Thanks Grant!
Is there a way to make it so that Simple Search queries certain tables/fields but only returns results from a single table or subset of tables, rather than the whole set of tables being queried (like how setting a “base table” in the query builder limits results to the base table?)
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.