Overview
When PIMS is installed, it contains data which is known as Reference data.Some Reference data is required for PiMS to function correctly. For example, there is a set of 'Target stauses' which are used to populate the Target Scoreboard.
This Reference data can be read by any PIMS user, but can be updated only by the administrator.
In addition, there is Reference data which can be updated by any PIMS user such as Database names and Hazard phrase information.
In addition, PIMS contains details or 'specifications' for certain laboratory chemicals and reagents. See: Reagent help.
Contents
- Navigate to Reference Data
- Viewing Reference Data
- Searching the Reference data
- Updating Reference data
- Using Reference data
Navigating to Reference data
Change to the "admin" perspective, then click "Reference" in the horizontal menu bar to see a list of the Reference data in PiMS.
Viewing Reference data
To view a specific list of PiMS reference data items:
click the appropriate "Search" link from the Reference data page.
or
select the relevant item from the Reference Data drop-down menu.
You will see a PiMS 'list' table containing one reference data item per row.
In the example, a list of 49 PiMS Database names is displayed.
- To modify the details which are displayed, open the page display controls
by clicking on the plus
icon.
You can then change the number of list-items displayed on each page (the default is 20), and which columns are visible. - To sort the list of items, click on the relevant column heading.
In the example, the database names have been sorted alphabetically. - To view all of the details recorded for a specific item, click the magnifying
glass
icon next to the record
- To modify the details which are displayed, open the page display controls
by clicking on the plus
Searching Reference data
- Enter a search term(s) in the appropriate box(es) then click
.
- If you do not enter any search terms, the details of all Database
name records in PIMS will be retrieved.
- Searches are case-insensitive and a search term can occur anywhere in the
data field
-for more detailed help see Searching for records in PIMS. - If you enter a term(s) which does not exist any of the PiMS records for Database names, none will be retrieved.
Matching records
A list of "Database name" records which match your search criteria will be displayed in a table at the bottom of the form.
The example shows the results returned from a 'Search in all fields' for 'Entrez'.
- You can choose which columns you would like to display in the table by
selecting a column name from the menu, and clicking the appropriate buttons to
hide or show the column.
- To see all the details recorded for a Database name, click the magnifying glass
icon next to the record.
- If you are not an administrator, the delete icon will be 'greyed out'
- Enter a search term(s) in the appropriate box(es) then click
.
Updating Reference data
To update an item of Reference data, you must first navigate to the appropriate 'View' page.
-see Viewing Reference Data or Searching the Reference Data.
You will see the item's 'View' page when you click on the magnifying glass
icon next to the item in the list.
- An administrator user can also 'Edit' or 'Delete' this
record (see below).
- In this example there are already associated records which can be hidden by
clicking the minus
icon in the
horizontal bar labelled 'Database references'.
- An administrator user can also 'Edit' or 'Delete' this
record (see below).
Using Reference data
Reference data is typically used as a means of reducing duplication in your database and for grouping related records.
For example, all entries in the Swiss-Prot database share the same database name and base URL.
In PiMS, all records of Swiss-Prot entries are associated with a single Database name record for the Swiss-Prot Database.
Protein Information Management System