Development

BugsCEP is now available for download from the new website at:
http://www.bugscep.com/

Online help can be found at http://www.bugscep.com/help/index.html

The download page, with installation instructions is online at
http://www.bugscep.com/downloads.html

The information below will be retained for a while, but eventually replaced on the new website.

Development of the next generation of the Bugs database system is nearing completion, and it will be released in October 2006. Full details will follow in Phil Buckland's PhD thesis, which will be available in printed and downloadable form from umeå University.

A pre-release overview of BugsCEP is now available here.

To summarise, BugsCEP includes:

• a fully relational database of Coleopteran ecology, distribution and fossil records (BugsCEP - core)
• improved handling of synonyms, RDB rarity, ecology codes (BugsEcoCodes & Koch for rapid ecological summaries and statistics), taxonomic notes
• built in MCR (Mutual climatic range) calculations, including advanced testing and prediction (BugsMCR)
• built in ecological code based statistics and graphing, and correlation coefficients (BugsStats)
• enhanced site management and species list creation, including abundance based fossil record and import wizards
• comprehensive search facility for species information, which can be used to generate reports
• a more user friendly interface (despite its increased complexity)
• better reports for sites and species
• lots more data!
• greater stability and easier installation

Some teaser images:

BugsCEP welcome screen	Main species information page
Site Manager	BugStats graphical output (in Excel)

BugsCEP is the working name for the next generation of Bugs. This is under development, and scheduled for completion in 2006. BugsCEP is being developed as part of Phil's Ph.D. and will be available for testing towards the end of this summer.

Please bear in mind that Bugs is not a commercial product, and as such development proceeds on a somewhat haphazard fashion. Much of the programming is done in the well established school of "trial and error", so bugs are liable to pop up occasionally... and the temptation for puns is significant.

Interface and database structure

Although BugsCEP features a completely redesigned interface (see above for more recent screenshots in miniature), the popular search-while-you-type system remains. Species data is accessed through leaf tabs on the main insterface screen - rather like a filing system. Users can choose the default tab which will appear when they start BugsCEP, and to some extent can tailor the interface to their requirements.

The database itself has been totally restructured, taking full benefit of the possibilities afforded by a relational database management system. Fossil record data can now be searched just as easily as habitat and distribution data, and complex queries on chronology and distribution can be asked - such as:

• which species have been found fossil in the UK between 1000BC and 1000AD?
• which species are known from the Little Ice Age in Scotland?
• which species that can be found on Norse farms in Greenland can also be found from Medieval York?
• etc...

MCR (Mutual Climatic Range) - temperature reconstructions

The MCR module is now completed, and available for beta testing and teaching from the BUGS & MCR pages. Temperature tolerance data will be included in BugsCEP, which will allow users to quickly calculate MCR values for their samples, and either export the results to MS Excel.

Ecological classification and environmental reconstruction

A classification system has been developed for quantitative environmental reconstrution from fossil (and hteoretically even modern...) beetle assemblages. This system can be used within BugsCEP (in the BugStats component) to produce various graphs of environmental changes/differences between samples.

Biodiversity

Unlimited Red Data Book (RDB), or indices of rarity can be recorded for each species, presently using international, UK and Swedish classification systems. More systems may be added by the user.

Compatibility

BugsCEP is able to import any Excel file where the full species name is in the first column, and C14 dates can be assigned to samples during the import process.

Pictures

We've had to leave out the inclusion of images in the new version, due to the time constraints of PhD funding, but they will be included in the next release.

GIS

A map based interface for site selection and examining distribution data is planned, but development is not yet started. This will include a GIS version of the Swedish Beetles Catalogus.

BugsWeb

An online version is in the pipeline, but will depend on the availablility of funding.

Original program developed by Jon Sadler as part of his Ph.D., with assistance from Mike Rains and Paul Buckland. It was constructed in dBase and compiled with Clipper, and ran in MS DOS.

Version 2 was developed in VBASIC as an MSWindows application, but dropped due to database integration problems.

FoxBugs developed in FoxPro, but dropped when Sheffield University withdrew support for FoxPro, and switched to MS Access.

First incarnation of the present series of Bugs programs developed in MS Access 2. This version is still available here. The majority of programming by YuanZhuo Don, with assistance and later refinements from Phil Buckland. Don wrote Bugs as part of his Computer Science M.Sc. (1995) at Sheffield University, UK, and stayed with the project until his departure to Singapore in 1996, where he found employment as a programmer for big companies. It would be great if he could get in touch and let us know how things are going!

This was migrated to Access 97, which superceded Access 95 so quickly that we hardly noticed! This version is still available on CD, but not really supported.

Bugs2000 is based on MS Access 2000 and VisualBasic, and has gone through several versions leading up to the current v.5. Most of the releases up to this have been bug fixes of various nature, the most common problems arising from variations in MS Windows installations and different versions of Windows. Programming is by Phil Buckland, around some of Don's original core. Additional maintenance and restructuring work was carried out by Genesys Solutions, as part of their M.Sc. computer science project at Sheffield University.

Paul Buckland continues to compile the data for Bugs. Phil Buckland is currently the sole programmer on the project, and responsible for the development of the new version.