Scythebill 13.2.3 - tweaks and bug fixes

Scythebill 13.2.3 is here! As always, download here, and let me know if you have any problems, either on Google+, Facebook, or by email.   This is a fairly small bug-fix release.

Most notably, the "choose-your-own-abbreviations" feature now includes all common names and alternate names from groups and subspecies.  This is very helpful for extended taxonomies that assign common names to subspecies - this is very common practice for reptiles and butterflies, for example - but also makes it faster to enter some existing bird forms (e.g., "Cayenne Tern", which a subspecies of Sandwich/Cabot's Tern).

Other changes and fixes include:

• The fix in 13.2 for export-as-spreadsheet with subspecies was only halfway there;  it should now be working for IOC users too.
• Some users importing from Birdbase would have locations with empty names;  that's now fixed.
• Users who imported content from sources with emoticons could have entirely broken sightings files!  They'll now be saved and read without issue.
• Bulk deletes would sometimes produce an error message (though the bulk delete was correctly performed).
• Courtesy of Steve Clark, the Australian state of Victoria now has a semi-official checklist.

(If you're wondering, 13.2.2 was never released.)

Scythebill 13.2 - the 2016 eBird/Clements taxonomy is now available!

UPDATE: I've released 13.2.1 with two fixes for problems affecting some users during the upgrade:

• An error if you had splits to resolve, and the last selected taxonomy before upgrading was an extended taxonomy.
• An error if you had sightings for the UK - but not anything more specific (England, Scotland, etc.) - and those species were split in the latest eBird/Clements (e.g. Leach's Storm Petrel).

If you've already installed 13.2, and didn't have any problems, there's no particular reason to install the new version.


ORIGINAL POST: Scythebill 13.2 is here! As always, download here, and let me know if you have any problems, either on Google+, Facebook, or by email.   

Highlights of this release include:

• The new eBird/Clements 2016 taxonomy
• Some extended taxonomy fixes

eBird/Clements 2016 taxonomy

Just released this past week, and Scythebill already supports it!  You can read all about the changes on the Cornell website.

When you run the new version, Scythebill will automatically upgrade all of your sightings, taking advantage of the (also upgraded).

As part of this upgrade, Scythebill now supports 3 more translations for common names:

• Swedish
• Bulgarian (only for species found in Bulgaria)
• Polish (only for species found in Poland)

Extended taxonomy fixes

Extended taxonomies had problems when a subspecies had a common name, but the species doesn't;  that's fixed.  The documentation in the manual's now clearer for how to enter subspecies in the first place!

People using checklist-entry-mode for their bird sightings saw errors when entering extended taxonomy sightings (in some cases).  These should be fixed.

Small changes and fixes

Scythebill uses per-location latitude and longitude;  BirdLasser and Observado use per-sighting latitude and longitude.  Scythebill now preserves the per-sighting latitude and longitude in the note field of each sighting, with the following format: "LL:-26.1713505,27.9699842".

As always, a number of first country and state records have been added to Scythebill, and the US records of Great-winged Petrel are now correctly identified as Grey-faced Petrel.

Other bugs fixed include:

• Editing problems with "leap day" (February 29).
• "Export as spreadsheet" was not correctly displaying common names for subspecies.
• If your Internet connection was having problems during new location entry, potentially confusing errors were shown.

Scythebill 13.2 - the 2016 eBird/Clements taxonomy is now available!

Scythebill 13.2 is here! As always, download here, and let me know if you have any problems, either on Google+, Facebook, or by email.   

Highlights of this release include:

• The new eBird/Clements 2016 taxonomy
• Some extended taxonomy fixes

eBird/Clements 2016 taxonomy

Just released this past week, and Scythebill already supports it!  You can read all about the changes on the Cornell website.

When you run the new version, Scythebill will automatically upgrade all of your sightings, taking advantage of the (also upgraded).

As part of this upgrade, Scythebill now supports 3 more translations for common names:

• Swedish
• Bulgarian (only for species found in Bulgaria)
• Polish (only for species found in Poland)

Extended taxonomy fixes

Extended taxonomies had problems when a subspecies had a common name, but the species doesn't;  that's fixed.  The documentation in the manual's now clearer for how to enter subspecies in the first place!

People using checklist-entry-mode for their bird sightings saw errors when entering extended taxonomy sightings (in some cases).  These should be fixed.

Small changes and fixes

Scythebill uses per-location latitude and longitude;  BirdLasser and Observado use per-sighting latitude and longitude.  Scythebill now preserves the per-sighting latitude and longitude in the note field of each sighting, with the following format: "LL:-26.1713505,27.9699842".

As always, a number of first country and state records have been added to Scythebill, and the US records of Great-winged Petrel are now correctly identified as Grey-faced Petrel.

Other bugs fixed include:

• Editing problems with "leap day" (February 29).
• "Export as spreadsheet" was not correctly displaying common names for subspecies.
• If your Internet connection was having problems during new location entry, potentially confusing errors were shown.