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Hints on using Intkey with Watson & Dallwitz datasets |
To get help for an active toolbar button (one that is not
grey), first click the 
button at the right of
the main toolbar, then click on the button for which you need help.
Important. When
the program starts, the settings in some datasets are appropriate for
information retrieval (see below); this will be indicated by a warning screen
when the dataset is opened. In that case, you must click the 
(Identification) button before carrying out
identifications.
With the identification settings, the top-left pane is
headed ‘Best Characters’. Your identification will usually be quicker and more
accurate if you use characters near the top of the list. However, if you want
to see the characters in their natural order, you can click the 
(Natural order) button without affecting the
other identification settings.
If, at any stage, you think you’ve made a mistake and want to correct it, click on the appropriate character in the ‘Used Characters’ (bottom-left) pane. The program again displays the box for selecting character states or entering values, and you can change the information you previously entered. You can remove the character from the identification by clearing all the information.
First, click on the 
(Queries) button. This sets parameters
suitable for finding taxa for which specified attributes (character states) are
recorded. Also, it causes the characters to be displayed in the order in which
they appear in conventional taxon descriptions, and allows operations to be
carried out on all the ‘taxa’, including, in some datasets, ‘Unidentified images’,
a repository for any images that have not yet been identified with known taxa.
Queries are conducted in the same way as identifications, but in queries, taxa
for which a specified character is not recorded are eliminated, whereas in
identifications they are retained. For further information on this, and other
options, select ‘File > Advanced Mode’ and display the help for the ‘Set
Match’ command or button.
To view a description, diagnosis, and illustrations of a
particular taxon, select the taxon in one of the ‘Taxa’ (right-hand) panes, and
click the 
button (Information about taxa). The ‘Taxon
information’ dialog is displayed. Select the required descriptions and/or
images, and click ‘Display’.
In some datasets, proper diagnostic descriptions may not be
obtained with the ‘query’ settings, because of the inclusion of oddments such
as sensu lato versions of some taxa, taxa that lack adequate data, or an
‘Unidentified images’ item. To exclude these items, while retaining the other
‘query’ settings, click the 
button (Use a subset of the taxa), and select
‘identification’. The ‘identification’ subset comprises mutually exclusive taxa
for which comparative data are provided. (If there is no ‘identification’
keyword, the dataset does not contain ‘oddment’ taxa, and all taxa are
automatically included in both ‘identification’ and ‘query’ modes.)
You can also select more than one taxon (by using
Ctrl+click) before clicking the button. Then you can browse within these taxa
in the ‘Taxon information’ dialog. If no taxa are selected, all of the
‘remaining’ taxa are used.
To obtain a list of taxa exhibiting a particular character state, locate the requisite character in the character list in the left-hand pane, and click on it. Before selecting a state or states in the window, which then appears, you should view any images and character notes that are offered there. Note that character states can be selected directly from the image windows.
Taxon names may be stored and searched in several places.
1. The accepted names of the taxa, at the level at which the
data are recorded in the package. They are visible in the ‘taxa’ panes at
the right of the screen. These names can be searched by using the 
button (Find text in taxon names) in the
‘taxa’ toolbar.
2. Synonyms, at the level at which the data are recorded in
the package. They can be searched, together with the names in (1), by using
the button, and checking ‘Search synonyms’ in the
dialog that is displayed.
Some datasets include:
3. Common names. They
can be searched by using the 
button.
4. Scientific names of
lower taxa (genera or species) belonging to the taxa for which the data are
recorded. They can be searched by using the 
or 
button.
The button
causes the taxa in which the text occurs to be selected in the taxon panes. The
,
,
and buttons cause the taxa in which the text does
not occur to be moved to the ‘Eliminated taxa’ pane. In either case, click the button (Information about taxa) to display
information about the taxon or taxa that satisfied the search criterion.
To view illustrations of taxa, select a taxon or taxa in one
of the ‘Taxa’ (right-hand) panes, and click the button (Information about taxa). The ‘Taxon
information’ dialog is displayed. Select the required images, and click
‘Display’.
If you select more than one image, their windows will be
tiled. Click the 
button (Maximize) on an image window to
display it using the whole screen; then click the 
button (Restore) or the 
button (Close) to reveal the other images
again.
If an image window contains a ‘Notes’ button, clicking it will display further information about the image, such as a legend or acknowledgement.
By default, Intkey scales images to fit the window, but in most
datasets we have changed the default to ‘unscaled’. You can change this setting
by means of the 
button (Set
scaling of images on or off). You can also change the setting for an individual
image by clicking on ‘Scaled’ in the ‘Window’ menu of the image window.
The program is initially in Normal Mode, which is suitable for most purposes. For more options, select ‘Advanced Mode’ from the ‘File’ menu. Help for all the Intkey options is available in Advanced Mode.
Examples of how to use Intkey are available at:
Revised 3 August 2019