  When Requiring New Instrument Codes

If you cannot find the appropriate Instrument Code in the software, you can always create a new code by activating the MAGIC_instruments table and by clicking the Edit Data button on the MagIC Toolbar. Continue by clicking the New Record button and fill out all fields. After uploading your files this new code will be reviewed and, if this new code is acceptable, it will be added to the Controlled Vocabulary listing of instruments.

3.3.2  When Entering More Than 65,000 Measurement Data Records

The user cannot add more than 65,000 data records in a single table due to the limitations of the Microsoft Excel© worksheets. However, there is one exception made for the records of the MAGIC_measurements table. In this table you can import as many measurements as required. If the software detects more than 65,000 records, it will automatically generate a table named MAGIC_measurements2, and so on.

3.3.3  When Starting Data Population from Measurement Files

It may be quite common that you start data population with a measurement file, which has been stored in the Standard MagIC Text File Format. When pursuing this route, first import all these text files into a SmartBook that have been prepared by applying the first six steps described of a typical file upload procedure. Follow this by running the Synchronize Names function from the Special menu to pre-fill the names of all Locations, Sites, Samples and Specimens (and others) throughout the tables of the SmartBook. Now you only have to complete these tables with some extra data and metadata.

When new records are added to these tables using the Synchronize Names function, they will appear in highlighted "light blue" and "pink" cells for easy detection. The originating data records are highlighted "purple" as well. You can remove the formatting again by pressing Ctrl Shift S or it will automatically be removed when you run the Prepare for Uploading function.