To a better organization you may need to link several records to each other. For example, you can link different reagents to a home-made culture media. Or, you can link sequence records to a sample. You can also link a sample to a client, or a reference manual to an equipment record. In some situations a link will automatically be made between records.

The combinations of links are endless and unlimited.

Table of Contents:

1. Generic link
2. Custom Link
3. Automatic Link
4. Reagents & Supplies Link

1. Generic Link

In every module you can select the record that you want from the list. Alternatively, you can also use the keyword search if needed and click on Search button. All records are listed, select the one you need and click on Add links (at the bottom or at the end of the list) to create a link.

A pop-up, like the example bellow, will appear.

1. You can select which module you want to link the record from.
2. You can search the record you want to link.
3. You can select the record from the list by clicking in the ID checkbox.
4. Finally, you can click on “Add Link” to link the selected records.

Afterwards the link will be automatically saved. The links inside a record are useful to jump to related records, by simply clink in the link(s) it will open the related record and you will be able to see the details. Then click the black cross on the top right to exit record linking.

To see how the records are linked to one another, you can click on the Tree view option next to add-link option. Tree view will help you see all the connection to the records. This will open a popup which can be used to navigate between records and display the relations between records. Single clicking items will open the tree of the selected record. Double clicking will open the selected record.

This is how the Tree View will look like.

2. Custom Link

You have to first create appropriate custom fields through Admin → Data → Custom Fields. Custom fields can be set as Autocomplete or Link.

• Link

By using the option link you can associate different records from the different modules in the custom field. When clicking in the field Link it opens a pop-up with a search engine to select the record to be linked. This list of records in the pop-up can be previously restricted with the following rules:

1. You can chose the module from which you want to pick the records to link. If you don’t want to restrict the search for a specific module you can select Any, leaving all modules open to search.
2. If you select this option you will limit the link for just one record; if this option is not select you can link an unlimited number of records.
3. If you select this option you restrict the list of records to be linked. The condition to select the records can be based in a specific field of your choice.
4. In this option you can define a condition for a selected field. This means that you can decide if the field is equal, not equal, lower than, greater than or contains a specific requirement.
5. In this box you can write in text or numbers the specification of the field condition, restricting the record searching.

Example: if you want to list all the strains with a genotype XY you will need to chose the module Strains & Cells, and for the condition you select the field Genotype equal to XY.

• Autocomplete

Using the option link you can associate one record from a specific module in the custom field. You have the following options:

1. You can chose the module from which you want to pick the record to link.
2. The default type means that the field will present existing records when you start to type as an helper to chose the correct one.
3. Under the default type you can restrict the values to match existing records in the chosen module.
4. Under the default type you can automatically select the value based on the record name.
5. The manual create means that when the field is empty it will create a new record after the use manually confirm the choice.
6. The automatic create means that when the field is empty it will creates a new record automatically without need confirmation.
7. The final option automatic match & fill can be selected simultaneously with the options 2 to 6. Herein the automatic fill fields based on the same with values retrieved from source module.

3. Automatic Link

When you add some records with the same derivative name, LabCollector creates an automatic link. From Strains & Cells, Samples, Animals, Chemical Structures and custom module records, you can directly create derived samples by clicking on . A form will open to create a record in the samples module derived from the record you selected. For example in below image we derive a blood sample.

Once this records are derived the link will appear together with the other generic link at the bottom of each record.

When you add some records with the same derivative name, LabCollector creates an automatic link. To see this link, click on .

For modules Strains & Cells, Animals, Equipment, Antibodies and Primers, you can link your records to Reagents & Supplies Module to directly have information about prices, sellers, etc. Use the tab  to associate your record to an existent reagent or supply or create one choosing a category. This link called “Display Reagent & Ordering info” is unidirectional (you can’t see that a reagent is associate to an animal for example).

To know more about this function please refer to our KB: Reagents & Supplies Link what is the purpose?

Related topics:

• Check How to link a custom module to LSM?
• See Linking records from LabCollector in ELN content
• See Lot-Sample Linking in LSM for Quality Control
• Read more on How to configure your Homepage external links?