User Guide AmericanEnglish

Breeders Assistant® for Cats

User Guide

Version 6.11a

"Tenset" and "Breeders Assistant" are registered trademarks of Tenset Technologies Ltd in the United Kingdom.
Breeders Assistant v6.11a – User Guide
Table of Contents
About This Document 1
1. Sources Of Help Information 2
2. License Agreement 3
3. Editions Of Breeders Assistant 4
4. Creating A New Database 7
5. Checklist For Customers Who Don't Want To Use The First Steps Tutorial 8
6. Migrating From Earlier Versions 9
7. Fundamental Concepts 10
7.1. Cat Database Files 10
7.2. Records 10
7.3. Fields 11
7.4. Indexes 11
7.5. Forms And Pedigree Layouts 12
7.6. Printer/Paper Configurations 12
7.7. Text Styles 12
7.8. Breed And Cat Title Data Files 13
7.9. Text Expansions 13
7.10. Field Codes 13
7.11. Macros 14
8. Cat Database Files 15

8.1. Database File Naming And Folders 15
8.2. Backups 15
8.3. Using The Built In Database Backup/Restore Facility 16
8.4. Making A Manual Database Backup (Externally To The Software) 16
8.5. Internally Maintained Copies Of Recently Saved Databases 17
8.6. Database Locator Tool 18
8.7. Transferring A Database To Another Computer 18
8.8. Automatically Opening The Most Recently Used Database 18
8.9. Database Repair Tool 19
8.10. Database Inconsistency Checking 19
8.11. Application Data Folder 20
8.12. Single User Access Only 20
© Tenset Technologies Ltd. i

9. Records, Fields And Indexes 21

9.1. Linked Records 21
9.2. Associated Records 22
9.3. Fields 23
9.4. Text Fields 23
9.5. Date Fields 24
9.6. Currency Fields 24
9.7. Other Field Data Types 25
9.8. User Defined Fields 25
9.9. Field Codes 26
9.10. Chaining Reference Field Codes 27
9.11. Indexes 27
9.12. Matching Records 28
9.13. Adding Records 29
9.14. Updating Records 30
9.15. Navigating Between Records 32
9.16. Autocompletion 32
9.17. Deleting Records 33
9.18. Finding Specific Records 33
9.19. Searching For Records 35
9.20. Similarity Searching 37
9.21. Bulk Record Changes 37
10. Tagging Records 39

11. Importing Data 42
11.1. Text File Import Layouts 42
11.2. Import Options 43
11.3. Import Clash Handling 44
11.4. Resolving Ambiguous References 44
12. Exporting Data 45

12.1. Text File Export Layouts 45
13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts 46

13.1. Ancestor Highlighting In Pedigrees 48
13.2. Print Margins 49
13.3. Saving As PDF 49
13.4. Saving As JPEG (Image) 49
13.5. Pedigree Cover Sheets 49
13.6. Including Photos In Pedigrees 49
13.7. Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms 50
13.8. Watermarks 50
13.9. Borders 51
13.10. Calligraphic Text 51
13.11. Boxes 52
13.12. Design Mode 52
13.13. General Box Properties 52
13.14. Box Borders 53
13.15. Text Areas 53
13.16. Logo Boxes 54
13.17. Picture (Photo) Boxes 55
13.18. Details Boxes 55
13.19. Tabular Ancestors Boxes 56
13.20. Circular Ancestors Boxes 57
13.21. Simple Text Boxes 58
13.22. Text Boxes 58
13.23. Formatting Instructions And Format Codes 59
13.24. Text/HTML Forms 59
13.25. Transferring Forms Between Databases - Form Import/Export 60
© Tenset Technologies Ltd. ii

14. Contact Records 61

14.1. Names 61
14.2. Listing Cats Bred/Owned By A Contact 62
14.3. Sales/Stud Management 62
14.4. Letters, Envelopes, Address Labels and Mailing Lists 63
15. Cat Records 65

15.1. Adding And Updating Cats 67
15.2. Setting Sires And Dams 67
15.3. Breeders And Owners 68
15.4. Registration Numbers 70
15.5. Cat Titles 70
15.6. Pictures/Photos 71
15.7. Automatic Breeder/Owner Detection by Cattery Name Prefix/Affix 71
15.8. Buying And Selling 72
15.9. Title Highlight Styles 72
15.10. Titles Data File 73
15.11. Breeds 73
15.12. Breed Data File 75
15.13. Genotype Fields 76
15.14. Sale Agreements (Contracts) 76
15.15. Adding Litters 78
15.16. Migrating GCCF Breed Numbers To EMS Codes 78
16. Mating Records 79

16.1. Genetic Prediction Of Offspring 79
16.2. Relationship Coefficient 80
16.3. Mating Certificates 80
16.4. Mating Agreements 82
16.5. Working With Litters 83
16.6. Litter Pedigrees 83
17. Trial Mating Records 85

18. Records And Inbreeding 86
18.1. Using Inbreeding Coefficients 87
18.2. Inbreeding Lock 89
18.3. Inbreeding Configuration 89
18.4. Ancestor Circularity Detection (Self-Parenting) 92
18.5. Rate Of Inbreeding And Loss Of Heterozygosity 93
18.6. Inbreeding Field Code 93
18.7. Bulk Computation Of Inbreeding With The Extended Edition 93
19. Ancestors 94
19.1. Entering Ancestors 94
19.2. Importing Ancestors 95
19.3. Tagging Ancestors 95
19.4. Ancestor Highlighting 95
19.5. Ancestors Listings 96
19.6. Ancestors Analysis 96
19.7. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analyses In The Extended Edition 97
20. Descendants 98
20.1. Tagging Descendants 98
20.2. Descendants Analysis 99
20.3. Reverse Pedigrees 99
20.4. Breedings Listing 100
21. Printed Reports 101

21.1. Report Layouts 101
21.2. Grouped Reports 102
21.3. Printing A Report 102
© Tenset Technologies Ltd. iii

22. Printer Configuration 103

22.1. About Printer/Paper Configurations 103
22.2. Standard Printer/Paper Configurations 104
22.3. Printing To PDF 104
22.4. Windows Printing Primer 106
22.5. Creating Custom Printer/Paper Configurations 107
22.6. Using Printer/Paper Configurations 107
22.7. Margin Calibration 107
22.8. Label Printing 108
23. Accounting Records 109

23.1. Tax 109
23.2. Accounts Setup 110
24. Appointment/Task Records 112

25. Vaccination Records 113
26. Vet Records 114
27. Show Records 115
28. Mendelian Genetics 117
28.1. Simulation Of Mendelian Genetics 118
28.2. Genotype Fields 118
28.3. Assumed Genotypes 119
28.4. Computed Phenotypes 119
28.5. Genotype Field Syntax 120
28.6. Mating Predictions 121
28.7. Genotype Inconsistency Detection 122
28.8. Polygenic Familial Analysis 122
28.9. Gene Probability Analysis 123
28.10. Gene Frequency Analysis 124
28.11. Covariance Analysis 124
28.12. Adjusting An Inbuilt Configuration 124
29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis 126

29.1. Overview 126
29.2. Population Genetics Concepts And Terminology 128
29.3. Inbreeding And Related Metrics 131
29.4. Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships 132
29.5. Mate Selection - Overview 132
29.6. Mate Selection - Specifying Parents, Ancestors And Other Parameters 133
29.7. Mate Selection - Rank Computation 136
29.8. Mate Selection - Results 138
29.9. Population Analysis - Overview 141
29.10. Population Analysis - Results 142
29.11. Configuration And Preferences 145
30. Preferences And Configuration 146
© Tenset Technologies Ltd. iv

About This Document

Breeders Assistant is a software product for maintaining and storing cat records and related information in your own
database.
Using this data you can print pedigrees, compute inbreeding, analyse ancestors, and much more.
This is the User Guide

on how to use the product.
If you're new to the product this is not usually the best place to
It gives detailed information
start. Instead...
Use The Tutorials

using Breeders Assistant, start with the tutorials.
There are several available and they are designed to
If this is your first time
help you quickly get started with adding records, printing pedigrees, and much more besides.
You should begin with the "First Steps" tutorial.
To access this - and all the other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu
within Breeders Assistant.
British English Version

English version of this PDF document.
There is also a British English version. If you'd rather use that,
You are reading the American
and you accessed this using the Help menu in Breeders Assistant, try switching to 'British English' mode:
1. Select Preferences from the Configure menu.
2. Move to the User Interface tab.
3. Turn off the Use American English setting.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart Breeders Assistant.
When you next access this PDF document through the Help menu, you'll get the British
English version.
If you obtained Breeders Assistant by downloading it from the Tenset website you might not have the British English version; it
depends exactly which files you downloaded.
Windows Help File

A 'help file' version of
this document is also available (accessed through the Help menu within Breeders Assistant).
Copyright ©2021 Tenset Technologies Limited. All rights reserved.

The copyright in this software product is either owned by or exclusively licensed to Tenset Technologies Limited.
This software
product and all associated documentation including help files, PDF documents, and the information contained therein, are protected
by International Treaty provisions.
No part of this PDF document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording,
for any purpose, without the express written permission of Tenset
Technologies Limited.
- Tenset and Breeders
Assistant are registered trademarks of Tenset Technologies Limited in the United Kingdom.
- All other respective trademarks acknowledged.
© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 1

1. Sources Of Help Information

In addition to this User Guide there are other sources of information to help you get the best out of this product.
Tutorials - Several tutorials are included which can be accessed by selecting Tutorials from the Help menu within
Breeders Assistant:
First Steps - Shows how to get started with adding cats, entering ancestors, printing pedigrees, how to save
as PDF, searching, inbreeding and more.
Recommended for new customers.
Importing Data - Demonstrates how to import data from text/CSV files with several example data sets.
Pedigree Layouts - Introduces pedigree layouts and shows how they can be customized.
Working With Data - Shows how to customize user defined fields and work with records, indexes and
advanced searching.
Tagging With The Professional/Extended Edition - Demonstrates the enhanced tagging facilities of the
Professional and Extended Editions.
Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis - Detailed introduction to the advanced population
genetics tools of the Extended Edition.
Help Reference - A source of reference material including lists of fields and indexed step-by-step instructions for most
tasks.
The Help Reference is accessed through the Help menu.
Breeders Assistant website - See www.tenset.co.uk.

2. License Agreement
Breeders Assistant is sold subject to the terms and conditions of a License Agreement.
To display or print the License Agreement
Help|License Agreement.
Installing and using the software requires you to review and accept the License Agreement.
Note also that Breeders Assistant is available in different "editions".
The edition you have is a choice made when purchasing a
license.
Some features are only available in the Professional or Extended edition.
Editions are described in more detail in the next section.

3. Editions Of Breeders Assistant

The full (purchased) version of Breeders Assistant is available in 3 different editions.
There is also a trial version, downloadable without charge from the Tenset website.
The trial version has all features enabled
however anything printed will have a 'trial' message superimposed and there is a limit of 100 records of any type.
Personal Edition

This is the 'entry level' product which will store breeding records - the cats and associated information such as mating records - and
print pedigrees and related documents and compute inbreeding.
With the Personal Edition the software must be licensed into a personal name, which is normally your name in the way
that you would put it on a pedigree.
It may not be a non-personal name, such as breeding name or a club/organization.
There is a separate area on pedigrees for the breeder logo.
The license name will appear as part of a small line of text
near the bottom of printed documents, including pedigrees.
Databases are limited to at most 75,000 records of each type, per database. So a single database can contain at most
75,000 cats, 75,000 contacts, etc.
Professional Edition

This includes all the features of the Personal Edition but in addition:
The license name need not be a personal name. E.g. it can be an organization name or breeding name, prefix, affix name
etc.
The database record limit is 1,000,000 records of each type, per database.
It has an enhanced tagging facility.
Instead of a single tag per record there can be up to 8 different tags for each record
type (cats, contacts, etc.).
Each tag has a name and symbol.
Tags can be assigned to individual records, either manually
or as a side effect of another operation such as an ancestor/descendant search or a database inconsistency check (to
detect discrepancies such as cats being recorded as born before their parents etc.).
Once tagged you can quickly browse
the tagged records e.g. for review.
For further information see the "Tagging With The Professional/Extended Edition"
tutorial.
The Professional Edition can tag adjacent records in an index sorted on a given field.
This is a useful technique for e.g.
locating cats that the share the same registration number. See section 12 "Detecting Records With Duplicate Text Field
Values" (p.21) of the 'Working With Data' Tutorial.
User defined ancestor highlights allow you to define custom highlighting methods to highlight the ancestors within
pedigrees.
See section 15 "Using Custom Ancestor Highlighting With Duplicate Field Values" (p.26) of the 'Working With
Data' Tutorial.
It can intelligently interpret genotype fields using gene letter coding.

Whilst all editions of the product include fields for
recording various classes of genotype information - breed, disease etc. - with the Professional Edition the software
includes appropriate Mendelian genetic configurations for many breeds that allow a friendlier form of input.
E.g. cat and
dog breeders can select the 'D' gene (blue dilution) from a menu.
Genotype and Phenotype Prediction lets you predict
inherited colors and congenital diseases based on the stated genotypes of parents.
Predictions can be included in trial
mating pedigrees and mating certificates e.g. to predict the colors that can be expected from a given mating.
It can also
detect when the stated genotype of an individual is inconsistent with that of its parents. E.g. if both parents are DD for
the blue dilution gene, the software can detect when a kitten is claimed to carry the recessive (d) form.
Inheritance

Probability Analysis can predict whether an individual will inherit a given gene, or the probable 'value' for a polygenic
trait, based on the prevalence of the gene in its ancestors.
Gene Frequency Analysis can analyse the distribution of
different alleles over a set of individuals.
Extended Edition
This includes all the
features of the Professional Edition but in addition:
The Extended Edition includes a set of powerful population analysis and mating prioritization (mate selection) tools for
advanced breeding programmes and for management of genetic diversity in small (closed) populations.
The population analysis tools can analyse a group of cats and produce reports for various metrics such as inbreeding
coefficients, ancestral inbreeding, mean kinships, pedigree completeness indices,
founder metrics (including the number
of founder equivalents, the number of founder genome equivalents, and the number of 'effective ancestors' for a
breeding population, and for each founder the proportion of alleles retained and contribution to the current population),
and genome uniqueness metrics (to detect under-represented founders in the current breeding population).
The mating selection tools can analyse a set of potential matings and rank them (i.e. prioritize them) in various ways e.g.
to minimize the inbreeding in the potential offspring, or to maximize the influence of specific cats.
It can also rank
potential matings to try to preserve genetic diversity within a breeding population by maximizing the influence of
founders that are under-represented in the current breeding pool, and/or to
minimize inbreeding, and/or to minimize
mean kinship, or any combination of these methods.
The license conditions are varied to permit certain commercial use.
Specifically, you may exploit the product for
commercial gain of any printed output generated by it e.g. to run a pedigree service bureau. This is not permitted with
the Personal or Professional Editions.
Text fields can be configured to auto-increment - useful e.g. for a breed club or registry that wishes to auto-allocate
values for these fields such as registration numbers.
It can automatically detect duplicate text field values - e.g. to detect duplicate registration numbers on data entry.
It has an inconsistency name check to detect similarly named cats across an entire database.

See:
'Working With Data' Tutorial - 12 Detecting Records With Duplicate Text Field Values (p.21)
'Working With Data' Tutorial - 15 Using Custom Ancestor Highlighting With Duplicate Field Values (p.26)
Help Reference - A.35 Procedures By Subject: Extended Edition

(Or Higher)
Help Reference - A.72 Procedures By Subject: Professional Edition

4. Creating A New Database

To start a new database use Database|New.
You'll be given a number of options to initialize the database.
If You Are Importing Data

If you have existing pedigree data (stored in text/CSV format) you probably want to import it into Breeders Assistant.
There is an easy way to do this: when you start a new pedigree database one of the options is to initialize the file with data
imported from a text/CSV file.
Select that option and proceed.
Please note there is a tutorial that explains in detail how to import text/CSV data (to view this select Help|Tutorials).
If You Are Using A Tutorial That Needs Sample Data

One of the options when creating a database is to populate it with sample data.
Several of the tutorials have been written with the
expectation that you have included this sample data.
It saves time since there is then no need to add the data manually and you
can instead focus on what the tutorials are describing.
Please note that if you're using the "Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis" tutorial it is important that you select the third
option - to add mate selection, kinship and population analysis test data - when creating a new database.
The worked examples
described by this tutorial expect you to have this data available.
Creating An Empty Database

not importing data, and just need to create an empty database, choose the last option in the
If you're not following a tutorial and
New Database window.
See:
Help Reference - A.26 Procedures By Subject: Databases

5. Checklist For Customers Who Don't Want To Use The First Steps
Tutorial
If you haven't looked at the "First Steps" tutorial yet, it is strongly recommended that you do so since it will probably save you time
in the long run.
It introduces the key parts of the software.
To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help
menu within Breeders Assistant.
But if you still don't want to do that, and are faced with the opening screen of the software, here are some things to try to get
started.
Create a new database (choose Database|New) and choose the second option - to populate it with sample data.
To change the display on the right side of the main window - e.g. to switch to a different pedigree layout - click the
Display button (above the top-left corner of the right side of the main window).
Take some time to explore the different
forms available on this menu, especially the pedigree layouts.
To print a pedigree or form, select Form|Print ( Ctrl+P).
To add a new record e.g. a cat, select Record|Add Record ( Keypad+); when adding a cat be sure to move to the
Ancestors tab to enter the parents.
Note: the "First Steps" tutorial shows you in detail how to use this window to enter
ancestors.
It might not be obvious to you how you do this, which is one of the reasons why you should use the tutorial.
To modify (update) a record, just double-click it in the record list on the left side.
To change record type - e.g. from cats to contacts - click in the Work With box above the record list on the left-hand
side.
In Breeders Assistant you normally work with one record type at one time and this is how you switch (though there
are some notable exceptions to this general rule e.g. you can add new contacts 'in situ' as you add cats to the database).
To see the full range of fields in the record details windows be sure to turn on the 'advanced record' preferences: select
Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab and then enable each of the 'advanced record'
options.
To customize a displayed pedigree layout, do one or both of these:
1. select Form|Design Mode and then double-click on the parts you want to alter; when you see buttons
labeled Change, click them to select fields for the pedigree; or
2. select Form|Form Properties to change the borders or watermark.
To add completely new pedigree layouts, select Form|New Form.

To import data into Breeders Assistant from a text/CSV file select Database|Import and choose an import format.
Note:
There is a separate "Importing Data" tutorial that's describes the importing process in detail. To access this - and other
tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
To display inbreeding coefficients click the View box - above the record list - and select Inbreeding Table.
Then drag
the vertical divider that separates the record list from the form display area on the right, to enlarge the record list.
Breeders Assistant then tabulates the inbreeding for all records in the database.
If you have the Extended Edition you may want to check out the advanced features for mate selection and reporting of
genetic diversity metrics.
You are strongly recommended to take the time to look at the "Mate Selection, Kinship And
Population Analysis" tutorial as this introduces these features in detail. To access this - and other tutorials - select
Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.

6. Migrating From Earlier Versions

If you have an earlier, full licensed copy of Breeders Assistant, the first step is to obtain and install a full licensed copy (not trial) of
Breeders Assistant version 6.
This may involve a charge.
Details for upgrading can be found on the www.tenset.co.uk website.
It is not necessary to have the old version software installed in order to transfer previously saved data over.
Once installed, if you need to restore a backup from the old version that was created using the built-in backup facility of Breeders
Assistant (i.e. with Database|Backup) then you can use Database|Restore to reopen the data.
If you are not restoring such a backup use the following instructions to reopen your data.
If You Previously Had Breeders Assistant Version 5

All you should need to do is open the version 6 software and
it will normally automatically find and open your existing database.
Once its been saved with version 6 it will not be possible to reopen the file with the old version, so you might want to save a copy of
the file(s) first should you ever need to do that.
If you do not have Breeders Assistant version 5 installed on the same computer you should copy your existing database from the old
computer (e.g. use a USB stick).
Breeders Assistant pedigree data files use the extension .cdb.
Then open Breeders Assistant and
use Database|Open ( Ctrl+O) to locate and open the file.
If you need to search for the file use the Database|
Database Locator tool within Breeders Assistant, or externally use Windows File Explorer (or similar) to search for files named
'*.cdb'.
If You Previously Had Breeders Assistant Version 3 or 4

First, locate the database file that was saved with the version 3/4 software.
This will have the file extension .cdb.
If you need to
search for the file use the Database|Database Locator tool within Breeders Assistant, or externally use Windows File Explorer (or
similar) to search for files named '*.cdb'.
To open the file use Database|Open ( Ctrl+O) to locate and open the file.
Once opened, save it with a new file name - use
Database|Save As.
NOTES:

Breeders Assistant version 6 does not support forms with PDF files as background images, such as some registration forms, that
were provided by Breeders Assistant version 4.

7. Fundamental Concepts
Contents
7.1. Cat Database Files
7.2. Records

7.3. Fields

7.4. Indexes
7.5. Forms And

Pedigree Layouts
7.6. Printer/Paper Configurations
7.7. Text Styles

Title Data Files
7.8. Breed And Cat

7.9. Text Expansions

7.10. Field Codes

7.11. Macros
7.1. Fundamental Concepts: Cat Database Files

A Breeders Assistant cat database is a file that contains cat pedigree and other records.
Typically database files are stored on the
hard drive on your computer, though its up to you where you keep them.
Database files need to be accessible through the computer's file system.
They can be kept on any drive to which the computer has
normal filesystem access (i.e. via a drive letter) to read/write files in the folder in which it is kept.
E.g. it is possible to keep such
files on a networked drive with the necessary file/folder access.
As the name suggests, cat databases are used to store details of cats - names, owners, birth dates etc.
They are also used to store
details of all other associated information, such as vet records, details of contacts, accounts etc.
When Breeders Assistant starts, it will normally open the cat database that was most recently open.
If you only use a single
database, this means that normally you won't need to be concerned with having to open the database each time.
Many customers of Breeders Assistant only need a single database, because it can contain many pedigree records and, importantly,
it is only possible to link from one cat to another (e.g. from a cat to its sire) if the data for both is kept in the same file.
Unless you
need to record multiple types of cat e.g. multiple breeds, it is best to keep all the data in a single file.
It is essential that cat database(s) are regularly backed up to avoid loss.
As they often contain large amounts of information that
has been manually entered, losing a database through inadequate backups is a serious and usually avoidable mistake.
Breeders
Assistant does not automatically backup your data e.g. to 'the cloud' or anywhere else.
It is your responsibility to keep regular
backups of your database(s).
See 8.2. Cat Database Files: Backups.
Cat databases are covered in more detail in 8. Cat Database Files.
See:
8. Cat
Database Files

Backups
8.2. Cat Database Files:
7.2. Fundamental Concepts: Records

A record is a collection of information about something, e.g. about a cat, or a contact.
Each record consists of a collection of fields.
Records are the main data stored in Breeders Assistant databases.
In Breeders Assistant you always work with one particular record type.
The current record type is changed by selecting an option
from the Go to menu or by selecting from the Work With pulldown menu.
Records of the current type are listed in the main
window.
To add a record select Record|Add Record ( Keypad+).
Breeders Assistant for Cats supports the following record types:
cats - The individual cats themselves.
Clearly the most important record type in a pedigree database.
contacts - Details of people (name, address, telephone etc.).
They can also used to store details of organizations
(suppliers etc.).
appointments/tasks - Details of appointments or tasks/chores.
Can be used to maintain an appointments diary e.g.
store details of vet visits, appointments with other breeders, reminders etc., or as a simple chore scheduler.
matings - Data concerning real (not hypothetical) matings between cats - mating dates and associated information and
easy access to forms relating to the resulting kittens such as litter pedigrees. Typically used by breeders or stud owners.
trial matings - These store details of hypothetical matings. Their main purpose is for the printing of trial mating
pedigrees (which can include the prospective inbreeding).
vaccination records - Details of individual vaccinations given to cats.
vet records - These store details of veterinary visits relating to specific cats.
accounting records - Details of financial transactions e.g. to track vet fees, costs of supplies, stud fees, kitten/cat sales
etc.
show records - Details of showings of cats at cat shows.
These can be used to track show performance against the
competition, store judges critiques etc.

Records are covered in more detail in 9. Records, Fields And Indexes.

See:
9. Records, Fields And Indexes
7.3. Fundamental Concepts: Fields

A field is a unit of information, such as some text, or a date.
Records are simply collections of field values.
E.g. considering a cat record, there are fields for:
it's name (a text field)
it's date of birth (a date field)
it's temperament (another text field)
and many, many others.
There are various different types of fields that are used for different types of data:
text fields - These store a single line of text
multiline fields - Similar to text fields but these support multiple lines of text
flag fields - Yes/no or on/off values
date fields - Calendar dates
currency fields - Amounts of money
reference fields - Links to other records
e.g. the link from a cat to its (primary) owner is stored as a reference field, as
are the links from a cat to it's parents
time fields - Hours/Minutes
count fields - Whole numbers (i.e., integers)
Every record also includes a number of user defined fields.

Fields are covered in more detail in 9.3. Records, Fields And Indexes: Fields.
See:
9.3. Records, Fields And Indexes: Fields
15.3. Cat Records: Breeders And Owners
7.4. Fundamental Concepts: Indexes

An index is a list of records of a given type in a chosen order and is defined by:
it's sort order - the order in which the records are listed
the match conditions - conditions (criteria) that determine which records are included in the index
the columns - fields that are to be displayed as columns in the record list whenever this index is displayed
The record list - in the main window - is simply a listing of records as defined by an index.
The name of the current index is shown
in the View box, just above the record list.
To change index click in View box to select another.
Within Breeders Assistant the terms index and view can generally be considered to mean the same thing.
A view is simply the
'display' of an index, as shown in the record list.

In a Breeders Assistant database each record type has a number of indexes.

When a database is first created a set of standard
indexes are provided e.g. indexes that sort by the cats name, registration number, etc.
E.g. cat records always have an index called By name - unsurprisingly this lists all cats ordered according to their Name field.
It is possible to create additional indexes in order to view records using a custom ordering, or with customized match conditions.
To
create a new index use Index|Manage and choose the option to create a new index.
Indexes are covered in more detail in 9.11. Records, Fields And Indexes: Indexes.
See:
9.11.
Records, Fields And Indexes: Indexes
7.5. Fundamental Concepts: Forms And Pedigree Layouts

A form in Breeders Assistant is a display of information derived from a record.
Probably the most important forms are pedigree
layouts.
The right-hand side of the main window is called the form display area and it displays the currently selected form using data from
the current record.
To switch to a different form e.g. to switch to different pedigree layout click the Display button - this is just above the top left
corner of the form display area.
Forms and pedigree layouts are covered in more detail in 13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts.
See:
13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts
7.6. Fundamental Concepts: Printer/Paper Configurations

Whenever Breeders Assistant prints a document such as a pedigree there are various settings that control the printout - in addition
to the actual data being printed.
E.g. paper size, margins, orientation (portrait/landscape), printer device settings (paper tray, print
quality, etc.).
In Breeders Assistant, it is appropriate to use different settings in different places. E.g.:
When printing a mating certificate normally a portrait layout is required.
When printing a pedigree typically a landscape format is wanted.
When printing a letter or agreement/contract a portrait layout is needed.
Breeders Assistant uses a mechanism called printer/paper configurations to handle differing printing requirements.
A printer/paper
configuration is a named collection of printer settings that includes all of the settings listed above.
Different printer/paper
configurations can then be used in different situations.
One of the properties of a document form is the selection of which printer/paper configuration it uses.
This provides a mechanism
for printer settings to be effectively varied from form to form.
E.g. it is possible to set up a customized printer/paper configuration
that prints using a large format printer, then associate it with a specific pedigree layout that prints, say, 6 generations of ancestors.
As another example it would be possible to have much smaller margins for a particular pedigree layout than on other forms, by
using a custom printer/paper configuration that has been set to use very small margins.
But perhaps the most common use of a customized printer/paper configuration is to provide the means to 'print' to a PDF document
rather than a physical printer.
This is covered in 13.3. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Saving As PDF.
NOTES:
1. When
a database is first initialized it has some standard printer/paper configurations already set up.
These are designed to
print on the system default printer and they differ only in the paper orientation to be used - landscape or portrait.
They are called
'Default-Landscape' and 'Default-Portrait', and all the standard pedigree layouts etc. are set up to use them.
2. For this reason, to change the page margins of the standard pedigree layouts all that is necessary is to adjust the page margins
of the appropriate standard printer/paper configuration - probably 'Default-Landscape'.
To do this use Configure|
Printer/Paper Configurations, select the configuration to be adjusted then update the settings to alter the margins.
Printer/paper configurations are covered in more detail in 22. Printer Configuration.

See:
13.3.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Saving As PDF
22. Printer Configuration

Printing To PDF
22.3. Printer Configuration:
7.7. Fundamental Concepts: Text Styles

A text style in Breeders Assistant is a named font, including the face name (Arial, Times New Roman, etc.), point size (text height),
color, and other typographic effects such as bold, italic etc.
Breeders Assistant comes with many predefined text styles for use in various contexts, mainly within pedigree layouts.
E.g. (1) the text style 'Pedigree - Detail' is used when formatting the details of the subject cat within the pedigree heading (color,
date of birth etc.).

E.g. (2) the text style '4G - GG-P Name' is used when formatting the name of a great-grandparent within a 4 generation pedigree.
In order to change the fonts and font sizes used in a pedigree layout you should alter the underlying text styles.
To do this use
Configure|Text Styles.
It is also possible to define additional text styles, and then customize forms (see 13.7. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Customizing
Forms And Creating New Forms)
and printed reports
to use those styles.
It is also possible to define additional text styles, and then customize forms and printed reports to use those styles.
See:
13.7.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms
See Also:
Help Reference - 6 Text Styles Reference (p.103)
7.8. Fundamental Concepts: Breed And Cat Title Data Files

These are separate files that are maintained by the software internally that are used to store details of breed color and title
information.
They hold data that is displayed in pulldown menus when adding or updating a cat's record - for the breeds, colors and cat titles
such as Champion.
These files are stored in the Breeders Assistant application data folder.
See:
8.11.
Cat Database Files: Application Data Folder
7.9. Fundamental Concepts: Text Expansions

A text expansion is text that includes placeholders for data taken from the database, and macros that can be used to manipulate the
text.
The placeholders are known as field codes.
Text expansions are widely used within Breeders Assistant e.g. within formatting instructions for pedigrees, in printed reports,
when
exporting data
and when displaying information in the columns of the record list.
E.g. the text expansion 'Name of Cat: <Name>' might be used in a form linked to a cat record, such as a pedigree.
This is a very
simple example of a text expansion, one that contains a single field code and no macros.
When printed/displayed the <Name> part -
a field code - is replaced with the name of the cat from the current record.
So if the current cat is called "Fred", then this text expansion would become "Name of Cat: Fred" before being output in the
form/pedigree/etc.
When text expansions are expanded, it is done in the following order:
1. Field codes are replaced with the relevant text (usually from the current record).
2. Macros are executed.
It is important to be aware of this ordering when working with text expansions.

Since field codes are expanded first, the results of
those expansions can then be used in macros.
See:
7.10.
Fundamental Concepts: Field Codes
7.11. Fundamental Concepts: Macros

12. Exporting Data

13.23. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Formatting Instructions And Format Codes
21. Printed Reports
7.10. Fundamental Concepts: Field Codes

A field code is a 'name' for an item of data that, in most cases, is retrieved from a record.
A field code always starts with an open-
angle bracket ('<') and ends with a closing-angle bracket ('>').
E.g. <Name>.
All data fields have predefined field codes that can be used to access the stored data e.g. within custom forms etc.
For full details of all available field codes see section 4 "Fields And Field Codes Reference" (p.10) of the Help Reference. The Help
Reference is accessed through the Help menu.
Field codes are covered in more detail in 9.9. Records, Fields And Indexes: Field Codes.
Synthesized Field Codes

Some field codes are not associated with actual data fields, but are created 'on the fly'.
E.g. cat records have no field that stores the
inbreeding coefficient.
But there is a field code <InbreedingCoefficient>.
When this is used in a form such as a pedigree layout
the inbreeding coefficient is calculated as needed and output.
Chaining Field Codes

be 'chained'.
This technique is used when one record refers to another.
Field codes can sometimes

E.g. a cat record uses a reference field to link to the contact record for its (primary)
owner. The field code for this link is <Owner>.
If
a customized pedigree form includes the text expansion "Owner: <Owner>" this is then replaced in the displayed form/pedigree/etc.
with the owner's full name e.g. "Owner: John Smith".
However, contact records also have fields and hence field codes.
E.g. the field code <Address> for a contact record is the postal
address.
If it was required to display the owner address within a pedigree this could be done by concatenating the field codes
<Owner> and <Address> to make a single field code.
This is known as 'chaining' the field codes.
E.g. "Owner Address:
<OwnerAddress>" might expand as "Owner Address: 123 Main St".
Cat records also use reference fields to link to the sire and dam.
The field code for the sire is <Father>, and the field code for the
dam is <Mother>.
These can be chained in a similar way.
E.g. (1) <MotherFather> expands to the name of the maternal
grandfather. E.g. (2) <FatherFatherMotherRegNo> expands to the registration number of the dam of the paternal grandfather.
Field Code Parameters

Some field codes have arguments (parameters) to alter the field output.
Parameters are given as series of comma-separated options
after the field code name.
The <InbreedingCoefficient> field code - which outputs the inbreeding coefficient - is an example of a field code that can accept
additional parameters.
These parameters either output other associated information such as the number of full generations of
ancestors found, or they alter the inbreeding computation in some way e.g. by changing the number of generations of ancestors
used in the calculation.
E.g. whilst plain <InbreedingCoefficient> will expand to be the inbreeding coefficient itself,
<InbreedingCoefficient,6> expands as the number of common ancestors found (i.e. present on both sides of the pedigree).
See
section 4.7 "Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records" of the Help Reference.
See:
9.7. Records, Fields And Indexes: Other Field Data Types
9.9. Records, Fields And Indexes: Field Codes
See Also:
Help Reference - 4 Fields And Field Codes Reference (p.10)
Help Reference - 4.7 Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records

A macro is a coding used to manipulate text within a text expansion.
Macros are usually used in conjunction with field codes to alter
the expanded text.
Use of macros is a generally an advanced feature.
If your use of the product mostly concerns keeping cat records and producing
pedigrees using the inbuilt layouts you probably will not need to know about macros.
A macro consists of some characters surrounded by square brackets.
E.g. consider the following macro that might be used within a pedigree layout:
[eUnknown sex,Sex: %,<Sex>]
The e macro has the syntax [eX,Y,TEXT] and what it does is to see whether TEXT is empty; if it is it expands to X else it expands to
Y.
If a % character occurs in Y it is replaced by TEXT.
In this case, if the <Sex> field code expands to some text - e.g. 'Male' - then the macro would be replaced with:
Sex: Male
But if the <Sex> field code expanded to nothing, as it would if the sex is not known for the cat in question, then the macro would
expand to:
Unknown sex
It is common practice for macros to be used alongside field codes and, when used in forms such as pedigree layouts, with format
codes.
Note that macros can be nested within each other, which can lead to some complex but powerful constructions.
For full details of all available macros see section 3 "Macros Reference" (p.4) of the Help Reference. The Help Reference is accessed
through the Help menu.
NOTE:
To include a literal opening square bracket itself within a text expansion, precede it with the backslash character.
I.e. \[.
This is not normally necessary with closing square brackets as they are only interpreted as macro terminators when preceded by
unprotected opening square brackets.
See:
13.23.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Formatting Instructions And Format Codes
See Also:
Help Reference - 3 Macros Reference (p.4)

8. Cat Database Files

A Breeders Assistant cat database is a file that holds all the records you enter/import within the software.
Throughout the Breeders Assistant documentation cat databases are generally referred to as 'Breeders Assistant databases' or, more
simply, just 'databases'.
The terms mean the same thing and are interchangeable.
Contents
8.1. Database File Naming And Folders
8.2. Backups

8.3. Using The

Built In Database Backup/Restore Facility
8.4. Making A Manual Database Backup (Externally To The

Software)
8.5. Internally Maintained Copies Of Recently Saved Databases

8.6. Database Locator Tool

8.7. Transferring A Database

To Another Computer
8.8. Automatically Opening The Most Recently Used

Database
8.9. Database Repair Tool
8.10. Database Inconsistency

Checking
8.11. Application Data Folder

8.12. Single User Access Only
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.26 Procedures By Subject: Databases
8.1. Cat Database Files: Database File Naming And Folders

Cat databases are files with the .cdb file extension.
Breeders Assistant does not control/select the folder in which databases are stored.
The folder location is up to you.
A common choice is to keep the file(s) in your documents folder.
After a database has been first created, when you attempt to save it or close the application and confirm that the data is to be
saved, the software will prompt for a file name to save the data.
At this point you select where the file is to be saved - i.e. in which
folder.
A database file can be kept on any drive to which the computer has normal filesystem access (i.e. via a drive letter) to read/write
files in the folder in which it is kept.
E.g. it is possible to keep such files on a networked drive with the necessary file/folder access.,
or on an external/removable drive such as a USB drive.
It is important to remember to keep this drive available when the software
is used.
In common use it is quite normal to have only one database file, since it can be used to store many thousands of records.
The most
likely reason to need multiple database files is if you have multiple breeds, and wish to keep the cats of each breed entirely
separate.
Note that it is not possible to link a cat in one database file to cats in another file, e.g. as sire or dam.
All the cats which
link to each other need to be kept in the same file in order to create ancestral links between them and to build pedigrees.
The maximum number of records a database may contain depends on the license edition - with the Personal Edition the limit is
75,000 records of each type.
With the Professional and Extended Editions the limit is 1,000,000 records of each type.
See:
8.2. Cat Database Files: Backups

Regularly backing up your data, and checking the validity of backups, is important unless you are prepared to lose your data at
some point.
Any data that cannot be easily recreated should be regularly backed up.
This is particularly true of Breeders Assistant
databases as they typically contain data resulting from many hours of manual work.
The next 2 sections of this User Guide describe two ways in which the database can be backed up.
WARNING:
It is your responsibility to keep regular backups of your database(s).
Breeders Assistant does not retain any off-
computer backups of your data, anywhere.
It does not save your data 'online' or 'in the cloud'.
It does not transmit your data over
the internet or keep your data anywhere else - except in the folder(s) where you keep your cat database files.
Taking regular backups will give you a lot of protection (though not complete protection) against the following risks:
Your computer is stolen or accidentally destroyed.
Your hard drive crashes, wiping out all your data on the computer.
Your computer becomes infected by a virus or other malware or ransomware, and has to be completely restored.
You, or somebody else, accidentally delete your database file(s).
A software error corrupts your database.

There could be a bug in Breeders Assistant which causes it to lose data.

Note however that this software has been
extensively tested and this is unlikely though not impossible.
Complex software products such as Breeders Assistant are
never bug free.
If any of the above events occur, and you don't have a good backup, you have lost all your data and short of entering it all again
there is nothing you can do.
So, you are strongly advised to implement a backup policy and stick to it.
Backup Policy - Issues To Consider

You should adopt a backup policy appropriate to your needs and that's not too onerous to carry out regularly.
Here are some issues
you should consider:
How Much Data Can You Afford To Lose? - Or put another way, how many days/hours lost data are you prepared to
have to re-enter should you need to revert to a backup?
The answer to this question helps you decide the minimum
frequency with which you should do your backups.
What Media Are You Going To Backup To? - A good choice is to backup to a USB memory stick ('pen' drive) or an
external (removable) hard drive, etc.
Whatever you use, it is important that it is some kind of removable media that can
be stored physically apart from your computer.
There is no point having a backup if it gets stolen along with your
computer.
Keep backup media in a safe place, physically apart from your computer.
How Can I Be Sure My Backup Is Good? - A bad or incorrect backup is as good as no backup at all.
It is important to
periodically check the validity of backups.
It is surprising just how many people and organizations rely upon a backup
strategy that has never been tested - and is flawed - and yet only discover this when it really matters and they need to
restore a backup.
Cycle Your Backups - Dont make the mistake of having a single backup device, and then always backing up to it.
What
would happen, say, if a lightning strike destroys your computer at the very time you were backing up?
You've probably
lost both your only backup (the last one, that you were overwriting at the time), and your database on the computer is
gone.
Have a set of backup media (say 2 or 3 USB sticks) and cycle them.
Every so often, replace one with a new one, and
archive the replaced USB in long term storage.
Most media can become error prone and periodically replacing them is a
defence against this.
Do You Need to Backup the Breeders Assistant Registry Settings? - Breeders Assistant stores all actual data in
the database files - records, forms, printer/paper configurations, text styles and so on.
Other information is stored in the
Windows Registry - such as preference information.
Generally, if you were to lose this information it is easy to recreate,
and hence it is not so important to take regularly backups of it.
You may well choose not to back it up at all.
Detailed
instructions for saving and restoring the Breeders Assistant registry settings can be found in the Help Reference.
See:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.10 Procedures By Subject: Backups
8.3. Cat Database Files: Using The Built In Database Backup/Restore Facility
Breeders Assistant has a built-in backup/restore facility that can be used to backup the currently open database
and, optionally, the
breed/titles data files, to/from an external drive.
To access this use Database|Backup and Database|Restore.
NOTE: If you have the Professional Edition (or higher), and have set up a user defined gene configuration, the built-in backup facility
will not backup your user defined gene configuration file.
You need to back this up separately.
See section 7 "Mendelian Genetics
Configuration Reference" (p.113) of the Help Reference.
A backup that has previously been created using the internal backup facility can be tested (checked) using Database|Test Backup,
without the need to actually fully restore it.
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - 7 Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference (p.113)
8.4. Cat Database Files: Making A Manual Database Backup (Externally To The Software)
If you do not wish to use the internal backup/restore facility described above you should manually backup your database file(s).
To do this, use Windows File Explorer (or similar) to manually copy the database file(s) to an external device, which should then be
kept safely and securely away from the computer.
If you're not sure of the file name/location of your database, use Database|Database Properties.
This will give an overall
summary of the currently open database, including its full file location.
Note this will not the backup the breed/titles data files.
To do that you need to manually copy those from the Breeders Assistant
application data folder.

The breed/titles files are named catbreeds.dat and cattitles.dat and are always stored in that folder.
See:
8.11.
Cat Database Files: Application Data Folder
See Also:
8.5. Cat Database Files: Internally Maintained Copies Of Recently Saved Databases
WARNING:
This is not an automatic backup facility.
Breeders Assistant does not retain any off-computer backups of your data,
anywhere.
It does not save your data 'online' or 'in the cloud'.
It does not transmit your data over the internet or keep your data
anywhere else - except in the folder(s) where you keep your cat database files.
You are strongly recommended to keep effective backups of your cat database file(s), safely and separate (i.e. removed from) the
computer on which you are using Breeders Assistant.
See 8.2. Backups.
Copies Of Recently Saved Databases

Breeders Assistant has a mechanism whereby
it can automatically keep a fixed number of copies of the most recently saved
database, within the same folder as the database itself. The number of copies of 'old' cat databases that are kept in this way is a
configuration option that defaults to 2 (see below for instructions on how to change this).
The way this works is best explained by an example.
Assume that the full file name of your currently open database is E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cdb.
And, assume that your setting for
the number of copies of 'old' cat databases that are to kept is set to the default (2).
When Breeders Assistant saves this file what actually happens is:
1. It saves the new version of the file under a temporary name within the same folder.
This temporary file name is
internally constructed and varies (with factors such as time, day, and a random value).
For the purposes of this
description assume this temporary file called TEMPFILE.DAT (though in practice it will always be different to this; the
actual file name doesn't matter).
2. Breeders Assistant next looks for the existence of a file called E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cd2.
If it finds it, it deletes it
- this is because it is the previously oldest internal copy of the database which is about to be replaced.
3. Next, it looks for the existence of a file called E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cd1.
If it finds it, it renames it to be
E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cd2.
4. Next, it looks for the last saved version of the open database. This is the database 'itself' i.e.
E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cdb.
If it finds it, it renames it to be E:\MyFiles\MyPedigrees.cd1.
5. Finally, it renames the temporary file that it created above - TEMPFILE.DAT within E:\MyFiles\ - so it effectively
replaces the database i.e. it renames it to be MyPedigrees.cdb.
What this means is that, assuming you have not changed the default settings, the penultimate saved version of the current
database is always available in the same folder as the database itself, but with the extension .cd1.
If you suffer a mishap such as
you accidentally delete a large number of records and then save the database, you can usually recover from that by finding the .cd1
file, making a safe copy of that file under a new
name and changing the extension of the copied file back to .cdb, and then
reopening it with Breeders Assistant.
How To Retrieve An 'Internal Copy' Of A Database Using The Database Locator Tool
This is the easier of two methods for retrieving a copy of an internally saved database.
1. Choose Database|Database Locator.

2. In the list of locations, at the top of the window, select the final option 'Recently saved database folders'.
3. Click the Search button.
4. At this point you may find it helpful make the window larger - re-size it.
5. Any recently saved databases, including automatically saved copies of recent versions of the databases, are listed.
6. Look for the entries that are listed with type 'Old Database'.
7. Identify the database file you need in the list, and click once to select it. The date of last update and the number of
cat records may help you.
8. Click the Save As button.
Then enter a new name for the file, and copy it to a different folder.
Do not save it using
the exact same name as the currently open database.
Once saved, you can then open the newly copied file using
Database|Open ( Ctrl+O).
How To Retrieve An 'Internal Copy' Of A Database 'By Hand'

database 'by hand', using Windows tools.
Alternatively you can can 'manually' retrieve a copy of an internally saved
Assume the file name for your database is MyPedigrees.cdb and that you've just accidentally deleted a lot of records by mistake
and saved the database.
You could revert to the last saved internal copy of the database as follows:
1. Close Breeders Assistant.

2. Open Windows File Explorer.

One way to do this with Windows 10 is to click the Windows 'Start' button, then within
the Start menu find and click on 'Windows System', then locate 'File Explorer'.
With Windows 11 click the 'Start'
button then enter "File Explorer" in the search box.
3. Navigate to the folder where you keep your database file.
4. Find the file called MyPedigrees.cd1.
5. Right-click over the MyPedigrees.cd1 file name and choose 'Copy'.
6. Right-click anywhere in the blank area of the folder and choose 'Paste'.
This should create a copy of the file, called
MyPedigrees - Copy.cd1.
7. Next, rename this copied file - right-click over MyPedigrees - Copy.cd1, choose 'Rename', and then rename the
whole file name, including the extension, so it is now called
CopyOfMyPedigrees.cdb.
Changing the extension of the
copy back to .cdb is essential.
Windows may warn you when you do this that the copied file can't be opened.
It is
safe and correct to ignore the warning in this case and proceed to rename the file including the extension.
8. Finally, you can re-open the retrieved file - if you double-click CopyOfMyPedigrees.cdb that should re-open it in
Breeders Assistant.
Alternatively, open Breeders Assistant in the way you normally do it (e.g. from the Start menu or
from a desktop icon), then use Database|Open ( Ctrl+O) to locate and open the file
CopyOfMyPedigrees.cdb.
Once you're satisfied that the file and data are correct you can then use Database|Save As to save it using the 'real'
file name of your database.
To Change The Number Of Old Databases That Are Kept

Choose Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the Misc tab, click the Rarely Changed Options button and change the
'No. of old cat databases to keep' setting.
See:
See Also:
8.6. Cat Database Files: Database Locator Tool

Breeders Assistant has a tool that can be used to locate (find) database files if, for whatever reason, you have lost/forgotten where
you stored them.
Or, e.g., you have a backup drive that you know contains the Breeders Assistant data files but you do not know
where on the drive they are located.
This facility is called the 'database locator' tool and is accessed by selecting Database|Database Locator.
The tool allows you to search a set of drives for Breeders Assistant data files.
Any files found are listed with options for opening,
copying or importing data from a located database file.
Note this will only find files that you have stored on the drives searched.
8.7. Cat Database Files: Transferring A Database To Another Computer

To transfer a Breeders Assistant database from one computer to another:
1. Install the software on the new computer that you wish to transfer to.
2. On the old computer, run the software and open your database.
3. Select Database|Database Properties. Amongst other information, you will see the full file name of the database
displayed. Take a note of this.
4. Close the software.
5. Next, copy the file given in (3) to the new computer.
How you do this is up to you, and depends on what storage
devices you have available.
E.g. it could be copied using a USB memory key ('pen drive').
The database should be
copied onto the hard drive of the new computer.
In normal use it should be stored on a fixed (not removable) drive.
6. Finally, run the software on the new computer, then select Database|Open ( Ctrl+O).
Navigate to the folder
where database has been copied, and open it.
If there are multiple databases, steps 2-6 above should be repeated for each database.
8.8. Cat Database Files: Automatically Opening The Most Recently Used Database
When Breeders Assistant starts, it will normally open the same database as most recently used on the same computer (and, from
the same user account).
This means that, if you only use a single Breeders Assistant database, you do not need to be concerned with having to open the
database 'by hand' each time the software is started.
This is controlled by a preference setting.
To alter it, select Configure|
Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the Misc tab, click the Rarely Changed Options button, then change the 'Load most recently
used cat database at startup?' option.

8.9. Cat Database Files: Database Repair Tool

Breeders Assistant includes a database repair facility - a tool for verifying the internal structure of the database.
It is the Breeders
Assistant equivalent of Window's tools for error checking the integrity of the files on hard drive.
NOTE:
This repair facility will find, and recover from, some errors in a database but not all.
Depending on the cause of damage it
may not be possible repair every database. The repair process will automatically delete all damaged records located.
When you upgrade Breeders Assistant a database repair is often performed automatically when first opening your database after
installing the new version.
This is normal and does not imply that your database contains errors.
8.10. Cat Database Files: Database Inconsistency Checking

It is possible for there to be inconsistencies between records that can be detected by Breeders Assistant.
E.g. the sire of a cat might
be recorded as female.
Such an inconsistency could arise if you change the sex of the sire to female after he's been recorded as the sire.
Finding such inconsistencies can be time consuming when done by hand.
This particular inconsistency - parental sex - can cause
other features of Breeders Assistant to generate unexpected results e.g. searching for direct descendants of a cat that has its sex
set incorrectly will often result in no descendants (because Breeders Assistant would have been searching e.g. for cats with a given
sire, when in actual fact it should have been searching for a dam match).
Breeders Assistant has a database inconsistency checking facility that can perform such checks across the whole database.
To perform a database inconsistency check use Tools|Advanced|Detect Database Inconsistencies.
Available Checks
The full list of available database inconsistency checks is as follows:
That the sex has been entered.
That the sex of the sire is male, and the dam is female.
That there are no ancestor circularities (self-parenting errors) within the ancestors of each cat.
This check is available
with different depths of ancestors - 8, 16 and 32 generations.
NOTE: with a database that has very deep ancestral lines it
can take a very long time to carry out this check.
That the generation gap between a cat and both its parents is consistent with the minimum and maximum generation
gaps as specified using Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E).
That prefixes (cattery names) are unique - i.e. that each prefix is given for one and only one contact record.

That the show-specific fields (e.g. show kind, show status etc.) are consistent for all show records relating to the same
show.
That the class-specific fields (e.g. judge etc.) are consistent for all show records relating to a specific class at the same
show.
That kittens are recorded as being born before their parents.
That text fields that have been configured to detect duplicates during data entry have no duplicates across the entire
database.
Requires Extended Edition.
That there are no cats with similar names.
This test searches the database, for each cat record, to find any similarly
named cats and reports any found.
With a large database this check can take a long time to complete.
Requires
Extended Edition.
That the genotype of each cat is a possible genotype that could arise from the mating of its parents, when known.
I.e.
given the known genotypes of the parents, is it possible for the stated genotype of the cat concerned to arise when its
parents were mated?
Requires Professional Edition (or higher).
See:
9.4. Records, Fields And Indexes:

Text Fields
9.20. Records, Fields And Indexes: Similarity

Searching
18.4. Records And Inbreeding: Ancestor Circularity Detection (Self-Parenting)
8.11. Cat Database Files: Application Data Folder

The 'application data folder' is a folder that Breeders Assistant uses to store private working data files.
The default location of the application data folder depends on your particular version of Windows.
It is possible to override the
default location of this folder using a command line option (see section 12 "Command Line Reference" (p.164) of the Help
Reference).
The location of the application data folder is amongst the information reported by the Database Properties window (use
Database|Database Properties).
Note that Windows normally hides the default location of the application data folder from view in Windows File Explorer.
To find the
folder with Windows File Explorer it is usually necessary to temporarily disable the setting that hides hidden files/folders.
To do this
with Windows 10, click on the View tab within File Explorer, within the Options area select Folder Options, and then on the View tab
find the option for Hidden Files and Folders and set it to show hidden files/folders;
once you have finished accessing the application
data folder in File Explorer you should restore the Hidden Files and Folders setting so they are hidden again.
With Windows 11 the
method is similar, though the Options are accessed from the "..." menu.
See:
Help Reference - 12 Command Line Reference (p.164)
8.12. Cat Database Files: Single User Access Only

Breeders Assistant is a single user product.
It does not support multiuser access to its cat databases.
Specifically, it is not possible for two instances of Breeders Assistant (e.g. running on separate computers) to reliably share access
to the same database.
If this is attempted e.g. a database is accessed on two computers simultaneously, with Breeders Assistant on
both computers attempting to update the database (e.g. add or update records), then
it is likely that changes made from one of the
Breeders Assistant instances will be lost.
Note however that it is possible to merge databases.
E.g. 2 users of Breeders Assistant can maintain separate databases and then
periodically merge those databases to 'resynchronize'.
To merge two databases: open the first database (use Database|Open ( Ctrl+O) to open it), then use Database|Import|
Breeders Assistant Database to import the other database into it (i.e., merge), then
save the new merged database (use
Database|Save As).
See:

9. Records, Fields And Indexes

This chapter provides general information about working with records, other than topics that are specific to any particular record
type.
Those are mostly covered in separate chapters later in this User Guide.
Many of the features and procedures are the same
irrespective of the type of record being used.
E.g. the techniques used to search for records are the same for all record types, and
are covered in this chapter.
A record is simply a collection of data that represents a cat, a contact, a mating, or one of several other record types.
To add a
record, first switch to the record type you wish to add if necessary (use the Go to menu or click in the Work With box), then select
Record|Add Record ( Keypad+).
Contents
9.1. Linked
Records
9.2. Associated Records
9.3. Fields

9.4. Text Fields
9.5. Date Fields
9.6. Currency Fields
9.7. Other Field Data

Types
9.8. User Defined Fields

9.9. Field Codes

9.10. Chaining Reference Field Codes
9.11. Indexes

9.12. Matching
Records
9.13. Adding Records

9.14. Updating Records
9.15. Navigating Between

Records
9.16. Autocompletion

9.17. Deleting Records
9.18. Finding Specific Records
9.19. Searching For Records

9.20. Similarity Searching

9.21. Bulk Record Changes
See:
Help Reference - A.73 Procedures By Subject: Record List
9.1. Records, Fields And Indexes: Linked Records

Certain types of records can have links to other records.
E.g. a cat record may have links to other records for the sire, dam,
breeder(s) and owner(s).
In some cases the links are optional: you don't have to specify the sire etc. for a cat.
But for other record
types, the link is mandatory.
E.g. for a vet record, it is mandatory that there is a link to the cat with which the vet record is
associated.
If you delete a record that other records have mandatory links to, those records will also be deleted.
When this happens,
you will be warned beforehand.
E.g. if you delete a cat record, all related vet records are automatically deleted.
It is helpful to understand this concept of linked records.
When one record references another by way of a link, the referenced
information is not copied - rather, the referencing record 'knows' how to obtain the required information from the referenced record.
The important consequence of this is that if you make a change to a record that is the target of links from other records, the change
is immediately visible to all the records linking to it.
Consider for one moment a cat record. It has links to other cat records for its sire and dam.
When Breeders Assistant generates a
pedigree for a cat, what it does is to simply follow these links back however many generations as required to obtain the necessary
ancestor information.
It is generally commonplace for some cats to appear in lots of pedigrees, e.g. an important stud that is the
sire of many cats.
If you have such a cat in your database, and one day it becomes a Champion, in Breeders Assistant you just need
to set the title in the cat record for this one cat, and it will then appear correctly in any pedigree that has this cat as an ancestor
(including the correct color highlighting).
The same principle applies to mistakes e.g. if you enter the name of a cat incorrectly, and
then link to it as sire/dam, it is only necessary to correct the mistake in the original record.
All references will be 'automatically'
updated.
Jumping to Linked Records

Breeders Assistant makes it easy
to navigate to any of the linked records of the current record.
Just right-click over the record in the
record list, select Linked Records from the popup menu and then select any of the available choices.
E.g. this can be used to move
from a cat directly to its sire or dam.

See:

Records
15. Cat
26. Vet Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.50 Procedures By Subject: Linked Records
9.2. Records, Fields And Indexes: Associated Records

Breeders Assistant uses the term associated records to mean records that are linked to a given record.
They are linked records as
considered from the other end of the link.
E.g. with contact records, one group of associated records are the cats for which the contact is the owner - i.e. cats owned by that
contact.
E.g. (2) with cat records, the direct descendants of a cat are associated records: if the cat is male, these are the records for all cats
that have the given cat as the sire; if the cat is female, these are the records for all cats that have the given cat as the dam.
Breeders Assistant has features for working with associated records.
E.g. to search for associated records of a record, right-click
over the record in the record list and select Associated Records.
This is a shortcut way to list the direct descendants of a cat, or to
list the cats owned by a given contact etc.

See:
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.8 Procedures By Subject: Associated Records
Help Reference - A.50 Procedures By Subject: Linked Records

A field is a unit of information, such as some text, or a date.
Each record consists of a collection of field values.
Predefined Fields

Each type of record has a predefined set of possible fields.

The purpose of most of these fields is automatically assigned by the
software.
E.g. a cat record contains a 'Name' field that is always used to store the name of the cat.
Likewise there is a 'Date of Birth'
field.
Notes Field

include a multiline field called the 'Notes' field.
This is a free format field that can be used for any text you like and
All record types
is always found on the Notes tab of the record details window.
Admin Fields

Breeders Assistant maintains various administrative fields for each record - such as the date and time of last modification.
It can
also maintain a history field - a multiline field that is updated with each change to the record.
This feature is disabled by default.
To
enable it, select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the Misc tab, click the Rarely Changed Options button and then
check the 'Maintain history field' option.
See:
7.3. Fundamental Concepts: Fields
9.4. Records, Fields And Indexes: Text Fields

Most fields used by Breeders Assistant are text fields.
They are designed to store a single line of text.
E.g. the 'Name' field in a cat
record is a text field.
Text Field Settings

not all) can be customized to:
Many text fields (though
Prevent Duplicates During Data Entry - This can be used to prevent the same field value being entered for multiple
records.
E.g. it may be appropriate to enable this for the registration number field to prevent the entry of duplicate
registration numbers - if relevant to your use of the product.

Set An Initial Value - This allows a default value to be set for a field.
If you have the Extended Edition of Breeders
Assistant it is also possible to set this using auto-incrementing sequences, which can be useful e.g. for a club where it is
desired to assign a unique registration number (or similar) for each new record.
When an auto-incrementing sequence is used, the default value can be left empty - in which case whenever a record is
added (or updated when the field was previously empty), the field is set to the next
number in the sequence.
Alternatively, the default value can be set to a text pattern that includes a "*" placeholder for the value.
E.g. if the
default value is set to "R*" this would generate field values "R000001", "R000002", etc. as each new record is added,
assuming the auto-incrementing sequence starts at 1 and the padding width has been set to 6.
To set the text field settings use Configure|Advanced|Text Field Settings.
Matching Text Fields

There are various situations where the software needs to determine whether a text field 'matches' a search pattern.
E.g. when
deciding whether to include a record in a custom index, or when using the 'advanced search' facility to locate records matching a
given set of conditions.
Such matches are determined by comparing the text field value with the search pattern - i.e. some text - in one of four ways.
Note
the comparison is always case insensitive e.g. 'Fred' is considered to be the same as 'FRED':
Exact Match - The text must match precisely.
Left Match - I.e. the pattern is a prefix of the field value, also known as left-hand truncation.
Right Match - I.e. the pattern is a suffix of the field value, also known as right-hand truncation.
Containing Match - I.e. the field value contains the match pattern anywhere.
See:
Help Reference - A.83 Procedures By Subject: Text Fields
9.5. Records, Fields And Indexes: Date Fields

These fields store calendar dates.
Breeders Assistant has a system of configurable date formats for use in different contexts - e.g. it is possible to use one date format
for data entry and another for outputting dates e.g. in pedigrees.
When entering dates in many situations it is not necessary to
enter a full date (i.e. with the day, month and year all specified).
E.g. it is possible to enter a 'birth year' rather than the complete
date of birth.
Date Formats

formats, choose Configure|Preferences (
To change the date Ctrl+E) and move to the Date tab.
9.6. Records, Fields And Indexes: Currency Fields

Currency fields are used to store amounts of money, prefixed by a currency symbol.

Currency Formats
To change the currency formats, choose Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) and move to the Currency tab.

In addition to the above there are several other field data types:
Multiline Fields - These are similar to text fields except they may have multiple lines of text, however they cannot be
used to sort indexes and do not have other text field settings (such as duplicate prevention).
They are used for
predefined purposes such as the contact record postal address, and the notes field that is provided in every record type.
Reference Fields - Are used to store links (references) to other records.
E.g. a cat record contains a reference for the
owner - a link to the contact record for the cat's (primary) owner.
When sorting an index, reference fields can be compared using a specified field in the target record - i.e. within the
record that the reference field links to.
E.g. when comparing cat records by the breeder reference, you might compare by
the last name/organization.
This makes it possible to set up indexes that are ordered according to referenced data, such
as a list of cats ordered by the breeder name.
When searching for specific records it is possible to set match conditions based on fields in the referenced records.
E.g.
to search for cats where the sire is a particular breed.
This would involve setting a match condition for the Sire
reference, then choosing the breed field of the sire record type (i.e., cat records) and the specifying the text of the
desired breed.
Flag Fields - Are used to store logical values: information that has either a yes or no value.
E.g. whether a given contact
is a vet or not.
The value of a flag field is not necessarily shown as "yes" and "no".
It depends on what the field is used for.
E.g. the sex
field is a flag field, but it is shown (by default) as "stud" or "queen".
Some flag fields can also be set to a 'don't know'
value.
This is the case for the sex field: for a cat its sex is either male, female, or unknown (though it's much better to
set the sex if known - certain features in Breeders Assistant require the sex to be correctly set to function).
Count Fields - These are used to store whole numbers e.g. 1, 2, 3 etc.
Time Fields - These are used to store time of day values e.g. 2:30pm.
The main use for time fields is with
appointment/task records.
See:
9.4. Records, Fields And Indexes: Text

Fields
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:

24. Appointment/Task Records
9.8. Records, Fields And Indexes: User Defined Fields

All record types have a set of up to 25 general purpose user defined fields.
These fields are divided into 5 groups each of the
following types: text fields, date fields, flag fields, currency fields, and count fields.
Thus there are 5 user defined text fields, 5 user
defined date fields, etc.
Initially, the fields have names such as "User Field 1", "User Field 2", etc.
They can be renamed - select
Configure|Advanced|User Defined Field Names (or click the Rename Fields button within any record details window).
See:
Help Reference - A.91 Procedures By Subject: User Defined Fields

9.9. Records, Fields And Indexes: Field Codes

A field code is a placeholder for information extracted from (usually) the current record.
Field codes are used in text expansions e.g.
to define the text that appears in forms such as pedigree layouts.
NOTE:
It is often not necessary to work with field codes directly.
This is because Breeders Assistant is supplied with many
different predefined forms - e.g. standard pedigree layouts - that can be customized without needing to work at the field code
level.
However, to access all possible customizations it is necessary to work directly with text expansions and field codes for
maximum flexibility.
A field code typically consists of the field name surrounded by angle brackets, e.g.:
<Name>
Field codes are case insensitive. I.e., <Name> is the same as <NAME>.
NOTE:
If it is necessary to include a literal opening angle bracket within a text expansion, precede it with the backslash
character. I.e.:
\<
This is usually not necessary with closing angle brackets as they are only interpreted as field code terminators when unprotected
opening angle brackets precede them.
Some field codes accept parameters that adjust the generated text.
These are described in section 4 "Fields And Field Codes
Reference" (p.10) of the Help Reference.
There are several types of field code, which differ according to the source of the text generated:
Data Field Codes

These are field codes
where the replacement text is taken directly from fields of records in the database.
E.g. the <Name> field code
for cat records maps directly to the Name field.
Most field codes are of this type.
Synthesized Field Codes

These are field codes where the
replacement text is calculated or 'processed' from data derived from database records.
A simple
example is the <FullName> field code that's available with contact records.
It is replaced with the full name of the contact and is
created as needed by concatenating the Title, First Names/Initials and Last Name/Organization fields, separated by spaces.
(There is no single field within a contact record that contains the full name; it is separated into 3 parts).
Another important case where a synthesized field code is used is for the inbreeding coefficient.
Cat records have no field that stores
the inbreeding coefficient (COI). This is deliberate and by design - inbreeding coefficients are calculated as and when needed.
But
there is a field code <InbreedingCoefficient>.
When this field code is used in a text expansion - such as within a pedigree layout
or in the record list - the inbreeding coefficient is calculated and shown in the form.
This means the inbreeding is always up to date.
Incidentally Breeders Assistant uses caching internally to try to avoid repeatedly re-computing inbreeding coefficients where
possible.
As another example, cat records support a field code <ShortTitledName>.
This is constructed by concatenating the Short Title,
Name, and the Name Suffix fields.
See section 4.7 "Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records" of the Help Reference.
System Field Codes

Most field codes are used
to obtain data from the current record.
Some field codes however do not relate to the current record at
all.
These are called system field codes and they always begin with a dollar ($) sign.
E.g. <$Date> expands to the current date,
formatted using the current output date format.
See section 4.5 "Fields And Field Codes Reference: System Field Codes" of the Help
Reference.
Link Count Field Codes

With these field codes the replacement text is the number of records that have the current (context) record as the target of a
reference field.
E.g. with contact records there is a field code <OwnedCount> that is the number of cats that have the given contact
record as their (primary) owner.
See section 4 "Fields And Field Codes Reference" (p.10) of the Help Reference.
See:


14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:

18. Records And Inbreeding
29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis

See Also:

Help Reference - 4.5 Fields And Field Codes Reference: System Field Codes
9.10. Records, Fields And Indexes: Chaining Reference Field Codes

There are two distinct ways that field codes associated with reference fields can be used. These are best described by example.
Consider a cat record.
It has a link to the contact record for its (primary) owner.
In any situation where a text expansion is used in the context of a cat record - such as within a pedigree layout - the field code
<Owner> will expand as the full name of the owner.
This is the first way reference field codes are used.
As another example, consider
an accounting record.
It has a reference field that is a link to the cat with which the transaction is associated.
Within an accounting
form such as an invoice the field code <Cat> can be included - this is then replaced with the cat's name.
The second way involves joining together the field code for the reference plus a field code for the target record that's being
referenced.
E.g. considering a cat record, the field code <OwnerAddress> is the postal address of the (primary) owner of the cat.
Effectively this is a joining of <Owner> (a cat record field code) and <Address> (a contact record field code).
It is possible to join any
reference field code to fields within the referenced record in this way.
Here are some further examples of field codes that can be used within text expansions for cat records:
<OwnerPhone> is the owner's phone number.
<OwnerEmail> is the owner's email address.
<FatherOwner> is the full name of the sire's (primary) owner.
<MotherFather> is the name (with title) of the maternal grandsire.
<MotherFatherRegNo> is the registration no. of the maternal grandsire.
<FatherInbreedingCoefficient> is the inbreeding coefficient of the sire.
See:

Data Types
9.7. Records, Fields And Indexes: Other Field

14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:

23. Accounting Records
9.11. Records, Fields And Indexes: Indexes

An index in Breeders Assistant is a list of records of a given type in a prescribed order. It is defined by:
Sort Order - The order in which the records are indexed.
Match Conditions - Optional selection criteria to determine which records are included in the index.
If no conditions are
given an index will include all records of the given type.
Columns - The columns that are to be included in the record list when the index is displayed.
Often these are simply the
values of particular fields (e.g. name,
registration no., etc. for cat records).
Each record type is associated with a number of indexes.

Many of these are standard indexes that are automatically created when a
new database is initialized.
E.g. cat records always have an index called By name that includes all cats sorted by name.
It is
possible to create additional, custom, indexes.
Breeders Assistant automatically keeps all indexes updated as records are added, deleted and modified.
The available indexes can be seen by clicking in the View box - just above the record list in the main window.
To display the records
in a different order, click in the View box and select a different index.
To create a new index e.g. to display the records in a different
order, use Index|Manage and select the option to create a new index.

Indexes may be customized e.g. to change the sort ordering, or to change the columns that are shown when in the record list.
Index Match Conditions

The index match conditions determine which records are included in an index.
If no match conditions are set the index includes all available records of the current type.
To change the match conditions for the current index use Index|Match Conditions.
Index Sort Order

The ordering of the records in an index is defined by a set of one or more fields.
There must always be at least one sort field
defined.
For cat records this is often the Name field.
Multiple sort fields can be used to add secondary orderings e.g. if an index is created using the date of death as the primary sort
order it would be commonplace to add Name as a secondary ordering.
To change the sort order for the currently displayed index use Index|Sort Order.
Index Columns
The columns that
are displayed in the record list are set separately for each index.
It is possible to change both the order of the
columns and the columns themselves.
To change the columns for the currently displayed index use Index|Columns.
To resize the columns simply drag the column separators; these sizes will then be remembered.
Default Index Columns

a set of 'default index columns'.
These are used when creating new indexes.
It is also possible to configure
The purpose of the default set is to choose the columns that are commonly required to be shown with every index.
E.g. if you chose
to allocate one of the user defined fields for a particular, custom, purpose, you may well want to arrange for that field to appear in
every index you create, aswell as in all the standard (inbuilt) indexes.
Whilst this could be effected by manually adjusting every
index, it would be better to add this field to the set of default columns.
To change the default index columns for the current record type use Configure|Advanced|Default Index Columns.
Search Results Index

When either Record|Search
( Ctrl+S) or Record|Advanced Search ( Ctrl+Shift+S) is used to locate matching records,
the records located are stored in the 'Search Results' index.
Fundamentally this operates just like any other index - it displays selected records in a defined order - however it differs in that the
match conditions and the sort ordering are automatically set when either of these search tools are used.
To restore the record list after a search, e.g. to go back to displaying all records, click the View box to revert to the previously
displayed index.
See:
9.12.
Records, Fields And Indexes: Matching Records
15. Cat Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.25 Procedures By Subject: Customizing Indexes
Help Reference - A.45 Procedures By Subject: Indexes

for Records
Help Reference - A.77 Procedures By Subject: Searching
9.12. Records, Fields And Indexes: Matching Records

This is the process in which a set of match conditions are applied to a collection of records to see whether they meet those
conditions.
Record matching occurs in various different situations, e.g.:
When searching for all the records that meet certain conditions (such as when using Record|Advanced Search
( Ctrl+Shift+S)).
E.g. (1) if you wanted a list of all contact records that are vets, or (2) if you wanted a list of all
contacts that live in the US or Canada.
When trying to find the first record listed in the record list that meets a specific condition (using Record|Find
( Ctrl+F)).
E.g. (3) if you wanted to find the first cat born in a given year.
If 2 or more field match conditions are used there is also a choice as to whether all conditions should match (so called restrictive
matching), or whether just any one condition need match (so called relaxed matching).
For the examples given above the match conditions would be:
E.g. (1) - All contacts that are vets.
In this case there is just one field match condition: the flag field Vet must be set to true.
E.g. (2) - All contacts that live in the US or Canada.
In this case there are two conditions: the text field Country must be set to
'United States', or the text field Country must be set to 'Canada'.
And because there are 2 conditions it is also necessary to select
relaxed matching.
E.g. (3) - find the first cat born in a given year.
In this case there are two conditions: the Date of Birth field must be no earlier
than January 1st of the given year, and also the same field must be no later than December 31st of that same year.
And since there
are 2 conditions it is also necessary to select restricted matching: both conditions must match.
See:

Data Types
14. Contact Records
9.13. Records, Fields And Indexes: Adding Records

At its simplest, adding a record is simply a matter of first switching to the record type you want to add, if necessary, and then
selecting Record|Add Record ( Keypad+).
However there are other ways to add records.
E.g., there may be times when it is helpful to add a record that is very similar to an
existing record.
In this case, it is generally quicker to make a copy of the existing record and then change the copy.
To do this just
select the record and then choose Record|More Data Entry Options|Duplicate Record ( Keypad*).
Breeders Assistant has ways to streamline the addition of associated records such as vet records and vaccination records.
E.g.
consider how you might go about adding a vaccination record for a cat.
You could just switch to vaccination records, select Record|
Add Record ( Keypad+) and then enter all the details, including selecting the cat the vaccination record is for.
However, a quicker
way is usually to do it 'the other way round' - start with the record of the relevant cat displayed, and then use a ready-made option
to get Breeders Assistant to add a vet record for that cat.
To do this right-click over the selected record, choose
Add Associated Record from the popup menu, then choose Vet Record.

Another way records are added is as a side effect of adding some other record.
E.g. when adding a cat record, you may well want to
set up links to its sire, dam, breeder etc.
If the database does not already contain records for the sire etc., Breeders Assistant lets
you add those records at the same time.
I.e. you do not have to make sure that the target records for the links exist prior to making
those links.
Perhaps the best example of this is when adding a cat record and add its ancestors: the Ancestors tab of the Cat Details window
displays up to 4 generations of ancestors using an on-screen 'pedigree' - you can just select/create the ancestors in situ and
Breeders Assistant will create records for any ancestor for which there was not already a record, and link the records correctly.
For full details about the Ancestors tab and how to use it to enter a pedigree, please see section 4 "Setting The Ancestors" (p.9) of
the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
These methods are manual methods: you are keying in the information.
It is also possible to import data in bulk if it is available
externally in a text/CSV file.
See 11. Importing Data.
Keyboard Shortcuts

Breeders Assistant provides various keyboard shortcuts to speed data entry if you prefer to use the keyboard (only):
F6 - to update the notes field for the selected record.
F7 - to update the user defined fields for the selected record.
F2 - to set or change the sire of the selected cat/mating.
Ctrl+F2 - to view or update (modify) the details of the sire of the selected cat/mating.
This will be disabled (grayed
out) if the sire has not yet been set.
F3 - to set or change the dam of the selected cat/mating.
Ctrl+F3 - to view or update the details of the dam of the selected cat/mating. This will be disabled (grayed out) if
the dam has not yet been set.
F4 - to set or change the breeder of the selected cat.
Ctrl+F4 - to view or update the details of the breeder of the selected cat.
This will be disabled (grayed out) if the
breeder has not yet been set.
Shift+F4 - to go to the breeder's record - i.e. the breeder becomes the current record.
out) if the breeder has not yet been set.
TIP: Use the "back" button on the toolbar (Alt+Left-Arrow) to undo this
(return to the selected cat).
F5 - to set or change the owner of the selected cat.
Ctrl+F5 - to view or update the details of the owner of the selected cat.
owner has not yet been set.
Shift+F5 - to go to the owner's record - i.e. the owner becomes the current record.
This will be disabled (grayed out)
if the owner has not yet been set.
TIP: Use the "back" button on the toolbar (Alt+Left-Arrow) to undo this (return to
the selected cat).
See:

11. Importing Data

25. Vaccination Records
26. Vet Records
See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 4 Setting The Ancestors (p.9)
Help Reference - A.54 Procedures By Subject: Main Window

and Data Entry
9.14. Records, Fields And Indexes: Updating Records

At its simplest, updating (modifying) a record is simply a matter of displaying the relevant record, and then selecting Record|
Update Record ( Enter).
Breeders Assistant also has shortcut ways to update linked records.
E.g. you may have a cat record displayed, and realize there is
an error in the contact details of its owner.
You could then update it as described above.
However because it is a linked record (the
cat record links to it as the owner), Breeders Assistant provides a shortcut that is both quicker and means you don't have to move
away from the current record.
To do this right-click over the cat record, choose Linked Records from the popup menu, then choose
Owner, then choose Update Record.
The option will be disabled (grayed out) if there is currently no owner recorded.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Breeders Assistant provides various keyboard shortcuts to speed data entry if you prefer to use the keyboard (only):
F6 - to update the notes field for the selected record.
F7 - to update the user defined fields for the selected record.
F2 - to set or change the sire of the selected cat/mating.
Ctrl+F2 - to view or update (modify) the details of the sire of the selected cat/mating. This will be disabled (grayed
out) if the sire has not yet been set.
F3 - to set or change the dam of the selected cat/mating.
Ctrl+F3 - to view or update the details of the dam of the selected cat/mating.
This will be disabled (grayed out) if
the dam has not yet been set.
F4 - to set or change the breeder of the selected cat.
Ctrl+F4 - to view or update the details of the breeder of the selected cat.
breeder has not yet been set.
Shift+F4 - to go to the breeder's record - i.e. the breeder becomes the current record.
out) if the breeder has not yet been set.
TIP: Use the "back" button on the toolbar (Alt+Left-Arrow) to undo this
(return to the selected cat).
F5 - to set or change the owner of the selected cat.
Ctrl+F5 - to view or update the details of the owner of the selected cat.
owner has not yet been set.
Shift+F5 - to go to the owner's record - i.e. the owner becomes the current record.
This will be disabled (grayed out)
if the owner has not yet been set.
TIP: Use the "back" button on the toolbar (Alt+Left-Arrow) to undo this (return to
the selected cat).
See:
9.7. Records, Fields And Indexes: Other Field Data

Types

15. Cat Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.54 Procedures By Subject: Main Window and Data Entry

9.15. Records, Fields And Indexes: Navigating Between Records

There are various ways to move between records.
Manually

You can manually scroll up/down the record list using a combination of the scroll bar, page up/down and the up/down keys.
Using Find

above the record list, can be used to quickly jump to a particular record.
Or, you can use Record|Find (
The 'Find' box, Ctrl+F)
or Record|Advanced Find ( Ctrl+Shift+F)
to locate a record with a more specific condition.
Searching

You can search for groups of matching records.
Using Tagging

You can tag records in various ways, then you can move between tagged records. It is also possible to restrict the record list so it
only shows tagged records - use Tag|List Tagged Records Only ( Ctrl+H).
Tagging is introduced in the "First Steps" tutorial and, if you have the Professional or Extended Edition, is covered in more detail in
the "Tagging With The Professional/Extended Edition" tutorial.
To access these - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help
Shortcuts to Move To The Sire/Dam

the sire or dam of the selected record - Shift+F2 immediately switches to the sire's
There are keyboard shortcuts to navigate to
record
and Shift+F3 immediately switches to the dam.
Navigating Ancestors Through The Pedigree

If you want to move between the ancestors of a cat,
there is a simple shortcut if you have a
normal
pedigree displayed in the main
window.
Simply point at any ancestor in the pedigree, right-click, choose the ancestor's name from the popup menu, then choose
the 'Go To Ancestor Name' option.
Or, just double-click the ancestor's cell within the pedigree.
See:
9.12.
Records, Fields And Indexes: Matching Records
9.18. Records, Fields And Indexes: Finding Specific Records
9.19. Records, Fields And Indexes: Searching For Records

10. Tagging Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.36 Procedures By Subject: Finding Records
Help Reference - A.54 Procedures By Subject: Main Window and

Data Entry

Help Reference - A.77 Procedures By Subject:

Records
Searching for
9.16. Records, Fields And Indexes: Autocompletion

Autocompletion is a facility in Breeders Assistant whereby you can add frequently used words to a 'hidden' list, and then it will
automatically complete these words when you type them in as you add/update records.
E.g. in the Health tab of the Cat Details window there is a field where you can enter the cause of death.
It isn't unusual for
different cats to have the same cause of death, e.g. say gastroenteritis.
By adding this word to the autocompletion list, whenever
you type in the first 4 letters of the word, i.e. "gast", Breeders Assistant will automatically fill in the rest.

To add a term to the autocompletion list use Configure|Advanced|Autocompletion Terms.

Autocompletion is not supported by all fields, but it is by many.
TIP:
In order to see the Health tab in the Cat Details window it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select
Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click
OK).
See:
Help Reference - A.9 Procedures By Subject: Autocompletion
9.17. Records, Fields And Indexes: Deleting Records

At its simplest, deleting a single record is simply a matter of displaying the relevant record, and then using Record|Delete Record
( Del).
TIP:
If the Del key doesn't appear to work, first click in the record list area to ensure it has 'keyboard focus'.
Deleting Multiple Records

It is possible to delete multiple records in a single operation. E.g. to delete all records of a given type, or all records in the current
index, or all records that are tagged.
Use Record|Delete Records ( Shift+Del) to delete multiple records in a single step.
Deletion of Dependent Records

Some records have mandatory links:
i.e. the record insists on a link being valid before Breeders Assistant will let you add it.
E.g. a
vaccination record has a mandatory link to a cat record: it is meaningless for a vaccination record to exist if it is not linked to a cat
record.
A consequence of this is that if you delete a record that is the target of such a mandatory link - i.e. the cat record in the above
example - Breeders Assistant will automatically delete all such dependent records.
You will be asked to confirm such deletion
operations.
Repair of Broken Links After Deleting a Record

When deleting a record, any other records that have (non-mandatory) links to that record would normally have those links removed.
E.g. if you delete the record for a cat that happens to be the sire of other cats in the database, then the records for those other cats
will have the link to the sire record removed.
Sometimes, however, this is not what you want.
Using the same example, lets say that you had by mistake added two records for
the sire, but with the name spelled differently, one being incorrect.
When you discover this error, you will want to not only delete the
incorrect record, but also change all the links that other records have to the record being deleted, so they now link to the correct
record.
Whenever this situation occurs, Breeders Assistant will warn you and give you the option to replace all such links with a link
to another record of the same type.
E.g. imagine you have you have created two records for a cat called "Fred".
In one of them you have correctly spelled his name as
"Fred" but in the other you entered "Fredd" by mistake.
Furthermore, imagine that you have added other cats and have referenced
both these records as the sire - i.e. you have some cats recorded as being out of "Fred", and others out of "Fredd".
You then realize
your mistake and delete the erroneous record for "Fredd".
When you delete "Fredd" Breeders Assistant notices that there are links
to "Fredd" from other records - as the sire. It asks if you want to replace those links with references to another cat.
You accept this
offer, at which point you can select from a list of all the cats in the database.
You select "Fred" in the list, then click OK.
Breeders
Assistant then deletes the record for "Fred" and updates all those records that previously linked to "Fredd" so they now link to
"Fred" instead.
See:
10. Tagging Records
15. Cat Records


See Also:
Help Reference - A.28 Procedures By Subject: Deleting Records
9.18. Records, Fields And Indexes: Finding Specific Records

Breeders Assistant provides 3 ways to find a record:
1. The 'quick find' box - to find a record by entering the first few letters of the primary sort field of the currently
displayed index.
2. The Find window - to find a record by entering a match condition for a specific field.
This can also work with fields
other than the primary sort field, and can look for text anywhere in the field.
3. The Advanced Find window - to find a record by entering multiple match conditions.
Using The Find Box

To quickly move from one
record to another just enter the first few characters of the primary sort field in the 'Find' box and Breeders
Assistant will jump to the first record matching that field.

E.g. with cats displayed in the record list and sorted by name, to jump to a given cat's record just enter the first few letters of its
name.
Using The Find Window

To use this method select Record|Find ( Ctrl+F).

This will search within a specific field, and not necessarily the same field by
which the displayed records are ordered.
It is also possible to set other parameters e.g. to search in text fields for values other than
exact matches, and to match against non-text fields such as dates.
Using Advanced Find

The Record|Find (
Ctrl+F) feature is limited to finding records based on one field.
A more powerful option is to use Record|Advanced Find ( Ctrl+Shift+F).

Using this method it is possible to enter multiple
field match conditions.
Breeders Assistant will then scan through the displayed records, starting at the current record, looking for a
record that either matches all conditions or just one.

Using Find Next

Once Record|Find
( Ctrl+F)
or Record|Advanced Find ( Ctrl+Shift+F)
has been used, to move to the next match use
Record|Find Next Record ( Ctrl+N).
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.36 Procedures By Subject: Finding Records
9.19. Records, Fields And Indexes: Searching For Records

Breeders Assistant provides 2 ways to search for groups of records:
1. The Record|Search ( Ctrl+S) option - to search for records matching one or more search words.
2. The Record|Advanced Search ( Ctrl+Shift+S) option - to search for records that match multiple conditions.
There is also a 'similarity search' facility; this will be described in the next section.
Incidentally, the difference between 'finding' records and 'searching' for records is that 'finding' is used to locate the first record that
matches a given set of conditions, whereas 'searching' is concerned with locating groups of records all of which meet given search
conditions.
Using Search
This is typically
used to search for records with given word(s) as part of the key fields (such as the cat name), though it can be
configured to search other fields too.
To use this, select Record|Search ( Ctrl+S).

You can enter a search pattern - somewhat like a search engine. It will then search for records where the search fields match any of
the given search terms.
The words must match the search fields exactly.
To use left matching (left truncation) use "*" e.g. to search
for cats with the name starting "Fred" enter "Fred*" (without the quotes) as the search pattern.
The operation will default to search the most commonly used fields.
To change the fields that are searched, use the Configure
button within the Search window, or select Configure|Advanced|Search Fields.
Using Advanced Search

search facility whereby individual match conditions can be supplied for specific fields.
It is more
This provides a more powerful
complex to use, but provides a more specific search facility than the non-advanced search.
To access this select Record|
Advanced Search ( Ctrl+Shift+S).
Search Results Index

When either Record|Search
( Ctrl+S) or Record|Advanced Search ( Ctrl+Shift+S) is used, the records located are
stored in the 'Search Results' index which is then displayed in the record list.
To restore the record list after a search, for example to
go back to displaying all records, click in the View box to revert to a different index.
Repeating A Search - Saved Searches

It is possible to store the parameters of a search in order to repeat it later.

This is accomplished by setting up a 'saved search'.
It is simply a named set of search parameters.
To set up a saved search, first use either Record|Search ( Ctrl+S) or Record|Advanced Search ( Ctrl+Shift+S) (above)
to set the search parameters, then select Record|Saved Searches|Add Last Search.
A name can be given to the search
parameters, and from this point on the search can be repeated by simply selecting the search name from the Record|
Saved Searches menu.

See:
Help Reference - A.76 Procedures By Subject: Saved Searches
Help Reference - A.77 Procedures By Subject: Searching for Records
9.20. Records, Fields And Indexes: Similarity Searching

Similarity searching is a tool to help locate records with similarly spelled text fields.
A typical use of this is to locate cats with mis-spelled names.
To access this feature select Record|Similarity Search.
Options are provided to select the records that are to be searched, and the
text field in which to look for similarities.
It is also possible to control the degree to which a field value has to be similar in order to be considered a match.
This is given as a
percentage threshold.
The lower the threshold, the greater the divergence that is allowed between records and yet still be
considered 'similar'.
A report is then generated showing the similarities.
There is also an option to tag the located records.
Once tagged, the search results can be navigated using the tagged record
navigation tools.
Tagging is introduced in the "First Steps" tutorial.
To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the
Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
TIP:
With the Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant it is possible to carry out a similarity name check across the whole
database as part of the database inconsistency checking facility - use Tools|Advanced|Detect Database Inconsistencies.
See:
8.10.
Cat Database Files: Database Inconsistency Checking

10. Tagging Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.79 Procedures By Subject: Similarity Searching
9.21. Records, Fields And Indexes: Bulk Record Changes

Breeders Assistant provides the following tools for changing multiple records in a single operation:

Find & Replace - E.g. to change a given title as used by all cats - use Record|Find + Replace ( Ctrl+R).
Change Case - To change the case of a given field over multiple records - use Record|Advanced|Change Case.
E.g.
after completing an import you might realize that the imported cats all have their names in UPPER CASE, and you need
to change them all to be Title Case.
Transfer Field - For copying or moving the contents of one field to another over multiple records.
E.g. you might import
some data and then realize that within data you had imported, a user field actually belongs in another field.
E.g. if health
notes have been imported to a user defined field you can subsequently transfer them to the dedicated health notes field.
Use Record|Advanced|Transfer Field.
See:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.17 Procedures By Subject: Bulk Record Changes

10. Tagging Records

A tag is a marker that can be applied to a record or group of records in order to carry out a common operation on the group - such
as to print the records, or delete the records, or export the records as text/CSV - or simply to navigate between them as a subset.
Tagged records are shown in the record list with a different color.
Tagging is demonstrated in section 15 "Tagging" (p.34) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select
Tagging In The Personal Edition

With the Personal Edition of Breeders
Assistant there is a single tag, only.
A record is either 'tagged' or it is not.
The operations
available in the Tag menu refer simply to 'tagged' records, and when you carry out an operation that can be applied to multiple
records at the same time, you can choose whether to restrict to tagged records or not.
Tagging In The Professional or Extended Edition

With the Professional and Extended Editions of Breeders
Assistant the tagging facility supports multiple, independent, tags.
This
is also enabled in the Trial version of the product (so it can be trialled by potential customers of the Professional or Extended
Edition).
There are 8 tags that are 'user defined', plus some system tags that are applied to records as they are added or updated.
A name and a symbol can be given to each definable tag - use Tag|Set Tag Definitions.
The currently assigned tags for a record can be displayed in an optional 'Tags' column in the record list - to display this
column select an option from the Tag|Tags Column menu.
There is a set of 'active tags' - these are the tags that are applied to a record when you carry out any operation that
'tags' a record, e.g. manual tagging with the Tag|Tag Record ( Ctrl+T) command.
To set these tags, select Tag|
Choose Active Tags.
For a tutorial introduction to these features please refer to the "Tagging With The Professional/Extended Edition" tutorial. To access
this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
Tagging Records

To tag records manually use Tag|Tag Record ( Ctrl+T).

This reverses (toggles) the tag status of the currently selected record,
i.e. it either tags or untags the record.
Other methods to tag records include:
Tag|Search And Tag - Used to search for records using a set of match conditions and tag the located records.
Tag|Tag All Records - Used to tag all records of a given type e.g. cats, contacts, etc.
Helpful if you need to apply an
operation to most, but not all records - tag them all then manually untag those that are to be excluded.
Tag|Tag Associated Records - With cats and contact records it is possible to tag records associated with the currently
selected record.
E.g. to tag all the immediate (first generation) descendants of the selected cat: right-click over the cat in
the record list, choose Tag Associated Records, then
choose Direct Descendants.
Tag|Advanced|Tag All Records In Index - Tags all the records in the currently displayed index (view).
This is useful
when you have a selective index that only displays certain records, but would like to tag everything in it so that when
you revert to an index that includes all records they stand out in the list.
E.g. you could search for certain cat records,
tag all the search results, then switch back to the 'By name' index where those
records remain tagged.
Tag|Advanced|Tag Ancestors - Tags all the ancestors, or just the common ancestors, to a chosen number of
generations, for the currently selected cat or all the cats in the current index.
Tag|Advanced|Tag Descendants - Tags all the descendants, to a chosen number of generations, for the currently
selected cat or all the cats in the current index.
Determining When A Record Is 'Tagged'

With the Personal Edition, because there is only
1 tag available, a record is either tagged or it is not.
With the Professional or Extended Edition, this is enhanced as follows:
When the software needs to decide whether to treat a record as 'tagged' or not it does so by examining its tags to see if
it matches a set of matching tags - this is known as the 'tag match pattern' and is set using Tag|
Set Tag Match Pattern.
By default the tag match pattern is set to 'any tag' however that can be changed.
This is useful
if you use several record tags but then need to navigate/select records purely on the basis of specific tags.
In order to emphasize that the software uses the tag match pattern to determine whether a record is deemed to be
'tagged' or not, the user interface refers to records as
being 'tag matched' rather than simply 'tagged' as in the Personal
Edition.
This is made clear on the Tag menu, where the menu options refer to records that are 'Tag Matched' rather than
just 'Tagged' e.g. Tag|Go To First Tag Matched Record ( F8).
Navigating 'Tagged' Records In The Record List

When there are tagged records in the record list they are
distinguished by being shown in a different color:

This color can be changed - select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, then change the
'Tagged color'.
There are shortcuts to navigate between tagged records in the record list:
F8 - Moves to the first tagged record.
F9 - Moves to the next tagged record.
Shift+F9 - Moves to the previous tagged record (i.e., searches upwards to the last tagged record).
Shift+F8 - Moves to the last tagged record.
There are menu equivalents to all the above keyboard shortcuts (use the Tag menu).

Hiding Untagged Records

The record list can be filtered so that it only shows 'tagged' records: use Tag|List Tagged Records Only ( Ctrl+H)
(with the
Professional or Extended Edition use Tag|List Tag Matched Records Only ( Ctrl+H)).
This is a setting that is either on or off.

To restore the view to display the untagged records just use Ctrl+H again.
Displaying Tags In Pedigrees With The Professional or Extended Edition

Pedigree layouts (and some other documents) can be customized to include details of
applied tags.
Tags can be displayed both for
the subject cat in a pedigree layout (in its 'Details Box') and within the ancestors table.
Tags can be shown as either a symbol, or
name, or both.
For further information see section 10 "Using Tags In Pedigree Layouts" (p.13) of the 'Tagging With The
Professional/Extended Edition' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders
Assistant.
See:
9.19.
Records, Fields And Indexes: Searching For Records
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records
See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 15 Tagging (p.34)
'Tagging With The Professional/Extended

Edition' Tutorial - 10 Using Tags In Pedigree Layouts (p.13)
Help Reference - A.81 Procedures By Subject: Tagging

11. Importing Data

Breeders Assistant can import data from text/CSV files.
Note: There is a separate "Importing Data" tutorial that's describes the importing process in detail. To access this - and other
To import records of a given type -
cats, contacts, etc.
the process involves two steps.
First, a 'text file import layout' needs to be
defined.
This describes the structure of the text file to be imported - the column separators, quotation, and, most importantly, the
definition of which data is in which column.
Once the layout has been defined, the second step is to import the actual data.
Most of the effort in importing data into Breeders Assistant is in getting the import layout set up correctly.
Once that is done the
actual data import is normally rapid.
If you need to import multiple record types -
e.g. cats and contacts
- then it is important to import the records that contain links to
other record types last.
E.g. when importing both cats and contacts it is important to import the contact records first.
This is
because cat records can contain links to contacts (as breeder/owner) but not vice versa.
In order to create the links from the cat
records to the contacts, the contacts need to have been imported first.
Contents
11.1. Text
File Import Layouts
11.2. Import Options

11.3. Import Clash Handling
11.4. Resolving Ambiguous References

See:
11.1.
Importing Data: Text File Import Layouts
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.42 Procedures By Subject: Importing
11.1. Importing Data: Text File Import Layouts

Each record type in a Breeders Assistant database can have multiple import layouts. An import layout is, essentially, an ordered list
of fields together with overall file format information.
Fixed Width or Delimiter Separated

Text/CSV files can be imported that use either a delimiter to separate the columns, or they can have fixed width columns without
delimiters.
When setting up an import layout the choice between fixed width or delimiter separated should be made before
specifying the import fields; this is because the format chosen will affect the information needed for each field:
Fixed Width - Each field is always a fixed number of characters wide, with spaces used for padding to align the columns
in the import file.
Delimiter Separated - Each field is separated by a character such as a comma, TAB or semicolon.
You can optionally
also set up a field quotation character.
Field quotation is used to protect import fields that may contain the delimiter
character as 'real' data.
E.g. the following sample import data shows name & address information using comma delimiter with single character quotation on
the address field:
Mr, Fred, Bloggs, '17 High Street, Anytown, AB1 2CD'
Import Fields (Columns)

Every column that is present
in the import file needs to be defined, in order, in the import layout.
With fixed width format, the starting column and width in characters of the field must be supplied.
Other parameters depend on the field type:
Text Fields - You can opt to have case conversion.
E.g. when importing from a data source that only provides data in
UPPER CASE, you might want to convert to something that will display and print better.
For multiline fields, you can
choose the character that is used to split the field text into multiple lines.
Using the above example, comma would be
used as the multiline split character (address fields in Breeders Assistant are multiline, with each address line given on a
separate line within the one multiline box).
Flag Fields - You choose the patterns that mean 'true' and 'false'.
E.g. the sex field for a cat might use M and F to
specify the sex.
Date Fields - Select the date format of the import data.
NOTES:

1. If the import data contains a column for which there is no suitable field in Breeders Assistant to import it to, one option is to
import the column into a user defined field.
These fields (initially) have names such as "User Field 1".
Once imported the fields
can be renamed. See 9.3. Records, Fields And Indexes: Fields.

2. If the import data contains columns that, for whatever reason, you do not want to import, you can choose to import them to
the special 'Ignore' field.
Doing this will simply discard the data in that column as the import file is processed.
You can add as
many 'Ignore' columns as needed to the import layout.
3. If you have any control over the format of the import text/CSV file itself, it is recommended to use TAB delimited format
without quotation.
E.g. if exporting data from a spreadsheet for use in Breeders Assistant, save the data as 'Text (Tab delimited)'.
See:
Date Fields
Other Field Data Types
11.2. Importing Data: Import Options

The Import window has a number of options available to assist the importing process. These are accessed by clicking the Options
button.
Automatic/Manual Mode

The importing process can proceed either 'automatically' or 'manually'.

In automatic mode, Breeders Assistant tries to import the
data with as little intervention as possible. In manual mode, the software will present you with each import record, which you can
then choose to import or skip.
The data can also be edited as it is imported.
The default setting is automatic mode.
Tagging

to have the input records tagged.
This can be useful when importing a large batch of data that you wish to manually
You can opt
check after the import has completed.
By tagging the imported records you can manually inspect them, quickly moving between the
imported records.
Remove Diacritical Marks

Diacritical marks are accents that are used in, typically, European languages e.g. Å and é.
They can be removed during import, e.g.
to convert Å to (A) or é to e.
Options When Importing Cat Records

Various additional options are specific to importing cat records:

Auto-Detect Registry - When importing a cat's record, if a registration number is given but the registering body is not,
this option causes Breeders Assistant to attempt to determine the registering body from the number.
E.g. if a registration
number was given as 123456 CFA then the registry will be assumed to be CFA.
This works by examining the registration
number to see if it contains the name of a registering body within the registration number.
Breeders Assistant also
understands the format of CFA and TICA registration numbers, and if recognized will automatically set the registering
body field to CFA or TICA as appropriate.
Default Registry - When importing a cat, if a registration number is given but the registering body is not, and the
'Auto-Detect Registry' mechanism has been unable to identify the registry, the value of the 'Default Registry' setting is
used to fill in the registering body.
This is useful when all the data being imported concerns cats from a given registry.
E.g. when importing a database containing all TICA-registered cats.
Deduce Breed and Sex from CFA Registration Numbers - CFA registration numbers contain the cat's breed number
(CFA) and give its sex.
Breeders Assistant can automatically set the sex of the cat from this data, and fill in it's Breed
and related fields (Color etc.) by looking up the breed number in the breed data file.
For this to work the breed number
field in the breed data file must be populated with CFA breed numbers.
To add a new breed choose Configure|Breeds,
click the Add button then choose New Breed.
Deduce DOB from TICA Registration Numbers - TICA registration numbers contain the cat's date of birth.
Breeders
Assistant can automatically set the cat's Date of Birth field from this.
Translate Colors using Breed/Color Lookup Table - Breeders Assistant provides a means to 'normalize' the breed
fields of imported cat records using a lookup table.
This is useful when importing from a data source that has used
different abbreviations or names for standard colors.
E.g. a Burmese breeder in the US might use the term 'Sable' to
describe a genetically black Burmese; however in the UK this color is called 'Brown'.
A UK breeder importing such data
might want to have the color 'Sable' automatically converted to 'Brown' during import.
This is where the 'Breed/Color
Lookup Table' comes in.
It is simply a text file that maps from the import term(s) to the term(s) to be used within the
database.
Using the above example the lookup file could consist of a single line:
Sable,Brown
Automatically Add New Titles to the Titles Data File - If a title is seen during during import that is not in the titles
data file it can be automatically added using the 'Default' title highlight style.
This will normally cause the cat's name to
be automatically highlighted in red in pedigrees etc.
Note, this only applies to titles supplied as separate import fields.
It
does not apply when a title is imported as part of the cat's name.
E.g. if importing a cat which is a Norwegian Champion,
a title that's not in Breeders Assistant's list of standard titles, then if this title was supplied as part of the cat's name - i.e.
the name is given as Norwegian Champion Fred Breeders Assistant would not recognize it; however if the name were
given as Fred and the title was given in a separate import field as Norwegian Champion, then with this option turned on,
Norwegian Champion would automatically be added to the titles data file and the cat's name will consequently be
highlighted in pedigrees etc.

Options When Importing Contacts

The following options apply to the importation of contact records:
Default Country - A default value for the Country field in contact records can be set (unless it is explicitly specified in
the import data).
Include Country in Address Field - The Country can be automatically appended to the Address field.
Resolving Ambiguities
It is possible to control the
way the software treats ambiguous links when importing.
E.g. if the contact name Mrs Smith occurs as
the name of an owner during import when there are existing contact records with the names Mrs A Smith and Mrs B Smith, the
software needs to select one of those records as the 'link'.
With the 'Resolve Ambiguities' option enabled, Breeders Assistant will
prompt to manually resolve such ambiguities.
With the option disabled, it will choose either link itself.
This makes it possible to
quickly import data containing ambiguities without being forced to manually 'fix' every one.
However for accurate importation of
data containing such issues the ambiguity resolution option should enabled so the software will prompt to fix each ambiguity found.
See:
10. Tagging Records
14. Contact Records
15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:

15.9. Cat Records: Title Highlight Styles
15.10. Cat Records: Titles Data File

15.12. Cat Records: Breed Data File
11.3. Importing Data: Import Clash Handling

When importing a record there is always the possibility it may clash with an existing record.
E.g. you import a cat with the same
name as one that's already in the database.
When this happens the Importing Clash window is displayed.
The reason for the clash is given, along with a set of options to resolve the clash:
Merge, with priority to the imported data - Causes the imported fields to be combined with the existing record.
Where there is a field value in both the import record and the existing record the imported data will overwrite the
existing data.
Merge, with priority to the existing data - Causes the data in the imported fields to be combined with the existing
record.
Where there is a field value in both the import record and the existing record the imported data will be ignored.
Ignore the imported data - The import record is ignored.
Overwrite with the imported data - The existing record will be replaced with the import record.
Examine the import data and then decide - Takes you back to the Importing window, from where you can examine
and/or modify the import fields, and then you can decide whether to add or skip the record.
Same For All - Select this so that on subsequent clashes Breeders Assistant will automatically take the same action as
you have specified for this clash.
11.4. Importing Data: Resolving Ambiguous References

An ambiguous reference occurs when you try to import a reference that matches 2 or more records in the database.
E.g. if your
database contained contact records for 'Mr Fred Smith' and 'Mr John Smith', then an ambiguous import reference would occur if you
tried to import a cat where the breeder was set to 'Mr Smith'.
In such situations, and assuming the 'Prompt to resolve ambiguities' option is enabled, a list of records is shown from which you
must manually resolve the ambiguity.
See:
14. Contact Records

12. Exporting Data

Breeders Assistant can export records to text/CSV files.
This process involves two steps.
First, a 'text file export layout' needs to be defined.
This describes the format of the file to be
exported - the column separators, quotation, and, most importantly, the definition of what is to be exported in which column.
Once
the layout has been defined, the second step is to export the actual data.
Much of the effort in exporting data is in setting up an export layout correctly.
Once that is done the actual data export is normally
rapid.
Once an export layout has been created it is saved as part of the database for future use.
If you need to export records regularly
using the same format it is only necessary to create the export layout once.
Each record type has its own set of export layouts.
See:
12.1.
Exporting Data: Text File Export Layouts
See Also:
Help Reference - A.34 Procedures By Subject: Exporting
12.1. Exporting Data: Text File Export Layouts

A text file export layout defines everything about the format of a text export except the records themselves.
To create an export layout select Configure|Advanced|Text File Export Layouts and click the New Layout button.
There are two ways an export layout can be configured.
It can either use a text expansion that contains embedded field codes, or it
can be set as a list of fields.
Using A Field List

To do this choose the
option to select individual fields, and then add each field to be exported.
Options are also provided to set:
The field delimiter.
Typically this would be a comma for comma separated format (CSV) or tab separated if you intend to
save as a text (.txt) file.
The field quotation character to use, if any.
Whether to include a heading line - for field names.
Using A Text Expansion

This is an advanced option.
A text expansion is a line of text containing field codes and macros that are to be expanded for each record output.
This is a
powerful and highly configurable alternative to specifying the export format as a field list.
E.g. the following text expansion could be used to export the name, sire name, dam name, sex and inbreeding coefficient of cat
records with the columns separated by tabs:
<Name>[t]<FatherName>[t]<MotherName>[t]<Sex>[t]<InbreedingCoefficient>
To Export Records

layout has been defined, use Database|Export|Text File (CSV) to export the records themselves.
Once the text file export
See:


15. Cat Records

18. Records And

Inbreeding


A form in Breeders Assistant is a display of information taken from the current record and is displayed
in the right-hand side of the
main window - the form display area.
Perhaps the most commonly used forms are pedigree layouts.
Each record type in Breeders Assistant has its own set of forms. E.g. with cats there are forms for pedigrees, ancestor analysis,
inbreeding analysis, pedigree cover sheets etc.
There are actually three types of form: document forms, text forms and HTML forms.
Of these the most important are document
forms, which are used for high quality printing and feature typeset text with boxed layouts.
Text forms can be used for plain text output.
Their main use is for transferring text derived from a record into another application
such as an email client or a text editor.
HTML forms are similar to text forms, except the text is assumed to be in HTML.
Their sole
use in Breeders Assistant is for generating web pages comprising individual pedigrees.
Unless specified otherwise, whenever the term 'form' is used throughout the product documentation it actually means 'document
form', and this is the focus of much of the information in this section of the User Guide.
Form Names And The Form Display Area

In Breeders Assistant you always work with one form at a time, and this is displayed in the form display area of the main window.
To switch to a different form click the Display button - this is just above the top left corner of the form display area - and select a
different form.
Each form has a name that is displayed above the form display area, to the right of the Display button.
E.g. one of the standard
pedigree layouts included with the product has the form name Pedigree - 4G Copperplate - With Signature.
The Display button provides access to all forms using a hierarchical menu structure.
This menu structure is created from the form
names.

It is possible to customize existing forms and add new forms to the menu.
When naming new forms it is helpful to adhere to the existing naming convention, that is to say to use dashes(-) with spaces either
side to separate parts of the name.
The dashes are used by Breeders Assistant to organize the form names into the menu hierarchy
that that is shown when the Display button is clicked.
E.g. if you add a own custom pedigree form, don't simply call it something like My Pedigree Layout.
Instead, call it Pedigree - My
Layout.
This way it will appear in the Pedigree section of the popup menu you see when you click the Display button.
Note there
must be a space before and after the dash.
Contents
13.1. Ancestor Highlighting In Pedigrees
13.2. Print Margins
13.3. Saving As PDF
13.4. Saving As JPEG

(Image)
13.5. Pedigree Cover Sheets


13.6. Including Photos In Pedigrees
13.7. Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms
13.8. Watermarks
13.9. Borders
13.10. Calligraphic Text
13.11. Boxes
13.12. Design Mode
13.13. General Box Properties
13.14. Box Borders
13.15. Text Areas
13.16. Logo Boxes
13.17. Picture (Photo) Boxes
13.18. Details Boxes
13.19. Tabular Ancestors Boxes
13.20. Circular Ancestors Boxes
13.21. Simple Text Boxes
13.22. Text Boxes
13.23. Formatting Instructions And Format Codes
13.24. Text/HTML Forms
13.25. Transferring Forms Between Databases - Form Import/Export

See:
13.5. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Pedigree Cover Sheets
13.24. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Text/HTML Forms
See Also:
Help Reference - A.37 Procedures By Subject: Form Customization
Help Reference - A.64 Procedures By Subject: Pedigree Customization
Help Reference - A.65 Procedures By Subject: Pedigree Layouts
13.1. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Ancestor Highlighting In Pedigrees

When a traditional, tabular style of pedigree form is displayed, there are options to highlight the ancestors.
This is where the 'cells' in the ancestors table use background colors and patterns to show the ancestors that are repeated, or are
'common'.
A 'common' ancestor is one that is present on both the sire and dam sides of the pedigree, and therefore gives rise to
inbreeding.
Ancestor highlighting is selected using the Ancestor Highlight box which can be found above the form display area.
Custom Ancestor Highlighting

With the Professional and Extended
Editions of Breeders Assistant it is also possible to highlight inbred ancestors and define custom
ancestor highlights e.g. to apply highlighting to ancestors with specific field values, or ancestors with field values in common.
To create a custom ancestor highlight, use Configure|Custom Ancestor Highlights.
For worked examples of the custom ancestor highlight facility please refer to the "Working With Data" tutorial. To access this - and
other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.

See:
19.4. Ancestors: Ancestor Highlighting

See Also:
Help Reference - A.4 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Highlighting
13.2. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Print Margins

One of the properties of a form is the 'printer/paper configuration' that it is associated with.
The printer/paper configuration determines the actual (physical) printer that the form will print to, and related settings such as the
paper size, print quality, paper margins, etc.
Printer/paper configurations are covered in detail in 22. Printer Configuration.
Adjusting the printed margins of a form is therefore a case of adjusting the settings of the printer/paper configuration that the form
uses.
To adjust the margins of the displayed form/pedigree, right-click over the pedigree, choose Printer/Paper Properties from the
popup menu, then adjust the sizes of the top/bottom/left/margins.
This topic is also covered in section 5 "Adjusting The Page Margins" (p.11) of the 'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access this - and
See:
See Also:
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 5 Adjusting The Page Margins (p.11)
Help Reference - A.69 Procedures By Subject: Print Margins
13.3. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Saving As PDF

If you have Windows 10 or Windows 11 it is straightforward to configure the software to use the 'Print To PDF' facility that's included
as standard as part of Windows 10/11.
Setting up Breeders Assistant to print to PDF - including setting it up so as to retain the means to print to a physical printer as well
as printing to PDF - is demonstrated in section 11 "Creating A PDF Pedigree" (p.24) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial.
To access this - and
See:
'First Steps' Tutorial - 11 Creating A PDF Pedigree (p.24)
Help Reference - A.68 Procedures By Subject: Print Customization
13.4. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Saving As JPEG (Image)

An alternative to saving as PDF is to save the displayed form as an image (JPEG) file using Form|Save Form As.
When saving as an image, options are provided to select the dimensions of the image (in pixels) using a selection of common sizes
or resolutions, the extent of the pedigree margin (also in pixels), and whether or to have a shadowed 'paper edge' around the
image.
See:
22.3.
Printer Configuration: Printing To PDF

A cover sheet is designed to be used as the front page of a 'folded' pedigree.
This is where the pedigree is printed on one side, the
cover sheet on the other side, and then the whole sheet is folded in half like a booklet.
To produce such a folded pedigree in Breeders Assistant the process is to first print a cover sheet layout on one side of the paper,
then switch to a pedigree layout and then print that on the other side (feeding the paper back through the printer).
To display a cover sheet, click Display|Pedigree Cover Sheet.

Then select Form|Print ( Ctrl+P) to print it.
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.63 Procedures By Subject: Pedigree Cover Sheets
13.6. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Including Photos In Pedigrees

Including a photo of a cat in its pedigree involves 2 steps: first, storing a photo file name as part of the cat's record, and, second,
displaying a pedigree layout that includes space for the photo.
An important point to note is that, whether or not a photo has been associated with a cat (as part of its record) - or any other
information for that matter - is that its inclusion in a pedigree depends on the pedigree layout too.
Most pedigree layouts only
include selected information from the cat's record.
This is by design - just because any given piece of information has been entered

for a cat does not mean that you always want it to appear in its pedigree.
E.g. registration numbers are not always wanted in
printed pedigrees even if they have been entered.
1. To enter the photo for a cat, make sure it's record includes the photo. Select Record|Update Record ( Enter).
If
you have the 'advanced cat records' setting enabled, move to the Pictures tab and enter the photo as picture #1.
If
you have the 'advanced cat records' setting turned off, enter the photo on the General tab.
The full file name should
be entered.
Generally the best way to select the photo is to click the button button (to the right of the photo file
name box).
2. To display a pedigree layout that includes the photo, click the Display button, select Pedigree from the menu, then
locate a style that includes space for the photo.
E.g. Pedigree|4G Copperplate|With Picture.
Including a photo for a cat and printing a pedigree is also demonstrated in section 10 "Setting Photos" (p.23) of the 'First Steps'
Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
See:

See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 10 Setting Photos (p.23)
Help Reference - A.66 Procedures By Subject: Picture/Photo Boxes
Help Reference - A.67 Procedures By Subject: Pictures/Photos
13.7. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms
A Breeders Assistant database is initialized with standard forms.
These may be customized in various ways:
Change or customize the printer/paper configuration.
E.g. this is how to change the paper size, paper margins, and any
other printer-specific settings.
Specify the watermark picture, if any, to be displayed 'behind' a form's contents.
Set or customize the border, if any, to be drawn around the form's contents.
Customize the contents and appearance of many of the boxes that make up the document's layout. This is perhaps the
most important aspect of form customization.
E.g. with a pedigree this is how to alter the information that is included in
the printout, such as whether to include the inbreeding coefficient etc.
New Forms
In addition to
changing details of existing forms it is possible to create new ones.
Once created a form can be further customized
using the methods outlined above e.g. to specify a watermark picture.
To create a new form use Form|New Form.
This is covered in more detail in section 12 "Creating A New Layout" (p.28) of the
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial.
See:
13.8. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Watermarks

13.9. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Borders

13.11. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Boxes



See Also:
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 12 Creating A New Layout (p.28)
Help Reference - A.37 Procedures By Subject: Form Customization

A watermark is a picture (photo/image) that appears 'behind' a form.
Typically such pictures are chosen to be very bright (i.e.
faded), so they do not obscure the form itself.
Watermarks are set separately for each form.
I.e. different pedigree layouts can use different watermarks.
The watermark of a form can be set in 2 ways:
Static - A fixed picture that is independent of the current record.
This is the normal way watermarks are used.
E.g. with
a pedigree layout you might use a particular photo or breed study that is to always appear behind the pedigree
irrespective of which cat's pedigree is shown.
Dynamic - A file name that can vary depending on the current record.
This is typically used when you want the
watermark for a pedigree to be a photo of the subject cat.
This is demonstrated in more detail in section 3 "Setting A Watermark Image" (p.6) of the 'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access this
- and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
Breeders Assistant provides various options to adjust the watermark display, including:
Brightness - It can fade the photo for you.

Positioning - The watermark may be aligned to the center or any corner/edge of the form.
The image can be shifted by
specific distances in the X and Y directions.
Size - The watermark may be stretched to fill the form background, with an option to have 'bleeding' - whether or not to
include or exclude the paper margins.
If the image is not stretched it can be tiled instead.
See:

See Also:
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 3 Setting A Watermark Image (p.6)
Help Reference - A.94 Procedures By Subject: Watermarks

Forms such as pedigree layouts may have an optional decorative border around the edge of the page.
When present this causes the
form's contents to be shrunk and repositioned within the borders.
Borders are set separately for each form.
There are 2 ways to set a border:
Standard Border Styles - By choosing from a list of standard (inbuilt) border styles.
This is the easiest way to set a
border, and is used by many of the forms included as standard.
Custom Border - A border is made up of a series of lines of differing thicknesses and colors.
It is also possible to use
tiled monochrome (2 color) images within a border line e.g. for 'walking paw'-type effects.
Borders may be set separately
for each side of the page.
In addition to setting borders around the page they may also be set on a box-by-box basis.
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.11 Procedures By Subject: Borders
13.10. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Calligraphic Text

Breeders Assistant provides calligraphic text for many common wordings found in pedigrees and related documents, such as
"Pedigree Certificate",
"Trial Pedigree",
"Mating Pedigree",
"Mating Certificate",
"Pedigree" etc.
These are available in a wide range of styles (typefaces).
To include such an effect in a pedigree or similar document you need to include a logo box in the form's layout, and then customize
it to display the required text.
To see an example this:
1. Display any of the 'Copperplate' pedigrees (click Display|Pedigree, then say 4 G Copperplate).
2. Enter design mode (right-click over the pedigree then select Design Mode).
3. Double-click over the calligraphic text.
The Logo Box Properties window is displayed, and the 'Calligraphic text'
option is checked.
There is a Choose button with which to select the style.
4. When finished exit the design mode (right-click over the pedigree again, then select Design Mode).

This is demonstrated in more detail in section 7 "Adjusting The Logo" (p.14) of the 'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access this - and
See:
13.12.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Design Mode
13.16. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Logo Boxes
See Also:
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 7 Adjusting The Logo (p.14)
Help Reference - A.19 Procedures By Subject: Calligraphic

Effects

The contents of a form are defined by one or more 'boxes'.
There are various different types of boxes - ancestor boxes, picture
boxes, text boxes, logo boxes etc.
All boxes have some features in common - mainly relating to position, size, and border.
The way they differ is in their content.
To
change any of these common properties, enter design mode, display the box properties window and move to the General tab.
Exactly which boxes are included in a form is determined when it is created. Once created, boxes cannot be added or removed.
But
they can be rearranged, resized, their contents adjusted, etc.
The tools that are used when creating forms generally have a wide
variety of box layouts to choose from.
Once the form has been created, the boxes can be customized using design mode.
Use Of Color In Boxes

of elements such as the background, borders etc. to be chosen.
Most boxes allow the colors
The background color of a box is normally set to be transparent - i.e. there is no background. Thus when printed, the background
color of the paper will show through.
The foreground color - for lines and text - is normally set to be the default printed text/line color.
This is a color that can be selected
using the User Interface tab of the Preferences window (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E)).
This color in turn defaults
to black.
Most standard forms are set to use this color.
What this means is that it is possible to change the color of all the text and lines in most standard forms by simply changing the
default color in the Preferences window.
It is, of course, possible to change the colors for any individual form, by adjusting the
properties of the contained boxes.
See:
13.9.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Borders
13.12. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Design

Mode

Boxes
13.17. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Picture (Photo)

13.22. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Text Boxes
See Also:
Help Reference - A.12 Procedures By Subject: Boxes
13.12. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Design Mode

'Design mode' is a mode (state) in which the software allows the design of the boxes in the current form to be adjusted.
When in design mode, it is not possible to do other common tasks such as adding records.
The software limits you to only accessing
features specific to adjusting (i.e. editing) the displayed form.
To enter design mode, select Form|Design Mode (or right-click over the pedigree then select Design Mode).
Once you have completed making changes to the current form, design mode needs to be turned off.
It is turned off in exactly the
same way as it is turned on - i.e. it acts as a 'toggle' state - select Form|Design Mode (or right-click over the pedigree again then
select Design Mode).
When you turn design mode off, if you have made any changes to the displayed form you are given the
choice to save or discard those changes.
See:
13.11.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Boxes
See Also:
Help Reference - A.31 Procedures By Subject: Design Mode
13.13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: General Box Properties

All boxes have certain common settings - e.g. how to position the box on the page.
These settings can be changed for any box by
first enabling design mode and then double-clicking over the box to display its properties and then moving to the General tab.
Positioning

and vertical positions of a box are set separately.
Either can be set to be:
The horizontal
relative to a boundary of the printable page, or
relative to another box

The 'printable page' simply means that part of the paper less the margins.
The paper and margin sizes are determined by the
printer/paper configuration with which the form is associated.
When positioning relative to another box, the box can either be
positioned completely to the left/right/above/below the other box, or it can be positioned relative to a side of the box.
In addition to setting the overall horizontal/vertical position, it is also possible to specify the spacing (gap) between the box and
whatever it is aligned to.
This is either set as an absolute amount (e.g. 0.1 inch) or as a percentage of the width/height of the page
or another box.
Size

The width and height of a box are set separately.

Either can be set to be:
a fixed amount. E.g. 3.7 inches
a percentage of the width/height of the printable page
a percentage of the width/height of another box
NOTE:
In general, it is better to avoid fixed amounts for box sizes, because it makes life difficult if you subsequently adjust the
size of the printable page - e.g. by changing the margins, or by changing the printer or even, in some cases, just the printer
driver software.
All the standard forms supplied with the software use box sizing that is relative to the page size.
Background color

background color, which defaults to transparent (no color).
Every box has its own
NOTE:
Ancestor boxes optionally allow the background colors of the ancestor cells and generation titles to be set separately;
these colors take precedence over the 'overall' box background color.
Page Spanning

is generally only used in simple text boxes that completely fill the printable page, and when the box is designed
This is a setting that
to display information that varies widely in height.
E.g. the various 'Record Details' forms.
Enabling page spanning means that the box can extend over multiple printed pages if its contents, for any given record, are too high
for a single page.
In general it is recommended that this setting is not changed.
Stretch Height to Fit Contents

This setting can be used to make the
height of a box vary according to the height of the content being displayed in it.
As with page
spanning, this is only useful with simple text boxes whose content varies widely, depending on how much data is available in the
active record.
In general it is recommended that this setting is not changed.
See:


Mode
13.21. Forms and
Pedigree Layouts: Simple Text Boxes

See Also:
13.14. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Box Borders

Each box within a form may optionally have a decorative border.
Such box borders are specified in a similar manner to the border
that can be included around the whole page.
See 13.9. Borders for further details.
Borders at the box level are often used to achieve the effect of a 'separator' between two boxes.
To do this create a border along
just one side of the box: the side that touches the box it is to be separated from.
See:
13.9.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Borders
See Also:
Help Reference - A.11 Procedures By Subject: Borders
13.15. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Text Areas

A 'text area' is a layout concept used internally within some form boxes.
It is a rectangular area that can contain formatted text in
each of nine separate zones aligned to the corners and edges of the area as defined by the points of the compass, plus a central
zone.
This is perhaps best explained with an image:

E.g. within a tabular pedigree layout there is a grid for the ancestors.
Each cell in the grid is actually a text area.
If you examine a
standard tabular pedigree produced by Breeders Assistant you'll note that for the Parents generation it probably has:
- the name in the center;
- the gender in the 'north west' zone; and
- the breed and other information in the 'south west' zone.

Internally, Breeders Assistant uses a text area to provide this formatting.
In many cases the use of a text area to control the layout
is hidden - and it is not possible to customize it directly.
However, if you turn on the 'custom' flag for an ancestor generation (within
the Tabular Ancestors Box Properties window - enter design mode and double-click the ancestors in the pedigree), then when
you click the Change button for
that ancestor generation it is possible to directly access the formatting instructions that define each
element of the text area.
See:
13.11.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Boxes

Mode
See Also:
Help Reference - A.82 Procedures By Subject: Text Boxes

A logo box is used to display either a graphical or a text logo.
Typically this will be the default logo.
The picture displayed inside a logo box is always independent of the current record.
The normal use of logo boxes is to display
contact information about you and/or your cattery, business or organization.
To display a picture that varies with the selected record
- e.g. a cat's own picture within its pedigree - use a picture box instead.
The content of a logo box is set in one of four ways:
Using the 'default logo'.
To set the default logo, select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), then enter the logo on the
Default Logo tab.
Typically the logo should be set to an image file that you supply.
To use a logo in an image file check
the 'Use picture' option.
As a picture/image/photo file.
As calligraphic text.
As a text area that completely fills the interior of the logo box.

See:
13.10.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Calligraphic Text

13.17. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Picture (Photo) Boxes

See Also:
Help Reference - A.53 Procedures By Subject: Logo Boxes
13.17. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Picture (Photo) Boxes

Picture boxes are used within pedigrees to display a picture/image/photo - usually that of the subject cat.
When used in litter pedigrees or trial mating pedigrees picture boxes can be used to display the sire or dam.
In mating certificates picture boxes usually display a picture for the sire.
Placing a picture/photo 'behind' the form as a watermark image is achieved with a different technique.
See 13.8. Watermarks.
The "First Steps" tutorial shows how to enter a photo for a cat - see section 10 "Setting Photos" (p.23) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial.
To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
See:
13.8.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Watermarks
16.3. Mating Records: Mating Certificates

16.6. Mating Records: Litter Pedigrees
See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 10 Setting Photos (p.23)
Help Reference - A.66 Procedures By Subject: Picture/Photo Boxes
13.18. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Details Boxes

Details boxes are used in forms such as pedigrees and cover sheets.
They contain details about the subject cat (or parents e.g. for a
trial mating pedigree).
It is often the central box in the pedigree heading.
The contents of a details box can be set in one of two ways:
As a selection of relevant fields.
E.g. for a pedigree, the details box might be configured to include the name, sex, breed,
date of birth, etc.
It is possible to control the positioning and ordering of the fields and to use custom labels.
Or, as a customized 'text area'. This is an advanced customization. See 13.15. Text Areas.
Most of the standard forms included with the product use the first method.

See:
13.15.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Text Areas
See Also:
Help Reference - A.32 Procedures By Subject: Details Boxes
13.19. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Tabular Ancestors Boxes

A tabular ancestors box is used to display a table of ancestors, as in a typical pedigree certificate.
They are also used in litter pedigrees, trial mating pedigrees and mating certificates - in the latter case to display just the ancestors
of the sire.
There are many settings that can be changed with a tabular ancestors box, giving considerable flexibility over how they appear and
allowing a highly customized appearance.
Number of Generations

Select between 3 and 8 generations of ancestors.

You may have noticed that the Cat Details window is limited to entering at most 4 generations of ancestors.
However, Breeders
Assistant is not limited to producing pedigrees with just 4 generations.
To see how to enter 5 or more generations of ancestors
please refer to section 20 "How To Create A 5 Generation Pedigree" (p.50) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and other
NOTE:
For 7 or 8 ancestors in a pedigree certificate, it is generally necessary to have US ANSI 'B' or larger sized paper in order
to fit the most distant generation on the page.

Sideways Columns
Choose whether to have any number of the leftmost ancestor columns, starting with the parents, displayed sideways-on (vertically).
This is useful when trying to squeeze more generations into a pedigree and there is limited paper space.
If the first 2 or 3 columns
are set to be sideways-on they can often be made narrower as well, enabling the freed horizontal space to be reallocated to the
more distant ancestors.
Generation Titles

Choose whether to include a row along the top of the table for the generation titles ("Parents", "Grandparents", etc.).
Grid Style

styles of grid lines for the table:
There are four
Boxes - Non-touching boxes with uniform thickness lines.
Bracketed - Like a family tree on its side.
Table - A grid with uniform thickness lines.
Variable Table - A grid with with varying thickness lines.
This style emphasises the separation between the sire and
dam lines at each generation.
Width of Each Column of Ancestors

Choose the width of each column of ancestors, expressed in terms of the percentage of the overall width of the ancestors box.
This
allows the widths to be adjusted according to the level of detail of information included for each generation.
Details Included for Each Column of Ancestors

Select the details that are to be shown for each generation of ancestors.
It is normal to include the most information for the
parents, with less for the most distant ancestors.
There are two ways to set the details for each generation.
Either:
Choose from a list of options (name, breed, date of birth, etc.), and Breeders Assistant will choose an appropriate layout
for each cell in that column of ancestors.
Or, customize any given generation by setting up a 'text area' for cells in that ancestor column.
This is an advanced
customization, as it requires understanding of the formatting instructions that Breeders Assistant uses internally to
generate the text.
See 13.15. Text Areas.
Most of the standard pedigree layouts included with the product use the former method.
Ancestor Background Colors

Control the background color for ancestor cells in three ways:

Transparent - Each ancestor will have the same background color as the 'overall background' color for the box.
See
13.13. General Box Properties.
This is the normal setting.
Specific color - The same background color is used for all ancestor cells, overriding the box's background color.
Gender based colors - Male ancestors are drawn with one color, and females in another.
The default gender colors are
light blue for the males, pink for the females.
Ancestor Highlighting

The highlighting of ancestors within a pedigree - such as highlighting common or repeated ancestors - is handled separately to the
design of the ancestors box.
See 13.1. Ancestor Highlighting In Pedigrees for further details.
Fonts

used in a pedigree are controlled by text styles.
The fonts
Changing the fonts in a pedigree is demonstrated in section 10 "Adjusting Text Styles (Fonts)" (p.23) of the 'Pedigree Layouts'
Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
See:

13.1. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Ancestor Highlighting In Pedigrees


13.23. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Formatting

Instructions And Format Codes

See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 20 How To Create A 5 Generation Pedigree (p.50)
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 10 Adjusting Text Styles (Fonts) (p.23)

Help Reference - A.6 Procedures By Subject: Ancestors Boxes
13.20. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Circular Ancestors Boxes

A circular ancestors box is used to display ancestors in a series of concentric rings in a circular pedigree.

The following settings can be changed with circular ancestor boxes:
NOTE:
The position and size of a circular ancestors box is specified as if it were rectangular, but when displayed it will be circular,
with the circle centered within the box.

Include between 3 and 8 generations of ancestors.
NOTE:
For 7 or 8 ancestors in a pedigree it is necessary to have US ANSI 'B' or larger paper in order to fit the most distant
generation on the page.
Thickness of Each Ring of Ancestors

Choose the width of each ring of ancestors,
expressed in terms of the percentage of the smallest dimension of the ancestors box.
This allows the ring thicknesses to be adjusted according to the level of detail of information included for each generation.
Details Included for Each Generation of Ancestors

ancestors.
Typically most information is included for the parents, with
Select the details that are to be shown for each generation of
less for the most distant ancestors.
There are two ways to select the details to be displayed for a generation. Either:
Choose from a list of options (name, breed, date of birth, etc.), and Breeders Assistant will choose an appropriate layout
for each ancestor.
Or, customize any given generation by setting up the formatting instructions and text style directly.
This is an advanced
customization, as it requires knowledge of formatting instructions.
Ancestor Background Colors

Control the background color for ancestors in three ways:

Transparent - Each ancestor will have the same background color as the 'overall background' color for the box.
See
13.13. General Box Properties.
This is the normal setting.
Specific color - The same background color is used for all ancestor cells, overriding the box's background color.
Gender based colors - Male ancestors are drawn with one color, and females in another.
The default gender colors are
light blue for the males, pink for the females.
See:
13.19. Forms and
Pedigree Layouts: Tabular Ancestors Boxes
13.23. Forms and
Pedigree Layouts: Formatting Instructions And Format Codes

See Also:
Help Reference - A.21 Procedures By Subject: Circular Ancestors Boxes
13.21. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Simple Text Boxes

A simple text box is a box that contains formatted text in a given text style (font).
The signature area that's included at the bottom of many pedigree layouts is an example of a simple text box.
You can customize the contents of a simple text box by adjusting:
The content - formatting instructions - which comprise text with embedded field codes, macros and format codes.
The text style (font).
The justification: whether the text is to be left, center or right justified within the box.
The positioning: whether the text is to be centered in the box left, or positioned next to an edge/corner.
Whether to have the text displayed sideways-on (vertically).
This an be useful when a narrow box is positioned to the
side of another (tall) box.
An example of this can be seen with the standard pedigree layout 5 G Split which uses a
sideways-on simple text box for the name of the subject cat.
See:


See Also:
13.22. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Text Boxes

A (non-simple) text box contains a 'text area' comprised of multiple sets of formatting instructions.
See 13.15. Text Areas.
In comparison, a simple text box has just one set of formatting instructions. A text box contains different sets of formatting
instructions that are used to generate text aligned to different sides of the box.
Text boxes are most usually used in custom forms where there is a need to align text against 2 or more sides/corners of a box.
See:
13.7.
Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms

13.21. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Simple Text

Boxes
See Also:
This is an advanced topic.
The term 'formatting instructions' refers to text that generates the actual content that is displayed in forms.
In most situations these
formatting instructions are hidden from view, being generated internally depending on how the form has been set up.
Often there is
no need to deal with these because Breeders Assistant provides other, easier, ways to customize forms.
But for ultimate flexibility it
may be necessary to work directly with formatting instructions.
Formatting instructions are text expansions containing embedded 'format codes'.
Recall that text expansions are lines of text that in
turn contain embedded field codes and macros.
Often formatting instructions will contain all three.
When formatting instructions are 'expanded', it is done in the following order:
1. Field codes are replaced with the relevant text (usually from the current record).
2. Macros are executed.
3. Format codes are obeyed, in order to generate formatted paragraphs of text for display/printing.
It is important to be aware of this ordering when working with formatting instructions.

Since field codes are expanded first, the
results of those expansions can then be used in macros.
Format Codes
A format code is
an embedded control sequence that starts with '{' and ends with '}'.
Format codes affect the appearance of text
within document forms.
E.g. the text {b+}some text{b-} would display 'some text' in bold.
For full details of all available format codes see section 5 "Format Codes Reference" (p.99) of the Help Reference. The Help
Reference is accessed through the Help menu.
Example
Consider
this simple example of a formatting instruction:
Breeder: [e,{i+}Unknown{i-},%,<BreederFullName>]
When this instruction is expanded, the field code <BreederFullName> is first expanded - if the breeder of the cat is not known, it
will expand to nothing, otherwise it is the breeder's full name.
Next, the [e,a,b,c] macro is expanded.
This macro expands to a if c is empty, else it expands to b; b can contain the special
character % which is replaced with the text of c.
So in this example, the macro does this: if the name of the breeder is not known, it
expands to {i+}Unknown{i-} else it expands to the breeder's full name.
Finally, format codes are interpreted.
Format codes generally affect the appearance and not the actual text (e.g. they can be used to
select bold text, change the font, etc.).
These are made up of text surrounded by braces {..}.
In this case, if the breeder was not
known, the partially expanded text will currently be
Breeder: {i+}Unknown{i-}
The {i+} and {i+} are codes that turn italic text on and off.
So when it is finally displayed it would be something like this:
Breeder: Unknown
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - 5 Format Codes Reference (p.99)

Text forms are used for generating plain text output suitable for transfer to other applications.

They can be printed but the print quality is inferior when compared to document forms because they do not support format codes
nor any of the other layout facilities of document forms, such as borders, boxes or watermark images.
Text forms can be saved as text files, or copied to the Windows clipboard - right-click over the displayed text and select Save As or
Copy To Clipboard.
Text Forms

A text form comprises four elements:

Its name - as with document forms every text form has a name.
E.g. Text Pedigree - Standard - Compact - 4 G. All
text form names must be unique for any given record type. See 13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts.
Optionally, a title that's used when the form is printed.
Textual content - text expansions containing embedded macros and field codes.
These define the content of the form.
Optionally, the maximum line length.
Used to cause word wrapping beyond a given line length.
To customize a text form use Form|Form Properties.

To create a new text form use Form|New Form.
HTML Pedigrees

Mating records also include text forms designed to generate an HTML pedigree.
Cat, Mating and Trial
These are similar to text forms except that the content is generated internally (and cannot be edited), and there is an option to
preview the pedigree in a browser (right-click over the displayed HTML then select HTML Preview.)
See:



Watermarks
13.8. Forms and Pedigree Layouts:



16. Mating Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.40 Procedures By Subject: HTML Forms
Help Reference - A.41 Procedures By Subject: HTML Pedigrees
Help Reference - A.84 Procedures By Subject: Text Forms
13.25. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Transferring Forms Between Databases - Form
Import/Export
It is possible to transfer a form from one database to another.
E.g. to export a pedigree layout in order to add it to another database
or transfer to another user of the product.
This is a two step process.
First, the 'export form' facility is used to create a small file that contains the relevant form layout: display
the form and then use Database|Export|Displayed Form to save it as a file.
Next, this file is then imported into the target
database using Database|Import|Configuration Data.
See:

14. Contact Records

Contact records store the details of people and organizations. E.g. customers, vets, other breeders, people who have bought kittens
from you, breed clubs, suppliers etc.
Contents
14.1. Names
14.2. Listing Cats Bred/Owned By A Contact
14.3. Sales/Stud Management

Labels and Mailing Lists
14.4. Letters, Envelopes, Address
Advanced Contact Records

The Contact Record Details window can operate in either a 'normal' or 'advanced' mode.
In the advanced mode many more fields
are available.
To switch between normal and advanced mode, use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User
Interface tab and change the 'Use advanced contact records' option.
See:
Help Reference - A.23 Procedures By Subject: Contact Records
14.1. Contact Records: Names

Breeders Assistant separates the name of a contact record into three parts:
Title
First Names/Initials
Last Name/Organization

The three fields together make up the full name.

When it outputs the full name for a contact it simply concatenates the three parts
with spaces.
The reason contact names are split up like this is so they can be shown in alphabetical order in the record list, and to
make it easier when sorting e.g. to sort cats into last name order of breeder.
Breeders Assistant requires that the full name of each contact is unique.
E.g. it isn't possible to have 2 contact records both called
"Mr Smith".
They need to be different in some way, e.g. different initials.
Organization Names

When using a contact record for an organization the title and first names/initials should be left empty.
Place the whole organization
name in the last name/organization field.
Joint Names
To enter a joint
name but as a single contact record, e.g. Mr J K & Mrs A B Smith it is necessary split the text into 3 parts so that
when joined together they will read correctly as the joint name.
It is recommended to place the leading title in the title field, the last name in the last name/organization field, and the remainder in
the first names/initials.
E.g. with the above joint name, it should be entered as:
Title - Mr
First Names/Initials - J K & Mrs A B
Last Name/Organization - Smith
This may look a little strange but it retains the alphabetical ordering of contact names.
It also has the benefit that the joint name
can be used effectively in fields of cat records such as the (primary) breeder or owner.
Contact Titles

maintains a list of common contact titles such as Mr, Mrs, etc.
Breeders Assistant
When a contact record is added or updated using the Contact Record Details window the title can either be keyed in or it can be
chosen from the list of common titles.
This list can be customized using Configure|Advanced|Contact Titles.
Licensed Users
Breeders Assistant
requires that each licensed user of the software has a contact record in a database.
Whenever an existing database is opened - or a new one is created - a check is made that there are contact records for the licensed
user(s).
If missing they are automatically added.
It is not possible to edit the Title, First Names/Initials or Last Name/Organization fields for licensed user contact records.
See:
14. Contact Records
15. Cat Records

Breeders And Owners
15.3. Cat Records:
14.2. Contact Records: Listing Cats Bred/Owned By A Contact

Standard forms are provided to list the cats where a contact is recorded as being the (primary) breeder or owner.
E.g. to see a list of all cats bred by a given contact, switch to contact records, select that contact in the record list and then click
Display|Cats|Cats Bred By.
Likewise to display a list of all cats owned use Display|Cats|Cats Owned By.
NOTE:
These lists only include cats where the given contact is recorded as the primary breeder/owner.
They do not cover cats
where a contact is recorded as being one of the 'additional' breeders/owners.
See 15.3. Cat Records: Breeders And Owners.
See:
14. Contact Records

See Also:
Help Reference - A.14 Procedures By Subject: Breeders/Owners
14.3. Contact Records: Sales/Stud Management

Contact records provide a means to manage sales and stud enquiries.
Each contact record has fields to record:
Whether the contact is related to a sales or stud enquiry.
If so, the enquiry date.
Whether this contact has purchased any kittens/cats from you, or you from them, or whether they have enquired to use
your stud etc.

Breeders Assistant maintains indexes of all contacts relating to sales and stud enquiries, purchases, etc. ordered by date.
These can
be accessed from the View box e.g. select the index Contacts who have bought kittens/cats from you to see at a glance all
your kitten sales.
NOTE:
To use these fields it is necessary to have 'advanced contact records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences
( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced contact records' option and click OK).
See:
14. Contact Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.80 Procedures By Subject: Stud Management
14.4. Contact Records: Letters, Envelopes, Address Labels and Mailing Lists
It is possible to use a form for a letter or other document where the body of the letter includes details taken from the selected
contact record, e.g. name and address.
A sample letter form is included - a change of address letter.
To display this select Display|Letters|Change of Address.
To create a new letter form use Form|New Form, enter an appropriate name e.g. 'Letters - My Letter', click Next and then choose
a letter form template.
NOTE: Cat sale agreements (contracts), and mating agreements are accessed via the cat and mating records.
See 15.14. Cat
Records: Sale Agreements (Contracts) and 16.4. Mating Records: Mating Agreements.
Envelopes and Address Labels

Contact records can also be used to
print address labels and envelopes.
To use these features it is necessary to be comfortable with Breeders Assistant's concept of 'printer/paper configurations'.
To
support printing onto labels and envelopes - i.e. onto non-standard sized media - the document forms for envelope and address
labels use different printer/paper configurations - 'Default-Envelope' and 'Default-Labels' respectively.
Before printing to envelopes
or labels, these printer/paper configurations must be configured correctly for the specific printer and paper types being used.
See
22. Printer Configuration.
A printer that can take the appropriate envelope/paper types is obviously required.
These features of Breeders Assistant will
normally require you to manually feed the envelope/paper into the printer.
Mailing Lists

There may be times where it is necessary to print the same form for many records - e.g. to send a letter to multiple contacts to
inform them of a change of address.
Breeders Assistant does not provide a dedicated mailing list facility as such.
However, it is
possible to use a combination of other features to get a similar effect.
When a form is printed - using Form|Print ( Ctrl+P) - there are options to select the records that are to be printed.
The default
is to just print the form for the current record - which in most situations is exactly what is wanted.
However there are other options
- e.g. to print all records in the current index, or to print all tagged records - and these can be used for mailing lists.
NOTE:
If this technique is used to print batches of envelopes or labels it is strongly recommended you make certain the printing
of single envelopes/labels is working first.
This is because the printer needs to be set up for the correct envelope size or label
layout. See 22.2. Printer Configuration: Standard Printer/Paper Configurations.
Achieving the effect of a mailing list in Breeders Assistant is therefore a matter of either:

Setting up a selective index of records that define the mailing list.

Use this method if it is likely the mailing list is going to
be used more than once.
Alternatively, tag the records to be printed.
This is more suited to a one-time mailing.
The Tag|Search And Tag feature
can be helpful in this situation as it provides a means to bulk-tag matching records.
...and then printing a form for all the specified records in a single step.
See:
9.12. Records, Fields And Indexes: Matching Records

10. Tagging Records

14. Contact Records
15.14. Cat Records: Sale Agreements (Contracts)
16. Mating Records

Mating Agreements
16.4. Mating Records:


Standard Printer/Paper Configurations

22.8. Printer Configuration: Label Printing
See Also:
Help Reference - A.33 Procedures By Subject: Envelopes
Help Reference - A.48 Procedures By Subject: Labels

Help Reference - A.49 Procedures By Subject: Letters

15. Cat Records

Cat records are, clearly, the most important type of record found in a Breeders Assistant database.
They used to store all the details
about individual cats.
Cat records in Breeders Assistant contain a large number of fields.
In order not to over-complicate the record details window many
of these fields are normally hidden from view.
If you are an advanced user of pedigree software you should probably turn on so-
called 'advanced cat records' in order to see all the fields - select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User
Interface tab, then check the 'Use advanced cat records' option.
Contents
15.1. Adding
And Updating Cats
15.2. Setting Sires And Dams

15.3. Breeders And Owners

15.4. Registration Numbers
15.5. Cat Titles

15.6. Pictures/Photos
15.7. Automatic Breeder/Owner Detection by Cattery Name Prefix/Affix
15.8. Buying And Selling

15.9. Title Highlight Styles
15.10. Titles Data File

15.11. Breeds

15.12. Breed Data File
15.13. Genotype Fields
15.14. Sale Agreements

(Contracts)
15.15. Adding Litters

15.16. Migrating GCCF

Breed Numbers To EMS Codes

About Pedigrees And Cat Records

Whilst it may appear that Breeders Assistant stores a pedigree for each cat, this is not actually the case.
The pedigrees that are
displayed in the main window are always worked out 'on the fly' as needed.
What happens is that, behind the scenes, the sire/dam
links between generations are followed and the required information 'pulled out' and included in the pedigree.
The only 'pedigree'
information that's actually stored with each cat are the links to the cat's sire and dam.
This is a fundamental concept to be aware of.
It means that the details of each cat are only stored once - in each cat's record.
An
important consequence is that when you fix an error in any cat's record - e.g. if the sire was wrong - this correction will
automatically appear in all pedigrees that reference that cat.
As another example, there is a misspelling in a cat's name, it need only
be corrected in one place and all other references to that cat, e.g. occurrences of it as an ancestor, are implicitly and automatically
updated.
Likewise if the title of a cat changes - e.g. it becomes a Champion - just change this in one place (its record) and the title
will automatically appear in all pedigrees containing the cat as an ancestor (and it will normally automatically display in red).
Producing Pedigree Documents

or a pedigree saved as a PDF file - is produced by displaying a pedigree layout in the main
A pedigree - such as a printed pedigree
window, and then printing it.
This topic is covered elsewhere in this User Guide - see 13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts.
The "First Steps" and "Pedigree Layouts" tutorials also demonstrate many aspects of producing and customizing pedigrees.
To
access these - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
See:

22.3. Printer Configuration: Printing To PDF

See Also:
Help Reference - A.20 Procedures By Subject: Cat Records
15.1. Cat Records: Adding And Updating Cats

There are 2 ways cats can be added to a database: manually (keying them in), or by importing from another data source.
This section of the User Guide is concerned with manual data entry.
For details of importing, see 11. Importing Data.
Breeders Assistant provides several ways to manually add or update cats and/or information relating to them such as notes, user
defined fields, sire, dam, breeder and owner:
Cat Details window - This is the normal method.
To access it, select Record|Add Record ( Keypad+) for a new cat,
or Record|Update Record ( Enter) for the currently selected cat.
There are in fact 2 variants of this window, the 'normal' variant and the 'advanced' variant.
The former contains only the
main fields that may be entered for cats, but is simpler to use.
The 'advanced' variant contains all possible fields, and is
suitable for the more experienced pedigree software user. Which of these is displayed depends on the 'advanced cat
records' option (see above).
It is worth noting that the advanced variant of this window can always be displayed using the shortcuts
Ctrl+Shift+Keypad+ (for a new cat) and Ctrl+Shift+Enter (for an existing cat)
even when 'advanced cat
records' mode is turned off.
To turn on advanced cat records, select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, then
check the 'Use advanced cat records' option.
Quick Cat Details window - This is designed specifically with keyboard input in mind.
It is accessed by a keyboard
shortcut - Ctrl+Keypad+ for a new cat, or Ctrl+Enter for an existing cat.
This contains only the most important fields for a cat: name, sex, sire, dam, date of birth and a few others.
There are no
tabs to navigate between, and no need to use the pointer for any part of its operation.
Usage of the Cat Details window is covered extensively in the "First Steps" tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select
See:
11. Importing Data
See Also:
15.2. Cat Records: Setting Sires And Dams

If the details of a cat are being entered from its pedigree, the normal way to set the sire and dam is to use the Ancestors tab of
the Cat Details window.
This provides an on-screen 4 generation pedigree designed to allow the easy manual entry of the parents
and their near ancestors.

Use of the Ancestors tab is covered extensively in the "First Steps" tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials
from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
However there are alternative ways to set the sire/dam, which can be helpful if other generations of ancestors do not need to be
entered at the same time, or it is preferred to use keyboard input only.
To set or change the sire of the selected cat without changing any other data, use Record|More Data Entry Options|Sire|
Set/Change ( F2).
This displays a window containing just a link to the sire record. The link can be changed by clicking the sire
name and selecting from a pulldown list.
Or, use the '*' button to select a new sire:
To update or view the details of the selected sire, use Record|More Data Entry Options|Sire|Details ( Ctrl+F2) instead.
This
will open the Cat Details window but for the sire of the current cat (not the current cat itself).
Dams
Similar
facilities are available for the dam too.
Just use F3 instead of F2.
See:
Help Reference - A.3 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Circularities (Self-Parenting)
Help Reference - A.5 Procedures By Subject: Ancestors

Each cat may have up to 3 breeders, and 3 owners.
That is to say, each cat record can have links to up to 3 different contact records as breeders.

The first breeder link is known as the 'primary' breeder, whereas the other 2 are 'additional breeders'.
The (primary) breeder/owner are set using the General tab of the Cat Details window.
This is demonstrated in the "First Steps"
tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
Note, when a cat is bred by 2 persons in a joint capacity - e.g. husband and wife are both breeders and all cats they breed are in
joint names - then it is normal to record them as the breeders of each cat using just the primary breeder link from each cat record -
but using a contact record that's set in joint names; see 14.1. Contact Records: Names.
I.e.:
Cat, Breeder #1 (primary) -> Contact record in the name of "Mr AB & Mrs CD Smith".
Contrast this with a situation where, say, a Mr EF Jones is the breeder, but has entered into some kind of breeding arrangement with
another breeder Mrs J Evans.
In this case it may be preferable to have 2 breeder links for the cat concerned:
Cat, Breeder #1 (primary) -> Contact record in the name of "Mr EF Jones".
Cat, Breeder #2 -> Contact record in the name of "Mrs J Evans".
Owners of cats are recorded in the exact same way - up to 3 separate contact records can be linked as owners of each cat, the first
of which is the 'primary' owner and the others are 'additional' owners.
Whenever the term 'the breeder' or 'the owner' is used without any other qualification within this documentation or the software
itself, it actually means 'the primary breeder' or 'the primary owner'.
NOTE:
To use the additional breeders/owners fields it is necessary to have 'advanced contact records' enabled (select
Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced contact records' option and
click OK).
Automatically Setting The Breeder/Owner Using Cattery Names

When adding a cat, Breeders Assistant can automatically set the (primary) breeder if the name of the cat starts with a recognized
cattery name.
The cattery name is stored as a field in the contact records.
For further details see 15.7. Automatic Breeder/Owner
Detection by Cattery Name Prefix/Affix.
Alternative Ways To Set The Breeder/Owner

To set or change the (primary) breeder of the selected
cat without changing any other data, use Record|
More Data Entry Options|Breeder|Set/Change ( F4).
The operates just like F2 for setting the sire link - except that the link
to the contact record for the breeder is being set.
In a similar vein Ctrl+F4 can be used to view/update the breeder details.
Similarly to set/view the (primary) owner - just use F5 instead of F4.
See:
14. Contact Records

Names
14.1. Contact Records:

15. Cat Records

Automatic Breeder/Owner Detection by Cattery Name Prefix/Affix
15.7. Cat Records:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.18 Procedures By Subject: Buying/Selling Cats

Help Reference - A.75 Procedures By Subject: Sale Agreements
15.4. Cat Records: Registration Numbers

Breeders Assistant has two registration number fields - 'primary' and 'alternative'.
To use both registration number fields it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences
( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click OK).
Once 'advanced cat
records' are enabled, the boxes to enter registration numbers can be found on the More tab of the Cat Details window.
In addition to the registration number fields there are parallel fields in which you can store the registering body, the registration
date and the country of registration.
Whether or not a registration number appears in a pedigree layout depends on the way the layout has been set up.
Many of the
standard pedigree layouts provided by Breeders Assistant include the primary registration number.
For further information please
refer to the "Pedigree Layouts" tutorial.
To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders
Assistant.
If you have advanced cat records disabled, only one registration number can be entered and it is found on the General tab of the
Cat Details window.
Registering Bodies

Breeders Assistant maintains a list of names of registering bodies i.e. registries.

To update this list use Configure|
Registering Bodies.
See:
15. Cat Records
15.5. Cat Records: Cat Titles

Cats may have 2 kinds of title:
'Front' or 'pre' Titles - This is the type of title that appears in front of the name and is normally output as if it is part of
the name.
E.g. Champion as in Champion Arripay Bigfoot.
In Breeders Assistant this is called the Primary Title.
'Post' or 'after' Titles - These are titles that can appear after the name.
In Breeders Assistant these are called
Additional Titles.
Closely associated with titles are 'title highlight styles'.

A title highlight style controls how a cat's name or title is highlighted in a
document such as a pedigree.
E.g. most cats with a primary title such as Champion typically use a title highlight style that prints in
red.
Primary Titles

of a cat is the title that prefixes the cat's name when it appears in documents such as pedigrees.
The 'primary title'
The primary title is given in both a long and a short form.
E.g. if Champion is the long form, CH might be the short form.
Breeders
Assistant automatically uses both types in different situations.
E.g. the short title is typically used when a cat's name appears as a
distant ancestor on some other cat's pedigree (to save space).
The Cat Details window has boxes for entering both the long and short forms.
When entering the primary title it is important to fill in both the short and long forms AND the title highlight style - the style is what
will cause the cat's name to be highlighted e.g. in red.
It is possible to select all these manually - just type them in and click the
Style box to select a highlight style from a list.
However there is a quicker way, which is to click the Choose From Standard Titles button.
This displays a list of common titles.
By selecting from this list both the short and long forms of the title are set, along with the title highlight style.
This list can be
customized - see 15.10. Titles Data File.
Both short and long forms of the primary title are simple text fields.
If a cat has multiple titles that are to appear as the primary title
they should be entered in the same box.
E.g. for a cat that is both Champion and Grand Premier, the long form of the primary title
should be set to 'Champion & Grand Premier' and the short form to 'CH & GR PR'.
Additional ('After') Titles

Titles that appear after a cat's name are placed in the Additional Titles field.
This is a multiline field.
NOTE:
In order to see the fields for additional titles in the Cat Details window it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records'
enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records'
option and click OK).
Each additional title should be entered one per line.

They can either be keyed in, or the Add button can be used as a shortcut to add
titles from the standard title list.
When using the shortcut method you can switch between adding long and short form titles by
checking or unchecking the box marked Short prior to clicking the Add button.

Breeders Assistant uses separate highlighting of the additional titles from the cat's name and primary title.
E.g. the cat might be a
Champion with the word Champion and its name highlighted in red, but its after titles need not be highlighted or they could be
highlighted differently e.g. blue.
To select the highlight for additional titles click in the Style box next to the additional titles.
Whenever a cat's name appears in a document such as a pedigree it is optional whether the additional titles are included.
The
standard pedigree layouts generally include after titles for the subject cat and all but the furthest ancestors.
This can be changed if
required.
E.g. it might be desirable to have some pedigree layouts that include after titles and others that do not.
Changing these
settings is a case of adjusting the information included in the 'details box'.
An example that shows how to change the cat's details is demonstrated in section 8 "Adjusting The Cat Details" (p.16) of the
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
See:


Data Types
13.18. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Details Boxes


See Also:
'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial - 8 Adjusting The Cat Details (p.16)
Help Reference - A.87 Procedures By Subject: Title Highlighting
Help Reference - A.88 Procedures By Subject: Titles
15.6. Cat Records: Pictures/Photos

Cat records can store the file names of up to 4 pictures/photos.
Entering Pictures/Photos
Pictures/photos are entered in
The data that is stored is the file name of the picture/photo.
The actual
image itself (i.e. the contents of the picture/photo file) are not copied to the database, and therefore the image files must remain
accessible whenever the image is needed to be displayed/printed.
Where exactly the photos/pictures are entered in the Cat Details window depends on whether or not the 'advanced cat records'
option is turned on (this is a preference setting - select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) and move to the User Interface tab
to change this).
With 'advanced cat records' turned off, only one picture/photo file name may be entered, and this is located in the General tab of
With 'advanced cat records' enabled, up to 4 picture/photo file names may be entered using the Pictures tab of the Cat Details
window.
Using Pictures/Photos

The main use of pictures/photos is in pedigrees - e.g. as a watermark or within a 'picture box'.
It is also possible to include pictures
within the ancestors table of a pedigree - for a 'pictorial' pedigree effect.
Pictures/photos can also be used in logo boxes e.g. to set a
custom fixed image.
Pictures are included in documents such as pedigrees by way of a picture box - a rectangular area that is reserved for the image.
Such boxes can be configured to use any one of the 4 picture fields.
All the standard forms, pedigree layouts, etc. are set up to use
picture #1.
An example of a possible use of the multiple picture fields would be to reserve, say, picture #2 for a picture of the cat as a kitten.
It
would then be possible to have a custom pedigree cover sheet that includes a picture box for picture #2.
Folded pedigree 'booklets'
could then be produced where the front page always has a photo of the cat as a kitten, whereas the picture in the pedigree itself
might be the photo as an adult.
See:


Boxes
13.17. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Picture (Photo)

15. Cat Records
See Also:
15.7. Cat Records: Automatic Breeder/Owner Detection by Cattery Name Prefix/Affix

Breeders Assistant has the ability to automatically select the (primary) breeder/owner of a cat based on the prefix or affix of the
cat's name - by matching against the known cattery name(s) of breeders and owners.
E.g., if a new cat called Arripay King George is added, then when the name is keyed in, Breeders Assistant will search through its
contacts looking for one with the cattery name Arripay.
If it finds one, then that contact is automatically set as the (primary)
owner.
Likewise, any suffix on the name that matches a known cattery name and is preceded by a word such as of or von will
normally be automatically set as the owner.

E.g. if there is a contact record in the name of Colin Manning, with cattery name set to Arripay, and another contact record in the
name of Jane Evans with cattery name set to Hillsdown,
and a new cat called Arripay King John of Hillsdown is added, then
Breeders Assistant will normally automatically set the breeder to be Colin Manning and the owner to be Jane Evans.
If the breeder is known but the owner isn't, Breeders Assistant will normally assume the breeder is also the owner.
This behavior
can be disabled - select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the Misc tab and disable the Assume breeder is owner
when auto-setting breeder from cattery name used as prefix option.
NOTES:
1. As the
cat's name is keyed in, Breeders Assistant will only perform the auto-lookup of the (primary) breeder/owner if they are
not currently set.
This is to avoid names previously entered from being unwittingly removed.

2. It is possible to manually force the breeder and/or owner to be re-evaluated using the prefix/affix mechanism - click the Set
From Prefix/Affix button.
See:
14. Contact Records

See Also:
15.8. Cat Records: Buying And Selling

Cat records include fields for recording the purchase and sale of kittens/cats.
This feature is intended for use when you sell
kittens/cats that you own, or when you buy kittens/cats and their ownership is transferred to you.
'You' means the licensed user (or
one of the licensed users, if the license includes separately listed user names).
On the Transfer tab of the Cat Details window are fields for recording sale and purchase information.
It should be noted that these
will only store the details of the most recent purchase and sale.
E.g. if you were to purchase a cat, sell it to somebody else, then
buy it back, and you attempted to store all these transactions in the cat record, the details of the first purchase would be
overwritten.
TIP:
In order to see the Transfer tab in the Cat Details window it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select
Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click
OK).
When buying/selling kittens/cats, Breeders Assistant asks if an associated accounting record should be added to store details of the
financial side of the transaction.
In general, it is recommended to not enter data into the fields on the Transfer tab directly.
This is because there is a quicker way to
handle sale/purchase transactions that will also automatically add the associated accounting records if needed.
To record the sale of a kitten/cat first select the relevant cat in the record list then right-click over it and select the Record Sale of
this Kitten/Cat option.
Note the cat must be recorded in your database as being owned by you in order for the sale option to be
enabled.
Similarly to record the purchase of a kitten/cat select the relevant cat in the record list then right-click over it and select the Record
Purchase of this Kitten/Cat option.
In this case the cat must not be recorded in your database as being owned by you in order to
record a purchase of it.
See:

Records
15. Cat


See Also:

A 'title highlight style' is a setting that determines how cats with titles are emphasized in printed pedigrees.
Breeders Assistant supports multiple highlight styles, e.g. it is possible to have Champions in red, Grand Champions in purple, etc.
Each cat record can specify 2 highlight styles - one that applies to the primary ('pre') title and the name, and another that applies to
any additional ('after') titles.
E.g. if there is a cat that is a Champion (it's 'pre' title) but it also has an 'after' title DM (Distinguished
Merit), it would be possible to have the after title highlighted in the same way as the pre title e.g. 'CH Arripay Golden Oldie DM', or
the after title need not be highlighted e.g. 'CH Arripay Golden Oldie DM', or it could use a different highlight e.g 'CH Arripay Golden
Oldie DM', etc.
There is always a highlight style called "None", which as its name suggests has no effect.
Cats without titles normally use this style.
When a Breeders Assistant database is first created a set of sample highlight styles is provided.
Of these, the most important style
is called "Default".
This style is set to display text in red and is used by all the standard titles (those that can be selected using the
Choose From Standard Titles button).
This means, assuming the standard titles have not been changed, that whenever a primary
title is assigned to a cat, it will have red highlighting in printed pedigrees etc.

The "Default" title highlight style can be changed if necessary.

E.g. if a color printer is not available it may be more appropriate to
use a bold typeface instead.
New title highlight styles can be added.
E.g. you could define a new style called "Grand" and assign it to cats that are Grand
Champions.
It could print in purple, etc.
To add a new style choose Configure|Title Highlight Styles then click the New Style
button.
If additional title highlight styles are defined with the intention of consistently using them with particular titles, it is best to also
update those titles in the titles data file too.
This way, when the title is selected from the Choose From Standard Titles list in the
Cat Details window, the title highlight style will be automatically applied.
See:

Records
15. Cat


See Also:
Help Reference - A.87 Procedures By Subject: Title Highlighting

Breeders Assistant stores the details of standard titles in a separate data file.
This is a file called cattitles.dat that's stored in the
Breeders Assistant application data folder.
When Breeders Assistant starts it checks for the existence of this file, and automatically creates it if not found.
Depending on the
version of Breeders Assistant it will be initialized with known cat titles.
When this happens you may be presented with options to
select between different standard titles e.g. for different registries.
There are 2 parts to the titles data file.
Title Entries
First, and most
importantly, it contains a set of title entries.
A title entry is simply the definition for a single 'title'.
It contains the
long form, the short form, and the highlight style to be used by default with this title, e.g. 'Champion', 'CH', and 'Default'.
Title Selector List

titles data file is the title selector list.
This controls the appearance of the popup list that is shown when the
The second part of the
Choose From Standard Titles button is clicked in the Cat Details window.
Normally this list is set to simply include every title in
the data file.
This may be customized e.g to change it so that it displays a limited number of titles.
Backing Up

If manual changes are made to the titles data file it is recommended to keep it backed up.
The internal backup facilities that Breeders Assistant provides for backing up cat database(s) can also backup the titles data file.
See
8.2. Cat Database Files: Backups.
Customizing The Title Data File

The titles data file can be customized
using Configure|Cat Titles.
There are options to add, delete and update the title entries.
See:


See Also:
Help Reference - 12 Command Line Reference (p.164)


Data File
15.11. Cat Records: Breeds

Breed Fields

'breed' related fields that may be set for a cat.
There are various
E.g. the breed details for a Chocolate Tabby Point Siamese might contain:
Full breed description: Chocolate Tabby Point Siamese
Color: Chocolate
Pattern: Tabby
Variety: Chocolate Tabby Point
The full range of available breed fields can be seen on the Breed tab of the Cat Details window.

When a cat is entered its a good idea to fill in some of the breed fields for use in pedigrees etc.
Certain fields are used more than
others and it is desirable that these fields in particular be filled in.
The more important fields are listed below:
FIELD PURPOSE
Full Breed The full description of the breed of cat. This description typically includes both the breed group and variety. This is
Description often used in pedigrees for the subject cat and its immediate ancestors.
E.g.:
Blue
Tabby Point Siamese
Short A shorter form of the description of the breed (breed group + variety) of cat. This is often used in pedigrees for the
Breed more distant ancestors. It can be the same as the full breed description. It doesn't have to be different and will often
Description be the same when the full form is already quite concise.
E.g.:
Blue
Tabby Pt Siamese
Breed The breed group.

E.g.:

Siamese
Variety The 'variety' of cat. Typically this is the same as the full breed description but without the breed group. Normally it is
a combination of the color and/or pattern. Designed to be used on pedigrees where all cats are the same breed - as is
usually the case - but where the variety differs. Takes less space in the pedigree because the breed group is not
included.
E.g.:
Blue
Tabby
Color Coat color.

E.g.:
Blue
Breed Breed number.

Number
E.g.:

27b [GCCF]
0386 [CFA]
EMS Code EMS breed code.

NOTE: if the standard breed list has been set up to include EMS codes, then Breeders Assistant can fill in all the breed
fields by simply keying in the EMS code.
E.g.:
BAL c
Breed Data File

Breeders Assistant
maintains a breed data file.
This is used as a source of information about the names of standard breeds and is
used in various ways to help with the entry of breed-related information.
The breed data file is normally initialized when Breeders
Assistant is installed.
It can be customized by deleting, modifying and adding entries as required.
It is also possible to replace the
standard breeds e.g. by importing from a text/CSV file.
See 15.12. Breed Data File.
Setting the Breed for a Cat

Breed details for a cat are set using the Breed tab of the Cat Details window.
One way to enter these - though probably not the best way - is to set each field separately for each cat.
They can be keyed in, or
there are pulldown lists to the right of most fields to select a common value.
If the breed data file has been initialized to use CFA breeds and you're comfortable with breed numbers a quick way to set the breed
for a cat is to simply key in the breed number into the breed number box.
As soon as a known breed number is entered all the fields
will be automatically set.
If this method is used it is recommended to set up the breed data file to include all breeds as appropriate.
If you work with EMS codes the same technique can be used by keying in the EMS code field - assuming initialized the breed data
file has been initialized to include EMS codes.
The breed data file is set up during installation of Breeders Assistant.
Please note that
there are preference settings that can be used to disable this behavior (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E)).
To add extra entries to the breed data file choose Configure|Breeds, then click the Add button and select Additional Standard
Breeds.
The normal way to set up the breed details for a cat is to use the Choose From Standard Breeds button in the Cat Details
window.
When this is clicked a list of standard 'breeds' is displayed; by selecting an entry from this list all the details for that 'breed'
are set in one step.
The list of standard breeds is stored in the breed data file and can be customized - see 15.12. Breed Data File.
Default Breed

up a default breed that will be used for new cats. See 15.12. Breed Data File.
It is possible to set

See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.16 Procedures By Subject: Breeds

Breeders Assistant stores the details of standard breeds in a separate data file.
This is a file called catbreeds.dat that is stored in
the Breeders Assistant application data folder.
When Breeders Assistant starts it checks for the existence of this file, and automatically creates it if not found.
Depending on the
version of Breeders Assistant it will be initialized with known breeds of cat.
When this happens you may be presented with options
to select between different breed naming conventions e.g. for different registries.
The breed data file contains 3 groups of information.
Breed Entries
First, and most importantly, it contains a set of breed entries.
A breed entry is simply the definition for a single 'breed' or 'type' of
cat.
It contains the values for all of the 'breed' fields (as seen on the Breed tab of the Cat Details window) for a cat of that type.
E.g. the breed entry for Chocolate Tabby Point Siamese might contain:
Full breed description: Chocolate Tabby Point Siamese
Short breed description: Choc Tabby Pt Siamese
Breed: Siamese
Color: Chocolate
Pattern: Tabby
Variety: Chocolate Tabby Point
etc.
Adding Breed Entries

Configure|Breeds, click the Add button then choose New Breed.
To add a new breed choose
Breed Popup List Entries

The second element to the breed data file are additional entries for the 'popup' lists of field values that are visible in the Breed tab
of the Cat Details window when the pulldown menus are clicked.
The options in these lists are constructed by taking all possible values for the given field in the breed data file plus any additional
entries that have been manually added.
To add entries choose Configure|Breeds then click the Edit Field Lists button.
Breed Selector List

breed data file is the breed selector list.
This controls the appearance of the popup list that is shown when
The final element to the
the Choose From Standard Breeds button is clicked in the Breed tab of the Cat Details window.
Normally this list is set to
include every breed in the breed data file.
This may be customized e.g to change it so that it displays a limited number of breeds.
If you're only interested in a single breed
this can be helpful - otherwise the popup list can be very long - depending on the version of Breeders Assistant it can contain
thousands of breeds.
Backing Up

If manual changes are made to the breed data file it is important to ensure it is backed up.
The internal backup facilities that Breeders Assistant provides for backing up cat database(s) can also backup the breed data file.
See 8.2. Cat Database Files: Backups.
Customizing The Breed Data File

The breed data file can be customized using Configure|Breeds.

There are options to add, delete and update the breed entries.
It is also possible to import from text files, in much the same way as
data can be imported into a cat database file.
It is also possible to specify additional values that will be included in the 'popup' lists of breed field values that are displayed in the
Breed tab of the Cat Details window.
This is accessed from the Configure Breeds window by clicking the Edit Field Lists button.
The breed selector list may also be configured.
This is the list that is displayed when the Choose From Standard Breeds button in
the Breed tab of the Cat Details window is clicked.
This is accessed from the Configure Breeds window by clicking Advanced
and choosing Configure Selector List.
It is quite common for the breed selector list to be used a lot - possibly every time a new cat is added - and so by customizing it to
your needs you will find it both easier and quicker to use.
E.g. it can be customized to only display a subset of the possible breeds in
the list, and to control the ordering.
It is also possible to add a new breed entry to the breed data file at the same time as adding a new cat of that breed:
just by setting
the breed fields appropriately for the new breed Breeders Assistant notices that new values have been entered and asks whether or

not to add a breed data file entry.

For this to occur any new breed must have both the full and short breed description fields set and
neither may match any existing standard breed; otherwise Breeders Assistant will interpret the new breed as a change to an
existing breed entry and ask if it is to be updated.
In addition any new entries that are manually entered into the 'breed' fields that
have not been seen before will result in the software prompting to ask whether they should be added as new, standard, 'popup' list
entries.
Both these behaviors can be disabled - using preference settings Update breed records during cat entry and Update
breed field lists during cat entry (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) to change these).
Setting A Default Breed

A further option is to set up
a default breed that will be used for new cats. See 15.12. Breed Data File.
This is accessed from the Configure Breeds window by clicking Advanced and choosing Set Displayed Record As Default.
See:


See Also:
Help Reference - A.13 Procedures By Subject: Breed Data File
15.13. Cat Records: Genotype Fields

Cat records include several text fields for the recording of genotypes.
These fields are found in the Genotype tab of the Cat Details window. In order for this tab to be available it is necessary to have
'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use
advanced cat records' option and click OK).
Pattern - For recording genotypes specific to the coat pattern
Color - For recording genotypes specific to the coat color
Eye Color - For recording genotypes specific to the eye color
Breed - For recording genotypes specific to the breed
Disease - For recording disease genotypes
Other - For recording other genotypes that don't fit into any other category
With the Professional Edition (or higher) the operation of these fields is dependent on the gene configuration.
Please refer to 28.2.
Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Fields for details.
With the Personal Edition these fields are still present, but they are treated as plain text fields and Breeders Assistant will not
attempt to use them e.g. in any gene predictions.
Genotypes And The Breed Data File

It is possible to associate genotypes with records in the breed data file.

Within the Breed Details window (to open this window,
select Configure|Breeds and then double-click any entry in the list), there is a Genotype tab.
Any genotypes entered into a breed entry on its Genotype tab can be assigned to a cat record by clicking the Set To Breed
Default button in the Genotype tab of the Cat Details window.
More precisely, clicking this button will:
1. Use the Full Breed Description field (on the Breed) tab to locate a breed entry in the breed data file.
2. It will then copy over any genotypes located in that breed entry into the Genotype tab of the Cat Details window.
Genotypes in a breed entry can be specified either as common to both sexes or separately for each sex.
The former method is most
often used.
The latter method is useful for sex-linked genes.
E.g. in cats, the O gene (red) is sex linked.
So a user of Breeders
Assistant for Cats might want to customize the breed data data file entry for, say Red Siamese, to include the genotype O for males
and OO for females.
NOTE:
None of the standard breed lists supplied with the product include filled out genotypes for any breed.
What is provided is
the mechanism to extend the standard breed data files to include these if it is needed.
See:

Text Fields
15. Cat Records

28. Mendelian Genetics

Genotype Fields
28.2. Mendelian Genetics:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.60 Procedures By Subject: Mendelian Genetics

Breeders Assistant can produce a kitten/cat sale agreement (sale contract) where the details of the cat (name, date of birth etc.)
and the new owner are built into the text of the agreement.
A sale agreement is simply a form that includes a large area containing the text of the agreement and possibly a header.
The text
contains placeholders - text expansions - for the cat and owner details.
When a new database is initialized it includes some sample sale agreements.

To access these use Display|Agreements.
To print the displayed agreement use Form|Print ( Ctrl+P).
Agreements can also be saved as PDF files if the printer configuration has been adjusted to use a print-to-PDF facility using the
same technique as can be used to produce a PDF pedigree.
Sale agreements normally use the 'Default-Portrait' printer/paper
configuration, and therefore arranging for sale agreements to be saved as PDF files is a matter of customizing this configuration to
save as PDF.
A sale agreement is a "document" form and can be customized using similar techniques as used to adjust pedigree layouts e.g. to
add borders or watermark images.
This is demonstrated in section 21 "Agreements/Contracts" (p.55) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To
access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
A kitten/cat sale agreement may include a logo box along the top that displays your default logo.
The text for the agreement uses
embedded text expansions that are substituted for data from the relevant kitten/cat record.
To adjust the text of the agreement use
design mode and change the box properties.
See 13.7. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms.
NOTE:
Please be reminded of the following clause from the Breeders Assistant License Agreement:
"The text of all sale
agreements contracts invoices or similar as supplied with Breeders Assistant are provided as samples only.
Tenset Technologies
Ltd. does not warrant the legal enforceability or correctness of any such contract or agreement or invoice or similar.
You agree to
engage your own solicitor or lawyer to draft agreements or contracts suitable to your needs and locality. You accept that in no
circumstance will Tenset Technologies Ltd have any liability with respect to any use of any sale agreement or contract or invoice
or similar generated by Breeders Assistant."
See:


Customizing Forms And Creating New Forms
13.7. Forms and Pedigree Layouts:



13.12. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Design Mode

See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 21 Agreements/Contracts (p.55)
15.15. Cat Records: Adding Litters

Breeders Assistant provides several ways to add records for litter mates.
If information about the litter or mating itself is to be kept (as distinguished from the kittens resulting from the mating - e.g. details
of the mating dates etc.), then it is necessary to create a mating record first.
When mating records are listed in the main window,
the litter mates of the mating can be entered and/or viewed using Tools|Litter Mates.
However, it is not essential to create a mating record just to add litter mates.
Litter mates are simply cats that happen to share
three items in common: their sire, their dam, and their date of birth.
When working with cat records, the Tools|Add Litter option
provides a shortcut method to add multiple cats that share the same parentage and date of birth.
See:
16. Mating Records

See Also:
Help Reference - A.52 Procedures By Subject: Litters
15.16. Cat Records: Migrating GCCF Breed Numbers To EMS Codes

If you have cat records that include old-style GCCF breed numbers, as of version 6 Breeders Assistant includes a tool to help update
these in bulk to the newer 'GEMS' codes - EMS codes.
To access this use Record|Advanced|Migrate From GCCF Breed Numbers.
Options are provided to control which records (cats)
the change is made to, and whether to just update the EMS code field or to update all breed-related fields (such as the coat color,
variety, pattern etc.) at the same time.
Once complete these changes to the cat records are irreversible.
If there is any possibility you may wish to revert to the old
numbers, or keep a copy of the database prior to making this change, then it is recommended to make a backup first.
See:

Database Files: Backups
8.2. Cat

16. Mating Records

Mating records are used to store information about specific (real) matings between cats.
They should not be used for hypothetical
(trial) matings, or, with the Extended Edition, when using the advanced mate selection tools to find recommended prospective
matings.
They are accessed by selecting 'Matings' from the Work With box in the main window - above the record list.
Mating records enable the production of the following types of document:
Mating Certificate - A document a stud owner supplies to the owner of a visiting queen to certify the mating and supply
details of the stud, in particular a shortened pedigree sufficient for the queen owner to produce pedigrees for the
resulting offspring.
Mating Agreement - A contract that governs the terms under which a stud owner has agreed to make available stud
service for a visiting queen.
Litter Certificate - A document listing the details of a mating and the resultant offspring (names, date of birth, etc.).
Litter Pedigree - A pedigree layout that can be used for all offspring in a litter. Similar to a normal cat's pedigree except
the heading names the sire and dam rather than a specific cat.
Mating Predictions - A document that includes predictions of genetically inherited traits, such as colors to be expected
from a given mating. Requires Professional Edition (or higher)
Inbreeding Analysis - A form that shows the inbreeding coefficient along with related information such as the depth at
which the furthest ancestor was found, the number of generations of ancestors that were full, the total number of
ancestors found, the total number of unique ancestors and the total number of ancestors common to both sides of the
mating - and each calculated with a range of ancestor depths.
This can show how the inbreeding increases as the
pedigree is analysed to greater depths.
See 18.1. Records And Inbreeding: Using Inbreeding Coefficients.
With the Professional Edition (or higher) it is also possible to include predictions of the expected traits (colors etc.) in mating
certificates, litter pedigrees and trial mating pedigrees.
See 28. Mendelian Genetics.
Contents

Prediction Of Offspring
16.1. Genetic
16.2. Relationship Coefficient

16.3. Mating Certificates

16.4. Mating Agreements
16.5. Working With Litters
16.6. Litter Pedigrees
See:
7.5. Fundamental Concepts: Forms

And Pedigree Layouts


17. Trial Mating Records

18.1. Records And Inbreeding:

Using Inbreeding Coefficients


Mate Selection - Overview
29.5. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.55 Procedures By Subject: Mate Selection
Help Reference - A.58 Procedures By Subject: Mating Records
16.1. Mating Records: Genetic Prediction Of Offspring

With the Professional Edition (or higher), Breeders Assistant can predict the likely traits, colors etc. that will result from a given
mating.
This works by taking the genotypes of both parents (as given by their genotype field(s) in the Genotype tab of the Cat Details
window for each parent), then computing the possible
genotypes that can arise from the mating together with the probability that
each different possible genotype could occur.
Finally it deduces the phenotype corresponding to each possible genotype.
The result
is a prediction of what the mating could produce.
For this to work, it requires that appropriate gene configuration has been set up, and that valid data has been entered into the
genotype fields of both parents.
For further information about setting up a gene configuration see 28. Mendelian Genetics.
There are forms available that can display an analysis of the probability of these traits in the offspring from the mating (use
Display|Mating Predictions).
Genetic predictions can be included in mating certificates - use Display|Mating Certificate and select a layout that includes a
genetic prediction.
Likewise it is possible to include such predictions in a litter pedigree - use Display|Pedigree and then choose a layout that includes
the predicted phenotypes.

NOTE:
In order to see the Genotype tab in the Cat Details window it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled
(select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and
click OK).
See:


Genotype Fields
See Also:
16.2. Mating Records: Relationship Coefficient

The relationship coefficient is the likely proportion of genes that the parents have in common.
I.e. it is the correlation that would occur if all phenotypic variance were genetically additive.
The relationship coefficient can be included in the 'Inbreeding Table' and is available as a field code, <RelationshipCoefficient>.
It can also be included in mating certificates,
litter certificates,
litter pedigrees etc.
See:
7.10.


18.1. Records And Inbreeding: Using Inbreeding Coefficients

See Also:
Help Reference - A.43 Procedures By Subject: Inbreeding
Help Reference - A.51 Procedures By Subject: Litter Certificates
Help Reference - A.57 Procedures By Subject: Mating Certificates

A mating certificate is a document that a stud owner supplies to the owner of a visiting queen to certify the mating and supply
details of the stud, in particular a shortened pedigree sufficient for the queen owner to produce pedigrees for the resulting offspring.
Several sample designs for mating certificates are included - use Display|Mating Certificate.

With the Professional Edition (or higher), it is possible to include genetic based predictions of likely traits, colors etc. that may result
from the mating. See 28. Mendelian Genetics.
A mating certificate form includes various boxes for details of the mating, the sire, dam etc.
It also includes a tabular ancestors box
that displays the ancestors of the sire.
The standard forms provided include 3 generations of the sire's ancestors.
These can be
customized in the same way as pedigree layouts can be customized.
In a similar way it is possible to add new mating certificate
designs with different generation depths.
A mating certificate can include an estimate of the expected date of birth.
This is computed by taking the start date of the mating
and adding on the gestation period for the dam (this is one of the fields within it's record).
If the record for the dam doesn't have
this set a default value can be used.
The certificate can also include an estimate of the date when any kittens arising from the mating may go to new homes.
This date is
computed by adding a given number of days to the expected date of birth.
The number of days is stored as a field in each mating
record; the default is a preference setting.
If the default value is itself not set, the 'ready by' text is excluded from the standard
mating certificates.
It is also possible to include the coefficient of inbreeding of any offspring that will arise from the mating, and/or the coefficient of
relationship between the parents.
See:


13.19. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Tabular

Ancestors Boxes
16. Mating Records

Relationship Coefficient



See Also:
Help Reference - 11.10 Preferences And Configuration Reference: Miscellaneous
16.4. Mating Records: Mating Agreements

Breeders Assistant can produce a mating agreement (stud contract) where the details of the visiting queen and her owner are built
into the body of the agreement.
These operate in very similar way to the sale agreements that are provided by cat records.
They can be customized, or new
agreements added, using the exact same methods.
The main difference is that they are accessed with mating records displayed in
the main window rather than cat records.
When a new database is initialized it includes some sample mating agreements.

To access these use Display|Agreements when
the main window is displaying mating records.
To print the displayed agreement use Form|Print ( Ctrl+P).
NOTE:
Please be reminded of the following clause from the Breeders Assistant License Agreement:
"The text of all sale
agreements contracts invoices or similar as supplied with Breeders Assistant are provided as samples only.
Tenset Technologies
Ltd. does not warrant the legal enforceability or correctness of any such contract or agreement or invoice or similar.
You agree to
engage your own solicitor or lawyer to draft agreements or contracts suitable to your needs and locality. You accept that in no
circumstance will Tenset Technologies Ltd have any liability with respect to any use of any sale agreement or contract or invoice
or similar generated by Breeders Assistant."
See:
15. Cat Records

16. Mating Records

See Also:
Help Reference - A.56 Procedures By Subject: Mating Agreements
16.5. Mating Records: Working With Litters

When a litter results from a mating the offspring can then be added to the database as individual cat records in the usual way - i.e.
switch to cat records and use Record|Add Record ( Keypad+).
There are, however, better ways of working with the cat records for kittens arising from a mating - if there is a mating record set
up.
This is a good reason to create a mating record even if it not required to produce mating-specific documents such as mating
agreements,
mating certificates,
litter certificates,
litter pedigrees etc.
Once a mating record has been created, the Tools|Litter Mates option provides convenient ways to:
add/update offspring
record the sale of a kitten
print individual pedigrees
print sale agreements with the new owners of the kittens
Adding Litter Mates Without Creating Mating Records

It isn't essential to create a mating record in order to add litter
mates.
To add a set of litter mates directly when working with cat
records displayed in the main window, use Tools|Add Litter.
See 15.15. Cat Records: Adding Litters.
See:

Records
15. Cat

15.15. Cat Records: Adding Litters

16. Mating Records

Mating Certificates

16.4. Mating Records: Mating Agreements
See Also:
Help Reference - A.51 Procedures By Subject: Litter Certificates
Help Reference - A.52 Procedures By Subject: Litters

Help Reference - A.56 Procedures By Subject: Mating

Agreements

Breeders Assistant can generate 'litter pedigrees' with similar styles to the pedigree layouts available for cat records.
A litter pedigree is simply a pedigree where the heading names the parents rather than a specific cat, and can include other details
of the mating.
It is not necessary to enter the details of the litter mates themselves in order to produce a litter pedigree.
To view available litter pedigree layouts for a mating record use Display|Pedigree.

See:
15. Cat Records

16. Mating Records


Trial mating records are used to set up hypothetical matings and print documents such as trial mating pedigrees, inbreeding
analyses etc., of the offspring that would result from such matings.
They serve no other purpose.
To store information about actual
(real) matings the separate mating records should be used.
A trial mating record consists of just 2 elements: the names of a specific sire and dam.
They should not be used for real (actual) matings (for that, use mating records), or,
with the Extended Edition, when using the
advanced mate selection tools to find recommended prospective matings.
They are accessed by selecting 'Trial Matings' from the Work With box in the main window - above the record list.
Trial mating records enable the production of the following types of document:
Trial Mating Pedigree - Similar to a normal cat's pedigree except the heading names the hypothetical sire and dam
rather than a specific cat.
Inbreeding Analysis - Similar to the inbreeding analysis form that's available with a mating record.
Mating Predictions - A document that includes predictions of genetically inherited traits, such as colors to be expected
from a given mating. Requires Professional Edition (or higher)
See:
16. Mating Records

Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Overview
29.5. Mate Selection,
See Also:
Help Reference - A.90 Procedures By Subject: Trial Matings


Inbreeding occurs whenever any given ancestor appears on both sides of a pedigree - i.e. when the sire and dam of a cat have one
or more ancestors in common.
Contents
18.1. Using
Inbreeding Coefficients
18.2. Inbreeding Lock

18.3. Inbreeding Configuration
18.4. Ancestor Circularity Detection (Self-Parenting)
18.5. Rate Of Inbreeding And Loss Of Heterozygosity
18.6. Inbreeding Field Code

18.7. Bulk Computation Of Inbreeding With The Extended Edition
About Inbreeding

The degree of inbreeding depends on how many common ancestors there are, and how close they are in the pedigree.
E.g. a
common grandparent has a much larger impact on the degree of inbreeding than does a common great-great-grandparent.
Inbreeding is computed using a formula known as Wright's Coefficient of Inbreeding.
The inbreeding coefficient is expressed as a
percentage.
The symbol COI or F is sometimes used for this coefficient.
F is the generally accepted symbol for inbreeding within
scientific literature.
In Breeders Assistant inbreeding can be computed for any record that has parentage recorded i.e. a sire and dam - which includes
both mating and trial mating records in addition to cats.
Unless specified otherwise all the features described in this section apply
equally well to matings and trial matings.
Breeders Assistant can compute the inbreeding associated with a record when required.
It can be included in any form associated
with cats, matings or trial matings - including all pedigrees.
It is also possible to tabulate the inbreeding coefficients in the record
list in the main window and to include it when exporting data.
If you have the Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant it is also possible to use its bulk computation of inbreeding in mate selection
and population analysis tools.
E.g. it is possible to prioritize prospective matings according to the extent of inbreeding that would
arise in any potential offspring from a mating.
Breeders Assistant does not include a field for storing the inbreeding coefficient.
There is no place in the Cat Details window to
enter it.
This is because whenever it is needed for an individual record it is re-computed if necessary (i.e., if there have been any
potential changes in the relevant ancestry).
Breeders Assistant can also compute the rate of inbreeding and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) over a given number of ancestor
generations.
The relationship coefficient (RC) can also be calculated, for inclusion in mating certificates, litter pedigrees and trial
mating pedigrees.
See:
12. Exporting Data

Mating Certificates

29.5. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Overview
See Also:
18.1. Records And Inbreeding: Using Inbreeding Coefficients

Breeders Assistant can utilize the inbreeding coefficients of individual records in a number of ways.
Include In Pedigrees
Most pedigree layouts can
include the inbreeding coefficient.
Many of the standard pedigree forms have the inbreeding coefficient
enabled by default - to see such a pedigree click the Display button, select Pedigree from the popup menu then choose any layout
that has 'Inbreeding' as part of its name.
The coefficient is included together with other details of the subject cat, normally in the
details box in the pedigree heading.
Pedigree layouts that do not already include the inbreeding coefficient can be customized to include it by altering the details box
properties.
Normally the inbreeding coefficient is only included for the subject cat, but it can also be included for the ancestors - by customizing
the per-generation settings within the tabular ancestors box.
Examples that show how to change the cat's details and ancestors table are included in the "Pedigree Layouts" Tutorial. To access
To include the inbreeding coefficient in any custom form associated with cat, mating or trial mating forms - e.g. in a letter form - all
that is needed is to include the <InbreedingCoefficient> field code.
For further details of this field code see section 4.7 "Fields
And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records" of the Help Reference.
Display In The Record List

Inbreeding coefficients can be included directly in the record list.

A standard index is provided that has columns for the inbreeding coefficient and other related values (such as the number of
generations of ancestors located).
To display this, click the View box and select 'Inbreeding table'.
It is possible to customize any index for cat records, mating records or trial mating records to include the inbreeding by adjusting
the index columns to include a custom column with the output text set to the <InbreedingCoefficient> field code.
Export To Text/CSV

can be included when exporting to a text/CSV file either by selecting it as one of the output fields or, if
The inbreeding coefficient
using a custom text expansion, by including the <InbreedingCoefficient> field code.
If you have the Extended Edition it can also
be exported as part of the 'Key Metrics' analysis - see 29.9. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Analysis -
Overview.
Printed Reports

tool can include the inbreeding coefficient as a column within a report layout.
The record reporting
Analyse Inbreeding
An 'inbreeding analyis'
form can be displayed that shows the inbreeding coefficient along with related information such as the depth
at which the furthest ancestor was found, the number of generations of ancestors that were full, the total number of ancestors
found, the total number of unique ancestors and the total number of ancestors common to both sides of the pedigree - and each
calculated with a range of ancestor depths.
This can show how the inbreeding increases as the pedigree is analysed to greater
depths.
To access this click the Display button then choose an option from the Inbreeding Analysis menu.

Find Prospective Matings And Population Analyses

With the Extended Edition the inbreeding coefficient can be
included in many of the population analyses and also as a factor when
prioritizing prospective matings.
See 29.3. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Inbreeding And Related Metrics and
29.5. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Overview.
Highlight Ancestor Inbreeding In Pedigrees

With the Professional and Extended Editions the ancestors can be color coded in a pedigree to show their inbreeding.
For further information see section 19 "Ancestor Highlighting" (p.47) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials
- select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.

See:


13.18. Forms and Pedigree Layouts: Details

Boxes
15. Cat Records

16. Mating Records
21. Printed Reports


Inbreeding And Related Metrics


29.9. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Analysis - Overview
See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 19 Ancestor Highlighting (p.47)
Help Reference - 4.7 Fields And Field Codes Reference:

Cat Records
Help Reference - A.4 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Highlighting

18.2. Records And Inbreeding: Inbreeding Lock

Sometimes it is helpful to ignore specific cats for inbreeding purposes. A good example is when there are cat records included as
'placeholders' for foundation cats or wild stock, where the record is a placeholder for multiple or unknown individuals.
Such
"individuals" could easily appear multiple times in the pedigree and lead to grossly exaggerated inbreeding coefficients.
To cater for this situation it is possible to apply an 'inbreeding lock' to specific cats to exclude them from all inbreeding calculations.
The lock is a setting on the More tab of the Cat Details window.
For this option to be visible it is necessary to have 'advanced cat
records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat
records' option and click OK).
See:

Records
15. Cat
18. Records And
Inbreeding
18.3. Records And Inbreeding: Inbreeding Configuration

There are some settings that can be used to tailor the inbreeding calculation.
To access these, select Configure|Preferences
( Ctrl+E), then move to the Inbreeding
tab.
This is the number of generations of ancestors to be considered when computing the inbreeding.
Precision

of decimal places to display for the inbreeding coefficient.
If you have the Extended Edition this also affects the
The number

precision with with all other coefficients are shown when using the mate selection and population analysis tools, such as kinship and
pedigree completeness coefficients.
Fine Tuning - Inbreeding Optimization

In addition to choosing the number of generations of ancestors to be considered in the inbreeding calculation, it is possible control
the treatment of ancestors 'beyond' the pedigree but which are visible to the calculation e.g. due to multiple occurrences of the
same ancestor in different generations of the pedigree.
This is perhaps best introduced with an example.
Consider the calculation of Wright's inbreeding coefficient to 4 generations for the following pedigree of a hypothetical animal X:
G G G G
---+---1--+---2--+---3--+---4----
+-- Fred
+-- George
+-- JOE
| | +-- Fred
| +-- Mary
+-- Peter
| | +-- George...S=Fred
| | +-- JOE
| | | +-- Mary...S=Fred
| | +-- Albert
| +-- Alice
| +-- Ben
| | +-- JOE...George,Fred,Mary,Fred
| +-- LIZ
+-- X
| +-- Fred
| +-- George
| +-- JOE
| | | +-- Fred
| | +-- Mary
| +-- Sue
| | +-- Tina
| | | +-- JOE...George,Fred,Mary,Fred
| | +-- LIZ
+-- Rose
Note that:
1. Ancestors shown in red are occurrences of ancestors that are only known to the inbreeding calculation if it is
permitted to consider the parents of the last generation.
2. Ancestors shown in blue represent ancestors beyond 4G that are also known to the inbreeding calculation because
they also occur in earlier generations in the same pedigree.
3. X has five common ancestors - ancestors occurring on both sides of the pedigree that is.
These are Fred(G4+5),
George(G3+4+5), JOE(G2+3+4), LIZ(G4), and Mary(G3+4+5).
4. JOE is himself inbred 12.5% because JOE shares a common Grandsire, Fred.
5. Fred, George and Mary only occur in the pedigree of X as ancestors of JOE.
6. The only ancestors of X that are common ancestors of X are JOE and LIZ - i.e. ancestors that occur in both the
paternal and maternal sides of X's pedigree.
They are highlighted in the pedigree by being shown in UPPER CASE.
To calculate the inbreeding coefficient to 4 generations, Breeders Assistant examines the ancestors that comprise the parents,
grandparents, great-grandparents, and the great-great-grandparents in the pedigree.
In doing so, there are various choices the
software could make:
1. Should it take into account its knowledge of the parents of the individuals in the last generation?
E.g., in the dam side
of X's pedigree LIZ occurs in the 4th generation, and Breeders Assistant has available to it the knowledge that LIZ's
sire is JOE, who also occurs on the sire side of X's pedigree.
If your reason for supplying a generation depth limit (4)
to the COI calculation is to prevent it taking too long, perhaps you would like it to ignore the inbreeding due to this.
Alternatively if you are looking for the software to compute a coefficient as close to the 'theoretical' value (i.e., the
value that results if all known ancestors are considered), whilst keeping a sensible cap on the amount of computer
time used in the calculations, perhaps you would like this to be included.
2. When considering a common ancestor that is itself inbred, how much of that common ancestor's inbreeding should it
consider?
E.g JOE is a paternal grandsire and his own inbreeding (due to Fred) is 'visible' within the 4 generation
pedigree of X but only at his appearance as paternal grand-sire.
However, when JOE appears as a great-grandparent
on the maternal side of X's pedigree, JOE's own inbreeding is not visible within the 4 generation pedigree of X.
So, in
considering the contribution to X's inbreeding coefficient caused by the path JOE-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE, should, or
should not, JOE's own inbreeding be included in the calculation?
3. Likewise, consider the path JOE-Albert-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE.
This involves JOE appearing in generation 4 on
the paternal side, and generation 3 on the maternal side.
It is only due to JOE's other appearance in the 4G pedigree
(as paternal grand-sire) that the software knows that JOE is 12.5% inbred.
However, is it 'right' to include this when
computing the contribution to X's inbreeding due to the path JOE-Albert-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE?
After all, that

path would still exist in X's pedigree even if the software did not know that JOE was Peter's sire .. and hence did not
know JOE was inbred.
Issues like this arise because of additional information being available to the software, and because common ancestors can occur in
different generations of the pedigree.
Breeders Assistant provides the means to control the behaviour of the inbreeding calculation in these situations by selecting an
'Optimization' preference setting.
Four settings are available:
Strict with Minimal Common Ancestor Inbreeding
Strict with Maximum Common Ancestor Inbreeding
Relaxed with Maximum COI
Relaxed with Maximum Speed
TIP:
One way to see the effects of the different optimization settings is to select Display|Inbreeding Analysis and then choose
one of the options labeled Optimization Comparison....
This displays a table showing the differences in coefficient values for
each of the optimization settings, for varying #generations of ancestors.
The Strict options prevent the software from incorporating inbreeding that can only be deduced by 'seeing' ancestors beyond the
generation limit of the calculation.
E.g., parents of the last generation ancestors are specifically ignored.
Strict means that the
software is to strictly observe the ancestor generation limit imposed on the calculation: it is not to step beyond the last generation
even though that information may be available.
There are two variations possible with the 'Strict' setting: Minimal or Maximum common ancestor inbreeding.
If Strict with
Minimal Common Ancestor Inbreeding is chosen, only the inbreeding of a common ancestor that is visible within the pedigree at
both the sire and dam side occurrences, on a path by path basis, is included.
In the above example, this would cause JOE's
inbreeding to be ignored in all paths contributing to X's inbreeding coefficient, because JOE's own inbreeding is only visible in the
sire side of X's pedigree to 4 generations.
If Strict with Maximum Common Ancestor Inbreeding is chosen, the software uses
the maximum inbreeding of the common ancestor as can be deduced by examining its sire and dam side occurrences, again on a
path by path basis.
E.g. in the above example, considering the path JOE-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE, the 12.5% inbreeding of JOE is
included because it is visible on the sire side of this path.
But, in the path JOE-Albert-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE it is not included
because neither occurrence of JOE in this path lets us 'see' the common ancestors of JOE within the 4 generation pedigree of X.
As a consequence of how the inbreeding computations are carried out, both of the 'Strict' options can be significantly slower to
perform than either of the 'Relaxed' options.
For this reason they are limited to at most 16 generations of ancestors.
The 'Relaxed'
options are very much faster when computing inbreeding to any significant depth of ancestors and should usually be preferred.
There are 2 variations possible with the 'Relaxed' setting: either 'Maximal COI' or 'Maximum Speed'.
Choosing Relaxed with
Maximal COI will cause the software to include all possible common ancestors that can be deduced from the pedigree, subject only
to the generation limit.
Specifically, the software will include its knowledge of the parents of ancestors that only occur in the last
generation.
E.g. in the pedigree of X, LIZ occurs in the 4th generation on both paternal and maternal sides.
But Breeders Assistant
can also take into account its knowledge that LIZ's sire is JOE, and JOE occurs elsewhere in both sides of the pedigree.
This lets it
include additional inbreeding due to JOE that it might otherwise ignore.
If you select 'Relaxed with Maximal Speed', Breeders
Assistant will try to compute the inbreeding coefficient as fast as possible.
Specifically, it will ignore its knowledge of the parents of
ancestors that only occur in the last generation.
The following table shows which common ancestor paths are included in computing the inbreeding of X to 4 generations for each of
the different optimization settings.
('Fa' is the inbreeding due to the identified common ancestor path that is included in the calculation; 'Contribution to F' is the
contribution to the inbreeding of X due to this common ancestor)
Strict with Minimal Common Ancestor Inbreeding

N Fa Contribution to F
JOE-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE 4 0.000000% 6.250000%
JOE-Albert-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE 6 0.000000% 1.562500%
LIZ-Ben-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-Tina-LIZ 7 0.000000% 0.781250%
Inbreeding Coefficient, to 4G TOTAL 8.59375%

Strict with Maximum Common Ancestor Inbreeding


Relaxed with Maximal COI

JOE-LIZ-Ben-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-JOE 7 12.500000% 0.878906%
JOE-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-Tina-LIZ-JOE 6 12.500000% 1.757813%
JOE-Albert-Alice-Peter-X-Rose-Sue-Tina-LIZ-JOE 8 12.500000% 0.439453%

Relaxed with Maximal Speed
See:
29.2. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Genetics Concepts And Terminology
See Also:
Help Reference - 11.7 Preferences And Configuration Reference: Inbreeding
18.4. Records And Inbreeding: Ancestor Circularity Detection (Self-Parenting)

An 'ancestor circularity', sometimes called a 'self-parenting error', occurs when a cat appears within its own ancestors.
An
impossibility in nature, but quite possible in a pedigree database.
E.g. if a database contains cat records where:
Mylady Kazoo is recorded as the dam of Arripay Bigfoot;
Arripay Handsome is recorded as the sire of Mylady Kazoo;
Arripay Sunshine is recorded as the sire of Arripay Handsome;
..but Arripay Bigfoot is recorded as the sire of Arripay Sunshine; - this means there must be an error somewhere in
the data because Arripay Bigfoot cannot be descended from himself.
Breeders Assistant can detect such errors at the same time as creating the inbreeding analyis reports.
E.g. if Arripay Bigfoot
appeared as an ancestor 18 generations back in some other cat's pedigree, the inbreeding analysis report for this cat would contain
the following:
Circularity detected in ancestors at G18:
Arripay Bigfoot
-> Mylady Kazoo
-> Arripay Handsome
-> Arripay Sunshine
-> Arripay Bigfoot
I.e., this is reporting that Arripay Bigfoot is claimed to be descended from itself - with the other ancestors that make up the 'loop'
given.
The G18 in the report states that this happened 18 generations back.
This information can be used to help track down errors
in your data.
When self-parenting errors are detected the inbreeding/relationship coefficient cannot be calculated.
Instead of seeing the
coefficient percentage a code such as !G18 is displayed instead - this states that the calculation failed because of an error 18
generations back.
In most cases such errors are caused by circularities.
It is also possible to detect self-parenting errors across the whole database using the database inconsistency checking facility.
See:
8.10.
15. Cat Records

18.1. Records And

Inbreeding: Using Inbreeding Coefficients
See Also:
Help Reference - A.3 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Circularities (Self-Parenting)

18.5. Records And Inbreeding: Rate Of Inbreeding And Loss Of Heterozygosity

A related value to the inbreeding coefficient itself is the 'rate of inbreeding'.
This is the proportion of heterozygosity remaining per
generation.
E.g. consider a cat that has a coefficient of inbreeding of 12.5% when calculated to 8 generations.
The amount of heterozygosity
remaining is 100-12.5 = 87.5% after 8 generations.
This is equivalent to a rate of inbreeding of 98.34471% per generation
(because 0.9834471 multiplied 8 times equals 0.875).
A related value is the 'loss of heterozygosity'.
This is simply 100 minus the rate of inbreeding.
It is a measure of how much
heterozygosity is lost, per generation.
Breeders Assistant includes a form that displays the rate of inbreeding and loss of heterozygosity for a varying numbers of ancestor
generations -
choose Display|Inbreeding Analysis and then select one of the options labeled Rate of Inbreeding....
See:
18.6. Records And Inbreeding: Inbreeding Field Code

The inbreeding coefficient of a record can be accessed using a field code <InbreedingCoefficient> and as a result can be
incorporated in any situation where a field code is permitted, most obviously in text expansions.
Consequently inbreeding coefficients can be:
Tabulated In The Record List - If a column is defined to display the <InbreedingCoefficient> it will show the
inbreeding. E.g. the standard 'Inbreeding table' index (accessed using the View box) uses this to include the inbreeding
column (and related values).
Exported - An 'export layout' - which defines the output format of a exported text/CSV file - can include the inbreeding
coefficient.
This makes it possible to export cat records including inbreeding coefficients for subsequent use externally
e.g. in spreadsheets.
Included In Reports - An 'report layout' - which defines the columns of a printed record can also include the inbreeding
coefficient.
The inbreeding field code <InbreedingCoefficient> also accepts a number of parameters through which it is possible to retrieve
other associated values, such as the generation # of the deepest ancestor found, the number of common ancestors, etc.
For further
information see section 4.7 "Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records" of the Help Reference.
See:

15. Cat Records

18. Records And

Inbreeding
21. Printed Reports


See Also:
18.7. Records And Inbreeding: Bulk Computation Of Inbreeding With The Extended Edition
The Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant can include inbreeding coefficients within its population genetics analyses, e.g. the Key
Metrics analysis.
This is an alternative (and somewhat faster) way to compute inbreeding and other metrics such as the pedigree
completeness index.
See 29.3. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Inbreeding And Related Metrics.
See:

Inbreeding And Related Metrics
See Also:
Help Reference - A.47 Procedures By Subject: Kinship
Help Reference - A.62 Procedures By Subject: Pedigree Completeness Index

19. Ancestors
Ancestors are stored in Breeders Assistant as sire/dam links in cat records.
Contents
19.1. Entering Ancestors
19.2. Importing Ancestors

19.3. Tagging Ancestors

19.4. Ancestor Highlighting
19.5. Ancestors Listings

19.6. Ancestors Analysis
19.7. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analyses In The Extended Edition
See:

Records
15. Cat
See Also:
Help Reference - A.5 Procedures By Subject: Ancestors
19.1. Ancestors: Entering Ancestors

Ancestors are entered manually using the Ancestors tab of the Cat Details window.
This presents a 4 generation 'pedigree', the
sole purpose of which is to act as a convenient place to enter the ancestral links for a cat.
This process, including how to enter ancestral links beyond the 4th generation, is covered in detail in section 4 "Setting The
Ancestors" (p.9) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within
Breeders Assistant.

See:
'First Steps' Tutorial - 4 Setting The Ancestors (p.9)
19.2. Ancestors: Importing Ancestors

It is possible to import additional ancestry into an existing database using the text/CSV import facility.
When importing data that includes the same named cats this is then merged with the existing data.
E.g. if a cat has been manually
added with the names of its parents but none of their ancestors, they can be imported and merged from an external text/CSV file
and with the software linking the imported data to the existing (manually entered) data.
See:
11. Importing Data

See Also:
Help Reference - A.42 Procedures By Subject: Importing
19.3. Ancestors: Tagging Ancestors

Breeders Assistant has the means to tag the ancestors, or common ancestors, of a cat or group of cats to a chosen depth of
ancestry.
To use this, select Tag|Advanced|Tag Ancestors.
(A 'common ancestor' has a specific meaning: it means an ancestor that occurs on both sides of a pedigree, and therefore gives rise
to inbreeding.
A common ancestor is not simply an ancestor that 'occurs a lot'.)
This can be useful as a precursor to an operation that is applied to the ancestors located, such as to export them as a text/CSV file
or simply to browse in the record list.
See:
10. Tagging Records

See Also:
19.4. Ancestors: Ancestor Highlighting

It is possible to highlight ancestors within a pedigree in various ways, such as to show ancestors that are either repeat or common
ancestors.
With the Professional and Extended Editions of Breeders Assistant it is also possible to 'heat code' the pedigree to show
at a glance which ancestors have the most inbreeding in the pedigree, and to create custom ancestor highlighting methods.
These techniques are demonstrated in section 19 "Ancestor Highlighting" (p.47) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial. To access this - and

See:

See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 19 Ancestor Highlighting (p.47)
Help Reference - A.4 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor

Highlighting
19.5. Ancestors: Ancestors Listings

These are simply lists of either all the ancestors of, or just the common ancestors of, a cat, to a given number of generations, and
sorted in one of several ways.
They can be customized to have between 2 and 32 generations of ancestors, and they can also be
generated for matings and trial matings.
To see the standard listing forms included, click Display|Ancestors.
These listings can be ordered in a number of ways:
By Blood% - Ordered according to the proportion of genes that have been inherited by the cat in question.
By Closest Ancestor - Ordered according to their 'distance' from the cat in question.
So parents appear first, then
grandparents etc.
By Homozygosity - Ordered according to the probability that both genes at any given locus in the cat in question have
both been inherited from the same ancestor.
This will generally place the common ancestors which are closest to the cat
in question at the top of the list.
By Name - Ordered by alphabetical ancestor name, excluding any title.
By No. of Occurrences - Ordered according to the number of times they have occurred in the given number of
generations of the ancestry.
By Sex Linkage Probability - Ordered according to the probability that any gene which is carried on the X sex
chromosome has been inherited from the given ancestor.
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - A.2 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Analyses
19.6. Ancestors: Ancestors Analysis

An 'ancestors analysis' is a table of mainly statistical information about the ancestors of a cat.
The table can contain up to 32
generations of ancestors, and has the same sorting options as with ancestor listings - see 19.5. Ancestors Listings.
These analyses may also be generated for mating and trial mating records.
To see the standard analyis forms, switch to cat records then click Display|Ancestors.
The table contains the following columns.
The column on which the table is sorted is always shown leftmost.
Blood% - The proportion of genes inherited by the cat in question from the given ancestor.
Name - The ancestor's name, including title.

Sex - A single letter giving the sex of this ancestor.

Count - The number of times the ancestor occurred in the given number of generations of the cat's pedigree.
Hom% - The probability that both genes at any given locus in the cat in question have both been inherited from the
given ancestor.
The sum of all values in the Hom% column can exceed the coefficient of inbreeding of the cat in question,
because some occurrences of common ancestors may be counted multiple times when summing in this way.
Inbreed% - The coefficient of inbreeding of the ancestor, computed using the system default #generations for
inbreeding computations.
To set the #generations used for inbreeding calculations: select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the
Inbreeding tab,
then enter the required number in the box marked No. of generations to use when computing
First - The closest generation in which this ancestor occurred.
Where - The number of times the given ancestor was found at each generation on either side of the pedigree.
E.g.
S5:3, D4 means that it occurred 3 times in the 5th generation in the sire side, and once in the 4th generation on the
dam side.
Breed - The short breed description of this ancestor.
Genotype - The genotype of this ancestor, created by concatenating together all genotype fields (as given on the
Genotype tab of the Cat Details window).
In addition to the table, the following summary information is provided:

The number of generations found that were full (no missing ancestors).
The maximum number of generations that could be found (theoretically) for this number of generations.
The highest generation at which an ancestor was found.
The total number of ancestors actually found (with duplicates counted multiple times).
The number unique ancestors actually found.
The number of unique ancestors that are common to both sides of the pedigree.
See:
15. Cat Records

19.5. Ancestors: Ancestors Listings
28.2. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype

Fields
29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population

Analysis
See Also:
Help Reference - A.2 Procedures By Subject: Ancestor Analyses
19.7. Ancestors: Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analyses In The Extended Edition
Ancestry analysis plays a fundamental role in the mate selection, kinship and population analysis tools of the Extended Edition of
Breeders Assistant.
See 29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis.
See:

Population Genetics Concepts And Terminology

See Also:
Mate Selection
Help Reference - A.59 Procedures By Subject: Mean Kinship

Pedigree Completeness Index

20. Descendants
Breeders Assistant provides a variety of tools concerning descendants.
Record The Sex

With any of the features relating to descendants misleading results can occur if the sex of a cat is not recorded correctly. Whenever
a cat is added to the database it is important to make sure the sex is correct.
For this reason Breeders Assistant prompts if you
forget to enter the sex.
Any cat that does not have its sex set is excluded from the mate selection, kinship and population analysis
tools of the Extended Edition.
See 29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis.
There are also database inconsistency checks available to search the whole database for cats where the sex is either not recorded,
or is inconsistent with sire/dam links (e.g. cats recorded as being male yet appearing as the dam of other cats).
Direct (First Generation) Descendants

There is a shortcut to access the direct (i.e., immediate) descendants of a cat.

Simply right-click over the cat's name in the record
list, then select Associated Records|Direct Descendants.
Direct descendants can be tagged in a similar manner. See 9.2.
Records, Fields And Indexes: Associated Records.
Contents
20.1. Tagging Descendants
20.2. Descendants Analysis
20.3. Reverse Pedigrees

20.4. Breedings Listing
See:
8.10.

10. Tagging Records



See Also:
Help Reference - A.30 Procedures By Subject: Descendants
20.1. Descendants: Tagging Descendants

Breeders Assistant has the means to tag the descendants of a cat or group of cats to a chosen number of generations.
To use this, select Tag|Advanced|Tag Descendants.
Options are provided to tag all descendants found or to limit them to only those descendants that have either all the source group of
cats as ancestors, or any 2.
This can be useful as a precursor to an operation that is applied to the descendants located, such as to export them as a text/CSV
file or simply to browse in the record list.
See:
10. Tagging Records

See Also:
20.2. Descendants: Descendants Analysis

A descendants analysis is a table of mainly statistical information about the descendants of a cat or a mating record or trial mating
record.
It can contain up to 30 generations of descendants, and can be sorted in any of the following ways:
By Closest Descendant - Ordered according to their 'distance' from the cat in question.
So direct descendants will
appear first, then grandchildren etc.
By Date of Birth - Ordered according to their date of birth.
By Name - Ordered by alphabetical descendant name, excluding any title.
By No. of Occurrences - Ordered according to the number of times they have occurred in the given number of
generations.
To see the standard analyis forms switch to cat records then click Display|Descendants.
The table contains the following columns.
The column on which the table is sorted is always shown leftmost.
Closest Gen - The closest generation where this descendant was found.
Name - The descendant's name, including title.
Sex - A single letter given the sex of this descendant.
Date of Birth - The date of birth of this descendant.
Count - The number of times the descendant could be located in the given number of generations.
Inbreed% - The coefficient of inbreeding of the descendant, computed using the system default #generations for
inbreeding computations.
To set the #generations used for inbreeding calculations: select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the
Inbreeding tab,
then enter the required number in the box marked No. of generations to use when computing
Breed - The short breed description of this descendant.
Genotype - The genotype of this descendant, created by concatenating together all genotype fields (as given on the
Genotype tab of the Cat Details window).
See:
15. Cat Records

16. Mating Records
28.2. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Fields
29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population

Analysis
See Also:
Help Reference - A.29 Procedures By Subject: Descendant Analyses
20.3. Descendants: Reverse Pedigrees

A reverse pedigree is a listing of descendants that also shows the familial links between the generations.
It's like a family tree on its
side.
Within each level of the reverse pedigree the direct descendants may be sorted using the same options as for descendants
analyses - see 20.2. Descendants Analysis.
Reverse pedigrees are available with the following options:
Compact or Spaced - A spaced reverse pedigree has joining connector lines between each descendant; a compact one
does not.
Compact reverse pedigrees use less paper when printed; spaced reverse pedigrees tend to look better when
viewed on the computer display.
Deduplicated or not deduplicated - When a descendant can be reached through multiple paths, it is possible to have
parts of the family tree reproduced multiple times in the reverse pedigree.
If the deduplicated option is selected, on the
2nd and subsequent times that a given descendant is found, its descendants are not listed, instead an asterisk (*) will be
placed after its name.
To see the standard reverse pedigrees switch to cat records then click Display|Descendants|Reverse Pedigrees.
E.g. Non-deduplicated reverse pedigree:
+-- Arripay Rustic Rose F, 0% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
| +-- Arripay Lilac Lady F, 18.8% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
| +-- GR CH Arripay Dark Crystal F, 01/02/1997, 1.6% Inbreed%, Seal Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Brown Beauty M, 0% Inbreed%, Seal Pt. Sia.
| +-- Arripay Sardar M, 12.5% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.

+-- Arripay Candy Girl
+-- Arripay Misty Blue F, 0% Inbreed%, Blue Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Sardar M, 12.5% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Lilac Lady F, 18.8% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
+-- GR CH Arripay Dark Crystal F, 01/02/1997, 1.6% Inbreed%, Seal Pt. Sia.
and here is the equivalent deduplicated reverse pedigree:
+-- Arripay Rustic Rose F, 0% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Brown Beauty M, 0% Inbreed%, Seal Pt. Sia.
| +-- Arripay Sardar M, 12.5% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
| +-- Arripay Lilac Lady F*, 18.8% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Candy Girl
+-- Arripay Misty Blue F, 0% Inbreed%, Blue Pt. Sia.
+-- Arripay Sardar M*, 12.5% Inbreed%, Choc. Pt. Sia.
Notice that Arripay Brown Beauty and Arripay Sardar have been deduplicated.
See:

Records
15. Cat

20.2. Descendants: Descendants Analysis

See Also:
Help Reference - A.74 Procedures By Subject: Reverse Pedigrees
20.4. Descendants: Breedings Listing

A breedings listing shows all the breedings of a given cat.
For each breeding it gives the name of the opposite parent and lists the
offspring.
Various options are available e.g.:
Sort by date of birth.
Sort by name of opposite parent.
Customize fields output for each opposing parent.
Customize fields output for each offspring.
To see the standard breedings forms click Display|Breedings.

See:
Help Reference - A.15 Procedures By Subject: Breedings

21. Printed Reports

A printed report is a tabular printout of data from multiple records at a time - a table where the columns are fields or text
expansions and the rows are individual records.
The difference between a printed report and a printed form is that a form contains
data relating to primarily one record (and possibly linked records), and typically is more focussed on how that information is
displayed e.g. a pedigree, whereas a report is more akin to a printout from a spreadsheet.
Reports can be saved as PDF files if a PDF 'printer/paper configuration' has been set up.
Note it is also possible to export records to text/CSV files.
Examples of printed reports include:
A report listing the breeder and owner of all cats in the database.
A report listing details from a selection of cats (e.g. arising from a record search, or tagging operation), ordered by date
of birth.
A grouped report of accounting records. E.g. income/expenses by category.
A report of the vet records for a given cat.
A report showing all judges comments about your cats, grouped by the judge name.
Report Layouts

Each record type (cats, contacts, etc.) has a set of available report layouts.
A report layout defines the columns that are to be printed, their width on the printed page, and whether or not the report is to be
'grouped'.
When a database is created a set of sample report layouts is provided for each record type.
E.g. cat records have a 'Breeder &
Owner' report layout that includes, in addition to the cat's name and sex, the names of the breeder and owner and selected other
fields - along with many other standard layouts.
To view/update the available report layouts select Configure|Report Layouts.
Grouped Reports
A 'grouped report' is
one where records containing the same text for a given column are printed together.
E.g. (1) a report of cats grouped by cause of death would list the cats that have died of each different cause separately.
E.g. (2) a report of accounting reports grouped by category means that the report would list the records for each different
income/expense category in separate groups.
Contents

Layouts
21.1. Report

21.2. Grouped Reports
21.3. Printing A Report
See:

10. Tagging Records

12. Exporting Data

15. Cat Records


26. Vet Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.70 Procedures By Subject: Printed Reports
21.1. Printed Reports: Report Layouts

A report layout defines everything about a report except the actual records that it will include, and the order of those records.
The
record selection and ordering is controlled at the point of printing the report, not when defining the column layout.
Specifically, a report layout includes:
Printer/Paper - The name of the printer/paper configuration to be used.
If a report layout is intended to be printed in
portrait orientation the printer/paper configuration should normally be set to 'Default-Portrait'.
A landscape oriented
report would normally use 'Default-Landscape'.
If there is a printer/paper configuration that's been set up to print to PDF
this can also be used.
See 22. Printer Configuration.
Group By - Fields upon which the report is to be grouped.
In a grouped report, records with the same text in the group
fields are output together, group by group.
Most report layouts are either completely ungrouped, or grouped by a single
field.
Columns - The content that is to be output in each column of the report.
A column is defined as a field or text expansion
together with its output width on the printed page.
Headings - Whether or not column headings (field names) are to be output.

Gaps - The width and height of the gaps between rows and columns.
Grid lines - Whether or not to print grid lines.
See:

21. Printed Reports


Printing To PDF
21.2. Printed Reports: Grouped Reports

If a report is not grouped, all the records in the report are printed in a single table.
The order of the records in an ungrouped report
depends (usually) on the order of records as displayed in the record list.
In a report where one or more 'group by' fields have been defined, the report is split into smaller tables, where each table contains
records with the same text for the grouped field(s).
If multiple 'group by' fields are given the order of the grouped fields within the Report Layout Properties window controls the
nesting of grouped records.
When a report is printed, the starting point is:
a defined set of records, and
a given order of those records
To group the report by a given field, Breeders Assistant builds an alphabetically sorted list of all the different values seen in that field
for the defined set of records.
Then, for each different group value, it locates all the records with that value and prints them as a
group, preserving the same record ordering as would have been used had the report been ungrouped.
If multiple group fields are
given, this process is repeated within each subset of records.
The ordering of records within any table of a grouped report will be the
same as the order of those records within the whole set.
21.3. Printed Reports: Printing A Report

Printing a report involves 2 steps:
1. Arrange for the records that are to be included in the report to be listed in the record list.
Both the actual records
included and their ordering are used in the report.
Common ways to adjust the record list are to change the displayed
index (use the View box), or to search for specific records, and/or to use tagging.
2. Use Tools|Print Report to print the report.
When printing the report there are several options:

Records - Selects the records that are to be included in the report.
Several options are available but the most commonly
used ones are to include all records in the current index or database.
To include all records of a given type, simply set the current index to be one that includes all records in the order you
want them to appear.
E.g. for a report of all cat records in name order, first switch to the 'By name' index (click in the
View box above the record list).
If tagging has been used there are options to restrict the report to tagged records only.
With the Professional Edition (or
higher) it is possible to control which tags are used to determine whether a record is considered to be a current tag
match or not.
To change this, select Tag|Set Tag Match Pattern.
Layout - The report layout is chosen from the list of available layouts for the current record type.
This defines the
columns to be printed and the printer/paper to which the report will be output.
Page Numbers - Whether to include page numbers in the page footer.
Title - An optional title that will be placed in the header of each page printed.
Date/Time - Whether to include the date and time in the page footer.
See:

Searching For Records
10. Tagging Records

15. Cat Records

21. Printed Reports


By default, most forms such as pedigrees are set up to print using the system default printer in landscape orientation.
Most reports
and documents such as agreements print using portrait output.
Margins

to adjust the page margins of a pedigree, choose Printer/Paper Properties from the popup menu.
If you need
This is demonstrated in greater detail in section 5 "Adjusting The Page Margins" (p.11) of the 'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access
Printing To PDF
If you have a 'print
to PDF' facility - as is standard with Windows 10 and Windows 11 - it is possible to set up Breeders Assistant to
print to PDF files.
Portrait Or Landscape
To change the orientation
(portrait/landscape) of a pedigree, form or report
switch the form to use a different printer/paper
configuration: right-click over the form in the main window, choose Form Properties
from the popup menu, then select either
'Default-Landscape' or 'Default-Portrait' from the Printer/Paper pulldown menu as appropriate.
Unless you have other printer configuration requirements, it is probably not necessary to read the remainder of this section of the
User Guide as the default settings should be sufficient.
Advanced Printer Customization

Many aspects of printing in Breeders Assistant can be customized including:
Multiple Printers
Large Format Printing - Printing using non-standard paper sizes such as US ANSI 'B'.
Printer Device Settings - Adjusting device-specific settings such as print quality.
Fundamental to how such customizations are achieved in Breeders Assistant is the concept of printer/paper configurations.
Contents
22.1. About
Printer/Paper Configurations
22.2. Standard Printer/Paper Configurations
22.3. Printing To PDF

22.4. Windows Printing

Primer
22.5. Creating Custom Printer/Paper Configurations
22.6. Using Printer/Paper Configurations

22.7. Margin Calibration

22.8. Label Printing
See:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.68 Procedures By Subject: Print Customization
22.1. Printer Configuration: About Printer/Paper Configurations

A 'printer/paper configuration' is a named collection of printer settings - paper size, margins, orientation etc. Every 'document' form
and report layout in Breeders Assistant is associated with a printer/paper configuration.
This mechanism gives a great deal of
control over printer settings on a form by form and report by report
basis.
Breeders Assistant is supplied with some predefined printer/paper configurations, intended for use with the standard document
forms and report layouts.
These are sufficient for typical printing requirements using the default system printer.
Custom Printing Scenarios

of situations where customized printer/paper configurations are useful:
Here are some specific examples
It may be desirable to have a much smaller margin for a particular pedigree layout than for others.
This could be
achieved by creating a custom printer/paper configuration with small margins, and then associating it with the pedigree
form in question.
It might be preferable to use draft-quality printing with some reports, but high-quality printing for pedigrees.
This could
be achieved by creating a special draft-quality printer/paper configuration that is then associated with report layouts as
needed.
Perhaps you have two printers: a laser printer - your system default printer - for most uses, and a large format (e.g. US
ANSI 'B') color printer for producing detailed high quality pedigrees.
To cater for this scenario a custom printer/paper
configuration can be created that is set up to use the large format printer with landscape orientation.
Then a custom
pedigree layout is added that uses this printer/paper configuration, customized to output (say) 7 generations of
ancestors.

It might be desirable to use manual paper feed when printing with a particular pedigree form.
E.g. in order to use a
special high quality paper.
This is just a matter of creating a custom printer/paper configuration that has printer-specific
settings set to use manual tray loading, and then linking that printer/paper configuration to the relevant pedigree form.
Whenever the form is printed, the printer will automatically use manual feed.
See:

21. Printed Reports

Report Layouts
21.1. Printed Reports:
22.2. Printer Configuration: Standard Printer/Paper Configurations

Breeders Assistant includes four standard printer/paper configurations.
These are used by all the standard forms
and report layouts
that are created when a database is first initialized.
These can be customized e.g. to change the margins with the standard forms, or to arrange for the standard forms to be 'printed' to
PDF files rather than a physical printer.
Please note that such changes will affect many forms and report layouts within Breeders
Assistant.
If you need to adjust the page margins of a pedigree, choose Printer/Paper Properties from the popup menu.
This is demonstrated in more detail in section 5 "Adjusting The Page Margins" (p.11) of the 'Pedigree Layouts' Tutorial. To access
In other situations it is more appropriate to create additional, custom, printer/paper configurations rather than to alter the inbuilt
configurations.
The standard printer/paper configurations are:
Default-Landscape - Used by all standard document forms and report layouts that require landscape style output,
including most pedigree layouts.
This uses the Windows system default printer with default margins and paper size, with
landscape page orientation.
Default-Portrait - Used by all standard document forms and report layouts that require portrait style output.
This is
also normally used when printing text forms.
It is simply exactly the same as 'Default-Landscape' except the page has
portrait orientation.
Default-Envelope - Intended for use when printing envelopes.
By default it is set up in the same way as 'Default-
Portait', i.e. prints in portrait orientation on the system default printer.
If you print envelopes with Breeders Assistant this
configuration should be adjusted to use the correct paper size and probably manual feed.
Default-Labels - Intended for use when printing name & address labels.
By default it is set up in the same way as
'Default-Portait' except that it uses Avery L7160 label paper.
If you print labels with Breeders Assistant this configuration
must be adjusted, at least to set the label sheet type correctly and to calibrate the margins.
See 22.8. Label Printing.
NOTE:
The paper size used by the 'Default-Landscape' and 'Default-Portrait' configurations should be the standard settings as
reported by the default system printer driver.
This is typically A4 in Europe; Letter size in North America.
If this is incorrect - e.g.
you're in Europe but your system default printer is set to print on US Letter sized paper, use the Windows Settings app to alter the
properties of the printer.
See:
21. Printed Reports

See Also:

With Windows 10 and Windows 11 Breeders Assistant can be set up to 'print' pedigrees and other forms such as sale agreements
to
PDF files.
This works by using the 'Print To PDF' facility that's included with Windows 10 and Windows 11. Note: if you do not have the Print To
PDF feature of Windows 10/11 enabled, turn it on as follows: open the Windows 'Start' menu and in the search tab enter 'Turn
Windows features on or off' then make sure to check the option 'Microsoft Print To PDF' and click OK. If you are not able to use the
Microsoft Print To PDF facility of Windows 10/11 you may be able to find other software online to enable application printing to PDF
on Windows systems.
The technique used to set up Breeders Assistant to print to PDF depends on whether you will only ever want to create PDF output,
or whether you still need to be able to print to a 'real' printer as well as create PDF files.
Setting up Breeders Assistant to print to PDF - including setting it up so as to retain the means to print to a physical printer as well
as printing to PDF - is demonstrated in section 11 "Creating A PDF Pedigree" (p.24) of the 'First Steps' Tutorial.
To access this - and

How To Configure Breeders Assistant To Always Print As PDF

1. On the Configure menu select Printer/Paper Configurations.

2. Select the 'Default-Landscape' entry, then click Update Configuration.
3. Check the Specific Printer option, then find and select Microsoft Print to PDF from the list of available printers.
4. Click OK.
5. When asked if you want to 'calibrate' the printer in order to ensure that print margins are accurate click the No
button.
Click OK to close the Configure Printer/Paper Configurations window.
From this point on whenever any of the standard document forms with landscape orientation are 'printed', they will be saved as PDF
files rather than actually printed to a physical printer device.
To Have Both PDF Printing And Normal Printing

To achieve this, it is necessary to set up a new 'Printer/Paper Configuration' for PDF printing, and then associate that with any
document (such as a pedigree layout) that is to be saved as PDF when it is 'printed'.
To create the new printer/paper configuration:
1. On the Configure menu select Printer/Paper Configurations.
2. Select 'Default-Landscape' from the list, then click the Duplicate Configuration button.
3. When asked for a new configuration name enter PDF-Landscape, then click OK.
4. At the next window, check the Specific Printer option, then find and select Microsoft Print to PDF from the list of
available printers, then click OK.
5. When asked if you want to calibrate the printer click No.
6. You'll be returned to the Configure Printer/Paper Configurations window.
7. Click OK to return to the main window.
What the above steps have done is to create a new printer/paper configuration for use when creating PDF documents with landscape
orientation, such as pedigrees.
A similar technique can be used to create a configuration for use when creating portrait PDF's - just
start by duplicating the 'Default-Portrait' standard configuration instead.
However, in order to actually make use of the new PDF configuration it is necessary to associate it with any form or pedigree layout
that is to be saved to PDF.
To do this requires changing the properties of each such form to use the new configuration.
E.g. to change a pedigree layout to print to PDF:
1. First, display the chosen pedigree layout in the main window - use the Display button to select the layout style.
2. Right-click over the pedigree in the main window and choose Form Properties from the popup menu.
The Form
Properties window is displayed.
3. Click in the Printer/Paper list at the top and select the name you used (above) when creating the PDF print
configuration, e.g. 'PDF-Landscape'.
4. Click OK.
From this point on, when this specific pedigree layout is 'printed', it will be saved as a PDF instead.
It is necessary to repeat the above steps with any form that is to be saved to PDF rather than actually printed.
The advantage
though of this technique is that by creating a separate printer/paper configuration specifically for PDF printing it is possible to retain

normal printing for other pedigrees/forms.

See:
See Also:
'First Steps'
Tutorial - 11 Creating A PDF Pedigree (p.24)
22.4. Printer Configuration: Windows Printing Primer

This section contains general information about how printing works in Windows.
Much of this information is not specific to Breeders
Assistant.
It is included to provide background information to users who wish to get the most out of the printer configuration
facilities within this product.
Printers and Ports

A computer can have
multiple printers.
E.g. there may be one printer connected directly to the computer, and another available on a
local network, either wired or wirelessly.
The connection to the printer - be it network, USB, file, etc. is usually termed the port.
Port names often end with a colon; e.g. a
local printer port might be called LPT1:.
Printer Drivers

Each different printer has different capabilities - e.g. supported paper sizes - and understands different instructions.
Since there are many different printers available on the market, it is unrealistic for Windows, or any application software for that
matter, to support all available printers directly.
Instead, a piece of system software called a printer driver is used.
This is software that is installed when your printer is set up.
It is
normally supplied along with the printer, though Windows includes drivers for many well known printers.
Installation of the printer
driver normally happens automatically as part of the process of adding the printer to the computer or network.
However sometimes
to get the latest versions of driver software it may be necessary to download from the printer manufacturer support website.
When a printer driver is installed, it is associated with the port through which the printer has been physically connected.
This is why a printer is often described in terms of "Printer abc on port xyz:". E.g. "HP LaserJet 6P/6MP on port LPT1:".
Most of the time when there is a reference to a 'printer' within this product and its documentation what is actually meant is a printer
driver plus port, rather than the physical printer itself.
Printer Device Settings

Most printers have a range
of settings that can be customized to adjust the printout.
E.g. paper size, paper tray selection if the
printer has multiple trays, the print quality, etc. These are known as printer device settings because they are specific to particular
printers.
Windows maintains a set of default device settings for each printer in the system.
Within the Windows settings app, when the option
to 'Manage' a printer device is selected and the 'printer properties' are displayed the available settings can be seen.
These are the
system-wide device settings for that particular printer, and any change to them will typically affect the printed output from any
application that prints to that printer.
System Default Printer

Under Windows, one printer
is always set to be the system default printer.
Most applications, including Breeders Assistant as initially
installed, will automatically print using this default printer.
In many situations a computer will be connected to only one printer, which will invariably set as the system default printer.
Margins

most printers are not capable of printing on the entire sheet of paper.
There are usually parts of the sheet that the
In general,
printer simply cannot physically print on.
An application, such as Breeders Assistant, can determine from Windows how large these
unprintable parts should be.
Unfortunately, this is sometimes an inaccurate value, because there is a natural variance between
different actual printers, the exact positioning of paper in the printer, printer drivers, and so on.
Breeders Assistant includes a facility called 'margin calibration' that can be used to determine exactly how large the unprintable
parts are.
This helps in achieving accurate margin placement, particularly when printing labels.
See 22.7. Margin Calibration.
Application Printing

When an application prints, what it does is it accesses the printer by asking Windows to connect it to the printer driver and port,
given the printer driver name and the port name.
If an application wants to print to the system default printer, it can first enquire
from Windows as to what the default printer is.
The application can either use the system-wide printer device settings for the printer, or it can supply its own device settings.
Breeders Assistant Compared to Other Software

Some Windows applications can only print to the system default printer, using the default device settings for that printer.
This is
suitable for applications that do not have demanding printing needs.

Breeders Assistant on the other hand provides some advanced print customization and can be configured to use different printers
with varying device settings.
Even though this provides a lot of flexibility should it be needed, the default settings will still use the
system default printer for most printing operations, in either portrait or landscape orientation as appropriate.
See:
22.7.
Printer Configuration: Margin Calibration
22.5. Printer Configuration: Creating Custom Printer/Paper Configurations

A printer/paper configuration is a named collection of print-related settings.
To view/update the printer/paper configurations of the
current database use Configure|Printer/Paper Configurations.
Here it is possible to adjust the settings of the standard (inbuilt)
configurations, and to create new configurations.
Each printer/paper configuration contains the following settings:
Printer Name - The name of the printer itself. This is the same name that Windows uses to refer to the printer.
Do not confuse this name with the name of the printer/paper configuration itself - the printer/paper configuration name
is merely used within Breeders Assistant to refer to the printer together with all the other settings described below.
It is
not the same as the Windows printer name.
Alternatively, instead of specifying the printer by name, you can set the printer/paper configuration to use the system
default printer. This is the normal setting.
Printer Device Settings - These are settings such as paper size, feed tray, print quality etc.
If the printer/paper
configuration is set to use the system default printer, these device settings are not used - the Windows system-wide
device settings are used instead.
Paper Orientation - Whether to print using portrait or landscape page orientation.
Paper Type - This can either be set to plain or label paper.
If set to label paper, a label sheet type must be chosen that in turn specifies the layout of labels on the paper (width,
height, number across and down, etc.).
See 22.8. Label Printing.
Printer Margins - The margins around the paper to which printing is bounded.
In order for the chosen margins be accurately reflected in actual printed output it may be necessary to 'calibrate' the
printer - see 22.7. Margin Calibration.
When using label paper, the margins are specified in terms of the margin around the inside of each label, rather than the
whole page.
Color Printing Enable - This can be used to disable color printing (print in monochrome).
See:
22.7. Printer Configuration: Margin Calibration

22.6. Printer Configuration: Using Printer/Paper Configurations

In Document Forms E.g. Pedigree Layouts
One of the settings of every document form is the
printer/paper configuration it uses.
To change this for the displayed form, right-
click over the form in the main window, choose Form Properties, then use the Printer/Paper list at the top to select a different
configuration.
In Printed Reports

Each report layout includes the name of the printer/paper configuration it uses.
To change this, select Configure|Report Layouts
and then update the relevant report layout.
E.g. to create a report layout that uses a large format printer (e.g. US ANSI 'B' paper), create a new printer/paper configuration
configured appropriately and then associate it with the report layout.
Obviously a suitable printer is needed to do this.
When Printing Text Forms

Unlike document forms, text forms do not include the name of a printer/paper configuration as one of their properties.
This is
because the main reason for using text forms is not usually to print them - they are for generating text for transfer into other
applications.
When printing a text form, the Print Text Form window has an option to select the printer/paper configuration.
Normally this is
'Default-Portrait' but can be changed.
E.g. to print a text form in landscape use 'Default-Landscape'.
See:

21. Printed Reports
22.7. Printer Configuration: Margin Calibration

This is a procedure Breeders Assistant uses to determine the precise sizes of the unprintable margins for a given printer/paper
configuration.
This may be necessary in some cases to achieve accurate margin placement.
Margin calibration involves printing a test page with blocks of color in the corners of the page, as close as possible to the edge of the
paper.
The distance between these blocks and the edges of the paper can then be measured (manually, by you with a ruler) and
entered into the software.
Once this is complete, the margin sizes as set in the printer/paper configuration should more accurately
reflect the physically printed result.
What this actually does is give the software a way to compare the size of the 'unprintable' margins as seen on a real printout - that
part of the paper that cannot be printed on - with the extent of the 'unprintable margins' as reported by the printer driver software.
It is our experience that these are not always the same, even though theoretically they should be.
For further information see 22.4.
Windows Printing Primer.
Whenever a printer/paper configuration is customized - such as when the print margins or device settings are changed - the
software will prompt to calibrate the margins.
In most situations it is not needed.
However it is particularly important to carry out a
margin calibration when setting up label printing. See 22.8. Label Printing.
See:
22.4. Printer Configuration: Windows Printing Primer

See Also:
Help Reference - A.69 Procedures By Subject: Print Margins

Breeders Assistant includes support for printing onto sheets of labels, such as Avery labels.
This is not suitable for use with
continuous label stationery.
One of the properties of a printer/paper configuration is the type of paper it is used with.
Configurations not used for label printing
always have the paper type set to plain paper (the default).
However instead of selecting plain paper, a printer/paper configuration can be associated with a particular 'label sheet type'.
The
product is aware of the layouts of many of the standard Avery labels; customized (non-standard) layouts may also be added.
When a document form is printed using a printer/paper configuration set up for label printing, the output is formatted to fit the
labels.
Standard forms are included with contact records that use the label printing mechanism to print name & address labels e.g. for use
with mailing lists.
Label Sheet Types

the definition of the size and number of labels on the printed page - can be customized by selecting
Label sheet types - i.e.
Configure|Advanced|Label Sheet Types.
A label sheet definition includes:
Top Margin - The gap between the top edge of the paper and the top side of the first label.
Left Margin - The gap between the left edge of the paper and the left side of the first label.
Label Height - The height of each label, not including any vertical gap between labels.
Label Width - The width of each label, not including any horizontal gap between labels.
Vertical Pitch - The height of each label AND any vertical gap between labels.
Horizontal Pitch - The width of each label AND any horizontal gap between labels.
Number Across - The number of labels in each row.
Number Down - The number of labels in each column.
See:
14. Contact Records

Letters, Envelopes, Address Labels and Mailing Lists
14.4. Contact Records:
See Also:
Help Reference - A.48 Procedures By Subject: Labels


Accounting records can be used to record the details of financial transactions - such as the sale of a kitten, or spending on supplies.
Accounting records work in a similar way to the other record types, in that there can be different indexes which show the records in
various orderings, and show only selective records. There is one addition - a balance column is normally also displayed in the record
list, totalling the value of transactions in an index.
An accounting record index can be thought of as being equivalent to a transaction
account or register in a dedicated accounts package.
NOTE:
Support for financial accounting in Breeders Assistant is only intended for the hobbyist who wishes to track the financial side of
his/her hobby in a limited way.
It is not designed for the financial tracking, recording or reporting necessary when running a
business or any other non-hobby activity or where there is a need to account for tax e.g. to taxation authorities in your
jurisdiction. In these situations you are recommended to use a separate, dedicated and appropriate accounting software package.
Categorized Reports

The accounting records enable production of categorized reports of income and expenditure in various ways - e.g. on a cat by cat
basis.
The accounting support has also been tied in with other procedures within Breeders Assistant that involve financial transactions.
E.g.
when adding a vet record that involves a vet fee the software asks if an accounting record should be added to store the fee.
Tax Tracking
There is a very
limited form of tax tracking.
This may be useful if you wish to track tax on sales and purchases, and is limited to
situations where tax is charged at the same rate on the entire net value of a transaction.
If you are resident in the UK or European Union this lets you track amounts of money ex-VAT and to produce simple VAT invoices.
Breeders Assistant does not do VAT or tax returns or anything else concerning VAT or taxation.
Links To Contact And Cat Records

Each accounting record has links to contact and cat records in the following ways:
Other Party - A link to a contact record for the other party to the transaction - the party to whom money has been paid
if it is an expense transaction, or the party who has paid you in the case of an income transaction.
Cat Record - A link to a cat record with which the transaction is associated.
E.g. an accounting record for stud fee
income would normally be linked to the record for the sire; this would allow you as stud owner to subsequently print a
report of stud fee income categorized on a stud by stud basis.
User - A link to a contact record for the 'user'.
All accounting transactions are assumed to be between a licensed user of
the software, and a third party.
If you have a single user license for Breeders Assistant, the 'user' will simply be you (i.e., a link to the contact record
that represents you).
With a multiuser license, the 'user' field will be one of the contact records for the licensed users.
Breeders Assistant asks if you want to automatically add an accounting record in certain situations, such as:
When you buy or sell a kitten/cat.
When you enter a vet record in which a vet fee is given.
When you enter a mating record in which a mating fee is charged.
When you enter a show record in which an entry fee or prize money is given.
For these transactions it is usually both easier and better to let Breeders Assistant create the records automatically in this way
because there is less likelihood you will forget to add them, and they will be added in a consistent manner.
The opportunity is always
given to manually alter each record prior it being added.
See:
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records

16. Mating Records
26. Vet Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.1 Procedures By Subject: Accounts
23.1. Accounting Records: Tax

Breeders Assistant includes support for a limited type of tax tracking.
This can be used if either:
you charge tax and you wish to account for it separately, or

you do not charge tax but you want to track tax separately to the non-tax component of transactions
If you are resident in the UK or European Union this can be used for limited VAT tracking and printing simple VAT invoices.
As already stated, the taxation support in Breeders Assistant is limited when compared to that of dedicated accounts software.
It is
only intended for use by a hobbyist.
If you run a business where you must account for taxes you are strongly advised to use a
dedicated accounts package rather than the simple accounting facility within Breeders Assistant.
Breeders Assistant's accounts operate either with taxation enabled or disabled.
By default it is disabled; if you use taxation you
should enable it, preferably before you've added any accounting records.
To do this select Configure|Accounts|Setup.
Accounting records contain six separate fields for recording the amounts involved in a transaction:
gross expense
net expense
tax expense
gross income
net income
tax income
How these are used depends on whether taxation is enabled or not.

Some of the indexes, forms and report layouts have two versions - one for tax disabled usage and one for tax enabled usage.
Operating with Taxation Disabled

set to zero, and the relevant net and gross fields have the same value.
In this situation the tax fields are always
E.g. for an expense transaction, the Gross Expense will have the same value as the Net Expense field, and the Tax Expense
field will always be zero.
The report layouts, forms and indexes generally will only include the Net fields.
Operating with Taxation Enabled

In this situation, the tax fields are used
to store the tax of a transaction, and the relevant net and gross fields will differ by that
amount.
The report layouts, forms and indexes generally will list the Net, Gross and Tax fields separately.
In the record list, the balance field
will be labeled Net Balance, Gross Balance or Tax Balance depending on which index is displayed.
Some of the standard indexes are designed only for use when taxation is enabled:
Gross by date This is like the By date index, but it displays and tracks the pre-tax amounts of transactions.
Tax by date This tracks the taxation component of transactions, ordered by date of transaction.
Tax by payment date This tracks the tax component of transactions, ordered by date of payment. Unpaid transactions
are displayed at the bottom of the list.
Each accounting record includes the tax code and rate that is applied to that transaction.
NOTE: Breeders Assistant does not support
the application of separate tax codes/rates to different parts of a single transaction.
The only alternative would be to enter separate
transactions for each part of a transaction that has a different tax treatment.
Tax Codes

Breeders Assistant maintains a list of tax codes and their rates.

This can be modified and extended as necessary.
When adding or modifying an accounting record, when the tax code is chosen the rate is automatically selected and applied to the
pre-tax amount of the transaction.
NOTE: this automatic calculation of the tax can be disabled in order enter it manually.
See:
21. Printed Reports

23.2. Accounting Records: Accounts Setup

Before using the accounting records, Configure|Accounts|Setup should be used to configure:
Tax support.
See 23.1. Tax.
Automatic invoice numbering.
Income Types

maintains a list of different income categories.
E.g. Stud Fee Income, Interest.
These can be extended using
Breeders Assistant
Configure|Accounts|Income Types.
When adding or updating an accounting record for income received an income type should be assigned to it.
This can be
subsequently be used to produce categorized income/expenditure reports.

Expense Types
Likewise a list of different expense categories is maintained.
E.g. Vet Fee, Kitten/Cat Purchase.
These can be extended using
Configure|Accounts|Expense Types.
When adding or updating an accounting record for an expense an expense type should be assigned.
This can be subsequently be
used when producing categorized income/expenditure reports.
See:

Tax
23.1. Accounting Records:

24. Appointment/Task Records

Appointment/task records are used to record the details of diary appointments - such as visits to the vet - and tasks (chores).
Each appointment/task record may have links to contact and cat records in the following ways:
An optional link to a contact record with whom the appointment/task is associated.
An optional link to a cat record with which the appointment/task is associated.
E.g. an appointment/task record for a vet
visit would normally be linked to the record for the relevant cat; this would enable the subsequent reporting of
appointments categorized on a cat by cat basis.
Reminders
Appointment
reminders provide a means to be reminded about specific appointments/tasks before they occur.
A reminder can be set
to either be at a specific date & time, or to occur a given number of days/hours/minutes before the appointment/task.
Reminder messages are only displayed within the software when the database is open and visible.
If the computer is on, but
Breeders Assistant is closed, reminders will not display.
Whenever an Breeders Assistant database is opened, any appointment
reminders that 'expired' whilst the software was closed are displayed immediately.
Completing Tasks
Appointment/task records have a 'completion' marker that can be helpful if they are being used to record tasks/chores.
Tasks that are marked as uncompleted are displayed in the record list in a different color.
Normally this is blue.
This color is a
preference setting; to change it select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) and use the User Interface tab.
To mark an appointment/task as completed, select it in the record list, right-click and select
Mark Appointment/Task As Complete.
Appointment/task records include indexes (views) that display only the completed/uncompleted appointments:
Uncompleted appointments/tasks, ordered by date+time
Completed appointments/tasks, ordered by date+time
See:
14. Contact Records

15. Cat Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.7 Procedures By Subject: Appointments/Tasks


Vaccination records are used to record the details of vaccinations given to your cats.
Take care to distinguish vaccination records
from vet records.
These store details of visits to or by the vet, whereas vaccination records are used to store details of individual
vaccinations - use them to keep a history of all vaccinations on a cat by cat basis.
Often a vaccination will happen during a vet visit, in which case it may be appropriate to add both a vet record and a vaccination
record.
In this situation it is easier to add the vaccination record first; this is because Breeders Assistant will then ask whether to
automatically add a vet record in which most of the fields will have been filled in.
Each vaccination record has links to contact and cat records as follows:
A link to a contact record that represents the vet (or other person) who gave the vaccination(s).
A link to the cat that has received the vaccination(s).
A vaccination record may contain details of up to eight separate vaccinations that have been given at the same time.
Vaccination Types
Breeders Assistant maintains a list of types of vaccination - names of diseases against which vaccinations are available.
When a vaccination record is added or updated, the types of vaccination given can be selected.
To update the list of vaccination types use Configure|Vaccination Types.
See:
14. Contact Records
15. Cat Records

26. Vet Records
See Also:
Help Reference - A.92 Procedures By Subject: Vaccination Records

26. Vet Records

Vet records are used to store the details of visits to the vet.
Take care to distinguish them from vaccination records.
The latter are
used to store details of individual vaccinations - to keep a history of all vaccinations on a cat by cat basis.
Vet records on the other
hand are used to record details of visits to or by the vet, and are not specific to vaccinations.
Often a vaccination will happen during a vet visit, in which case there may be a need to add both a vet record and a vaccination
record.
In this situation it is easier to add the vaccination record first; this is because Breeders Assistant will then ask whether to
automatically add a vet record in which most of the fields will have been filled in.
See 25. Vaccination Records.
Each vet record has links to contact and cat records as follows:
A link to a contact record that represents the vet.
A link to a cat to which the visit relates.
A vet record can only be linked to one a cat record.

If more than one cat is treated in a single visit to the vet separate records
should be created for each cat.
See:
14. Contact Records
15. Cat Records


See Also:
Help Reference - A.93 Procedures By Subject: Veterinary Records

27. Show Records

Show records are used to record the details of show appearances of your cats.
Each show record contains all the details about a single show appearance of a cat in a given class/ring at a given show.
If a cat is
shown in several classes at the same show, a separate show record should be added for each class.
Likewise, to record the results
for all cats in a given class it would be necessary to add a separate show record for each entry.
It is likely that if you use the show records feature, you will be adding multiple records for each show visit.
Whilst you can add each
record 'manually' in much the same way as you add the other types of record, there is an alternative, and usually quicker, way of
doing this - the Show Records Data Entry Tool - and it is recommend you use this.
There are a variety of report layouts for use with show records - grouped in various ways that allow you to monitor the performance
of your cats on the show bench, compare their performance against the competition, spot judging trends and so on.
Each show record has links to contact and cat records as follows:
A link to the cat that has been shown.
A link to a contact record that represents the class judge.
A link to a contact record that represents the steward.
A link to a contact record that represents the show manager.
A link to a contact record that represents the show organizing body.
This might be a contact record for a breed club.
A link to a contact record that represents the Best in Show judge.
A link to a contact record that represents the Best of Breed judge.
A link to a contact record that represents the Best of Variety judge.
Advanced Show Records

The Show Record Details window can operate in either a 'normal' or 'advanced' mode.
In the advanced mode many more fields
are available.
To switch between normal and advanced mode, use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User
Interface tab and change the 'Use advanced show records' option.
Show Records Data Entry Tool

Show records can be grouped together
in two ways: all records for a given class/ring in a given show, and then all show records for
a given show.
Sometimes, it is useful to be able to work at the class and show levels.
E.g. when adding show records for all entries
in a show, the fields that are specific to the show and class will be the same for all records in that class; it would be inconvenient to
have to enter them separately for each record.
The Show Records Data Entry Tool is a feature that makes it possible to work with show records at the show and class level in
this way.
To access this use Tools|Show Records Data Entry Tool.
The top part of the window consists of a list of known shows; the bottom part is a list of known classes for whichever show is
currently selected in the show list.
Groups of show records can be added, deleted and updated on either a show or class basis.
To
view the records for a given class, select the show and class from the lists and click the Class Entries button.
Show Records Inconsistency Detection

Breeders Assistant includes a facility to help detect inconsistencies between show records - e.g. that all records relating to a given
show have certain details (fields) that are the same throughout.
See 8.10. Cat Database Files: Database Inconsistency Checking.
Kinds of Shows

Show records contain a Kind of Show field that should be used to record the 'type' of show - such as National, All Breed, etc.
To update/extend the list of standard choices for this field use Configure|Show Record Lists|Kinds of Show.
Show Statuses

Show records contain a Status field that should be used to record the 'significance' of the show - such as Championship, Exempt,
etc.
To update/extend the list of standard choices for this field use Configure|Show Record Lists|Show Statuses.
Show Class Types

Each show record includes a Class Type field that identifies the type of class - e.g. Open or Debutante.
To update/extend the list of standard choices for this field use Configure|Show Record Lists|Class Types.
Show Class Placings

a Placing field that records the placing of that entry in the class - e.g. 1st or unplaced.
Each show record includes
To update/extend the list of standard choices for this field use Configure|Show Record Lists|Class Placings.
See:
8.10.
14. Contact Records


15. Cat Records
21. Printed Reports

See Also:
Help Reference - A.78 Procedures By Subject: Show Records


This chapter describes the Mendelian genetic analysis features provided by the Professional Edition (or higher).
They are not
available with the Personal Edition.
These tools include the prediction of mating outcomes based on the genotypes of the parents,
especially those relating to color, and detecting when the genotype of an offspring is incompatible with the stated genotypes of its
parents.
Note: in earlier versions of Breeders Assistant these features were provided as a separate 'Genetics Option'.
Commencing with
version 5 the 'Genetics Option' was merged into the Professional Edition.
With the version 6 release these were renamed the
'Mendelian Genetics' features to distinguish them from the new suite of population analysis and mate selection tools of the Extended
Edition.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Please note that:
1. To effectively use these features you need to be comfortable with basic genetic concepts.
You should understand what
is meant by the following terms: gene, genotype, phenotype, allele, locus, chromosome, sex linkage, recessive
genes, dominant genes, and polygenic versus discrete inheritance.
If you are unfamiliar with these terms or concepts
please consult any standard genetics textbook before proceeding.
2. In order for the genotype fields to be accessible within the Cat Details window it is necessary to have 'advanced cat
records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use
advanced cat records' option and click OK).
3. This section of the User Guide often uses examples drawn from the genetics of cats and dogs.
However the features
described can be applied whatever type of animal you're using Breeders Assistant for.
It's just that the authors are
more familiar with cats and dogs.
If you are familiar with feline & canine color genetics you will also realize that we
have ignored many genes in our examples; this is just to simplify the text.
Gene Configurations
The Mendelian Genetics features require that a set of genetic rules have been set up.
This set of rules is termed a 'gene
configuration'.
The gene configuration defines the gene and allele symbols, and related information such as how these combine to
form different phenotypes within offspring.
A gene configuration is used by Breeders Assistant to 'understand' genotypes entered into cat records.
There are two types of gene configuration: user defined gene configurations which are configurations where you set up the genetic
rules, and, with some variations of Breeders Assistant, inbuilt gene configurations supplied with the product.
Inbuilt gene configurations are fixed in the product and cannot be directly customized (though some settings can be altered - see
28.12. Adjusting An Inbuilt Configuration).
A user defined gene configuration is stored as a text file using a special syntax, further details of which can be found in section 7
"Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference" (p.113) of the Help Reference.
It is possible to purchase user definable (customizable) versions of the inbuilt gene configurations.
E.g. to develop a gene
configuration for a new breed one way to proceed is to start with a user definable configuration for a known (related) breed and
then modify it.
For further details of the availability of equivalent user definable gene configurations for the inbuilt configurations
contact Tenset.
A skeleton (empty) user defined gene configuration is however included that outlines the basic structure of a typical
user defined gene configuration file.
Inbuilt gene configurations for over 35 of the most the popular breeds, with coverage of over 30 congenital diseases for which the
mode of inheritance is known, are included with the product.
A 'generic' inbuilt gene configuration is also supplied which uses breed-
independent nomenclature for the expressed colors.
For current details of available gene configurations refer to the Tenset website www.tenset.co.uk.
Selecting An Inbuilt Gene Configuration

To use one of the standard (inbuilt) gene configurations, use Configure|Mendelian Genetics.
The first time this is used the
product will display a list of available configurations from which a selection can be made, if appropriate.
If you have previously
selected a configuration but now wish to change it, click the Choose A Standard Configuration button to redisplay the list.
If your breed is not included, select a different breed that is 'close' to yours in terms of the genes and terminology used for colors
etc. if possible.
If that is not appropriate, there is a 'generic' gene configuration that uses breed-neutral terms for the colors etc.
To Create And Select A User Defined Gene Configuration

This is described in detail in section 7 "Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference" (p.113) of the Help Reference.
Contents
28.1. Simulation Of Mendelian Genetics
28.2. Genotype Fields

28.3. Assumed Genotypes
28.4. Computed Phenotypes

28.5. Genotype Field Syntax
28.6. Mating Predictions

28.7. Genotype Inconsistency Detection
28.8. Polygenic Familial Analysis


28.9. Gene Probability Analysis
28.10. Gene Frequency Analysis
28.11. Covariance Analysis
28.12. Adjusting An Inbuilt Configuration

See:
15. Cat Records

28.2. Mendelian
Genetics: Genotype Fields
28.12. Mendelian Genetics: Adjusting An Inbuilt Configuration
See Also:
28.1. Mendelian Genetics: Simulation Of Mendelian Genetics

Several of the features provided are based around a simulation of some of the key aspects of Mendelian genetics.
Specifically,
Breeders Assistant supports:
Any number of genes and alleles, limited only by memory and computer time.
Though as more genes are used, more
CPU (computer) time and memory is needed to generate mating predictions etc.
XY sex chromosome system both for mammals (female=XX;, male=XY) and birds (female=XY, male=XX;).
Sex linkage to either sex chromosome.
Non-sex linkage: where 2 or more genes are known to be carried on the same chromosome.
For mating predictions the
probability of crossover between each such pair of linked genes can be given.
Crossover probabilities may be given
separately for males and females - in some species the rates of crossover differ between the sexes.
Epistasis - where one gene affects the expression of another.
Lethal genes - where given allele combinations never produce viable offspring.
Such simulations of inheritance are used to:

Predict Mating Results - Compute the probabilities of the possible genotypes that could result from a mating.
At the
same time as predicting the genotypes, Breeders Assistant can use the rules in the gene configuration to compute the
phenotype that each predicted genotype would be expressed as.
E.g. to predict the colors that are likely to arise from a
mating.
Such predictions can be included in mating certificates and
trial mating pedigrees.
Detect Parent/Offspring Inconsistencies - Verify that the claimed genotype of an individual is consistent with the
stated genotypes of its parents.
E.g. a Siamese cat breeder will know that it is impossible when mating a Lilac Point
against a Blue Point to get a Seal Point kitten.
Breeders Assistant can detect such impossibilities, assuming valid and
correct genotypes have been entered for the parents.
See 28.7. Genotype Inconsistency Detection.
Detect Breed Inconsistencies - Use the gene configuration to deduce the expected values for certain breed fields
given a genotype, and then compare these against what is stored in those fields for the individual concerned.
E.g. with
Siamese cats if a kitten that was genetically dd BB ('blue'), yet its breed color was claimed to be Seal Point, and
assuming the gene configuration was set up appropriately, Breeders Assistant could detect such an error.
Please note
that the standard inbuilt gene configurations supplied with Breeders Assistant do not normally have such rules set up,
but they can be added.
See:
16.3.
Mating Records: Mating Certificates

Mating Predictions

28.7. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Inconsistency Detection
28.2. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Fields

Cat records contain fields for storing genotypes.
These are located on the Genotype tab of the Cat Details window.
In order to see
this tab it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User
Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click OK).
There are several different genotype fields, for recording genotypes belonging to different aspects of the phenotype:
Pattern - For recording genotypes specific to the coat pattern.
Color - For recording genotypes specific to the coat color.
Eye Color - For recording genotypes specific to the eye color.
Breed - For recording genotypes specific to the breed.
Disease - For recording disease genotypes.
Other - For recording other genotypes that don't fit into any other category.

Entering Genotypes
Genotypes can be entered by simply keying them in, e.g. "AyAy" or, depending on the gene configuration, by clicking the Select
Genotype button.
If available, this displays the Select Genotype window.
This is effectively a 'user friendly' way of entering the
genotypes into these boxes with pulldown menus of known allele combinations.
Note that the appearance of the Select Genotype window is determined entirely by the gene configuration.
If you develop a
custom user defined gene configuration you can determine the layout of the Select Genotype window.
NOTE:
It doesn't actually matter which genes you choose to place in each genotype field. Internally, Breeders Assistant simply
concatenates all these fields when the genotype of cat is needed.
The only reason why there are separate fields is to allow you to
store genotypes that affect different types of trait separately.
See:

Records
15. Cat


See Also:
28.3. Mendelian Genetics: Assumed Genotypes

A gene configuration can contain details of large numbers of genes.
Most genes have a 'normal' genotype in most cats - e.g. the
genotype for most congenital diseases will be the 'unaffected' genotype.
To avoid having to explicitly give every genotype, the genetic rules allow a default 'value' to be assigned to each gene.
The collation
of these defaults for all genes that are not explicitly entered in the genotype fields for any given cat is known as it's 'assumed
genotype'.
The following shows a typical appearance of the Genotype tab where the assumed genotype is
displayed beneath the genotypes
that have been explicitly given (this is called the 'specified genotype').
In this example the gene model features the B, C, D and O genes, and the model has an 'assumed genotype' set for the C gene.
In
the domestic cat, the C gene has alleles that differ between breeds such as Siamese, Burmese and Tonkinese.
But because most
Siamese breeders only breed Siamese, their cats are almost always going to have two copies of the "cs" allele (Siamese coloration)
and so the gene model in this example assumes this
in order to save the user from having to enter "cscs" for every cat.
See:

Genotype Fields
28.4. Mendelian Genetics: Computed Phenotypes

The term 'computed phenotype' is used to mean a phenotype description that has been automatically generated from a cat's
genotype according to the current gene configuration.
Part of a gene configuration is an ordered series of rules that together construct the phenotype description based on the alleles etc.
present in the genotype.

The following shows an example of a computed phenotype - in this case in the Select Genotype window.
There are several variants of a computed phenotype, depending on whether or not carried or expressed traits are included in the
generated description.
It is possible to have computed phenotypes that include (a) both the expressed and carried traits, or (b) include just the expressed
traits, or (c) include just the carried traits.
The first is most often used.
See:
28.5. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Field Syntax

The genotype fields within cat records are normal text fields.
However they need to be entered using a particular syntax so that
Breeders Assistant can understand them.
Genotypes should be entered as a series of space separated gene 'values'.
There are two kinds of gene values: discrete gene values
and polygene values.
E.g. a sample genotype containing both discrete and polygenic gene 'values' might look like:
B- Dd O Hd=8
The first 3 elements here state the alleles for discrete genes.
The last element, Hd=8, gives a numeric value for a polygenic trait with
symbol Hd.
Discrete Genes

A discrete gene value is normally a pair of alleles; in the case of a sex linked gene on the X chromosome there should be one or 2
alleles depending on the sex of the cat concerned (1 for males, 2 for females; vice versa for birds).
A dash ('-') can also be used as
a wildcard.
E.g.:
B- Dd O
This shows the alleles for 3 discrete genes.

The first, B-, means 'allele B plus any other allele from the same gene'.
This is typical of
how the genotype would be entered for a gene where a (completely) dominant allele must be present - because the trait is
expressed - but the status of the other allele is not known.
The dash means 'don't know'.
The second gene is given as Dd which
means the exact status of this gene is being stated - both D and d alleles are known to be present.
The third gene is given as O.
This
is an example of a sex-linked gene.
This particular example is taken from domestic cats where the O gene - red coloration - is sex
linked; this genotype corresponds to a red (O) male carrying blue (Dd) and possibly carrying chocolate (B-).
An allele pair must be written without any spaces.
E.g. this would be invalid:
B- D d O
...because the two alleles for the D gene have been entered with a space between them (between the D and the d).
Specifying Alleles for Linked Discrete Genes (not Sex Linked)

In the absence of linked genes it doesn't matter in which order the allele
values are given for a gene.
E.g.
Bb Dd
has the same effect as:

bB Dd
This is because the alleles are carried on different chromosomes, and they are therefore inherited completely independently of each
other (Mendel's law of independent assortment).

However when genes are linked their alleles are carried on the same chromosomes.
It then becomes significant as to which of the
two chromosomes of each chromosome pair the alleles are on.
E.g. in the above example, whether the D allele is carried on the
same chromosome as the B allele or the b allele would be significant if the genes were linked.
That's because they will tend to either
stay with each other or repel each other during meiosis depending on the probability of crossover occurring between those alleles.
To handle this, when linkage is present Breeders Assistant interprets the first allele of a pair as being on the maternally inherited
chromosome, and the second as being on the paternally inherited chromosome.
Thus
Bb Dd
says that the B and D alleles were inherited maternally, and if they belonged to linked genes, then they will both be on the same
chromosome.
In all other cases the normal convention is to write alleles with the most dominant allele first.
Hence one normally writes Dd rather
than dD.
Polygenes
A 'polygene'
is a trait whose expression in the phenotype has a continuous range of variation and which is considered to be the
result of genetic effects of a collection of multiple, otherwise unspecified, discrete genes.
E.g. many of the more important traits that
dog and cat breeders focus on in selective breeding programmes fall into this category.
Head shape in cats is thought to be
controlled by many genes (probably, very many).
Such traits are often said to have a polygenic mode of inheritance.
In Breeders Assistant a polygenic trait can be assigned a symbol e.g. Hd and you can then enter the 'value' of a polygene e.g. Hd=8.
There is also a means of labeling ranges of polygene values for each polygene.
E.g. in the UK BVA system for scoring hip dysplasia
in dogs a value between 0 (best) and 106 (worst) is possible.
This can be divided into ranges e.g. 0-20 might mean 'good', 21-40
might mean 'borderline', and 41-106 'poor'.
Each range can be assigned a symbol e.g. Hdlow, Hdstd and Hdhigh.
The symbols can
then be used in genotypes instead of an explicit numeric value.
E.g. a chocolate colored dog with good hips might have its genotype
entered as:
bb Hdlow
When Breeders Assistant needs to use an actual numeric value for such a range-specified polygene it will use the midpoint value.
Breeders in the US please note: the OFA grading scheme for hip dysplasia is also supported.
When Breeders Assistant is installed
and the gene configuration selected there is a choice between American and British english versions; the former uses the OFA
grading scheme.
See:
15. Cat Records


Genotype Fields
28.6. Mendelian Genetics: Mating Predictions

When valid genotypes have been entered for both sire and dam in a mating (or trial mating) a prediction can be made of the likely
genotypes and phenotypes that will result.
These predictions can be used in various ways.
They can be included in litter pedigrees (mating records) or trial mating pedigrees
(trial mating records) - use Display|Pedigree then select an option that includes phenotypes.
There are also separate forms that
contain just the mating predictions themselves (use Display|Mating Predictions).
Mating predictions can also be included in mating certificates, a very useful feature e.g. if you have cats at stud and wish to advise
queen owners of likely results from matings.
If a series of error messages is displayed instead of a mating prediction, it is likely that some of the information that is required for
the mating analysis is missing.
Possible errors include:
The gene configuration is not set up or contains an error.
There are errors in the sire or dam genotypes.
Genetic rules cannot be identified for the sire and/or dam.
Assuming such an error has not occurred you will instead see a prediction included in the certificate, e.g.:

Note, the text of the computed phenotypes and genotypes are completely controlled by the gene configuration currently selected.
See:
16. Mating Records

Mating Certificates



28.7. Mendelian Genetics: Genotype Inconsistency Detection

Breeders Assistant can locate two types of inconsistencies within the recorded genotypes:
Parent/Offspring Inconsistency Check - This is where a cat's claimed genotype is verified against those of its
parents.
Specifically, if genotypes are present for both parents, the software can check that the claimed genotype of the
offspring is consistent with those genotypes.
E.g. with cats if an individual has genotype dd for the blue dilution gene - i.e. it is homozygous recessive blue - and yet
both its parents are recorded as being homozygous non-diluted i.e. DD then the offspring's claimed genotype is
inconsistent.
In this case either the offspring's genotype or the parent genotype(s) are recorded incorrectly.
Breed Inconsistency Check - This is where a cat's claimed genotype is verified against the stated breed field values to
make sure they are consistent.
This requires that the gene configuration includes rules stating expected values for breed
fields based on the genotype.
Note that inbuilt gene configurations supplied with Breeders Assistant do not normally have
such rules.
However they can be added in user defined gene configurations.
Both these tests can be carried out from the Genotype tab of the Cat Details window.
The Parent/Offspring check is also available
as one of the database inconsistency checks.
See:
8.10.
See Also:
28.8. Mendelian Genetics: Polygenic Familial Analysis

This is a statistical analysis of the 'values' of one or more polygenes amongst a group of related cats.
Starting with the current cat, all other cats in the database that are related in one of the following ways are located:
Full siblings, or
Half siblings (sire or dam in common, but not both), or
Sire siblings (sire in common), or
Dam siblings (dam in common), or
All siblings (sire or dam in common, or both)
Then for each polygene that is to be analysed the software examines the genotypes of all cats with the given relation to lookup the
'value' of that polygene.
The following statistics are then produced for that set of samples:
Mean ('average')
Variance
Standard Deviation
Coefficient of Variation

Standard Error
Range Analysis - for a polygene with ranges defined, a breakdown of how many samples fell into each range.
This is repeated for each polygene in the analysis.

This feature is available with cat records, matings and trial matings.
It is
implemented by embedding a <PolygenicFamilialAnalysis> field code within a form.
Many variations on the default analysis are
possible by creating new forms with custom parameters to this field code.
See section 4.7.8 "Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat
Records: Mendelian Genetics Fields And Field Codes" of the Help Reference.
See:
7.10.
15. Cat Records
See Also:
Help Reference - 4.7.8 Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records: Mendelian Genetics Fields And Field Codes
28.9. Mendelian Genetics: Gene Probability Analysis

Gene probability analysis in Breeders Assistant is the calculation of the likelihood that a cat will have a given genetic state for a gene
(or polygene) based on analysing the prevalence of that same gene in its ancestors.
Two variations of this type of analysis are provided:
Analysis of gene probabilities for multiple genes for a single cat.
Analysis of a genetic condition of a single gene (or polygene) for multiple cats, with the results presented in decreasing
order of likelihood.
Single Cat, Multiple Genes

This is typically accessed by selecting Display|Mendelian Genetics and choosing one of the Gene Probabilities options.
Standard forms are provided to generate a probability analysis to 4 generations of the following genetic dispositions:
Alleles Present - For each allele of each discrete gene, the probability that the allele will be present (either
heterozygously or homozygously).
For alleles associated with dominant traits this gives the likelihood that the cat will
express the trait.
Heterozygous Alleles - For each allele of each discrete gene, the probability that the allele will be present
heterozygously.
For recessive traits this gives the likelihood that the cat will be a carrier.
All Allele Permutations - Both of the above plus the likelihood of each allele being present homozygously.
All Polygenes - A prediction of the 'value' for each polygene.
What this analysis actually does depends on whether the gene is a discrete gene or a polygene.
For discrete genes this concerns the calculation of the probability that a given gene will have particular combination(s) of alleles.
E.g. consider a gene A with two alleles A and a.
What is the likelihood that a cat is heterozygous for this gene i.e. Aa?
This likelihood
can be restated as being the sum of the probability that the cat inherits A from its sire and a from its dam plus the probability that it
inherits a from its sire and A from its dam.
To calculate these probabilities for either parent the software first examines that specific
parent's genotypes.
If the alleles are given for this gene then those probabilities are known absolutely.
Otherwise, they need to be
estimated, in which case it can be done in one of two ways: either the genotypes of its parents can be inspected - and so on as far
back as the analysis permits - to calculate those probabilities, or a default 'background allele distribution probability' is used.
The
latter method is used once the ancestor depth limit has been reached.
For polygenes a simpler approach is used.
The 'value' of a polygene is estimated as being half the sum of the parents values for that
polygene (i.e. the mean of those values).
If a parent's value for that polygene is not set, that is calculated in turn by taking the
mean of the grandparents values, and so on back through the pedigree.
When an ancestor is missing, or when the depth limit of the
analysis has been reached, a default for that polygene is assumed.
NOTES:
1. These
analyses are available when working with cats, matings or trial matings.
2. These analyses are implemented by embedding a <GeneInheritanceProbabilities>
field code within a form.
Variations on
these standard analyses are possible by creating new forms with custom parameters to this field code.
For details see section 7
"Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference" (p.113) of the Help Reference and section 4.7.8 "Fields And Field Codes Reference:
Cat Records: Mendelian Genetics Fields And Field Codes" of the Help Reference.
Single Gene, Multiple Cats

In this type of analysis the gene
probabilities for a single genetic disposition (trait) are computed for many cats at once, tabulating
the results in decreasing order of the likelihood of that the given genetic disposition (trait) will occur.
E.g. this can be used to calculate, in decreasing order, the likelihood that selected cats will be carriers for a given genetic defect - by
analysing the known prevalence of the relevant allele in the ancestors of those cats.
The calculation is performed in the same way as described above except that only one genotype 'condition' is analysed.
To access this analysis use Tools|Mendelian Genetics|Gene Probability Analysis.

Changing The Background Population Defaults

These analyses use defaults for the distribution of alleles and the 'average' value for polygenes in the background population.
These
defaults can be adjusted.
See 28.12. Adjusting An Inbuilt Configuration.
See:
7.10.

See Also:
Help Reference - 4.7.8 Fields And Field Codes Reference: Cat Records: Mendelian Genetics Fields And Field Codes
28.10. Mendelian Genetics: Gene Frequency Analysis

This is the analysis of allele and genotype distributions within a breeding population and is accessed using Tools|
Mendelian Genetics|Gene Frequency Analysis.
Options are provided to select the cats to be included, the particular genes to be analysed, and whether the analysis is to be limited
to males, females, or both.
The stated genotypes of the chosen cats are then examined in order to compute, for each gene, the number of times each allele and
genotype permutation of that gene occurs.
The distributions of each allele and genotype within the chosen set are reported.
28.11. Mendelian Genetics: Covariance Analysis

Covariance analysis is the analysis of how traits vary - either the tendency of 2 different traits to be inherited together, or the
degree to which a single trait tends to be similar amongst relatives.
Two forms of covariance analysis are provided.
Between Traits
This measures the
degree to which any 2 traits - typically polygenes - are inherited alongside each other.
Between Relatives

This measures the heritability of a given trait - typically a polygene - by examining the 'values' of that trait between related
individuals.
The following relationships can be analysed:
Offspring, or
Full siblings, or
Half siblings (sire or dam in common, but not both), or
Sire siblings (sire in common), or
Dam siblings (dam in common), or
All siblings (sire or dam in common, or both)
'Heritability' means the degree to which a given trait is determined through inheritance.
Depending on the relation analysed this
form of covariance analysis can estimate either broad sense heritability (H2) or narrow sense heritability (h2).

If a standard (inbuilt) gene configuration has been selected, even though it is not directly modifiable it can be adjusted in the
following ways.
Note that with a user defined gene configuration, all customizations are made by changing the gene configuration
file directly (see section 7 "Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference" (p.113) of the Help Reference).
Adjust Background Allele Distributions

The gene probability analysis uses defaults for
'background allele distributions' (within the population) whenever a more accurate
estimate is not available (i.e., one given
explicitly for an ancestor). To change these:
1. Select Configure|Mendelian Genetics.

2. Click the Background Population Defaults button.

3. On the Allele Distributions tab a list of all the alleles and the default distributions is given.
To change a value, click
the allele to select it, check the 'Use override value' option and enter the value in the box.
To remove the override
(restore to the default given in the configuration file) check the 'Use default' option.
4. Click OK twice.
Adjust Polygene Defaults

The gene probability analysis uses default levels for polygenes in the background population whenever a more accurate estimate is
not available (i.e., one given explicitly for an ancestor).
To change these:
1. Select Configure|Mendelian Genetics.
2. Click the Background Population Defaults button.
3. Move to the Polygene Defaults tab.
4. A list of all the polygenes and their default values is given.
To change a value, click the polygene in the list to select it,
check the 'Use override value' option and enter the value in the box.
To remove the override (i.e. restore to the
default given in the configuration) check the 'Use default' option.
5. Click OK twice.
Add User Defined Extensions

It is possible to add limited user defined extensions to a standard (inbuilt) gene configuration.
For details see section 7.6 "Mendelian
Genetics Configuration Reference: User Defined Extensions To Inbuilt Configurations" of the Help Reference.
See:

Gene Probability Analysis
See Also:
Help Reference - 7.6 Mendelian Genetics Configuration Reference: User Defined Extensions To Inbuilt Configurations


These features are only available for use with your pedigree data in the Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant. However, they are
also enabled in the Trial version of the product and with the 'mate selection test data' tutorial (any edition) - purely for trial/testing
purposes only (up to 250 records).
Contents
29.1. Overview
29.2. Population
Genetics Concepts And Terminology
29.3. Inbreeding And Related Metrics

29.4. Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships
29.5. Mate Selection - Overview

29.6. Mate Selection - Specifying

Parents, Ancestors And Other Parameters
29.7. Mate Selection - Rank Computation

29.8. Mate Selection - Results

29.9. Population Analysis - Overview
29.10. Population Analysis - Results

29.11. Configuration And Preferences
29.1. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Overview

The mate selection, kinship and population analysis features of Breeders Assistant can be divided into 2 groups.
Finding Prospective Matings

a set of potential matings and ranks them (i.e. prioritizes them) in some way e.g. to minimize
This is where the software analyses
the inbreeding in the offspring, or to maximize the influence of specific cats.
It can also rank potential matings to try to preserve
genetic diversity within a breeding population by maximizing the influence of founders that are under-represented in the current
breeding pool, and/or to
minimize inbreeding, and/or to minimize mean kinship, or any combination of these methods.
E.g. the following screenshot shows a list of prospective matings that have been ranked by increasing inbreeding in the potential
offspring.
The inbreeding that each mating would give rise to is shown along with related values such as the
pedigree completeness
index (a measure of the extent of ancestry that was available when computing the inbreeding), and a ranking value that varies from
100 (best) to 0 (worst).
Prospective matings can also be displayed as a matrix with the sires along the top and the dams down the side.
Each cell shows the
ranking and, optionally, other computed values related to the mating.
The cells can be color coded according to the metric shown or
the ranking.
In the following screenshot the prospective inbreeding is shown, color coded with lighter colors indicating a lower
(better) inbreeding:

Computing Population Genetics Metrics

This is where the software analyses a group of
cats and lists various metrics such as inbreeding coefficients, ancestral inbreeding,
mean kinships, pedigree completeness indices,
founder metrics (including the number of founder equivalents, the number of
founder genome equivalents, and the number of 'effective ancestors' for a breeding population, and for each founder the proportion
of alleles retained and contribution to the current population),
and genome uniqueness metrics.
Results can be listed either in tables ordered in various ways, or in some cases with color coded matrices e.g. for a relationship
matrix or a matrix showing the individual contributions of each founder to every individual in a breeding population.
Results can be exported to text/CSV files e.g. for transfer to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
E.g. the following screenshot shows a 'gene diversity metrics' listing for a selected group of records.
In this case they are ordered by
mean kinship (lowest first).
The listing also includes, for each individual, the inbreeding coefficient (F), the genome uniqueness (GU)
and the pedigree completeness index (PCI).
See:


29.3. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Inbreeding And Related Metrics

See Also:
Help Reference - A.38 Procedures By Subject: Founders
Help Reference - A.39 Procedures By Subject: Genetic Diversity

29.2. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Genetics Concepts And
Terminology
This section defines some of the population genetics concepts and terminology used in this chapter. If you are knowledgable in this
field, you probably don't need to read this section.
Alleles, Genes, Identity by State and Identity by Descent

Cats have two sets of chromosomes.

They have one 'copy' of each gene on each chromosome.
Such genes are said to be
autosomal.
The particular location on a chromosome where a gene is found is called the locus.
A cat therefore has 2 'copies' of a
gene for any particular locus.
An allele is one of two or more forms of a gene.
The presence of different combinations of alleles can affect physical traits in the cat,
such as coat color in some species.
This description is a deliberate simplification, but sufficient for the purposes of this text.
E.g. the special attributes of sex
chromosomes are ignored here.
If both alleles for a given locus are the same, the cat is said to be homozygous for that gene.
The phrase 'identical by state' means
the same thing: the alleles are functionally the same.
If the alleles are different, they are said to be heterozygous.
A related term is 'identical by descent'.
Two alleles are said to be identical by descent if one of them is a physical copy of the other,
or if they are both physical copies of the same allele in a particular ancestor.
If two alleles are identical by descent then by definition
they must also be identical by state but not vice versa.
Kinship

coefficient between any two cats is the probability, for any particular locus, that an allele selected randomly from one
The kinship
cat is identical by descent to an equivalent allele selected randomly from the other.
Also known as coancestry.
A cat gets half its genes from its father, half from its mother.
The kinship between an offspring and either parent is however one
quarter i.e. 25%, and not one half.
Why is this?
Firstly, there is a 50% chance that any allele chosen at random in a cat is from a
particular parent (the sire, say).
And secondly there is then a 50% chance that it is the same as any particular allele chosen
randomly in the sire.
So, there is a 0.5 * 0.5 chance i.e. 0.25 or 25% that they are identical by descent.
Breeders Assistant can use kinship values when prioritizing prospective matings according to the influence of known individuals.
This
is where the software ranks prospective matings to weight either for or against prospective matings that would result in offspring
that share more or less kinship with the specified individuals.
See section 6 "Mate Selection By Influence" (p.19) of the 'Mate
Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial.
To view kinship coefficients directly Breeders Assistant can generate a relationship/kinship matrix for a set of individuals and their
ancestors.
This is accessed using Tools|Population Analysis|Relationship/Kinship Matrix but is also covered in the "Mate
Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis" tutorial.
To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu
within Breeders Assistant.
Computing kinship coefficients can require a very large amount of memory - please see 29.4. Memory Requirements When
Computing Kinships for important information and limitations.
Mean Kinship
The mean kinship
of a cat within a group of cats (breeding pool) is the mean of its kinship coefficient with every other member of
the group, including itself.
If a cat's mean kinship (symbol: MK) is low, this means it is less related, on the whole, to the rest of the
population than a cat with a higher MK.
MK plays an important part in breeding decisions in programmes designed to maintain genetic diversity in small populations.
Leaving aside other factors, if it is necessary to choose between one sire and another for a mating decision, it would be better to
choose the one with lower MK.
When using MK it is helpful not to forget that it is the mean kinskip of a cat with respect to every other member of the group of cats
for which it is computed.
The main use of MK is to help make decisions as to which sire to mate to which dam in order to maximize
the retention of genetic diversity.
There is little practical benefit in including individuals that are unavailable for breeding (e.g., are
deceased ancestors) within the group against which MK is computed.
Breeders Assistant can compute mean kinships for a set of individuals as part of its 'gene diversity metrics' analysis. This is
accessed using Tools|Population Analysis|Gene Diversity Metrics and is covered in section 12 "Gene Diversity Metrics and
Mean Kinship" (p.35) of the 'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial.
It is also possible to use mean kinship as a ranking factor when prioritizing prospective matings.
This is described in depth in section
13 "Mate Selection Using Gene Diversity Metrics" (p.37) of the 'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial.
To access this
- and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help menu within Breeders Assistant.
Gene Diversity
The gene diversity
of a breeding population is defined as 1 minus the 'mean MK'.
That is to say it is 1 less the arithmetic mean of
the mean kinships of every cat in the breeding pool.

The lower the mean MK, the less related the cats in the breeding pool are.
Gene diversity (symbol: GD) is simply another way of
looking at the mean MK value, but with a number where higher is better.
One of the ranking metrics is 'GD Delta' - which is defined as the change in GD that results from the addition of a single offspring
from a given mating.
If GD increases as a result of a mating, that means the overall genetic diversity of the population has gone up.
So the higher the GD delta, the better.
Inbreeding

Inbreeding occurs when a cat has one or more common ancestors.

The term 'common ancestor' has a precise meaning in population genetics.
It means an ancestor that is present at least once on
both sides of a cat's pedigree.
It does not mean an ancestor that just 'occurs a lot'.
When a cat has common ancestors, this raises the possibility that for any particular gene locus, both alleles present are in fact
physical copies of the exact same allele from one of its common ancestors.
The inbreeding coefficient is the value of this probability.
Or, put another way, it is the probability that both alleles are identical by descent.
The inbreeding coefficient as in common use today was first defined in 1922 in a paper by Dr Sewall Wright [Wright, S. Coefficients
of inbreeding and relationship. American Naturalist 56: 330-338, 1922]. For this reason it is often known as 'Wrights Inbreeding
Coefficient'.
When a cat has no common ancestors, its inbreeding coeffficient is zero.
The symbol 'F' is commonly used in scientific literature to
mean a cat's inbreeding coefficient.
The inbreeding coefficient can be computed by hand only for relatively simple pedigrees.
For deep pedigrees it can only realistically
be done by computer.
Calculating inbreeding for very large pedigrees is a computationally intensive process.
Ancestral Inbreeding
The 'ancestral inbreeding
coefficient' of a cat is the cumulative proportion of a cat's genome that has been previously exposed to
inbreeding in its ancestors
(Ballou, JD. "Ancestral Inbreeding Only Minimally Affects Inbreeding Depression in Mammalian
Populations", Journal of Heredity 1997, 8:169-178.).
Equivalent Complete Generations

This is the sum total of the proportion of
the ancestors that were traced at every generation of a pedigree.
It has the symbol ECG
within the software.
E.g. if both parents are present that contributes 1 to the ECG value.
If 2 grandparents are present that would
add 0.5 to the ECG (i.e. 2/4). If 3 great-grandparents are present that would add 0.375 to the ECG (i.e. 3/8). Etc.
Pedigree Completeness

This is a measure of the completeness of a pedigree.

It has the symbol PC within the software.
It is the sum total of the proportion
of the ancestors that were traced at each generation for a certain number of generators, divided by that number of generations,
shown as a percentage.
E.g. if 3 generations of ancestors were traced for a cat where both parents are present (i.e. proportion 1.0),
2 grandparents are present (proportion 0.5), and 3 great-grandparents (proportion 0.375) then the PC value would be (1.0 + 0.5 +
0.375) divided by 3 which is 0.625 or 62.5%.

This is another measure of the completeness of the pedigree, and probably the most useful.
It is the harmonic mean of the PC
values for the parents of a cat, so long as both parents are present, otherwise it is zero.
Because it is the harmonic mean it weights
the result to the lower of the parent PC values.
This value is computed using the method of MacCluer et al ("Inbreeding and Pedigree Structure in Standardbreed Horses", Journal
of Heredity 1983, 74:394-399).
PCI can be useful when deciding how much importance to give to an inbreeding value.
Informally, if
insufficient ancestry is available then a low inbreeding coefficient is not a reliable guide to the true level of inbreeding.
When
selecting prospective matings by inbreeding Breeders Assistant can use weightings for the sire and dam PCI values in the overall
ranking.
It is possible to specify a PCI threshold to exclude prospective matings that have a PCI value below a given value.
Reproductive Values

A cat in the current population that is no longer reproductive e.g. a female nearing the end of her life, is of no value in maintaining
future genetic diversity (because she can no longer produce offspring to add to the population).
Such individuals should not be
included in the breeding pool if possible.
Likewise it follows that if there are, say, two sires with the same MK, but one is older than the other, then - and ignoring any other
factors - it may be desirable to give a greater priority to breeding from the older sire first, to lessen the risk that its genes are lost
for good.
And yet calculations based on pure MK - such as GD Delta - do not take this into account.
In order to allow for such considerations to contribute to the mating selection, the software can use a 'reproductive value' for each
cat in conjunction with the ranking factors.
The reproductive value can vary from 0 to 1 where 0 means the individual is entirely
unreproductive and 1 means 'fully reproductive'.
Thus an older cat might have a lower reproductive value.
Founders

A founder within a set of pedigree data is defined as a cat where neither the sire nor dam is known.
Such a cat may truly be a
'founding ancestor' of a breed or 'population' in the sense that it is not related to any other founder, or it may be related - possibly
closely - to other members of the group but the details of its lineage are not known.
Within Breeders Assistant founders are treated
as unrelated and non-inbred.
Many of the features of the population analysis and mate selection tools of the Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant involve
determining the ancestors of a cat or group, and then computing various metrics or analyses based on them.
In most situations
Breeders Assistant provides a way to artificially restrict the depth of ancestry considered.
E.g. it may be limited to 16 generations.

Whenever such an artificial cutoff is applied, the definition of founder takes on a slightly different meaning: it means a cat, within
the subset of the population that comprises the cats under study and however many generations of their ancestors that has been
selected, that either has no known sire and/or dam or whose sire and/or dam, even though present in the database, do not fall
within the subset under study.
It is as if the software 'pretends' that the deeper ancestry is simply unknown.
Genome Uniqueness
The genome uniqueness
(symbol: GU) of a cat with respect to a current population of which it is part is the probability that it
contains founder alleles not present in any other single (normally) cat in that current population.
This latter point is crucial to understand - the whole purpose of the GU measure is to identify cats within a breeding population that
are likely to carry genes from founders where there is little or no representation of those genes in other members of the breeding
population.
The term 'normally' is used here because Breeders Assistant lets you configure what is meant by genome uniqueness, in that you
can define that number of cats in the current population for which, if any given founder's alleles are only present in that number, or
fewer, of the current population, then it is considered 'unique'.
This setting can be altered using the Extended Edition preferences
window (use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), then move to the Extended Edition tab).
A alternative term might be 'genome rarity' or 'founder rarity' however the term 'genome uniqueness' has previously been used in
scientific literature.
Breeders Assistant can compute genome uniqueness for a set of individuals and their founders as part of its 'gene diversity metrics'
analysis. This is accessed using Tools|Population Analysis|Gene Diversity Metrics and is covered in section 12 "Gene Diversity
Metrics and Mean Kinship" (p.35) of the 'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial.
It is also possible to use genome uniqueness as a ranking factor when prioritizing prospective matings.
I.e. to prioritize matings so
as to minimize loss of genetic diversity within a breeding pool.
This is described in depth in section 13 "Mate Selection Using Gene
Diversity Metrics" (p.37) of the 'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial.
To access this - and other tutorials - select
Founder Genome Uniqueness

Founder Genome Uniqueness (symbol
FGU) is an estimation of the probability that genes from that founder are only present in,
normally, 1 member of the current population.
Gene Drop Analysis

A gene drop analysis [MacCluer, JW, VandeBerg JL, Read B and Ryder OA. "Pedigree analysis by computer simulation". Zoo Biology
5, 147/160, 1986.] is a computer simulation technique for analyzing a group of individuals comprising a current population and their
ancestors.
The founders of the group are first identified.
The algorithm then simulates Mendelian inheritance by 'dropping' a gene, comprising
pair of unique alleles for each founder, 'through' the pedigree.
The actual alleles that the current descendants have 'received' are
then counted up.
The whole process is then repeated, usually many thousands of times.
By counting the frequencies of the alleles
the descendants end up with, it is possible to work out good approximations for various metrics that otherwise would be difficult to
work out exactly.
Breeders Assistant uses gene drop analysis for the computation of genome uniqueness, and the proportion of alleles retained in the
current population from any given founder.
The number of rounds used in the gene drop analysis is a preference setting (available on the Extended Edition tab of the
Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) window).
Genetic Drift, Founder Equivalents and Founder Genome Equivalents

The founders of a population under study contain all the genetic diversity available
to be inherited by their descendants.
However,
not necessarily all of the genetic variation present in the founders may have 'made it' to the current population, due to genetic drift,
selection and inbreeding.
Genetic drift refers to the loss, by chance, of genetic diversity present in the founders.
E.g. when a founder has only one offspring,
but that offspring is then the ancestor of one or more members of the current population, then by definition at least half of the
genetic diversity that was present in that founder must have been lost.
That is because it's sole offspring only inherited half of it.
Even when a founder has many offspring and from which there may be large numbers of descendants in the current population, it is
not likely that all its genes will still be present.
Larger populations, with larger numbers of founders, large families and little or no selection i.e. truly random mating usually
maintain genetic diversity.
Genetic diversity can be increased through mutation and migration i.e. the introduction of truly unrelated
'new' founders.
But within smaller populations, including 'closed' populations of fancy animals such as dogs and cats or with
endangered species where there are very limited numbers of individuals remaining, the extent of retained genetic diversity can be
limited, and the extent to which different founders are represented within the current population can vary, sometimes greatly.
The number of founder equivalents [Lacy, RC. "Analysis of founder representation in pedigrees: Founder equivalents and founder
genome equivalents". Zoo Biology 8:111-124, 1989.] is a measure of the genetic diversity of a current population.
It is the number
of equally contributing founders that would be expected to produce the same level of genetic diversity as the current population.
It
has a standard symbol in population genetics literature: 'fe'.
In a large population with no selection and in the absence of genetic
drift fe remains relatively constant because founder contributions do not vary much from one generation to another.
When there is
extensive selection fe can lose value, such as with fancy animals when popular sires can give rise to huge numbers of offspring and
hence magnify the representation of their founders within the current population at the expense of those of unpopular sires.

The number of founder genome equivalents is a related measure which, unlike the number of founder equivalents, takes genetic
drift into account.
It is the number of equally contributing founders with no random loss of alleles in the offspring that would be
expected to produce the same level of genetic diversity as the current population.
It has standard symbol 'fg'.
The calculation of fg
is more involved than fe because it requires knowledge of the extent to which each founders alleles have been retained in the
current population i.e. the degree of genetic drift.
This can be calculated using a 'gene drop analysis'.
fg will always be less than or
equal to fe.
The number of effective ancestors (symbol: fa) is similar to the number of founder equivalents except that it also takes into account
bottlenecks in the pedigree structure.
This number will always be less than or equal to the number of founder equivalents (fe).
To
arrive at this number it computes the marginal contribution of each ancestor - not just the founders - to the current population to
find the ancestor with the most influence, and then repeats the process taking care
not to consider the contribution of any
previously identified influential ancestor more than once until no more 'significant' ancestors are found.
For details of the method used see [Boichard, D, Maignel L, and Verrier, E. "The value of using probabilities of gene origin to
measure genetic variability in a population". Genetics Selection Evolution, 1997; 29(1): 5-23.].
Breeders Assistant can compute the number founder equivalents, founder genome equivalents and effective ancestors for a set of
individuals as part of its 'founder metrics', 'effective ancestors' and 'gene diversity metrics' analyses. These are accessed using
Tools|Population Analysis|Founder Metrics and Tools|Population Analysis|Gene Diversity Metrics and are covered in the
"Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis" tutorial. To access this - and other tutorials - select Tutorials from the Help
See:
29.4.
Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships
See Also:
'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial - 6 Mate Selection By Influence (p.19)
'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial - 12 Gene Diversity Metrics and Mean Kinship (p.35)
'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial - 13 Mate Selection Using Gene Diversity Metrics (p.37)
29.3. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Inbreeding And Related Metrics
Many of the population analysis and mate selection tools include computation of inbreeding coefficients, and related values such as
pedigree completeness, kinship coefficients, etc.
Analyses such as the Key Metrics analysis - and in fact all the features accessed through the Tools|Population Analysis and
Tools|Prospective Matings menus - compute inbreeding when needed using a method that involves analysing all the individuals
concerned and their ancestors as a group, rather than individually (i.e. cat by cat, or mating by mating).
This is done primarily
because it is very much faster when producing reports involving large numbers of records.
But it does mean that, in some
situations, more ancestors are considered when computing inbreeding and/or kinship coefficients than are used elsewhere in
Breeders Assistant, even when the same depth of ancestry is concerned.
These differences disappear when all available ancestry is
taken into account in the calculations.
In comparison whenever Breeders Assistant needs the inbreeding coefficient for an individual record in the context of a pedigree
layout, or in the record list, it does so by considering ancestors to the required depth for that record alone.
This is perhaps best illustrated by an example.
Consider the following pedigree:
Fred is inbred, because his paternal grand-sire 'C' is also a maternal great-great-grand-sire.
If the inbreeding coefficient of Fred is included in a pedigree or as a column in the record list, and the default inbreeding preferences
are used but with just 2 generations of ancestors chosen for the inbreeding calculation, then the inbreeding will be shown in the
pedigree as zero.
This is because when calculating the inbreeding it only finds the ancestors within the first 2 generations of Fred's
pedigree (i.e., 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D'), and none of those ancestors appear on both sides of the pedigree (to 2 generations).
Now consider what happens when a feature such as the Key Metrics report is used.
This will calculate various metrics including the
inbreeding coefficient for all individuals included in the report at the same time (bulk calculation).
To do this, it first finds all the
ancestors to the chosen depth for all individuals included.
It then computes the inbreeding coefficients for every individual and
ancestor identified in a single step.
Using the above example, if a Key Metrics report is produced just for Fred alone then it would show the inbreeding as zero for the
same reasons as above.
That is because the ancestors located would contain these relations:
Fred -> sire 'A', dam 'B'
'A' -> sire 'C', dam unknown
'B' -> sire 'D', dam unknown

But, if instead a Key Metrics report is produced for both Fred and 'D' at the same time (e.g. both Fred and 'D' are tagged and then
the key metrics report is produced for all tag matching cats to 2 generations), the report would now say that Fred's inbreeding is
3.125%. Why?
It is because the ancestors it has now analysed contained these relations:
Fred -> sire 'A', dam 'B'
'A' -> sire 'C', dam unknown
'B' -> sire 'D', dam unknown
'D' -> sire 'G', dam unknown
'G' -> sire 'C', dam unknown
... and this time the appearance of 'C' on both sides of Fred's pedigree is visisble to the inbreeding computation.
Hence the
coefficient is no longer zero.
See:


See Also:
29.4. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Memory Requirements When
Computing Kinships
Some analyses - such as the Gene Diversity Metrics and Prospective Matings Prioritized By Gene Diversity Metrics analyses
- require calculation of kinship coefficients.
Anything that requires the calculation of such values is an extraordinarily memory intensive process when large numbers of
individuals are involved.
This is because of the need to compute a 'relationship matrix'.
A relationship matrix is a symmetric matrix of values where the number of rows and columns is equal to the number of individuals
being considered and their ancestors - to the depth of ancestry being considered.
This means the memory required is proportional
to the square of this number.
If the database is large and lots of individuals are requested for inclusion in such a report the system can run out of memory.
In
such circumstances it is therefore important to limit the records included (e.g. the breeding pool) to those cats that are realistic
contenders for breeding as far as is possible.
E.g. if a database has 100,000 individuals and an attempt is made to produce a gene diversity metrics analysis for all records it
would almost certainly fail.
This is because a symmetric matrix with 100,000 rows and 100,000 columns needs to store up to
5,000,000,000 cells, which in the worst case would require approximately 19 Gbytes of main memory, on top of the other memory
requirements of the product.
Clearly no commonly used PCs have anything remotely approaching this amount of memory (at the
time of writing this document).
Furthermore, Breeders Assistant is a 32bit Windows application, and is limited to 2Gb memory (by
Windows).
In practice this means that calculations involving kinships are limited to, typically no more than about 15,000 - 25,000 individuals
(including their ancestors).
The actual limit is not a fixed number because the software uses various techniques internally to
minimize the memory actually needed, and these in turn depend on the structure of the relations within the individuals and their
ancestors being analysed.
Incidentally even if a 64bit version of Breeders Assistant was available, the practical limits on the number of individuals would not
be much higher - this is because it is the amount of physical memory that matters, and at the time of writing few machines have
more than 8Gb typically.
Given that the memory requirement grows proportionally to the square of the matrix size, available
memory would be exhausted rapidly.
With a large database it is important to restrict analyses that use kinship calculations so that the numbers of cats/sires/dams, and
their ancestors to the chosen depth of ancestry, do not cause these memory limitations to be exceeded.
See:

Breeders Assistant can take a set of potential parents - a list of sires and a list of dams - and rank (prioritize) the prospective
matings between every possible sire/dam pairing in a number of ways, as a tool to making breeding decisions.
There are three different ways of prioritizing the prospective matings:
By Inbreeding - This ranks according to the inbreeding of the potential offspring, and possibly also the inbreeding and
pedigree completeness indices (PCI values) of the parents.
The pedigree completeness index is a useful means of
incorporating the reliability of the inbreeding coefficient into account: when insufficient ancestry is available the
computed inbreeding coefficient may be unrealistically low and it may be desirable to avoid such matings.
Accessed using Tools|Prospective Matings|Prioritized By Inbreeding.

By Influence - This ranks by taking into account the extent of kinship the potential offspring will have with chosen
individuals that have either 'desired' or 'unwanted' influence.
It gives higher priority to matings where the potential
offspring will have greater kinship with the desired individuals, and lower priority to those with greater kinship to
unwanted individuals.
Accessed using Tools|Prospective Matings|Prioritized By Influence.
By Gene Diversity Metrics - This ranks by taking into account other metrics concerning overall genetic diversity of a
breeding pool, such as changes in mean kinship or to prioritize prospective matings to favor those that will
increase the
representation of genes from under-represented founders.
Accessed using Tools|Prospective Matings|Prioritized By Gene Diversity Metrics.
The way all these features are used is broadly the same:
1. The prospective parents are defined, and associated information such as the depth of ancestry to be considered and
the 'reference date' (from which age-related information that can be used when selecting parents is determined).
In
the case of the 'By Influence' and 'By Gene Diversity Metrics' prioritization methods, additional individuals need to be
defined (those with desired/unwanted influence, or the breeding pool).
2. Ranking weightings may optionally be customized - these influence the ranking algorithm.
3. Results are displayed, either as a list of prospective matings ordered by ranking (and many other ways), or as a
matrix with the sires along the top and dams down the side.
4. Results are used either by browsing the displayed results on screen, or by exporting to a text/CSV file (for external
use) or by selecting and creating actual mating records within the software.
See:
16. Mating Records

See Also:
29.6. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Specifying Parents,
Ancestors And Other Parameters
Depth Of Ancestry
The depth of ancestry
- the number of generations of ancestors to be considered - is a key parameter that will influence the results.
This can be set to a fixed # of generations, or it can be set to include all available ancestry within the database.
Increasing the depth leads to more accurate results at the expense of additional computer resources.
Any ranking method that
involves computation of kinship values (as distinct from inbreeding coefficients) has memory requirements that are highly
dependent on the total number of individuals and ancestors that are considered in the report.
If you have a large database and wish
to use kinship data when mate ranking see 29.4. Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships.
Reference Date

When any of the individuals in the analysis are chosen - parents, cats with influence, cats in the current breeding pool - they can be
filtered in various ways, one of which is the age of the individual.
The primary purpose of this is to provide the means to limit the
individuals involved to those that are of breeding age.
The age of any cat is determined by comparing its date of birth to the 'reference date', a date which can be set for each prospective
mating analysis.
Typically the reference date is set to the current date, since in the most common use these features are intended to select actual
breedings that are to be carried out.
But it could be set to a date in the past e.g. to see which matings might have been advisable
previously.
Specifying Parents - By Inbreeding

This is the simplest of the three prioritization methods in terms of the selection of individuals that are taken into account.
It is just a
case of specifying the sires and dams.

The parents are chosen by first selecting an index from which they will be drawn - this can simply be an index of all the cats in the
database (such as the 'By name' index), or a selective index.
If tagging is being used it is possible to restrict this to the tag matched
individuals.
Secondly, there is a 'filter' option that allows the sires and dams to be further restricted, separately, according to:
Whether they are tag matched.
Whether they have the active breeding stock checkbox set.
This is a setting on the More tab of the Cat Details
window.
For this option to be visible it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|
Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click OK).
Whether or not they are recorded as being dead - i.e. a date of death has been recorded.
Whether or not they are recorded as being neutered.
Whether or not they are younger or older than a given age.
Whether they meet other, custom conditions.
This is a way to add additional record matching conditions on the potential
parents, and is an important facility because it makes it possible to select potential parents according to the values
stored in user defined fields.
Specifying Parents - By Influence

are specified in exactly the same way as when prioritizing by inbreeding.
With this prioritization method the parents
But in addition, individuals with desired or unwanted influence can also be given.
These are chosen in a very similar way - specify an
index from which they are to be drawn, and then add filter conditions to further restrict the selection.

Perhaps one of the most common ways of specifying a filter condition for desired influence is to set up a custom index that only
includes the desired individuals, and then just select that index as the definition of the desired cats.
This method is demonstrated in
section 6 "Mate Selection By Influence" (p.19) of the 'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial. To access this - and
Specifying Parents - By Gene Diversity Metrics

With this prioritization method it is necessary to first specify the 'breeding pool', and then to add further conditions to restrict the
sires and dams within this breeding pool.
The breeding pool should be set up to be those individuals that make up the current 'active' population - all the individuals that
represent the current pool from which all future individuals must, by definition, be bred.
The breeding pool individuals are specified
in exactly the same way as the parents are specified when when prioritizing by inbreeding/influence - by selecting an index from
which they will be drawn and adding conditions to refine that list.
Common conditions to use are to select all the individuals that are
of breeding age and are known not to be dead.
Once the breeding pool is set, the actual sires and dams whose prospective matings are to be investigated should then be defined.
These are limited to being individuals within the breeding pool but typically will have additional conditions that identify the actual
individuals truly available to be bred.
E.g. if the software is being used to manage breeding within a closed population (say, in zoos
throughout the world) then it may be that the actual parents are to be only those available locally.
One way to limit the parents is to use tagging: tag the sires and dams to be considered and then use the option to limit the parents
to the tag matched individuals.
Another way is to use the 'active breeding stock' option within the cat records and then limit the
parents to those individuals that have that setting.
'Active breeding stock' is found on the More tab of the Cat Details window.
For
this option to be visible it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), move
to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click OK).
The "Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis" tutorial demonstrates an alternative method - using a custom index that is set
up to only contain the individuals genuinely available for breeding (see section "Mate Selection By Influence"). To access this - and

See:
10. Tagging Records
15. Cat Records
29.2. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Genetics Concepts And Terminology
29.4. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships
See Also:
'Mate Selection, Kinship And Genetic Diversity' Tutorial - 6 Mate Selection By Influence (p.19)
29.7. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Rank Computation
Once the parents and other parameters have been set and the analysis is performed Breeders Assistant examines every possible
sire/dam pairing.
First it checks whether the pairing is to be completely ignored.
This happens if the pairing does not meet any of the thresholds as
defined on the Extended Edition tab of the Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) window, as follows:
Max Inbreeding Threshold - If prospective offspring inbreeding - i.e. the inbreeding that any offspring from the
mating would have - is a ranking factor then if the inbreeding threshold is exceeded that sire/dam pairing will be ignored.
This is a way to exclude matings that would give rise to unacceptably inbred individuals.
Note that this threshold is only
considered if prospective offspring inbreeding is itself a ranking factor.
E.g. if ranking by gene diversity metrics to
maximize gene diversity delta with zero weighting to prospective offspring inbreeding, any inbreeding threshold is
ignored.
Min Pedigree Completeness Index Threshold - If, and only if, prospective offspring inbreeding is a ranking factor,
then if the pedigree completeness index (PCI) of the prospective offspring would be less than this threshold the pairing
will be ignored.
This is a way to exclude matings that may give rise to unacceptably inbred individuals (because of the
unreliability of the computed prospective offspring inbreeding, due to insufficient ancestry being available which is where
the PCI value comes in).
Ignore Cats With Zero Reproductive Value - If a prospective parent has no reproductive value it will be ignored.
Once the prospective parents have passed the threshold test their mate ranking is computed.
This is a value that ranges from 0 to
100, with 100 being the best.
To do this it first computes a 'raw rank value' for every possible mating, then scales the raw values so
they all range from 0 to 100.
The formula to compute the raw rank value depends on the prioritization method.
Ranking - By Inbreeding

raw (unscaled) rank value when prioritizing by inbreeding is:
The formula for computing the
RVrf = WF(1-F) + WFS(1-FS) + WSPCIPCIS + WFD(1-FD) + WDPCIPCID
Where:
F - is the offspring inbreeding
WF - is the weighting factor for offspring inbreeding (default: 1)
FS - is the sire inbreeding
WFS - is the weighting factor for sire inbreeding (default: 0)
PCIS - is the sire pedigree completeness index (PCI)
WSPCI - is the weighting factor for sire PCI (default: 0)
FD - is the dam inbreeding

WFD - is the weighting factor for dam inbreeding (default: 0)
PCID - is the dam pedigree completeness index (PCI)
WDPCI - is the weighting factor for dam PCI (default: 0)
E.g. to include parental PCI as an equal factor in the rank value as the offspring inbreeding the weighting factors for sire and dam
PCI could be set to say 1 each and the offspring inbreeding weighting to 2.
Ranking - By Influence
The formula for computing
the raw (unscaled) rank value when prioritizing by influence is:
RVri = WF(1-F) + WDDI + WU(1 - UI)
Where:
F - is the offspring inbreeding
DI - is the mean of the kinships between the prospective offspring with each cat that has desired influence
WD - is the weighting factor for desired influence (default: 1)
UI - is the mean of the kinships between the prospective offspring with each cat that has unwanted influence
WU - is the weighting factor for unwanted influence (default: 1)
Ranking - By Gene Diversity Metrics

raw ranking is arrived at using a weighted combination of the following factors:
When ranking by gene diversity metrics, the
1. Prospective Mating Inbreeding (symbol F) - the inbreeding that the offspring would have.
2. Prospective Mating Mean Kinship (symbol MK) - the mean kinship of a single offspring of the mating assuming just
one offspring is produced.
3. Gene Diversity Delta (symbol GDD) - as described above.
4. Mean Parental Mean Kinship (symbol AMK) - the mean of the mean kinships of the sire and dam.
A lower value is
better (because, lower values prioritize the matings of cats that share fewer of their genes with the rest of the
population).
5. Minimum Parental Mean Kinship (symbol MMK) - the minimum mean kinship of either the sire and dam. A lower value
is better, for the same reason as above.
6. Parental Mean Kinship Delta (symbol MKD) - the difference between the mean kinships of the sire and dam. It can be
detrimental to pair cats with widely differing mean kinships because this has the effect of combining rare gene lines
with over-represented lines. When used, a lower parental MK delta is better, and ranks higher.
7. Mean Parental Genome Uniqueness (symbol AGU) - the mean of the parental genome uniquenesses.
The higher a
cat's 'genome uniqueness', the greater the chance that if that cat is not bred from, then under-represented gene lines
will disappear forever from the current population.
Therefore a higher value is better.
8. Maximum Parental Genome Uniqueness (symbol MGU) - the maximum genome uniqueness of either the sire and
dam. A higher value is better, for the same reason as above.
The above ranking factors are then combined with weightings to give the overall raw rank value, which is then scaled using the
reproductive values of the sire and dam if necessary.
In formulae, these are the definitions of the ranking factors:
RFF = 1-F [1]

RFMK = 1-MK [2]
RFGDD = GD-GDbp [3]
RFAMK = 1-(MKs+MKd)/2 [4]
RFMKD = 1-abs(MKs-MKd) [5]
RFMMK = 1-min(MKs,MKd) [6]
RFAGU = (GUs+GUd)/2 [7]
RFMGU = max(GUs,GUd) [8]
Where:
F is the inbreeding coefficient of the prospective mating offspring
MK is the mean kinship of a single offspring of a prospective mating assuming just one offspring is produced
GD is the gene diversity of the breeding pool plus a single prospective mating offspring

GDbp is the gene diversity of the breeding pool (prior to the addition of prospective mating offspring)
MKs is the mean kinship of the sire
MKd is the mean kinship of the dam
GUs is the genome uniqueness of the sire
GUd is the genome uniqueness of the dam
These rank factors are then combined to give a weighted raw rank value:
RVrgdm = SVX(WFRFF + WMKRFMK + WGDDRFGDD + WAMKRFAMK + WMKDRFMKD + WMMKRFMMK + WAGURFAGU + WMGURFMGU)
Where:
SVX - is a scaling factor to adjust for the reproductive values of the sire and dam (see below)
WMK - is the weighting factor for MK (default: 0)
WGDD - is the weighting factor for gene diversity delta (default: 7)
WAMK - is the weighting factor for mean parental mean kinship (default: 0)
WMKD - is the weighting factor for parental mean kinship delta (default: 0)
WMMK - is the weighting factor for minimum parental mean kinship (default: 0)
WAGU - is the weighting factor for mean parental genome uniqueness (default: 0)
WMGU - is the weighting factor for maximum parental genome uniqueness (default: 0)
When reproductive values are not used, the scaling factor SVX in the above formula is 1. Ie., no scaling.
But if reproductive values are used, the scaling factor is defined as:
SVX = 1 + H(1-Vxs,1-Vxd)
Where:
H(x,y) is the harmonic mean of x and y
Vxs is the reproductive value of the sire
Vxd is the reproductive value of the dam
I.e., as the mean of the parental reproductive values goes down, the scaling factor increases.
The intent is that, all other factors
being equal, priority can be given to matings that involve individuals likely to disappear from the breeding pool sooner than others.
How To Change The Ranking Weightings

This can be done directly from any of the mate ranking windows.
Click the Preferences button, then click the Change Weightings
button to display the Prospective Mating Weightings window.
Alternatively use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E), select the Extended Edition tab, then click the Change Weightings
button to display the Prospective Mating Weightings window.
See:

See Also:
Help Reference - 11.8 Preferences And Configuration Reference: Extended Edition
29.8. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Mate Selection - Results
Prospective matings can be displayed in either list or matrix format - use either the Display Matings (List) or Display Matings
(Matrix) button within the Prospective Matings window.

Prospective Matings - List Format

When shown as a list the prospective matings are shown as rows with columns for the sire, dam, ranking and other data:
The list results can be manipulated as follows:

Sort Ordering - The ordering of prospective matings is set using the pulldown menu at the top of the window.
There are
always options to sort by sire, by dam, by rank, and others depending on the prioritization method and the factors
included in the rank computation.
Columns - Columns can be added/removed from the results using the Columns button.
Some columns are fixed and
may not be removed.
Columns Widths - Columns can be resized by dragging the vertical separators.
Side Panel - There is an optional side panel at the right, which can be made visible by dragging the thick vertical
resizing bar to the right of the right-most column.
The side panel shows details for the currently selected mating.
Export - The Export button can be used to save the results as currently displayed (and ordered) as a text/CSV file.
Symbols can be used instead of descriptions for the column headings by enabling the Use symbols preference setting.
To change
this use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) and move to the Extended Edition tab.
Prospective Matings - Matrix Format

When shown as a matrix the prospective matings are shown as a color coded grid with columns for the sires, rows for the dams, and
the rank values shown in the cells.
The default color coding shows better (higher) rank values with deeper shades of blue:

The matrix results can be manipulated as follows:

Cell Values - By default the cells will show the rank values (0-100) for each prospective mating.
Additional values can
be displayed by selecting from a pulldown menu at the top of the window (that initially says 'Display rank values').
Color Gradient - The gradient can be altered by changing either or both of the start/end colors.
The start/end values for
the gradient can also be changed though the default 'Auto' setting is normally used - this will scale according to the
minimim/maximum values seen.
Sire/Dam Ordering - The columns/rows can be reordered to show the sires/dams in different ways.
The default is to
show in alphabetical order of name.
If ordered in ways other than the name it can be useful to turn on the 'Right header'
or 'Bottom header' options (above the grid) in order to see the values by which the rows/columns have been sorted.
Resize Cells - The cells (and the left/top headers) can be resized by dragging the edges of the top-left cell (only) in the
results grid.
Side Panel - There is an options side panel at the right, which can be made visible by dragging the thick vertical resizing
bar to the right of the main results grid.
The side panel shows details for the currently selected mating.
Export - The Export button can be used to save the results grid as currently displayed (and ordered) as a text/CSV file.
Selecting Results

prospective matings - can be 'chosen' by double-clicking them (in the list format double-click a row or, in the
Individual results - i.e.
matrix format, double-click a cell).
When a prospective mating is chosen in this way it is displayed with an asterisk ('*') either in the rank column (list mode) or in the
cell (matrix mode).
When the results window is closed, if there are any such selected matings Breeders Assistant then prompts what to do with them.
Choices are to either add mating/trial mating records, and/or to export the chosen matings to a text/CSV file.
See:

Mating Records
17. Trial

See Also:
29.9. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Analysis - Overview
A number of tools are available to compute inbreeding coefficients and various measures of genetic diversity such as mean kinships
and genome uniqueness values.
These are all accessed using the Tools|Population Analysis menu:
Key Metrics - Computes inbreeding coefficients, pedigree completeness metrics such as PCI values, and genome
completeness coefficients for a given set of cats.
Founder Metrics - Computes the contribution, alleles retained, and founder genome uniqueness of all the founders of a
given set of cats with respect to that set.
Normally used to compute founder metrics of the current breeding pool of a
closed population.
Founder Contributions - Analyses the estimated contributions made by each founder to each cat, separately, in a given
set of cats with respect to that set.
Normally used to compute the individual founder contributions to each cat of each
founder of the current breeding pool of a closed population.
Founder Genome Uniquenesses - Analyses the founder genome uniqueness of every founder with respect to each cat
in a given set of cats.
Relationship/Kinship Matrix - Displays a relationship matrix of additive genetic relations (also known as the 'NRM' or
'A' matrix), or a matrix of of kinship coefficients, of a given set of cats, their ancestors and optionally descendants.
Gene Diversity Metrics - Computes mean kinships and genome completeness coefficients for a given set of cats.
This is
typically used to find gene diversity metrics of the current breeding pool of a closed population.
Effective Ancestors - Computes the most effective, i.e. influential, ancestors behind a given set of cats [using the
method of Boichard, D, Maignel L, and Verrier, E. "The value of using probabilities of gene origin to measure genetic
variability in a population", Genetics Selection Evolution, 1997; 29(1): 5-23].
These analyses can be tailored as follows.
Depth Of Ancestry

The number of generations of ancestors to be considered.

This can be set to a fixed number of generations, or it can be set to include all available ancestry of the chosen individuals.
Increasing the depth leads to more accurate results at the expense of additional computer resources.
But note that any of the above
analyses that involve computing kinship values will have memory requirements that are highly dependent on the total number of
individuals and ancestors that are included in the analysis.
If you have a large database see 29.4. Memory Requirements When
Computing Kinships.
Reference Date

The individuals chosen can be filtered in various ways, one of which is the age of the individual.
E.g. this can be used to limit the
individuals included to those of breeding age.

The age of any cat is determined by comparing its date of birth to the 'reference date'.
Typically the reference date is set to the
current date, but it could be set to a date in the past e.g. to produce a historical analysis.
Selecting The Cats

The cats included in the
analysis are chosen by first selecting an index from which they will be drawn - this can simply be an index
of all the cats in the database (such as the 'By name' index), or a selective index.
Secondly, there is a 'filter' option that allows the cats included to be further restricted, separately, according to:
Whether they are tag matched.
Whether they have 'active breeding stock' set.
This is a setting on the More tab of the Cat Details window.
For this
option to be visible it is necessary to have 'advanced cat records' enabled (select Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E),
move to the User Interface tab, check the 'Use advanced cat records' option and click OK).
Whether or not they are recorded as being dead - i.e. a date of death has been recorded.
Whether or not they are recorded as being neutered.
Whether or not they are younger or older than a given age.
Whether they meet other, custom conditions.
This is a way to add additional record matching conditions e.g. to select
records according to the values stored in user defined fields.
See:
10. Tagging Records


29.4. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Memory Requirements When Computing Kinships
See Also:
Genetic Diversity


Mean Kinship
29.10. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Analysis - Results
Results are displayed in either list or matrix format - depending on the particular analysis.
Results List Format

Results are shown in rows with columns for the name and the various metrics computed, e.g.:

The results can be manipulated as follows:

Sort Ordering - The ordering of results is set using the pulldown menu at the top of the window.
There are always
options to sort by sire, by dam, and others depending on the particular analysis.
Columns - Columns can be added/removed from the results using the Columns button.
Some columns are fixed and
may not be removed.
Columns Widths - Columns can be resized by dragging the vertical separators.
Side Panel - There is an optional side panel at the right, which can be made visible by dragging the thick vertical
resizing bar to the right of the right-most column.
The side panel always shows details for the currently selected row.
Export - The Export button can be used to save the results as currently displayed (and ordered) as a text/CSV file.
Symbols can be used instead of descriptions for the column headings by enabling the Use symbols preference setting.
To change
this use Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) and move to the Extended Edition tab.
Matrix Results Format

Contributions', 'Founder Genome Uniquenesses' and 'Relationship Matrix' analyses.
This is used by the 'Founder
These analyses all have a similar appearance, e.g.:

The results are shown as a color coded grid with rows and columns as follows:
Founder Contributions - Columns represent the founders, rows represent the breeding pool.
Additional rows give the
overall contribution of each founder to the whole set, and the overall proportion of alleles retained from each founder.
Founder Genome Uniquenesses - Columns represent the founders, rows represent the breeding pool.
Additional rows
give the founder genome uniqueness with respect to the whole set, and the overall proportion of alleles retained from
each founder.
Relationship Matrix - Both rows and columns represent the individuals and their descendants for which the matrix has
been computed, optionally including the ancestors used in the calculations.
Matrix results can be manipulated as follows:

Color Gradient - The gradient can be altered by changing either or both of the start/end colors.
The starting/ending
values of the gradient can also be changed though the default 'Auto' setting is normally used - this will scale according to
the minimim/maximum values seen.
Row/Column Ordering - Pulldown menus above the grid can be used to reorder the columns/rows.
The default is
usually to show in alphabetical order of name.
When ordering in other ways e.g. by date of birth it can be useful to turn

on the 'Right header' or 'Bottom header' options (above the grid) in order to see the values by which the rows/columns
have been sorted.
Resize Cells - The cells (and the left/top headers) can be resized by dragging the edges of the top-left cell (only) in the
results grid.
Side Panel - There is an options side panel at the right, which can be made visible by dragging the thick vertical resizing
bar to the right of the main results grid.
The side panel always shows details for the currently selected row and column.
Export - The Export button can be used to save the results grid as currently displayed (and ordered) as a text/CSV file.
See:
29.2.
Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Population Genetics Concepts And Terminology
See Also:
Genetic Diversity


Mean Kinship
29.11. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis: Configuration And Preferences
Most preferences for the mate selection and population analysis features are found on the Extended Edition tab of the Configure|
Preferences ( Ctrl+E) window.
For further details see section 11.8 "Preferences And Configuration Reference: Extended Edition"
of the Help Reference.
These preferences can be accessed from the main window by selecting Preferences from the Configure menu, then moving to the
Extended Edition tab.
Alternatively, within any of the population analysis and prospective mating tools there is a Preferences
button that will display the same preferences (though note that a small number of settings cannot be changed this way; to be able
to change all of the preferences it needs to be accessed through the main menu).
Precision Of Coefficients
The same precision (number
of decimal places) as set for the inbreeding coefficient is used for all coefficients within the mate
selection and population analysis features e.g. the for mean kinships and genome uniqueness values.
This precision is set on the Inbreeding tab of the Configure|Preferences ( Ctrl+E) window.
See:


See Also:
Help Reference - 11.8 Preferences And Configuration Reference: Extended Edition

30. Preferences And Configuration

Most of the settings in Breeders Assistant are accessed through the Configure menu.
For full details please refer to section 11 "Preferences And Configuration Reference" (p.152) of the Help Reference.
The Preferences Window

Many preference settings are
found in a single window - the Preferences window - which can be accessed by Configure|
Preferences ( Ctrl+E).
The Preferences window organizes the options as follows:
The Default Logo tab is used to set the image or text that normally appears in the upper left part of a pedigree layout,
such as a logo associated with your cattery.
The Date tab is used to customize date formats.
The Currency tab is used to set currency formats.
The User Interface tab is used to set a variety of other options relating to the appearance of windows, including the
size of text shown in the record list in the main window.
The Misc tab is used to select a variety of options that don't fit into any of the other tabs of the Preferences window.
The Inbreeding tab is used to set parameters relating to the computation and display of inbreeding coefficients within
pedigrees and the record list.
The Extended Edition tab is used to customize the mate selection and population genetics analysis that are included
with the Extended Edition of Breeders Assistant,
including mate selection algorithm weightings and thresholds.
For further information about these settings click the Help button from the Preferences window.
See:


9.6. Records, Fields And Indexes: Currency Fields


Mate Selection - Overview
See Also:
Help Reference - 11 Preferences And Configuration Reference (p.152)

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Breeders Assistant® for Cats

8. Cat Database Files 15

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. i

9. Records, Fields And Indexes 21

10. Tagging Records 39

12. Exporting Data 45

13. Forms and Pedigree Layouts 46

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. ii

14. Contact Records 61

15. Cat Records 65

16. Mating Records 79

17. Trial Mating Records 85

21. Printed Reports 101

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. iii

22. Printer Configuration 103

23. Accounting Records 109

24. Appointment/Task Records 112

29. Mate Selection, Kinship And Population Analysis 126

30. Preferences And Configuration 146

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. iv

About This Document

This is the User Guide

Use The Tutorials

British English Version

Windows Help File

Copyright ©2021 Tenset Technologies Limited. All rights reserved.

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 1

1. Sources Of Help Information

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 2

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 3

3. Editions Of Breeders Assistant

It can intelligently interpret genotype fields using gene letter coding.

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 4

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 5

Help Reference - A.35 Procedures By Subject: Extended Edition

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 6

4. Creating A New Database

If You Are Importing Data

If You Are Using A Tutorial That Needs Sample Data

Creating An Empty Database

Help Reference - A.26 Procedures By Subject: Databases

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 7

To print a pedigree or form, select Form|Print ( Ctrl+P).

To add completely new pedigree layouts, select Form|New Form.

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 8

6. Migrating From Earlier Versions

If You Previously Had Breeders Assistant Version 5

If You Previously Had Breeders Assistant Version 3 or 4

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 9

7.1. Cat Database Files

7.5. Forms And

7.6. Printer/Paper Configurations

7.7. Text Styles

7.8. Breed And Cat

7.10. Field Codes

7.1. Fundamental Concepts: Cat Database Files

7.2. Fundamental Concepts: Records

© Tenset Technologies Ltd. 10

Records are covered in more detail in 9. Records, Fields And Indexes.

9. Records, Fields And Indexes

7.3. Fundamental Concepts: Fields

Every record also includes a number of user defined fields.

9.3. Records, Fields And Indexes: Fields