HTML Sightings Report

New with version 5.2 and enhanced in 5.3, this new report was created with the goal in mind of being able to create and share a richly formatted and functional report with friends, online, on social media, via text messages, etc.

You can create a report in seconds and upload it to the Birder’s Diary web server where it can be available to anyone that you want to share the link with.

This is a modern report that includes the best technology available today for sharing

  • List of Sightings
  • Photos of Sightings (attached to your sightings in Birder’s Diary)
  • An interactive Google Map detailing the exact location of each sighting on a variety of map formats (use of Birder’s Diary Mobile for Android [FREE] required to capture location/time info for each sighting)
  • Trip details (if you have one or more trips attached to your selected sightings, that info along with any attached trip photos will be output also)
  • New in v5.3.16, it can also plot your Path/Track if you export that data from the Mobile App along with your Sightings data (option on Finish Outing window).

You control the columns output, the sort order and the visibility and position of each of the 4 sections above.

Here is an example of the report header section.

Examples of the Google Maps section.

Example of Photos section.

Example of Sightings List section.

Creating an HTML Report

You start with one of your most familiar pieces of Birder’s Diary, the View Sightings Setup window, where you specify the details for the sightings you want included in your report.

Once you have specified your selection criteria, taxonomic lists, sorting parameters and press Continue you will be presented with the View & Edit Sightings window.

Once on this window, select the sightings you want output in your report. See here for instructions on how to select rows in a grid/table.

Or, you can simply use the Select All toolbar button on this window.

All visible columns will be included in the report. So now might be the time to show/hide columns that you want/don’t-want in your report.

Now that all the Sightings to be output are selected, click on the toolbar button to Generate the report.

A special report panel will display giving you options for customizing your report.

Set the report title, arrange and set the visibility of the 4 report sections (Map, Photos, Sightings, Trips), set your Image Size and click OK.

The report is generated and saved to a file in your Birder’s Diary directory called BDSightingsReport.html. This one file contains all your data, photos, and code to generate and run Google Maps showing your sightings.

After the report is generation is complete, you will be prompted to upload the generated file to the Birder’s Diary server so that you can share the link with social media and friends. If you don’t want to upload it to the server, you can still eMail or otherwise share this file with anyone via any means you like.

Choose Yes to upload, or No and you will be prompted to open it locally on your computer.

If you choose Yes, a new window will show you the upload progress as well as the Link to be used to share this report. This link is auto-copied to your Windows Paste Buffer for you to use.

You can now click on the Open… button to view the uploaded file in your default browser.