Frequently Asked Questions:

• I received the error, “Error in postgresqlNewConnection(drv, …) : RS-DBI driver: (could not connect public_bien@vegbiendev.nceas.ucsb.edu on dbname "public_vegbien")”, what went wrong?

This error is usually caused by the SQL connections that this package relies upon being blocked by either an institution or a computer’s software (often a firewall or antivirus program).  If the issue lies with your institution, the simplest solution is to run the code in a different location (e.g. at home or a coffee shop).  If the issue is with a user’s computer, this can be fixed by changing your software settings.  Note that sometimes only wireless SQL connections are blocked and using a wired connection will resolve the issue.

• Which columns are returned by which RBIEN functions, and are they by default or optional?

A full listing of columns returned by specific RBIEN functions are available in this CSV file.

• What causes the following error message, and how do I fix it? :

In file included from RS-PQescape.c:7:
./RS-PostgreSQL.h:23:14: fatal error: 'libpq-fe.h' file not found
#    include "libpq-fe.h"
             ^
1 error generated.
make: *** [RS-PQescape.o] Error 1
ERROR: compilation failed for package ‘RPostgreSQL’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.4/Resources/library/RPostgreSQL’
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘RPostgreSQL’ had non-zero exit status
ERROR: dependency ‘RPostgreSQL’ is not available for package ‘BIEN’
* removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.4/Resources/library/BIEN’
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package ‘BIEN’ had non-zero exit status

• When trying to download range maps, I receive the following error:

NOTE: rgdal::checkCRSArgs: no proj_defs.dat in PROJ.4 shared files
Error in CRS(p4s) : no system list, errno: 2

This warning is caused by a problem with certain versions of PROJ on certain platforms.  For a solution, see https://github.com/OSGeo/proj.4/issues/351

• Can I access a previous database version?

As of BIEN4.0, we are now keeping the previous database version accessible.  Earlier versions of the database are archived, but not active.  To access the previous database version (in the case of BIEN4.0, that will be BIEN3.4.5), you need to use an older version of the BIEN R package (in this case, version 1.2.1 of the R package), which can be installed using the "install_version" function in R.  You'll also need to specify the name of the previous database version, which is "public_3_4_5".   Here's an example:

install_version(package = "BIEN",version = "1.2.1")
library(BIEN)
BIEN_trait_list(species = "Acer rubrum", schema = "public_3_4_5")