README for CheckLinks.py

Updated: 2012-11-14

Information about the program:

CheckLinks.py will perform a series of checks in your format 202 link file to ensure that the data is all right. If no errors are detected then a zip file will be created. The zip file represents your checked links file ready to upload to the Interbull Centre IDEA database.

The checks relate to:

• Record type: must be 202
• Record length: must be 44
• International identification numbers (first ID, second ID)
  • Correct three digit country code as in the ISO 3166 standard
  • Correct three digit breed code according to the Interbull breed codes

  • Allowed breed-country combination
    - see file CheckLinksAuth.txt (created by the program)

  • Correct construction of the numerical part of the ID (registration numbers, right justified, leading blanks as zeros)
  • UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU (19 U's) is only allowed for the second ID
• Sex code of the two IDs (they must be the same and M or F)

Before Running the Program:

1. Install Python (version 2.5 to 2.7) if necessary

2. Create a working directory/folder

3. Download the CheckLinks.py program from https://idea.interbull.org/software and copy it to your new directory

4. Copy your pedigree link file to the working directory

Running the Program:

• Ensure there is a working network connection

• Use the command: python CheckLinks.py -m <ORGCODE> -f <filename>

• Use your uppercase ORGCODE as shown on the upper right hand side of the IDEA page.Your organization code is reported within brackets beside the "Logged in as" information.

• The program checks its internal version with the value stored on the Interbull server. You will have to download the most recent version if there is a mismatch.

After Running the Program:

If no errors are detected, the pedigree file will be written into a zip file called IB202-org_code-yyyymmddThhmmss.zip. Upload the zip file to Interbull's data exchange site https://idea.interbull.org/

In case of errors, no zip file will be created. Please correct your data and re-run the program until the data successfully pass all required checks.

A summary of errors is written to the file CheckLinksLog.txt.

All errors are listed in detail in the file called CheckLinksErrors.txt.

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Note:

Please do not modify the program to circumvent any checks. Doing so would be pointless because the same checking routine is used again at the Interbull Centre to double-check the link file uploaded in the zip file.

If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at interbull@slu.se .