Re-evaluate the Query Builder

[grantfitzsimmons]

From Nate Shoobs at OSU on the Speciforum:

Based on conversations I’ve had with colleagues and students here over the last few months, a basic problem with querying in Specify is that it exposes far too much complexity to users, who have no context to interpret results without an a priori understanding of the Specify Schema. (e.g. most users of biodiversity data imagine that when they search a biodiversity database, they are searching a flat table where 1. rows represent specimens or lots, 2. columns are fields 3. there are no duplicate rows. This is how it works on GBIF, iDigBio, Symbiota, Emu, Arctos, etc. Showing users a bunch of atomized records in tables is confusing.)

IMO this ties back in to a deeper issue with the Specify GUI: it’s very hard to get from the form view of a record in one table to the form view of a related record in another table without using the query builder as an intermediate step.

Tree and picklist tables in Sp7 allow users to query linked records via the find usages button in the form meta, ideally this option would be available in all tables, and it would have some customization options and be an optional xml element on the form outside of the form meta.

[bronwyncombs]

Resolved by configurable express search (#7976), released in v7.12.1. data views in v7.12.3 will also allow for shared saved queries that automatically run results and hides the query mapper!