Racing Pigeon Post
The content (content being images, text, sound and video files, programmes and scripts) of this website is copyright of Racing Pigeon Post. All rights expressly reserved.
Database- Race Reports.
An introduction to databases.
We start with the British International Results database which contains the British International Race Results from 2004 to 2008. As time goes on more results will be added together with databases of other nations International race results.
Databases are stores of facts. Getting them to reveal what they contain is simple and you will quickly learn the few things you have to keep in mind. First of all a database can only tell you what it contains and so if your search produces no result it may mean it does not hold that information. But do not stop there. Drawing a blank may also mean you have not asked the question in quite the right way. For instance if you did a search on “Peters” you may get results for “Peters” and “Petersfield” but you probably would not get results for “Pieters”. The first lesson then is - if at first you don‘t succeed try, try again. Try asking your question in different ways and while you are trying these searches you will see, in the answers you get, how the database information is presented and this will help you to ask further questions until you find what you are looking for.
The information is shown in a Table view. You will see that there are lines of information going across the Table which are in separate Columns, or “Fields” running down the Table. The first Table shown is “results” but if you look at the top left corner of the screen you will see “owner”, “pigeon” and “race” which are further tables, in this database, holding additional information on those topics. You can change over to one of those tables by clicking on its name. Throughout the database you are able to move away to other information, like photographs, articles, reports, pedigrees and maps by clicking on links. You can check if something is a live link by hovering your mouse pointer over it, if the pointer changes to a hand then the link is live and a mouse click will take you there. The number of links will build with time as more information is added to the database.
The search or “Filter” facilities are simple but comprehensive. First you will see, by hovering your mouse pointer over each Column (Field) heading, that they are live links and if you click on one it will reorder the database in ascending or descending order based on that Field. This enables you to group the overall data in various ways. Above the Table is the “Custom Filter” box. Type in that box what you want to search for. Keep it simple at first, just a word or number, and if you leave “All Fields” in the adjoining box it will search the whole database. (If you want to restrict your search to a single Field then click on the arrow in that adjoining box and select the Field.). To search, click on “Apply Filter” and you will be presented with a new Table view containing, we hope, the information you searched for. Try out a few searches and you will soon find your way around, don‘t be worried, you cannot break anything.
While every effort is made to ensure that the data is accurate occasional errors may creep in. If you find errors please let me know so that I can correct them, I’m not infallible.
Finally any database is only as good as the information it contains and I can only put into this database the information I have available. So if you have information on pigeons, fanciers or races that relate to this database please let me know so that I can add it in for the interest and information of all.
Databases are stores of facts. Getting them to reveal what they contain is simple and you will quickly learn the few things you have to keep in mind. First of all a database can only tell you what it contains and so if your search produces no result it may mean it does not hold that information. But do not stop there. Drawing a blank may also mean you have not asked the question in quite the right way. For instance if you did a search on “Peters” you may get results for “Peters” and “Petersfield” but you probably would not get results for “Pieters”. The first lesson then is - if at first you don‘t succeed try, try again. Try asking your question in different ways and while you are trying these searches you will see, in the answers you get, how the database information is presented and this will help you to ask further questions until you find what you are looking for.
The information is shown in a Table view. You will see that there are lines of information going across the Table which are in separate Columns, or “Fields” running down the Table. The first Table shown is “results” but if you look at the top left corner of the screen you will see “owner”, “pigeon” and “race” which are further tables, in this database, holding additional information on those topics. You can change over to one of those tables by clicking on its name. Throughout the database you are able to move away to other information, like photographs, articles, reports, pedigrees and maps by clicking on links. You can check if something is a live link by hovering your mouse pointer over it, if the pointer changes to a hand then the link is live and a mouse click will take you there. The number of links will build with time as more information is added to the database.
The search or “Filter” facilities are simple but comprehensive. First you will see, by hovering your mouse pointer over each Column (Field) heading, that they are live links and if you click on one it will reorder the database in ascending or descending order based on that Field. This enables you to group the overall data in various ways. Above the Table is the “Custom Filter” box. Type in that box what you want to search for. Keep it simple at first, just a word or number, and if you leave “All Fields” in the adjoining box it will search the whole database. (If you want to restrict your search to a single Field then click on the arrow in that adjoining box and select the Field.). To search, click on “Apply Filter” and you will be presented with a new Table view containing, we hope, the information you searched for. Try out a few searches and you will soon find your way around, don‘t be worried, you cannot break anything.
While every effort is made to ensure that the data is accurate occasional errors may creep in. If you find errors please let me know so that I can correct them, I’m not infallible.
Finally any database is only as good as the information it contains and I can only put into this database the information I have available. So if you have information on pigeons, fanciers or races that relate to this database please let me know so that I can add it in for the interest and information of all.