Moving & Creating Containers

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Moving & Creating Containers

Moving Containers

Transferring of containers can be easily accomplished within the Locations manager.  

When moving containers:

  • Moving a parent container will move that container and all of its subcontainers to the new location.

  • Any specimens within a container that is moved will move with that container to the new location.

  • Container IDs must be unique within a container hierarchy.  If a container is moved to a location that will result in a duplicate ID, BSI can try to rename the container's ID.  Check the Automatically rename containers if necessary checkbox on the confirmation dialog to have BSI rename the containers.

  • A history is kept of all container and specimen movement within BSI.

Drag and Drop

Subcontainers and their contents can be moved to other places in the locations hierarchy via drag and drop. For instance, a box full of glass tubes can be moved from Freezer A to Freezer B in this manner.

To drag and drop a container:Drag Drop dialog

  1. Expand the Location Tree to display the container to be moved and the target location.
  2. Select the container to be moved and hold down the mouse button.
  3. Drag the mouse pointer to the target location and release the mouse button.  A confirmation dialog will be displayed, prompting the user to add an optional comment.
  4. Select Yes to drop the containers into the target location.  Select No to cancel the operation.
  5. A message will be sent when the operation is successfully completed.  Users may continue working in BSI while the move is being processed.

Cut and Paste

Subcontainers and their contents can be moved to other places in the locations hierarchy via cut and paste. For instance, a box with a single specimen can be moved from Freezer A to Freezer B in this manner.

To cut and paste a container to a new location:Cut Container

  1. In the Location Tree, right-click on the container to be moved.  A menu will be displayed with available options.
  2. Select Cut from the right mouse button menu.
  3. In the location tree, right-click on the location into which the container is to be pasted.  A menu will be displayed with available options.
  4. Select Paste from the right mouse button menu.  A confirmation dialog will be displayed, prompting the user to add an optional comment.
  5. Select Yes to paste the containers into the selected location.  Select No to cancel the operation. The Automatically rename containers if necessary checkbox is available. There is a comment text field.
  6. A message will be sent when the operation is successfully completed.  Users may continue working in BSI while the move is being processed.Container Warning

Example: Dr. Davis is moving several boxes between the racks in his freezer. He moves Box A, including the specimens inside, from Rack 2 to Rack 1 by cutting the box and pasting it in the new rack. He adds two new boxes to Rack 2 by copying Box A and pasting into Rack 2.

Create Containers

Copy and Paste

Containers can be added quickly and easily to Locations if a similar configuration of containers already exists.  The Copy and Paste operation will copy an existing configuration of containers, including parameters, and paste that configuration into a selected location.  Configurations for rooms and buildings cannot be copied.

The Copy and Paste operation will not move or create any specimen data that may be contained within the copied containers.

To Copy and Paste containers:

  1. In the Location Tree, right mouse button on the highest level container to copy.  A menu will be displayed with available options.
  2. Select Copy from the right mouse button menu.Copy and Paste Containers
  3. In the Location Tree, right click the location to paste the containers.  A menu will be displayed with available options.
  4. Select one of the following options:Paste sub-menu
      • Paste > One will paste one copy of the container.
      • Paste > Multiple will open a quantity dialog and allow you to paste from 1 to 99 copies of the container.  Designate the Starting ID and Increment by fields. The new container ID will start with the Starting ID and increment by the specified amount. Neither field is required, but if the Starting ID is entered then the Increment by field will become required. Only number and letter characters can be used to increment.Quantity to be Pasted
  5. After selecting an option, a confirmation dialog will be displayed.
  6. Select Yes to paste a copy or copies of the container(s) into the selected location.  Select No to cancel the operation.

Pasted locations will contain the same parameters of the copied locations.  The labels for the new locations will not be the same as the copied locations.  The new labels will be descriptive of the container location.

Save a Container Configuration

If a certain configuration of containers is frequently used, it can be saved and used in the future when creating new locations in Locations.

Example: Let’s say that Dr. Morreau recently received a large grant and purchased several new freezers, of the same model as one of his existing freezers. In BSI, he saves a configuration of his existing freezer, which each have 5 racks of 10 boxes each. When creating the new freezers, Dr. Morreau applies the configuration to them. For each new freezer created, the underlying sub-containers are created by the system with the same properties as the original sub-containers.

Some things to consider when saving or using a saved configuration:

  • All subcontainers of the selected container will be saved in the configuration.
  • Users can save a configuration for a box level container, a rack or a freezer.  
  • Configurations cannot be saved for buildings and rooms.
  • A container's Label and Notes will not be saved for any container. ID will be saved.
  • Freezer parameters Physical Type, Use and Status will be saved.  All other freezer parameters will not be saved.

To create a saved configuration:

  1. In the Location Tree, right-click on the container to be used for the saved configuration.  A menu will be displayed with available options.
  2. Select Save Configuration from the right mouse button menu.  The Save Configuration dialog will open.Save Configuration
  3. Enter a Label and a Description for the saved configuration.Save Config dialog
  4. Select OK.  The configuration of the container selected and all of its subcontainers will be saved and available for use when creating a new container.