BarnCAT 1.0 Help

The BarCAT 1.0 Help feature is under development. This version of the Help Feature is a scaled down version of the anticipated full-fledged Help Document.

The Program [Back to Contents]

The BarnCAT program works in and in conjunction with Microsoft Access 2002, in a Microsoft® Windows XP Environment. The BarnCAT program is intended to be a free program developed primarily for barn and farmstead surveys by state, county and local preservation organizations as well as other preservation enthusiasts. It was developed originally for and in association with the City of Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (“KHPC”).

The format of this program is borrowed from Steve Stier’s Michigan Barn and Farmstead Survey Manual. The manual is an excellent resource for barn and farmstead surveys and it is highly recommended that the manual be used as a compendium to this help document.

User levels [Back to Contents]

The structure of BarnCAT 1.0 has been designed for two different user groups Basic and Advanced.

The Basic Users would perform tasks that require very little knowledge about databases or have prior experience working with databases. Such tasks would include inputting data into BarnCAT 1.0, retrieving specific information from BarnCAT 1.0, and printing reports from BarnCAT 1.0.

The Advanced Users, on the other hand, would be performing customizations and modifications to the database to suit the needs of the individuals and/or Organizations using BarnCAT 1.0. It is anticipated that Advanced Users would have substantial knowledge of databases and possibly experience in working with databases in general and Microsoft Access® in particular.

Accordingly, this help document has been divided into two sections; the first section would be for the Basic Users and the second section would be for Advanced Users.

Basic Users [Back to Contents]

As indicated before the main tasks that the Basic Users would perform include inputting data into BarnCAT 1.0, retrieving specific information from BarnCAT 1.0, and printing reports from BarnCAT 1.0.

Opening the program [Back to Contents]

Double-click on the barncat1pt0 Microsoft Access® file from the BarnCAT 1.0 folder to open the program

The program opens with an END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT. In order to start using the program, click on the I AGREE button. In order to print a copy of the END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT click on the printer icon. If you do not agree with the END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT you can click on the I DO NOT AGREE button.

The BarnCAT 1.0 Form [Back to Contents]

The BarnCAT 1.0 Form is the control center of BarnCAT and the primary interface that the Basic User would be using. The form consists of several parts. The different parts and its contents are identified below.

A Organization Profile Area: Displays name and contact information of the organization using this program. There is also a section that provides a brief description of the survey initiative. This area also displays the BarnCAT1.0 logo.

B Release Notes Area: Displays information on the release of the version of BarnCAT under use.

C This area has three tabs one each for viewing the acknowledgements and copyright information, and then a third one to set up the organization profile

D The Barn and Farmstead Profile Area includes the identification information of the Barn and Farmstead catalogued, their location and ownership information, surveyor information, a sketch thumbnail, brief description and comments.

E This section includes five tabs. The Barn, Farmstead and Farm Buildings tab provide details on the structure, design and conditions of the respective buildings on this property. The PhotoLog tab lists details of the photos for this property with a thumbnail for each photo. The UpdateLog tab includes an option to list details of all the updates to the particular record.

F This is the navigation window that allows navigating existing records and/or adding new records.

G This section of the interface is anticipated to accommodate custom reports. The two grayed tabs are currently not operational and are intended to be operational in subsequent versions of BarnCAT

H Resource Links, as the name suggests are links to relevant documents

Setting up the Organization Profile [Back to Contents]

The user can setup the Organization Profile for the database before entering any data. The organization profile includes name, address and contact information of the organization, a placeholder for a logo, and a field for brief details of the survey. Before setting up the profile, it is suggested that a copy of the organization logo (preferably in JPEG or BMP format) is placed in the sptfiles folder inside the BarnCAT V1.0 folder.

To set up the profile, click on the SET ORGANIZATION PROFILE button near the top right corner of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form. This closes the BarnCAT 1.0 Form and opens up the Set Organization Profile dialog box. Fill in all the fields and browse to the logo in the sptfiles folder inside the BarnCAT V1.0 folder. The figure below shows where the fields appear in the BarnCAT 1.0 Form.

Once the details are entered in the respective fields and the logo is browsed, click on OK to change the Organization Profile. In order to reject the changes click Cancel. In either case, the dialog box closes and the BarnCAT 1.0 Form reopens. In Fields where no data is entered would remain empty in the Organization Profile area of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form.

Update an existing Organization Profile:

In order to make any changes to the Organization Profile in future, click again on the SET ORGANIZATION PROFILE button, and update all the fields repeating the procedures in

Setting up the Organization Profile.

BARN PROFILE Information [Back to Contents]

The Barn Profile section includes the identification information of the Barn and Farmstead catalogued, their location and ownership information, surveyor information, a sketch thumbnail, brief description and comments. The following components constitute the Barn Profile section of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form.

NATIONAL BARN ID [Back to Contents]

This is a unique identification number that is to be assigned to all the barns in the country. There are two parts to this identification number. The first part is the parcel number for the property, and the second number is the index of the barn and/or the farmstead on that property assigned by the state or local organization. For example, if there are two barns on one property, the parcel number for which is 41-18-30-100-001, they are assigned NATIONAL BARN IDs like 41-18-30-100-001-01 and 41-18-30-100-001-02. If there is only one barn on the property, the NATIONAL BARN ID for that barn could be 41-18-30-100-001-01. No records can be entered without a NATIONAL BARN ID since it is the Key Field for this database.

STATE BARN ID [Back to Contents]

The STATE BARN ID field is a place holder for the state assigned identifier for the Barn and Farmstead. It is not a required field, and may be left empty if there are no unique state assigned identifiers available. The local database administrator can set up an Input Mask (restrict the entries in this field to specified length and type of characters) for this field.

LOCAL BARN ID [Back to Contents]

The LOCAL BARN ID field is a place holder for the identifier for the Barn and Farmstead assigned by the local preservation organization. It is not a required field, and may be left empty if there are no unique locally assigned identifiers available. The local database administrator can set up an Input Mask (set up this field to restrict the entries to specified length and type of characters) for this field.

BARN NAME [Back to Contents]

This field stores the common name of the barn and farmstead like “The Smith Family Farmstead” or the “ Meridian Avenue Farmstead”.

SURVEY INFORMATION [Back to Contents]

There are two fields under this heading. The Surveyed by field holds the name of the surveyor and Survey Date field holds the date of the survey. The Survey Date field normally allows date entry in range of formats (like mm/dd/(yy)yy, mm-dd-(yy)yy, (m)m/(d)d/(yy)yy).

BARN ADDRESS and BARN LOCATION [Back to Contents]

The address and parcel number holders for the Barn and Farmstead are available under this part of the form. If the additional address fields are required, ask your local database administrator to customize the application for the same. The Barn Zipcode field accepts 5 digit Zip Codes only. The Barn PPN field is the place holder for the permanent parcel number where the barn/farmstead is located.

GPS UTM COORDINATES and GPS LAT/LONG COORDINATES [Back to Contents]

There are two sets of GPS place holders available in BarnCAT: UTM and LAT/LONG. Both types can be simultaneously stored. The UTM TO LAT/LONG converter under RESOURCE LINKS, when clicked opens a third-party website (when connected to the Internet). Users should use this and any other third-party links at their own risk as far as security and/or accuracy are/is concerned. The local database administrator can set up an Input Mask (restrict the entries in this field to specified length and type of characters) for this field.

OWNERSHIP INFORMATION [Back to Contents]

The address and parcel number holders for the owner of Barn and Farmstead are available under this part of the form along with phone and e-mail contact information. If the additional address fields are required, ask your local database administrator to customize the application for the same. The Zip field accepts 5 digit Zip Codes only. The Parcel Number field is the place holder for the permanent parcel number of the owner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION [Back to Contents]

A brief description of the barn and the site which cannot be accommodated anywhere else in this database can be entered here.

COMMENTS [Back to Contents]

This field is a place holder for comments, including those survey notes.

Sketch of the Farmstead [Back to Contents]

This field stores a thumbnail of a sketch of the farmstead. The sketch could either be a hand drawn line sketch scanned in from the field notes or a line drawing made using proprietary software. In either case, the preferable format of the drawing file would be JPEG or BMP format. The drawing files can be stored in the Sketches folder inside the BarnCAT V1.0 folder with a unique name (the National Barn ID could be used for name in order to identify the sketch from the name). At this time only one sketch per record can be stored in this database. The figure below shows an example of a sketch for a farmstead (Source: Steve Stier’s Michigan Barn and Farmstead Survey Manual):

Click the Browse Sketch button to browse to the sketch file in the Sketches folder inside the BarnCAT V1.0 folder. In order to view the sketch in the default picture viewer, click on the Open Sketch button.

BARN AND FARMSTEAD DETAILS [Back to Contents]

The lower part of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form provides details of the barn and farmstead buildings, photos and updates.

Barn Details [Back to Contents]

This tab records the details on the structure, design, paint/decor and conditions of the barn. The CONDITION subsection allows the user to mark one of the five available condition choices. The other subsections allow the user to check all the types that apply along with a text DESCRIPTION option. Do not use the “Tab” key while entering information in this section of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form. If the “Tab” Key is accidentally used, the user may have to delete the entire record and re-enter all the information for that record.

Farmstead Details [Back to Contents]

This tab records the details on the structure, design, paint/decor and conditions of the farmhouse in the farmstead. The CONDITION subsection allows the user to mark one of the five available condition choices. The other subsections allow the user to check all the types that apply along with a text DESCRIPTION option. Do not use the “Tab” key while entering information in this section of the BarnCAT 1.0 Form. If the “Tab” Key is accidentally used, the user may have to delete the entire record and re-enter all the information for that record.

Farm Buildings [Back to Contents]

This tab records the details on the type, structure, design and conditions of all the farm buildings in the farmstead. The Index field assigns a two-digit number to the farm building. It can start with 01 and then go on like 02, 03, 04, 05… until 99. The Building Type field has a drop-down list that the user can select from. If none the selections match that of the record, select the Other option or type in a new name as long as the new name does not exceed 25 character spaces. Same applies for the Building Subtype dropdown list. In this case, new entries can go up to 30 character spaces. The CONDITION subsection allows the user to mark one of the five available condition choices. The other subsections allow the user to enter a text description for the respective attributes.

PhotoLog [Back to Contents]

This tab records the details of all the photos for a particular Barn and Farmstead record. It is suggested that individual subfolders be created for each record in the Photos folder inside the BarnCAT V1.0 folder with a unique name (the National Barn ID could be used for name in order to identify the sketch from the name). The preferable format for the photos would be JPEG or BMP format. The details of the photos for a particular record can be individually entered in the PhotoLog. The Photo Index field allows the user to assign a 3-digit serial number for each photo in a record. It can start with 001 and then go on like 001, 002, 003, 004, 005… until 999. Click the Browse button to browse to the individual photos inside the respective subfolder in the Photos folder under the BarnCAT V1.0 folder. In order to view the photo in the default picture viewer, click on the Open File button. The Photo Date field is the place older for the photo when it is available. If the day and/or the month of the photo is not available, but the year is, the day and/or the month field can be assigned “00” values or left empty. The Photo Description text field allows the user to enter the details of the photo (like which building, where from the photo was taken, etc.).

UpdateLog [Back to Contents]

This tab records the details of all the updates made to a particular Barn and Farmstead record. The Update field allows the user to assign a 3-digit serial number for each update in a record. It can start with 001 and then go on like 001, 002, 003, 004, 005… until 999. The other fields provide place holders for entering who made the updates, when the updates were made and a short description of what update was made.

REPORTS and RESOURCE LINKS [Back to Contents]

This section of BarnCAT is still under development. For custom Reports, Queries and Filters, ask the local database administrator to add the same in this area. Subsequent versions of BarnCAT will have functional links to reports and documents that are currently placed in these sections (the grayed buttons).

Maintenance [Back to Contents]

It is suggested that the users compact and repair BarnCAT1.0 from time to time. In order to do so, open BarnCAT1.0 holding the Shift key. When the database window appears, click on Tools and under Database Utilities, select Compare and Repair Database. BarnCAT will momentarily close and then re-initiate.

Note for Advanced Users [Back to Contents]

The program has been designed using Microsoft Access® 2002 is made available both in MDB and MDE formats. All objects in the MDB format are accessible including Macros and Modules. Therefore, the MDB format can be easily modified and customized to meet the needs of the user (please refer to the End User License Agreement for details). Existing databases and spreadsheets can be easily imported in to the objects.

Displaying Objects within BarnCAT1.0 [Back to Contents]

Press the Shift key while opening BarnCAT1.0 to bypass the preset start-up options. When the BarnCAT database window opens, go to Tools and click on Options. Under the View tab, check the Hidden Objects field and click Apply, and then OK. All BarnCAT1.0 objects should be viewable.

Complete BarnCAT1.0 Documentation and Specifications [Back to Contents]

Press the Shift key while opening BarnCAT1.0 to bypass the preset start-up options. When the database window opens, go to Tools and select Analyze; in the sub-menu click on Documenter. The dialog box that opens, allows the user to select some or all of the objects in BarnCAT1.0. Clicking on Options, the user can select what properties are to be included in the documentation. Click OK when all desired selections are made. A report opens up with the documentation. In order to view and print the report in Microsoft Word®, click on Tools and under Office Links, select Publish It with Microsoft Words. The documentation will open up in Microsoft Word format if the same is available for use.

Splitting Data from BarnCAT [Back to Contents]

It is suggested that in a multi-user environment, the data be kept separate from the BarnCAT interface. The Microsoft Access® Database Splitter feature can be used to perform that task. For details, go to Microsoft Access® Help.

Getting Help [Back to Contents]

The Microsoft Access Help is probably the best resource to get help from. Another option for advanced help would be the Microsoft Knowledge Base section of the Microsoft website.