#acl +All:read Default
= README for CheckLinks.py =
=== 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<<BR>>     - 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 [[http://www.python.org|Python]]  (Python3, minimum 3.6). Please note that Python2 is no longer supported by developers.
 1. Create a working directory/folder
 1. Download the !CheckLinks.py program from     [[https://itbc-data.hgen.slu.se:4822/ideaweb/idea/software|https://idea.interbull.org/software]] and copy it to your new directory
 1. 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://itbc-data.hgen.slu.se:4822/ideaweb/idea/|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 [[mailto:interbull-hgen@slu.se|interbull@slu.se]] .