Changes for ARM 7.3.4 released October 17, 2006

Study Editors.

• Scroll treatment editor using keyboard shortcuts while marking a block. Supported shortcut keys are: Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Page Up, Page Down, Shift-Ctrl-Home, Shift-Ctrl-End.
• When calculating in treatment editor an Other Rate that is a "/area" unit (such as G A/HA) from seed treatment Rate that is "/seed weight" (such as G A/100 KG), a crop seeding rate in KG will now be converted to SEEDS using TGW (thousand grain weight) entry in treatment. Conversion also supports a TGW field in site description in customized study forms.
• Apply a default site or protocol description view (*.ddv) to studies imported from EDE or database, the same as when directly opening a trial (*.dat) or protocol (*.prt).
• New "Clear Default" button on site or protocol description view dialog, to delete a default view for the current protocol or trial.
• New Plot Data View option to display treatment name instead of treatment number in plot description section of editor. For a multi-line treatment, treatment name of the first treatment line is used by default. If a specific treatment type is defined, the first treatment line of a matching type is displayed.
• After asking user to enter untreated treatment numbers for Abbott calculation (also Henderson-Tilton or Schneider-Orelli), there is now a choice to save as Untreated treatments in Treatment tab of Settings.
• Changed to automatically force calculating "by plot" any user defined transformation formula containing the AUDPC keyword.  This allows defining an AUDPC formula with fixed column numbers, and avoids an Error 9 when forgetting to force formula "by plot".
• Added pre-defined transformation formulas used by Bayer CropScience, so formulas in data headers can calculate for studies imported into standard GDM study definitions.
• Fixed problem in treatment editor that calculation between rate units KG/HA and SEEDS/M2 was wrong for trials with more than 1 replicate.
• Fixed problem that occurred when copying the current repeating section in a column oriented grid, that all columns in the grid were copied instead of just the current column.

General

• Added option to rebuild study list from all studies in a user specified path, including studies in subdirectories of the path.  This is a new option after selecting Utilities - Rebuild Study List.
• Changed to not randomize subplots within main plots for strip-block design.
• Improved recognition for rate units imported from FieldPro EDE files.
• Added General Option to check for study definition updates during ARM startup, to ensure users have current validation lists for corporate clients that deliver updates through ARM.
• Import enhancements for PIAF EDE 4.0 format:
  1. Do not import as application stages the pest stage at assessment records that PIAF incorrectly exports to stage at application (AP3) records.  By definition, pest stage at assessment records should be written to records which define assessment data header information (EV1).
  2. Fill pest stage at assessment in plot data from the stage at application (AP3) records where PIAF incorrectly exports this information, linked by assessment timing code.
  3. Fill assumed units: boom height unit=CM, sprayer ground speed unit=MPS, pest size (diameter) at application=MM
  4. Fill automatically crop code in plot data from crop description information.
  5. Set Untreated in Settings to 1 (PIAF only supports treatment 1 as the check).
  6. Accept "1" as Yes for a checkbox field.
  7. Ignore Pest = NNNNN, since this is actually the crop.
• Fixed problem that changes to column widths displayed in validation lists were sometimes lost.
• Fixed problem that the AUDPC formula created by ARM to perform AUDPC transformation was not exported to EDE or printed on summary reports.
• Fixed problem that a user hidden long text field in site or protocol description is visible next time the study is opened.

Reports

• Changed Protocol Description and Site Description report to remove empty columns for add-row grids (where inserting a repeating section adds a new row).  Blank columns are removed when report option “Empty fields” is set to "Print Nothing", “Field prompts” is "Skip for empty fields", and “Compression” is "Compress Report".

Study Definitions and Related Files

• General Trial tab: Increased to 7 digits after decimal point for Latitude and Longitude, to accept additional accuracy offered by some new GPS units.
  - New “Map Reference” field, primarily for entering “OS grid reference” in UK.
  - New “Validation Rules” entry field, used to identify validations to perform for completed trials (described at end).  The Validation Rules field is only visible on screen, and does not print on reports.
• Crop Description tab: New entry fields to describe Moisture Meter and Weighing Equipment that was used at crop harvest.
• Soil tab: New “Analyzed by” entry field, for name and address of soil testing laboratory that performed soil analysis.
• Maintenance tab: New "Tank Mix" entry field, also increased width of Maintenance Treatment Name and Rate Unit.
• Application tab: New "Next Rain Occurred On" entry field, which is required for registration reports in some countries.
• Application Equipment tab: New “Boom ID” field entry field, to identify spray boom used for an application.
• New Deviations tab, to identify deviations from protocol.
• Treatments editor: Increased size of Type, Comments, and Registration Number entry fields.
• Plot Data: New “SE Description” and “Rating Timing” entry fields, added to be more compatible with customized trials from one sponsor.
  - New “Sort Order for View” field, to enter a number or letter to sort columns using a view, and thus arrange for reports.
  - G-Seed7.def: New Pest fields, to identify pest details for pest resistance assessments.
• New and updated tooltips for many protocol and site description entry fields, for all study definition languages.
• Enhanced standard GDM EDE files to include rich text formatting.
• New optional rules for validation of completed trials, controlled by new "Validation Rules" entry field in General Trial tab:

1. For any validation other than "Default", the following fields must contain an entry:
   Trial Title, Investigator/Trial Officer Name, City/Village/Town, State/Province/County, Latitude, Longitude, Map Reference (UK trials only), Cooperator/Farmer Name, Cooperator Address 1, Cooperator City/Village/Town, Cooperator State/Province/County, Cooperator Postal Code, Cooperator Country, Cooperator Telephone Number, Plot Length, Plot Width, Replications, Site Type, Tillage Type/Cultivation, study Design, Soil Texture.

2. For "CP_APPL" (Crop Protection with applications), the following must also contain an entry:
   Crop Code, Crop Scientific Name, Crop Common Name, Variety, Crop Stage Scale, Crop Stage Majority, Maintenance Date, Maintenance Treatment Name, Maintenance Rate, Maintenance Rate Unit.
   
   If Perennial Age is not entered, then:
   Planting/Seeding Date, Planting/Seeding Rate, Planting/Seeding Depth, Seed Bed
   
   Applications:
   Date, Time, Method, Timing, Placement, Applied By, Air Temperature, Relative Humidity, Wind Velocity, Wind Direction, Dew Presence, Soil Temperature, Soil Moisture, % Cloud Cover, Application Equipment, Operating Pressure, Nozzle Type, Nozzle Size, Nozzle Spacing, Nozzles/Row, Nozzle Calibration, Band Width, Boom ID, Boom Length, Boom Height, Ground Speed, Carrier, Spray Volume, Mix Size, Propellant
   
   Treatments  for Type=FUNG, HERB, INSE, NEMA, PROD:
   Treatment Name, Form Conc, Conc Unit, Form Type, Rate, Rate Unit

• New validation message for any treatment with Form Type=AL when Rate Unit contains "/V" (per volume): Formulation Type 'AL' in treatment line ‘n’ is applied directly (not diluted), and invalid for a 'per volume' Rate Unit that by definition is always diluted for application.

• Changed for validation message "This trial is under GEP, so 'Assessed By' for data column ‘n’ should identify who made the assessment." to put cursor into the data column where Assessed By should be entered.

ARM ST

• Optimized deleting treatments in a very large treatment criteria list, which can be quite slow with thousands of treatment lines.
• Enhanced EDE batch import so when an error occurs saving study, such as a fatal randomization error or multi-factor treatment error, then report the error and continue importing remaining studies in the batch.
• Fixed problem that box-whisker graph reports negative results when calculated using raw plot means (ST 7, Min/Max basis set to Plot Means and groups = 1), and raw plot means contain missing data.
• Fixed problem that ARM ST would incorrectly report trials as matching when site description criteria was entered, but the corresponding trial field was empty.

Changes in Previous ARM Versions

Select previous ARM 7 versions for a list of changes in older ARM versions.