Tutorials
Tutorial 1: Entering Characters and States
1. Open the Builder program. The default panel on the left of the screen is called Characters, indicated by the highlighted text at the top of the panel. The number of entered characters is currently shown as 0. You can move from Characters to Taxa by simply selecting any part of each of the two panels.
2. With the Characters panel selected, move the cursor to the data entry panel at the bottom of the screen. The word Characters in greyed-out text is currently displayed to the left of the data entry area. Once the data entry panel is selected, the greyed-out text becomes active and a flashing cursor appears in the data entry area. Enter the first character from the list above and press the return key, the text will appear at the top of the characters panel.
3. Enter all the characters. If you find you have made a spelling mistake after a character has been entered, you can correct it later (See step 4). (You can enter the States of each character immediately after you enter the character itself. Note that a small button has appeared between the data entry panel and the word Characters. Selection of this button allows you to alternate between entering Characters or States. In this tutorial, all characters will be entered first.)
4. There will now be 11 characters entered. You can alter characters by shifting a character from its original position, deleting a character or correcting its spelling. To move a character, place the cursor on the character name and press and hold the left mouse button down; now drag the character to the required position and release the mouse button. A small panel will appear requesting confirmation of the move. Moves which alter the top or bottom characters of a list may require you to take two steps in shifting the characters. (Place the character you are moving just under or above the top or bottom character. Now move the top or bottom character to the position you require.)
To delete or edit a character, place the cursor on the required character and click the right mouse button. A small, drop down menu will appear giving options such as deleting or renaming a character. The program will always confirm that deletion is definitely required before it deletes a character. If you accidentally delete a character, just re-enter it and then use the cursor to drag and drop it to the list position you require. If you select Rename Character, a white edit box will appear around the text selected which allows you to alter the character text. Renaming a character can also be done by selecting the Properties icon from the tool bar or by pressing F2.
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5. Enter the states. Start by selecting the first Character, and then select the data entry panel at the bottom of the screen. Now select the small 
icon beside the data entry area and it will change to a 
. The name of the data entry area now becomes States. (Note: Ctl+T will toggle between Characters and States) Enter the three states of tree, shrub and prostrate for the first character in the same way that the characters were entered.
6. Once the states of the first character are entered, select the next character and then select the data entry panel to continue adding the states of the remaining characters. When you come to a character that has a numerical score as its state, just enter the following text: for the character Height use the state metres and for the character Leaf length use the state centimetres. The software automatically recognises a character with only a single state as one which requires a numeric score. The special scoring mode for these characters is shown in Tutorial 2 step 4.
7. Enter the taxa. Select the Taxa panel on the right side of the screen and then proceed to enter the taxa in precisely the same way as the characters and states were entered. (The data entry panel will now be preceded by the word Taxa). Errors or changes in taxon order are also changed or corrected using the properties dialog box accessed by clicking the right mouse button. You can use either the species name only or the whole scientific name as you choose.
Saving the Key File
8. There are three ways to save a file:
- Select the floppy disk icon from the tool bar (an icon name tab appears if you place the cursor on it);
- Select File then Save from the menu bar, or
- Use the combination of Ctrl-S on the keyboard.
All will open the standard Windows entry panel and request a name for the key. Enter the name Banksia species and then select the Save button and the key file data will be saved. You can now clear the Builder by selecting File then New or just File and Exit if you are finished completely with the Builder.
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