Specimen databases

[Geoff Read]

Steve Shattuck,
> BioLink won't be suitable for those who like to 'roll their own", but like
> Biota and Specify, it's perfect for those who would rather do biology than
> design and program databases :-).

I'd like to mention that there may be a 'roll your own' aspect to BioLink that
will be of interest in some situations.

Because the database engine is separate it's quite simple to set up
something in a relational database program to at least interrogate the
BioLink tables, and quickly extract combinations of data, either not possible
through the BioLink client itself, or when disparate types of information in
other databases need to be just linked in some way, rather than duplicated
in BioLink.  You're not restricted to the capabilities and interface of the
BioLink client if you want more, and you're competent enough to set  up a
customised _query_ interface safely (I can't imagine data entry other than
through BioLink itself would be a good idea!).


--
  Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.cri.nz>