# Containers

**URL:** <https://speciforum.org/t/containers/1340>\
**Category:** Specify 6 Documentation\
**Tags:** Specify-6\
**Created:** [October 2, 2023, 1:50am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/containers/1340 "2023-10-02T01:50:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 1:50am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/containers/1340/1 "2023-10-02T01:50:34Z")

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> [!info] Using Specify 7?  
> Containers are not available in this version. Instead, use the [**Collection Object Groups**](https://speciforum.org/t/collection-object-groups/2226) functionality instead! It has modified and extended capabilities compared to Specify 6’s Containers.

# Containers in Specify 6

Containers allow Collection Objects to be logically grouped together in a Specify database. A container can be physical, like a common substrate or a box or other storage container. Containers can also be logical–e.g. a logical association of Collection Object records or perhaps other data record types.

 ![Container model](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/e/ea12d3582a3377f97119080dbd6ab0f49eb03627.png)

## Container Forms

### Container Plugin (Collection Object form)

![Container Plugin](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/4/4a961f914aa613716693a97a8f4db870b3a002db.png)

This is the Container plugin. You can choose whether or not the object belongs in a container or if it is the container itself.

### Container Form

 ![Container Form](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/d/d91cc73430bbfccd7f53230ae07ee432056f8d87.jpeg)

You can see what object currently acts as the “container” here, but this field is not required. Containers can be either an object or just a container.

 ![Container Preview](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/a/a4e5309cfee8321105d39b7b755f4b365ff4018f.png)

## A Collection Object record in Specify 6 can act as a Container.

Physical Containers can be substrates or containment objects within a collection. For example, a lichen specimen on the bark of a branch might be cataloged as a Collection Object, with the branch cataloged as a Container. Or a microscope slide upon which one or more diatoms (cataloged Collection Objects) are mounted can itself be assigned a catalog number and be linked to the algal Collection Object records. A Container might be a box of specimens (Collection Objects) that needs to be cataloged in the Specify as a single (composite) collection artifact.

The above examples are for physical Containers. A logical Container is one in which only logical associations among Collection Objects are made. For example, a tissue, skin and skeleton of an animal may exist in different storage units or in different rooms or buildings in a mammal collection. Each of these might have their own Collection Object record with their own curatorial, transaction or conservation history, which for collections management purposes need to be logically associated. A logical container, itself a Collection Object, can be named in Sp6, then contain links to the data records for the associated Collection Objects.

Some physical Containers might be considered a low level rank in a Specify Storage Location tree. For example, boxes could be conceptualized as the lowest level of storage location. Currently in Specify 6 however, Containers as Collection Objects do not appear as a rank in the Storage Location Tree hierarchy, but they can be associated with a nodes on that tree. For example in a “box of specimens” example, “Box” would not be a tree rank, but the box may be stored on a shelf in a particular room where “Room” and “Shelf” would be ranks (columns) in the Storage Location tree.

In Specify 6, containers can be nested. A container can contain another container.

Containers have a designated `Type`.  
`Type` is a pick list field that contains values like: Folder, Sheet, Specimen, etc.

If your collection has Containers cataloged as Collection Objects along with regular Collection Objects (specimens or lots) that are not Containers, using a query, one would need to parameterize it, to filter it out the Container records before exporting specimen data or printing labels or reports of specimens.

## **Some Sample Containers Use Cases:**

- **Entomology** : A piece of amber containing several insects.
- **Ichthyology** : A collection might have a large jar of pickled fish of multiple species (not a “lot”). The jar contains many specimens, each of which have their own Collection Object record. The Container record tracks the large jar with links to the contained specimens.
- **Vertebrate Paleontology** : Wooden crates containing cataloged specimens of several species from a single Collecting Event and/or Accession are stored together and linked in the database in a Container record.
- **Botany** : Several lichen species and specimens are identified from the same collected twig, and a Container record associates them to that single cataloged substrate.
- **Geology:** A rock could include multiple layer types, inclusions, crystals, etc. Embedded materials would be cataloged as a individual, discrete Collection Objects although associated together in the common substrate.