The downloaded program and record files are self contained and may be run by Windows from any drive e.g. from a memory stick. No other installation is required, so that no changes are made to the system of the Laptop or PC. To remove the package completely, the folder 'breeders' and any renamed copies may simply be deleted. 

​

The program uses the mouse, keyboard, or touch screen, with on screen buttons to edit, to display, and to store comprehensive records for breeding Birmingham Rollers and other breeds.

In the Young Bird page, The records for any year's nest cards and Teams can be set up, reviewed, and edited. With a ​nest card selected, the date of laying, hatching, and the club ring number and 'parent's reference number' are added automatically in turn by clicking one of the function buttons, optionally also adding each youngster to one of the four Flying Teams which can be displayed.

In the Stock Bird page, Past and present stock cocks and hens are entered by the User and saved.

Whenever a bird is selected its photo and pedigree are displayed, and they may be swapped around to define the breeding pairs to be used by the Young Bird page for that year, or edited.

There are more function buttons and a single Old Bird Team is displayed.

​

One set of records is usually sufficient but, for several strains etc., folder 'breeders' may be copied and renamed, and 'readme set up' mentions how to make shortcuts.

 

Quickstart

Download the zip file and unpack it to any drive or folder in a Windows PC, laptop, memory stick, or OneDrive etc. and follow 'Readme Set Up'.

 

To run the program: Within the main folder 'breeders', double-click on the pigeon icon, a stylised image of a pigeon, which is a shortcut to the application file 'breeders v4.20.exe'

 

Initially the page 'Settings' opens, while the output is set automatically to fit the PC's screen resolution. Various buttons are shown, such as those to determine which page is to open whenever the program starts again, or for access to the Stock Bird or the Young Bird section.

​​

For basic operations there are notes on screen, with pop up prompts, 'button notes', and user guides until things become familiar. Please let me know if you should have problems or would like to suggest changes or improvements.

​​

Stock Bird section:-

- The Stock record is updated through the year, then saved, and copied as the basis for the next. 

- Easy addition of new birds with their Photos, if available, to be displayed with the pedigree.

- The first part of the columns are colour-marked to denote up to sixteen pairs of breeders.
- A double click on a bird calls a scrolling text box, to display or to edit unlimited details.
- To re-allocate matings or list order, individual birds or pairs can be swapped freely as required.
- To allow the pedigrees to be displayed, there are buttons for linking any recorded parents.

- Then, selection of a bird with the mouse automatically traces and shows up to three generations.

- When replacing a bird with a blank to delete it, a button: '....' checks to protect the Pedigrees.

- Instead of birds or the custom blanks, other text may be entered to divide or mark the lists.

- Case-insensitive functions are available for text, and for young/sibs/half-sibs of a selected bird.
- There are Foster Pair functions, which revise the pedigree-links to serve the young bird records.
- Various printouts are available for sets of birds as pairs and for three generation pedigrees.
​- An Old Bird Flying Team, which may be edited or sub-divided.

Young Bird section:-
- Breeders and Young Bird records for unlimited named seasons, loft sections, or strains.
- Up to sixteen pairs, derived from the designated pair zone of a chosen Stock Bird record.
- An on-screen 'Nest Card' for each pair, with a photo of each member of the pair, if available.
- A mouse-click on a youngster calls a text box, for unlimited editing of details and progress.

- Two editable sets of rings to set up first, last, and next ring numbers, year, and club.

- Auto-Buttons to add the dates current for Laid, Hatched, and the Ring numbers in sequence.

- A case-insensitive Search function for a set of characters or a piece of text entered by the user.

- Various buttons for other functions, e.g. to adapt the pairs from a named stock record

- Four Young Bird Flying Teams and four 40-day Plans for flying/treatment etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------

​

The Settings/Intro page

 

Buttons 'Set to start with ....Stock Section/ Young Section/ Settings Page'

 

Button 'Intro'  leads to an introductory guide, including a diagram of the file layout.

 

'Button Demo'  is for practice with the example data, extracted text, teams, and folders named '2016', '2017', '2018', '2019', which are provided in 'USER_folder'.

​

Button 'Stock Birds' leads to the version of the rolling record which was last recorded and copied as 'default', for up to 98 stock cocks and 98 stock hens past & present with up to 16 breeding pairs.

​

Button 'Young Birds' leads to the set of pairs and nest cards last entitled 'default' by the User.

e.g. this might be a copy of the latest part of the records accumulated for the offspring each year.

​

* N.B. Each main page always first displays the relevant copy saved under the common title 'default' but, once a page has been opened, a record with any another title may be loaded or saved instead.

 

The two Main Pages
On the Stock Bird page there are lists of all cocks and hens, past and present, which may be edited, preserved, or rolled over in a fresh configuration for each succeeding breeding season. Upon selection of a cock and/or hen with a mouse click, three generations of its forebears are displayed, and double-clicking on a bird expands its text for editing or review. Places are marked for up to 16 breeding pairs which may be re-ordered, individuals may be swapped between them, or pairs set up as foster parents. A single editable common panel is always displayed for held-over Flying Teams.

 

On the Young Bird page up to 16 breeding pairs can be auto-adapted from the stock page of the corresponding year, to be displayed with their Nest Cards. In turn during the current season, dates of laying and hatching, and eventually ring numbers, may be added semi-automatically. Pages can be saved or loaded so that, at any time later, with a single mouse click the full details and progress of each youngster can be displayed for editing or review. The common text of one of four selectable Young Bird Flying Teams is also displayed, and there are four alternative panels for other text.

​

​To make a Shortcut on Desktop:

Inside the main folder 'breeders', Right Click upon the shortcut with a 'bird' icon, called "breeders v4.30.exe". Then from the drop down options select 'send to desktop', to put a shortcut there for running one version of the program.  

To suit different individual sets of records Shortcuts and Copies of the Main Folder 'breeders' may be Renamed, but **N.B.** the '.exe'/'application' files should NOT themselves be renamed.

(The file 'breeders v4.30.bas is the JustBasic source code which is not needed, but that could be run or edited if the language JustBasic were to be loaded as well via JustBasic Programming Forum  where expert help was given with using JB and in preparing the code).

​

​Folders and Record Management

In the Intro page the User may set which page, 'Intro' or 'Stock Birds' or 'Young Birds', will open when the program is restarted. Without further input by the User each time, it is necessary for a full set of records to be available from which the chosen screen display may be drawn 'by default'.

​

Therefore, initially to allow the program to start, a set of demo. data is provided within

 'USER_folder/default' . This contains data files for the working records: 'Pairs_and_YoungBirdRings' for the Young Bird page with its nest cards, and 'recordcocks' and 'recordhens' for the Stock Bird page with its pairs. Separately in 'USER_folder' there is a single common data file: 'flying teams'.

 

Once a page is displayed the User may type a Title into one of the Save/Load Text Boxes and click the appropriate button on the screen to 'Load' or 'Save' alternative data files from or to a folder with that Title, or perhaps instead to Save the record currently displayed into the 'default' folder, to become the 'working' version for the current section.

​

Initially the main Load/Save text box contains the (editable) text: 'default' (to which leaving it blank is equivalent) but, by typing in a Title, any named record may be:-

... Loaded for review, provided that it already exists (and the package holds folders '2016' to '2019')

... Edited to update it before Saving it again

... Saved under a new title to create a new record, or to roll it over in edited form

... Saved as a back up by adding to its title a character or short phrase such as '...copy'

​

In that way the User may specify and manage an unlimited number of folders with his own chosen titles, such as '2019', '2020', or 'Harris 2020'.  Again, the 'default' folder is needed for the program to run and contains demo data at first, but this may simply be overwritten. There are Demo records in named files too, and these may be deleted when they are no longer needed.

--------------------------------------------------------------

​

Viewing, Editing, Copying, or Extracting the Records

In both main sections the User can use the keyboard to enter or to edit single lines of text within a text box for each bird, where the text scrolls horizontally to an unlimited extent.

 

In the Stock Section an editing box may be displayed by double-clicking with the mouse on a bird in either of the lists. The entry for each bird, or the entries for two birds as a pair, can be swapped around using a 'Swap' button to reconfigure the lists or pairs.

 

In the Young section the text in the list of mated pairs may be changed by using buttons e.g. 'Adapt Stock Pair/s', and by choosing from the options presented. A pair may be highlighted with the mouse, or an editing box displayed by single-clicking on a bird in one of the nest cards .

 

In either section, separate text files consisting of lists, teams, or pedigrees etc. may be created or opened by clicking with the mouse on certain buttons.

​

​​​​Flying Teams

Without practical limit, teams are stored in the single common data file entitled 'flying teams'.

In each section the text drawn from this file is displayed on its own page in a panel.

 

The text may be edited directly on the screen and managed using the dedicated panel of buttons on the screen above the FT panels.

 

*N.B. For any changes to become effective, in the FT button panel the function 'Confirm' is required and, before switching sections or closing the program, function 'SaveAll' as well.

 

There is a single team page for the Stock section, and four selectable 'Team' pages or four 'Plan' pages for the Young section. Any of the pages may be used to display multiple teams, or indeed any other information which the User might choose to type in.

​

​Button functions 'Laid' and 'Hatched' record the dates semi-automatically

In case help is needed with hatching, or egg shells need removal.​​

 

Button function 'Ring' applies the text of the next ring number, year, and club

Rings are drawn from alternative ring sets, each with a panel of text boxes and controls.

​

=============================

"Wing and Tail Markings"     Download:

This contains two charts which may be printed out to help with recognition in the air.

​

=============================

​Feedback

v4.20 will remain in beta and any comments or suggestions would be welcome.

​

Remarks could be posted to me by email at the address provided in 'Readme - Set Up',

or

in the Download page: please see the box for comments at the bottom of  "Preview All Files".

​=============================

​

VERSION and UPDATE HISTORY

- Version 3.00 : (Nov. 2016) Adds 1280 x 1024 screens,

​- Version 3.30 : Enhanced functions in 'Foster Pair Ops.'  ('bull cock' records already feasible).

​- Version 3.31 : Half-sibs function fixed in the Stock section, Adds buttons 'load alternative', 'save alternative' in Young.

- Version 3.32 : Pairs Printout added in the Stock section.

- Version 3.33 : Functions added in the Young Section.

- Version 3.50 : 1600 x 900 screens added, extra pop ups, enhanced adaptation and editing in the Young Bird section.  

​- Version 4.00 : Revised to free the program from a particular location, so it can run from a memory stick or from OneDrive.

- Version 4.10 : In the Intro. page, a button to auto-match the output of text & graphics to most popular screen resolutions   

​- Version 4.20 updated until 08.05.2023

- Version 4.30 (from 08.05.2023) will receive updates instead, the latest being described below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

UPDATE SUMMARY

​​From 08.05.2023 the published version is v4.30, which relies upon the later JustBasic v2.0.

At the top of the page there is a link to the latest download and details are noted below.

 

*** To Update to v4.30 while Preserving the User's Existing v4.20 Records ***

- From the existing main v4.20 Folder 'breeders', (which the User may have renamed),

  copy the existing v4.20 "USER_folder", as well as all the User's Photos
  and put them *somewhere safe.

- From just the dowloaded v4.30 folder 'breeders', delete the photos/images (for the demo).
- From *the safe place, copy the saved v4.20 "USER_folder" and User's Photos

  back into  the fresh v4.30 folder 'breeders', while overwriting the new v.4.30 "USER_folder".     
OR

*** To Update Existing v4.30 Records ***

- Using those from 'breeders' in the latest (v4.30) download, replace the existing two files and folder:

             "breeders v4.30.exe"

             "breeders v4.30.tkn"

             "guides"

​ ​---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latest Update:

​

 04.03.2024 Fixed a bug in the 'Search' function of the Stock Page:

                    This had caused a crash after searching, switching to Young, and then reopening Stock.

​

​

​

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

​

​