What's New in Access LCTA

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What's New in Access LCTA

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[ New Features | Program History]

Changes in Version 2.1

[changes in Version 2.0]

The Plot Information module truncated vegetation codes in the list of unknown codes from tables. This has been corrected.
The diversity indexes analysis would stop responding when run against databases with many years of data. The code was changed to utilize working tables rather than queries. This allows the program to work more efficiently. This analysis may still take some time to run for those databases with a great deal of data.
The Plot Information module contained an error. Plot Information is found under the Information tab of the Analyses dialog. The option All Years for Selected Plot did not perform correctly. This error has been corrected.
The Load Handheld Data procedure did not bring in No Maintenace Activity, when selected in the data logger program, for short-term monitoring. This has been corrected.
The Check for Missing Plots procedure incorrectly report missing erosion evidence (ErosEvid) when maintenace activity (MaintAct) was missing. This has been corrected
In the rare case where there were no unknown vegetation codes in AerCover the Data Management module for LandUse values did not work correctly. The dialog showing LandUse values
would appear blank. This was caused by an incorrect record source for the LandUse form. This has been corrected.

Changes in Version 2.0

[changes in Version 1.5]

Converted application to Access 2000. Version 2.0 of the program will run under Access 2000 or Access 2002 (XP).

Changes in Version 1.5

[changes in Version 1.04]

Corrected a problem with the handheld loading module. The procedure for loading monitoring files had a bug that caused it not to run properly when the load options were changed (i.e. line 17 of the handheld data file = YYYYYYYYY * PM,PS,SLS,BA,LU,GC,AC,BS,BT *)
Removed password from application
The Plot Information module contained an error. Plot Information is found under the Information tab of the Analyses dialog. The option All Years for Selected Plot did not perform correctly. This error has been corrected.
The Load Handheld Data procedure did not bring in No Maintenace Activity, when selected in the data logger program, for short-term monitoring. This has been corrected.
The Check for Missing Plots procedure incorrectly report missing erosion evidence (ErosEvid) when maintenace activity (MaintAct) was missing. This has been corrected

Changes in Version 1.0.4

[changes in Version 1.0.3]

Changed permissions on all tables, modules, macros, forms, and reports. This should correct the problem of always getting the "This application needs to be compiled..." message. Also, changed the compiling process to start automatically without prompting the user. This option can be turned off with an option setting found in the new Compile section of the Utilities form.
Now, when closing the main form, the menu and toolbars will be set to the default Access menu and toolbar. In addition, the database window will open and a button to restart Access LCTA will appear in the upper left portion of the window. The main form is the form containing buttons for Analysis, Data Management, Utilities, Program Registry, and Open Data Database. To close this form, click the icon to the left of the stop sign button.
Added descriptions for all data elements of temporary working tables. These descriptions are viewed by selecting the Data Dictionary button on the Utilities form (Dictionaries tab).
Added a field on the splash/title form showing the number of plots for each year found in the PlotSurv table.
Corrected a problem in the Power Analysis module. The calculation for Relative MDES would cause a divide by zero error when one of the means was 0. Now the program will enter INVALID in the Relative MDES field if this occurs.
Corrected a problem in the Power Analysis module. Corrected two of the queries used to pull data for plots in common. The program should make calculations faster.

Changes in Version 1.0.3

[Changes in Version 1.0.2]

Added the fields VegCond and HtCat to the woody vegetation pivot tables.
Corrected error in Ground Cover calculations. A problem occured if for a given year data was present in both GndCover and LineMon.
Corrected a problem when viewing Plot Metadata. Plot Metadata is an option on the Data Management form. In some cases, when a new year was selected, the form would go blank.
Corrected a potential problem in the Check for Missing Plots data management module. If this module was run before any woody vegetation analysis had been run, an error would appear stating "Can not find table tmp_belt".
Added the ability to change the application toolbar and menu bar to the default Access toolbars/menus from the Access LCTA menu and toolbar.
Added extra functionality to the update manager to allow for the moving of queries, as well as tables.
Added a backup module to backup the LCTA data database. This is found under the Backups tab of the Utilities form. When Access LCTA is started, the program will check the date of the last backup and compare that to a specified time interval. If the last backup is older than the specified interval, the user is prompted to make a backup. The time interval can be changed by the user or turned of completely.

Changes in Version 1.0.2

[Changes in Version 1.0.1]

Corrected a potential error in the USLE analysis. In cases where all plots for a given year did not record any bare ground hits, in the GndCover or LineMon tables, the percent of ground cover would be 0 for all plots during that year. This is due to the way percent ground cover is calculated - by using the equation (100-bare ground). The chances of this actually happening are slim. Code has been corrected to add the bare ground information into the tmp_gndcover table for all plots of a given year
where there was no bare ground recorded. This is only done during the USLE analysis.
Corrected error "Item not found in this collection" which appeared when trying to view the graph of the USLE analysis results.
Corrected overflow error when generating graphs for the Shannon diversity index.
Corrected error "You tried to execute a query that doesn't include the specified expression 'Ucase(Vegid)' as part of an aggregate function". This error occured when running the Woody Vegetation analysis by a group and turning off the Core Plots Only option.
When running the Woody Vegetation and selecting the Define Height Categories option, the following error was displayed:
"Run-Time Error 453 Can't find DLL entry point adh_apiGetDesktop Window in user 32". The height category form was defined as a pop-up form, which caused an error in the code to center the form on the screen. This has been corrected.
Corrected problem when filtering data for analyses by plot. After running an analysis (by plot) and clicking the View Data button, an option is available to filter the viewed data. An error occured when the button was selected.
Corrected error received when selecting the Open option of the File menu item in the Access LCTA menu.
Added a note on the Plot Summary report clarifying the fact that the number of BeltTran and BeltMon species are not expanded to 600 sq. m.
Changed the code to convert "Moss", "Micro" and "Crypto" to M in ground cover analysis.
When performing ground cover analysis you have the option to convert results to short-term values. Before the addition of "crypto" only "moss" and "micro" where converted to M (the short-term inventory code for microphyte).
Changed belt analysis code to better handle the creation of expansion factors for unknown belt widths. During the belt analysis the program will attempt to assign an expansion factor to the data. This factor is used to normalize counts to a standard 600 sq. m. plot. In cases where the belt width is not recognized the program will now create a factor of 0, causing the counts to be removed from the summaries.
Added the vegetation condition column to the view data form for woody vegetation analysis.
Made a few changes to forms to avoid scaling problems.
Corrected a minor bug in the data dictionary module. When looking up field information the code failed to check for the correct table.
Added a new function to plot soil sample data on a USDA Soil Texture Triangle. This procedure will allow the user to see what soil class each sample falls into. This can be found on the Utilities form under Information. This is still being tested.
Corrected problem in the Unknown Vegid Management form. In cases where there were no unknown vegids for aercover, the form would open completely blank (no controls). This has been corrected.

Changes In Version 1.0.1

[Changes in Version 1.0.0]

Corrected error in Load Handheld Files Module. Data was not correctly loading when two or more files were used for the same plot and loading options were set in line 17 of the handheld file.

Added button to open the currently attached data database. This button is found on the Main dialog and on the Utilities dialog under the Managers tab. This is useful if a person would like to work in the LCTA data database outside of the Access LCTA application. This is benefical when a person would like to create tables or queries that will be stored in the data database and not the Access LCTA database.

Added ability to output files to be used with the NED LCTA ArcView Extension developed by Utah State University. A button to perform this procedure was added to the Data Management form. For more information on the NED LCTA Extension visit the NED web site at: http://www.nr.usu.edu/.

Changes In Version 1.0.0

[Changes in Version 1 Beta 3 B]

Made corrections to post hoc Power Analysis equation. Changed the program to always look up student t values for infinity degrees of freedom.

Corrected error, "You don't have the necessary permissions to use the tmp_Analysis_Disturbance object". This error was shown when running the Ground Disturbance Analysis by year. The error was related to the ownership of the object.

Updated the code for belt summaries to include the following reduced belt widths (3, 0.1, 0.2, 0.6, 0.5 meters). During the processing of the Woody Vegetation analysis an expansion factor is calculated for those species that have reduced belt widths. This is often done when a large number of a species are present on a plot - this reduces the amount of data collected in the field.

Changed the error checking code for checking unknown/missing information for vegetation codes. If data is not present in the PlntList table a high number of errors are possible. The code was changed to stop checking these errors once 200 errors were found. This avoids excessive waiting due to many errors.

Corrected error "error in update statement", which was produced sometimes when running Erosion Estimates. Program would add calculated K value to the working table - regardless if that value is used in the calculations. Changed code to only update table if calculated K existed.

Changed code to descrease the time spent processing data for the Woody Vegetation analysis. This change decreased the time of processing to a fourth of the original processing time.

Added code to the handheld data loading module to check for missing entries in PlotMast for long-term and short-term monitoring data files. It is assumed that all plots measured using the long-term or short-term monitoring methodology have been measured in the past. If this is not true an entry for that plot will not be in the PlotMast table. Due to referential integrity constraints all plots must have an entry in PlotMast. If a handheld file is marked as long-term or short-term monitoring and an entry is not found in PlotMast for that plot, a message is displayed telling the user how to rectify the problem.

Corrected code in the handheld data loading module to for landuse data (Chemical Application notes and Other Maintenance notes). The program will now correctly load this data.

Corrected code in the handheld data loading module to keep the program from loading slope data for long-term monitoring plots. Previously the program would enter 0 for the slope and slope length. This data is only recorded during the intial inventory.

Changed code in the handheld data loading module to load null slope data for initial inventory plots with no slope data. Previously 0's were entered. Now the program enters null, denoting data is missing. The same was done for basal area data.

Added Null and Not Null to the filter dialog box. After running an analysis you can view the outcome by clicking on the View Data button. To filter the data viewed click on the filter button to set the filters for the data set. You may now select Null and Not Null. This is usefull when data is summarized
by group and not all plots are assigned a grouping value. To see only the data that corresponds to an assigned group, enter the filter dialog box and select Grp as the column, select Not Null, and the Filter It button.

Corrected error in Update Local Speices Lists procedure. This procedure is run from the Data Management form. The program was able to assign tree and shrub type (TSType). This has been corrected.

Added ability to use user defined data for power analysis. To perform power analysis on a set of data not listed in the Variables to Test list select Own Data from this list. To view and enter data select the Enter Your Own Data button. After the table is opened enter the variable identification, first year mean, and second year mean. The difference of the means (MeanDelta) is calculated by the program. After closing the table select Reopen Power Analysis Form on the dialog box that appears.

Starting with Version 1.0.0 (final) the Access LCTA installation program will create an icon in the Access LCTA folder for running the decompile process. Refer to the readme.txt file after installing Access LCTA. The decompile process is used to fix installations of Access LCTA that have invalid page fault errors. Also refer to the Known Bugs Page for more information.

Changes In Version 1 Beta 3 B

[Changes in Version 1 Beta 3]

Corrected error in the code for calculating the K factor. This occurs when only one plot exists for a soil series and there is no standard deviation. Progam now checks for null values, reports an error, and inserts -1 into the SoilMast table.
Corrected error, "Invalid procedure call..." in USLE analysis. This error is caused by negative values of slope and/or slope length in the SoilLS table.
The equation for calculating the LS value will not handle negative numbers.
The program now checks for negative values, reports an error, and inserts -1 into the tmp_erosion table for LS.
Corrected error, "Don't have necessary permissions to use the 'Crosstab_USLE' object........." in the USLE analysis. This error is related to the owner of the query. Ownership was corrected.
Corrected error, "Run-time error 453. Can't find DLL entry point adh_apigetDesktopWindow in user 32". This error was shown when trying to produce graphs from an analysis data view form. The code that is used to center forms will not work on forms designated as popup forms. The graph
template was changed to a non-popup form to support centering.
Adjusted the size of buttons on the various analysis and data management forms.
Added the ability to turn on/off the automatic form scaling and center feature. Access this option from the Utilities form under the Scaling tab. Some users seem to still be experiencing problems with form placement and scaling.

Changes In Version 1 Beta 3

[Changes in Version 1 Beta 2]

Made change to the utilities form appearance, added tabs to the form

Made change to the analyses form appearance, added tabs to the form

Removed MS Common Dialog control from the utilities form, this should correct errors some people were getting with this form

Added code to center forms instead of using the AutoCenter property. This keeps the form from appearing to the right of the screen instead of the center

Corrected errors in the handheld data loading module when loading landuse and maintenance data, UseNote and MaintNote were not loaded correctly

Changes In Version 1 Beta 2

Added module for loading handheld data files
Before using this new functionality you will need a copy of your LCTA installation database converted to Access 97. For more information send e-mail to Bill Sprouse (William.Sprouse@ColoState.EDU ).

Also refer to CEMML Users Note #10 Loading Handheld Data Files: Understanding the Process, found on the CEMML Publications Page.
Added web link to Access LCTA support page on Program Registry Form