Brian Pearce

KDSmart: How to Score a Trial

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12

KDSmart allows you to score Traits (usually phenotypic information but you can score anything you wish) for a Trial. The scoring panels that are presented allow you to make measurements very quickly - usually a single touch.

Quick Reminders

Continue scoring the previous Trial
The Trial's name is displayed on the KDSmart main screen. Just touch the button or the Trial name to continue where you were previously scoring.

KDSmart remembers the Plot you were at when you exited the Scoring activity (see the next section) and will present that Plot to you.

Quick Stop for a Break
1. If in auto-advance mode: exit using the "home" button in the top left corner: 2. In the main scoring screen, exit using the "home" button in the top left corner: 3. Confirm the exit by touching the "tick" mark in the popup:
Swap between light and dark background

Use the and buttons on the main screen to change to the visibility setting.

This visibility setting will be used if you use one of the first three buttons on the main screen to manage the Trials, Traits or Tags.

What is stored?

A Trial consists of Plots and you can score measurements for multiple Traits for each Plot. Furthermore, KDSmart allows you to score each Trait multiple times within a Plot. For example you may with to score Leaf_Length three times: after 3 weeks, after 5 weeks and after 7 weeks. You can either:

A Measurement is stored for each Trait Instance in each Plot and includes:

Collection Parameters

Scoring a Trial has various options that must be selected before you begin:
Collection Order
You choose:
  • Which corner of the field to begin: the four quadrants separated by the grey bars identify the corner of the field where you will begin walking.
  • The direction of travel (horizontal or vertical)
  • Whether you will be using a Serpentine path or not; e.g. if you are not actually walking but are scoring in a plants in a tray in a greenhouse
The number of Plots per Group
You can choose more than one Plot at a time; e.g. working to the Left and then Right of the path you are walking through the field.
Whether previously Scored Traits should be locked
This helps to prevent accidentally overwriting Traits that have already been scored. You can still change the measurements but more screen touches will be required. Otherwise KDSmart's high speed scoring technology might allow you to change values you really didn't want to.
Improved Visibility
The default dark background used when managing data in KDSmart does not work well outside in bright sunlight. This option presents the scoring panels with a white background this reducing the reflected glare.
Which Traits to Score
Touch the "TRAIT INSTANCE" tab at the top of the screen or Swipe left to see a list of the Traits that have been assigned to the Trial. You may then choose which of these (and in which order) you wish to score them in the current Collection or Scoring activity.

Trait/Instance Selection

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12
Active and Inactive Traits

KDSmart may contain many Trait definitions and only some of these are assigned to the Trial that you are scoring. Of those that are assigned to the Trial, you do not have to provide measurements for all of them.
The filled in stars identify Traits that will be Active for scoring in the current Collection.
Hollow stars mark those that will Inactive for scoring in the current Collection.

Touch the stars to change them.

Scoring Order

You may also change the order in which Traits are presented for scoring. This could be useful if you are scoring 3 traits that are at different positions on a Plant; e.g. Leaf Colour , Root Lodging and Plant Height. It may make the scoring task easier if the Traits are presented in the order:

  • Plant Height
  • Leaf Colour
  • Root Lodging
as the scoring may be performed by working from the top of the plant to the bottom.

The order in which the Traits will be presented is the same as that on display here. To change the order touch the buttons on the right edge of each row. The ones next to the Trait Name will allow you to move the Trait up or down one position.
The menu presented by the allows you to drag the Traits into the desired Scoring Order.

Screen Orientation

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12
KDSmart lets you use the device in either Portrait or Landscape orientation (assuming that you have turned off the "Orientation Lock" on your device). The orientation that you are holding it in when you touch the Start Scoring or buttons determines how the scoring screens will present.

Above is a Trial being scored on a Phone-sized device in Landscape mode with a "right-handed setup".

Below is the same Trial on the device but now in Portrait mode.

Left-handed setup: the scoring and navigation controls are moved to the left side of the screen.
Right-handed setup: the scoring and navigation controls are moved to the right side of the screen.

How to Start

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12

From Trial Details

When viewing the details for a Trial, the menu bar at the top of the screen will present a "play" button: . Touching this button will present the Configuration screen where you will

From the Main Screen

If you have been scoring a Trial, its name will appear along the bottom of the main screen with a button to the left.

Touch the Trial Name or the button to resume scoring from where you left off. If you wish to change any of the Collection Parameters, use a long press instead to show a popup where you can choose the Start Scoring button which will present the Configure panel

If you are having difficulty reading the screen because of glare, use the button to switch to a white background. The icon changes to to let you change back.

Demo vs Production

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12

It is important to remember that KDSmart contains two separate databases. You should do your real work in the Production database. KDSmart helps you identify which database is active in a number of ways:

The button demonstrates the Lockdown mode of operation. Use this when you let someone else perform scoring but that is ALL you wish them to be able to do.

To exit Lockdown mode they have to provide a four-digit passcode. When the Production database is active, you enter Lockdown mode from the Settings page: .

Demo

This is pre-populated with dummy data when you install KDSmart so that you can experiment with the application and test the functionality before you begin to work with your own data.
You can reset the Demo database at any time using the Settings screen; use the button on the main screen to display the Settings and choose the Reset Demo Database checkbox.

When you return from the Settings screen KDSmart will switch clear the Demo database and re-populate it with dummy data.

Production

This is the database where you place your real work. KDSmart starts with no records in this database.

To being using the Production database, touch button on the main screen to display the Settings screen and choose the Active Database preference then choose the Production option.

When you return from the Settings screen KDSmart will make your selection active.

Scoring and Plot Navigation

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12

Scoring

When scoring a Trial, KDSmart begins in the corner of the field and proceeds in the direction you have chosen for the Collection Order.
As you are positioned at each Plot (or group of Plots) the screen will look something like this:

Touch:

  1. the empty space next to a Trait name to popup a dialog to enter the Measurement value for that Trait.
  2. the Trait name to see the description of the Trait.
  3. the button to add or modify the Tags that you wish to apply to the Plot.
  4. the and the to take a picture attachment for this Plot. button to add or modify the Tags that you wish to apply to the Plot.
  5. the to change the state of a Plot from Active to Inactive. If a Plot is marked as Inactive you can still modify the Tags but all of the Traits will be hidden.


Navigation

In the following example there are two Plots in each group being scored. To navigate to another Plot use the following:
Touch:
  1. the button with the Plot identifier to popup a dialog which lets you choose another Plot using its identifier (e.g. Row/Range).
  2. one of the footprint buttons to advance to the next Plot or retreat to the previous Plot.
    If you are using more than one Plot in a group then the advance/retreat will be to the next or previous group.
The layout of the scoring screen changes depending on whether you are:
  • using a Tablet- or Phone-sized device
  • whether it is being used in Portrait or Landscape mode
  • whether you are in right-handed or left-handed input mode

Auto-Advance Scoring

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12

Auto-advance allows you to concentrate on only those Traits for which you have not yet provided a Measurement value.
When you provide a value for a Trait, KDSmart moves the focus to the next un-scored Trait, skipping over those Traits (and sometimes entire Plots) which have already been scored.

Begin Auto-Advance

  1. Touch the button in the menu bar to turn on Auto-Advance Scoring.
  2. Begin scoring by touching the blank area next to an un-scored Trait. KDSmart will bring up a new screen with the data entry "form" for the Trait on one side and the Plot Information on the other side.
  3. The Plot identification buttons and the advance/retreat buttons are no longer available but there are skip-backward and skip-forward buttons along the bottom that may be used if you don't want to enter a Measurement for the Trait being displayed.

    If you end up skipping completely over a Plot then KDSmart will let you know this by:

    • vibrating the device
    • posting a system notification
    • displaying a popup message for you to confirm that you have reached the correct Plot to continue scoring

As in the normal scoring screen, the layout of the Auto-Advance scoring screen changes depending on whether you are:

Using the Field View

FIRST DRAFT: 2016-Feb-12
TO BE COMPLETED