Copyright: Copyright © 1996 XID Services, Inc.


Attribute Marking

The attribute menu marking dialog allows you to specify the attributes or characteristics of the specimen you are trying to identify.  Attributes can be marked YES or NO to specify that your specimen does or does not display that attribute.  If you are unsure about an attribute, you can mark two or more with OR to specify that your specimen has one or the other.

Marking YES will eliminate all items or species that never have that attribute.  For example, if you are in a "Flower Color" menu, and you have a plant with a yellow flower, marking YES on "Yellow" will narrow the list of remaining species to the ones that can have yellow flowers.  To mark an attribute with YES, highlight that attribute in the list and press the Mark Yes button.

If you are not sure whether your plant's flower is yellow or orange, you could mark both "Yellow" and "Orange" with OR.  This way, you will not eliminate as many species, but you will be less likely to make a mistake.  It is not possible to have only one attribute in a menu with an OR mark.  When the first attribute is marked as OR (by highlighting it and pressing the Mark Or button), the program waits for you to mark one or more attributes as OR before it revises the list of remaining items or species.  When you have made all of the OR marks you need, press the Quit OR Marking button.

The more attributes you mark with OR, the fewer items or species are eliminated.  If you mark "Yellow" and "Orange" with OR in the example above, any species which can have yellow flowers or orange flowers will remain in the list of possibilities.

If you are sure that your specimen does not have an attribute, you can mark that attribute as NO.  This eliminates any item or species that only has attributes (in this menu) that are marked NO.  In the example above, specifying that your specimen does not have yellow flowers will only eliminate the species that only have yellow flowers.  Generally, a NO mark by itself does not eliminate very many items or species, but it can still be useful.

You can use the Delete Mark button to delete any mark in the menu.  If you delete an OR mark so only one OR mark would be left, both OR marks will be deleted.

The Clear Menu button deletes all the marks in the menu.

The Reset XID button allows you to start the identification process over again.  All of your marks are erased, and all of the items or species become possible again.

The Selection Help button presents any special information that the database author has included to help you understand the terminology or details about the currently highlighted attribute.  This information can help you determine whether or not your specimen has that attribute.  The information can be comprised of text, an image, or both.

At the bottom of the dialog is a message saying how many items or species in the database are still remaining (not eliminated by the marks you have made).  You can look at the list of these remaining items or species by pressing the Item List or Species List button.

Pressing the Analysis button causes the program to examine the remaining items or species.  The program determines which attribute menus would probably be most useful in further narrowing the list of remaining items.  By pressing Analysis and selecting an attribute menu from the list that is displayed, you can go directly to that menu.  This is the most efficient way to use the program.

Pressing the Distribution button causes the program to display the distribution of the data in the menu for the remaining items or species.  It shows how many items or species have each of the attributes in the menu.  Note that an item can have more than one attribute within the menu.  It is also possible in certain cases for an item not to have any of the attributes in the menu.

The distribution display also shows the attributes that none of the remaining items have.  Note that these attributes are not shown in the attribute marking menu.  If your specimen has an attribute that is not shown in the menu, it is either not in the database or it has been eliminated by an incorrect mark elsewhere.  To be sure, press the Reset XID button and see if the attribute appears in the menu.  If it does not, your specimen is probably not in the database.  Note that it is also possible that the database author did not include the attribute in the menu.  To check this, review the distribution display, which shows all of the attributes in the menu.


Attribute Menu Analysis

The Attribute Menu Analysis dialog displays a list of Attribute Menu titles in order of decreasing usefulness.  An attribute menu is considered most useful if it is easy to use and is likely to significantly reduce the number of remaining items or species when an attribute in it is marked as YES.

The database author has assigned a difficulty rating to each attribute menu to assist in guiding the user toward menus that are easy to use.  Menus like "Color" are easier to use than menus that require technical knowledge or examination of the specimen with a microscope.

The likelihood of a menu reducing the number of possible items or species depends on the distribution of the attribute data within the menu for the remaining species.  If almost all of the remaining species have yellow flowers, a "Flower Color" menu will probably not be very useful, since it is likely that your unknown specimen has a yellow flower, and marking YES for that attribute will not eliminate very many species.  On the other hand, if half of the remaining species have yellow flowers and half have blue flowers, a "Flower Color" menu would cut the number remaining in half with one YES mark.

Selecting an attribute title from the list causes the system to enter that menu, as if you had gone there by navigating through the menu structure.  This is the easiest way to get to an attribute menu, and the most efficient way to achieve an identification.

Selecting a menu from the top of the list should produce the best result, but you can go to almost any menu in the system by using this form.  The menus near the bottom of the list will probably not be very helpful for the identification.  The only menus that are not shown in this list are the ones that are not capable of reducing the number of possibilities at all, no matter how they are marked.


Attribute Menus

An attribute menu contains a group of related attributes.  The XID user marks the attributes to describe the unknown specimen.  A typical attribute menu would be "Color", where the attributes in the menu would be "Red", "Green, "Blue", etc.  Another type of attribute menu could be "Height", where the attributes would be ranges of numbers.  There can also be menus like "Wings", where the attributes could be "Has Wings" and "Does Not Have Wings".

Attribute menus are often grouped together in other menus, which are menus of submenus.


Attributes

An item or species has attributes or characteristics that differentiate it from other items or species.  For example, the color red is an attribute that an apple can have, but a banana can't.  The XID system groups related attributes together in attribute menus.  A menu of colors, for example, is a menu of attributes.  Apples can have the colors red, yellow and green, whereas bananas only have yellow and green.

Every item or species in an XID database has data indicating what attributes it can have and which ones it never has.  If you are trying to identify an apple, and you specify that it is yellow, the system can not rule out the possibility that you are trying to identify a banana.  However, if you specify that your unknown item is red, the system knows you are not describing a banana.  If your apple is yellow, you will have to describe it by some other attribute, such as its shape, to distinguish it from a banana.


Common Attributes

The system can show what attributes are common among all of the remaining items or species.  This information can reveal interesting relationships among the items that might not otherwise be apparent.

The common attributes are listed on the "Summary of Marks and Common Attributes" form.

If your specimen has one of these attributes, marking that attribute as YES will not reduce the number of possibilities.  If you have marked an attribute as YES, it will be in this list.


Contents

Overview

Attributes

Attribute Menus

Menus of Submenus

XID Database Files

Database Descriptions

Database Selection

Using a Menu of Submenus

Menu Selection Help

Image Display

Attribute Marking

Attribute Menu Analysis

Data Distribution Display

Item/Species List

Item/Species Help

Viewing Item/Species References

Viewing Item/Species Attribute Data

Distinctive Attributes

Summary of Marks

Common Attributes

Importing a DOS Database

File Menu Commands

View Menu Commands

Help Menu Commands


Data Distribution Display

The Data Distribution display shows the distribution of the data in the menu for the remaining items or species.  It shows how many items or species have each of the attributes in an attribute menu.  Note that an item can have more than one attribute within a menu.  It is also possible in certain cases for an item not to have any of the attributes in a menu.

Note that this display shows all of the attributes in the menu, including the ones that no items or species have.  This is different than the attribute menu marking form, which does not show attributes that none of the remaining items or species have.  The Data Distribution display is a good way to see all of the attributes in a menu.  If your specimen definitely has an attribute for which the distribution is zero, you have either made an incorrect mark or the specimen is not represented in the database.  Reset the database so that all items or species are possible; if the distribution for the attribute is still zero, your specimen is not represented in the database.

To observe the data distribution for an attribute menu, go to that menu and press the Distribution button.


Database Descriptions

Each XID database contains a description.  For each database the user can open, the description can be viewed from the Database Selection Dialog.  It can describe the contents and usefulness of the database, or it can contain information about the author.

When an XID database is opened, the user is placed in a form that shows its description.  To enter the menu system for the database, press OK in this form.


Database Selection

The dialog for opening an XID database file allows the user to select a database from a list of database titles.  The file name of each database is shown in parentheses after the its title.  This dialog is obtained by selecting Open from the File menu, or by clicking the File Open icon on the tool bar.

Only the database files that are in the same directory with the XID program (xidw.exe) are available in the list.  Usually, this directory is "c:\xidw".

By pressing the Description button, you can see a brief description of the database whose title is highlighted in the list.


Distinctive Attributes

For each remaining item or species in the database, the system can tell you what attributes it can have that are most unusual among the collection of remaining items.  This can be very helpful in effectively reducing the number of possibilities.

To look at the unusual attributes for an item or species, highlight it in the Item/Species List and press the Unusual Attributes button.  The system shows the item's attributes starting with the most unusual.  The number to the left of the attribute is the number of remaining items that can have it.  If the number is 1, and your specimen has it, you have completed the identification process (unless your specimen is not represented in the database).  If your specimen has an attribute that has a low number, you should go to that attribute menu and mark it as YES to greatly reduce the number remaining.

This screen shows almost all of the item's attributes; the only ones not shown are the ones that are common among all of the remaining possibilities.

Remember that just because you see an attribute in the list that your specimen doesn't have, your specimen is not necessarily eliminated.  Your specimen might not have all of the attributes that the individual items or species can display.


File Menu Commands

The File menu has two forms, depending on whether or not a database has been opened.

Open    Opens an XID database.  This can also be done using the tool bar button.

Close    Closes an XID database.  This selection is not available unless a database is open.

Save    Saves an XID database.  It is only necessary to use this after a DOS database has been imported.  The imported database will then be available to be opened directly by the File Open command.  This menu selection is only available if a database is open.

Import DOS Database    This is used to convert a database distributed with a DOS version of the XID Identification System.  The conversion can be time consuming for large databases.  When the conversion is complete, the database should be saved using the File Save menu selection.  This menu selection is not available if any database is open; if you wish to import a database, close any open one using File Close.

(Recent File List)    This is a list of up to four most recently opened XID databases.  The most recently opened database is preceded with the number 1, the next with 2 and so on.  The databases are shown by their filename (not by the database title).  Selecting a file causes it to be opened.  This can be a convenient shortcut.

Exit    This terminates the XID Identification System program.


Help Image Display

The database author can associate an image file with a menu selection or an item or species.  Pressing the Selection Help button when in an attribute menu or a menu of submenus can produce an image that can help you determine which selection to use.  Pressing the Item Help or Species Help button in the Item or Species List can display an image of the item.  If the author has not used an image, the help text for the selection or item is displayed.  If both text and an image are defined, both are shown on the same display.  If only an image is defined, there is no box for the text.

The Image Display form has a Zoom button that can be used to toggle the size of an image.  Some images are larger than the dialog form that is used to display them.  For images like this, you can maximize the form to show more of the image or you can use the scroll bars to scroll the image.  Alternatively, you can press the Zoom button to scale the image to fit in the dialog form.  This will make the entire image visible, but some of the writing or details on it may become distorted.

If there is more general help for a menu selection, it can be accessed by using the More button.  This is usually help associated with the parent menu, or possibly the database description.


Help Menu Commands

The Help Menu provides selections to help you with the program.  It is usually easier to get help for the program by pressing the Help buttons on the various dialog forms, or to press F1.  Pressing F1 at any time enters the help system at a point that is pertinent to the form currently being displayed.

Contents    Enters this help system at the table of contents.

Using Help    Provides general information on how to use the Windows help system.

About Xidw    Displays the program title, version and copyright notice.


Importing a DOS Database

If you have upgraded to a Windows version of XID from a DOS version, and you have a database designed for a DOS version, it is possible to import it into the Windows version and save it as a file this program can open directly.  To do this, copy the DOS database files into the directory containing xidw.exe (usually c:\xidw).  Then start XID for Windows and select Import DOS Database from the File Menu.

The database conversion process can be quite time consuming, so be patient if necessary.  When conversion is complete, the database description will appear.  You should then save the file using Save from the File menu.  This will save the database in one file with the extension ".XID".  Do not use any other extension, or the file cannot be opened.


Item/Species Help

Each item or species in a database can have helpful information associated with it.  The database author can enter a description along with any information that might be of interest.  This description can help in confirming an identification or eliminating an item.

To look at this description for an item or species, highlight it in the Item/Species List and press the Item Help or Species Help button.

By using Next and Previous in the menu at the top of the dialog, you can read the description for each item or species in the list.  Selecting Next or Previous displays the description for the next or previous item in the list.


Item/Species List

This dialog displays a list of the remaining items or species in the database.  Items or species eliminated by marks made in the attribute menus are not shown in the list.  To look at this list, press the Item List or Species List button in any menu form.

XID databases can contain species, with scientific names (in "genus species" format, like Homo sapiens) or generic items without scientific names.  In the discussion below, the word "item" can also pertain to "species".

When a database has species with both scientific and common names defined, the list can display either the scientific or common names.  In this case, there are two buttons on the form.  Press Common or Scientific to display the list either way.  Whichever species name is highlighted when the list is changed is highlighted after the change.  This  relates the common and scientific names for a species.

If you have eliminated most of the items in the database, this list can give you information about the remaining possibilities to help you make a positive identification.  For each item in the list, this form provides access to literature references, help text supplied by the database author, and all of the attribute data.  It is also possible to see which of an item's attributes are unusual among the remaining items.

This list can be useful for getting information from a database without going through the identification process.  When the list contains a large number of items, a particular item can be quickly accessed by typing the first few letters of its name in the box above the list.

To obtain a list of literature references for an item, highlight it in the list and press the References button.

To see a description of an item, highlight it and press the Item Help or Species Help button.  The information can be comprised of text, an image, or both.

To examine the attribute data for an item, highlight it and press the View Data button.

To see which of an item's attributes are unusual among the collection of remaining items, press the Unusual Attributes button.

It is possible to mark an item in this list with a NO mark.  You can do this when there is an item in the list that you know does not represent your specimen.  Items marked as NO are still shown in the list, even though they would also be eliminated by marks you have made in the attribute menus.  Eliminating items in this way is reflected in the outcome of the Attribute Menu Analysis and Unusual Attributes functions, causing both to be more helpful.

To mark an item with NO, press the Eliminate button.  To delete a NO mark, press the Uneliminate button.

You may wish to review the marks you have made to reduce the list to its present form.  Press the View Marks button to see what attribute marks have been made, and which items have been specifically eliminated.  That form also displays a list of attributes that are common among all of the remaining items.

Pressing the Analysis button causes the program to examine the remaining items or species.  The program determines which attribute menus would probably be most useful in further narrowing the list of remaining items.  By pressing Analysis and selecting an attribute menu from the list, you can go directly to that menu.  This is the most efficient way to use the program.

The Reset XID button allows you to start the identification process over again.  All of your marks are erased, and all of the items or species become possible again.


Menu Selection Help

Each selection in a menu can have helpful information associated with it.  When selecting from a menu of attributes, this can describe the attribute to help you make a correct mark.  When selecting from a menu of submenus, this can help you determine whether or not a submenu would be useful to enter.

If there is more general help for the menu selection, it can be accessed by using the More button.  This is usually help associated with the parent menu, or possibly the database description.

When selecting a database to open, the menu selection help is the database description.  This can help you determine whether or not a database is right for the specimen you are trying to identify.


Menus of Submenus

The data in an XID database is a collection of attributes that each item or species in the database can have.  These attributes are organized into attribute menus that are used to describe unknown specimens.  The attribute menus are usually organized into other menus, which are menus of submenus.

A typical menu of submenus might be "Dimensions", which might contain attribute menus such as "Height", "Width" and "Thickness".  Another menu of submenus might be "Appearance", where the attribute menus might be "Color", "Shape", or "Pattern".

The selections in a menu of submenus can be attribute menus or other menus of submenus.  Typically the selections are related.  The menus are grouped by the database author to make it easy to find useful attribute menus.


Overview

The XID Identification System allows the user to identify an unknown item or species by describing the attributes displayed by it.  The user can describe attributes that a specimen has or does not have.  As each attribute is specified, the system eliminates possibilities that do not match the description given by the user.  At any time, the user can ask the system for a list of attributes that could be useful in narrowing the list of possibilities.

An XID database contains a list of items or species along with the attributes that each one can have.  For each item or species, there can be a description and a set of literature references.

The identification process starts with opening a database.  Then the user enters a system of menus.  There are two types of menus:  attribute menus and menus of submenus.  By navigating through the menus, the user can describe the attributes of the unknown specimen.  The system also has an attribute menu analysis feature that recommends attribute menus to proceed with, and provides shortcuts to go to those menus.

At any time, the user can examine the list of remaining items or species.  This form offers several options to help with the identification.

At any time, the user can obtain help by pressing the F1 key.  This enters the help system at a topic that is pertinent to the form currently being displayed.


Summary of Marks

The system can show a summary of the marks that have been made at any point in the identification process.  To see it, go to the Item/Species List and press the View Marks button.  If you don't think that any of the remaining items or species in the list represent your specimen, either the item is not in the database or you have made an incorrect mark.  By looking at this summary, you can decide which of your marks is most likely to be incorrect.  You can then delete that mark or add OR marks in uncertain menus.

This form has three sections:  attribute marks, eliminated items or species, and common attributes.

The first section shows all of the attributes that have been marked, and the type of mark (YES, OR or NO).  The attributes are shown with the title of the attribute menu that contains them.  For OR marks, remember that the OR logic works within one attribute menu at a time.  If your marks specify yellow flowers OR blue flowers and 2-3 feet tall OR 3-5 feet tall, any species that never has yellow or blue flowers is eliminated, regardless of its height.

The second section shows all of the items or species that have been specifically eliminated by a NO mark made in the Item/Species List.

The third section shows which attributes are common among all of the remaining items or species.


Using a Menu of Submenus

In a menu of submenus, you are presented with a list of other menus that you can go to.  By highlighting a selection and pressing the Enter Menu button, you can go into that menu.  By pressing the Close Button (or the Escape key), you can return to the menu's "parent".  In this way, you can navigate through the database's menu structure.  The purpose is to find an attribute menu that is useful in describing your unknown specimen.

At the bottom of the dialog is a message saying how many items or species in the database are still remaining (not eliminated by any of the marks you have made).  You can look at the list of these remaining items or species by pressing the Item List or Species List button.

Pressing the Analysis button causes the program to examine the remaining items or species.  The program determines which attribute menus would probably be most useful in further narrowing the list of remaining items.  By pressing Analysis and selecting an attribute menu from the list that is displayed, you can go directly to that menu.  This is the most efficient way to use the program.

The Selection Help button presents any special information that the database author has included to help you understand the terminology or the appropriate use of the menu represented by the currently highlighted selection.  For example, if the highlighted selection is "Stipules", the selection help might define what a stipule is; this way you can determine whether or not you can use that menu to describe your specimen.  The information can be comprised of text, an image, or both.

The Reset XID button allows you to start the identification process over again.  All of your marks are erased, and all of the items or species become possible again.

Note that menus are not included in the list if they are of no use in narrowing the list of possibilities.  For example, when the family has been identified for a species, a menu of families will disappear.  If all of the remaining species have only yellow flowers, a flower color menu will disappear.  The exception is that if any menu (or any of its submenus) has an attribute marked in it, that menu will still appear, so you can go into it to change or delete your marks.


View Menu Commands

The View Menu has the following two commands:

Tool bar    This shows or hides the tool bar at the top.

Status Bar    This shows or hides the status bar at the bottom.


Viewing Item/Species Data

To look at the attribute data for an item or species, highlight it in the Item/Species List and press the View Data button.

This form shows all of the attributes that that item or species can have.  The data is organized as in the menu structure for the database.  Remember that your specimen might not have all of the attributes that the item can display.  As an example, assume that you are using a database for identification of mammals, and that your specimen is a black cat.  Cats can have several different colors of fur, so the attribute data for the "Fur Color" menu might show orange, brown, gray, white, black, etc.  Your specimen has no orange fur, but it is indeed a cat even though the Species Data form shows cats as having orange fur.

By using Next and Previous in the menu at the top of the dialog, you can examine the data for each item or species in the list.  Selecting Next or Previous displays the data for the next or previous item in the list.


Viewing Item/Species References

To look at literature references for an item or species, go to the Item/Species List, highlight the item's name and press the References button.

The system shows each of the references entered by the database author for the item or species.  If there are no references, the list will be empty.  For each reference, the title is shown along with a page number or other information.  The reference data provides a means of confirming your identification, or a way to eliminate some of the remaining species.  It can also give detailed information about your specimen.


XID Database Files

Each XID Database consists of one file, with the extension ".xid".  Only the files that are in the same directory with the XID program (xidw.exe) can be opened by the program.