- EpiData-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

providing learning materials for EpiData
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 13 Oct '07

13 Oct '07

As noted by Pedro Emmanuel regarding material in Portuguese the policy from my side is to provide links next to the translations for materials in the different languages on the main epidata.dk download page. It is difficult to maintain the links if they change often. To assure that all links are up to date at all times the most efficient way is to have a link to a webpage and not to a particular file. The latter changes every so often, whereas the overall - e.g. institutional site - changes rarely. All users are encouraged to locate any link errors on the epidata.dk pages and inform me directly via the mail info at epidata.dk. I tend not to disclose my personal email, since spamming soon then gets a major problem. The main mail will inform of large spam problems, but if you add "EpiData educational material" to the subject that mail should come through. On the wikipedia site I have added an entry for epidata. After some finetuning of the wikipedia by some of the administrators from wikipedia, there is now a short and rather clear text. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidata It could be an idea if users translate that same page for some of the "other than english" versions of wikipedia. I am not sure of the way to do so, but look in the Wikipedia site for instructions. You will notice that the wikipedia text refers to EpiData Wiki at www.epidata.org/wiki. The EpiData wiki is among other aspects on the agenda for a meeting taking place this weekend in Canada, where closer involvement of Canadian epidemiologists in the development of EpiData will be discussed. More news on this exciting event will follow next week. I expect to give within 1-2 weeks the final announcement of release of EpiData Analysis v2.0. With a few more aspects to settle the test version is almost ready. Information will be given here and to all registered users when this takes place. Regards Jens Lauritsen Coordinator , EpiData Association

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Chris Sellers/FHS/ADPH is out of the office.
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Oct '07

12 Oct '07

I will be out of the office starting 10/12/2007 and will not return until 10/23/2007. I will check emails periodically while I am away. If an issue needs immediate attention, please, contact Fred Grady at FredGrady(a)adph.state.al.us or 1-800-338-8374. Otherwise, I will respond to your email when I return.

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Records marked as deleted
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Oct '07

12 Oct '07

I am trying to use EpiData to validate duplicate files that have been entered into SPSS. I have tried saving them as dBASE III and dBASE IV files (which save only the first 128 or 256 variables respectively) and have up to 417 cases. When I open the .dbf files via SPSS, an additional column labeled D_R is included in the file. In this variable, an asterisk indicates that the record has been marked for deletion and, based on what I understand about transferring to EpiData, anything with such marking will be considered deleted but not purged. When I check the file in SPSS, no files are marked as deleted. However, when I import the file into EpiData, some of the records are - seemingly randomly - marked as deleted. I am wondering if anyone knows why this happens or what I can do to stop it. Thanks. - Amy

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Leraning Material in portuguese
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 11 Oct '07

11 Oct '07

Hello all epidata friends, Early in this yaer I have make it avaible in the web a lerning material in portuguese wich was placed a weblink in the epidata webpage nearby the download of the portuguese version. Since I do not control the webpage and the link was a FTP in a web serverver I cant even tell if many or few have accessed the file. During this year, the teaching coordinator of our institute, facing regulatory rules asked us to put all the lerning/teching materials in a diferent place. So, the same material (which I intend to update only next year) are now at both old (first) and new (last one) weblink. Sometime in the future, probably the old one will not work anymore. The only diference between them is that the webmaster of new adress put a open code to download the file. This procedure seems to avoid automatic download of all files available at the same time and overflow the server. http://www.ipec.fiocruz.br/materialdidatico/Aplicativos_pesquisa/2007/EpiDa… http://157.86.40.74/pos/modules.php?name=Downloads&op=getit&lid=24 I hope those speak portuguese may not have any difficulties to acces if necessary. -- Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

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Backup error solved
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 05 Oct '07

05 Oct '07

Problem solved when a did not use my new USB 2.0 flashdisk. Nikolai Stenfors

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Backup error
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 04 Oct '07

04 Oct '07

I moved my Epidatafiles from a computer running on WinXP to a laptop with Win Vista. Now I cannot do backup. Error message "invalid filename". Epidata incompability with Vista? Nikolai Stenfors

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Epidata Analysis b122 available for testing
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 02 Oct '07

02 Oct '07

These weeks several problems and clarifications have been made on the "road" to release finally EpiData Analysis as v2.0 Some aspects are still insufficiently final, but the level of changes are going into "corner" details from my point of view. As of build 122 some aspects have been fixed: e.g. - EpiDemiological tables (odds ratios, rr and attributable risk) will use highest value of case and exposure variables as default. - A new table dialog has been a success in my personal teaching. Quite clearly beginners adapt much faster when having proper (intuitive) dialogs. - Sorting of frequency tables by numbers - More graph types can now be used with a "group variable", e.g.: box age /by=sex - Many more subtle details have been fixed. Many of these are invisible to the end-user, but clarification makes the whole programme more stable. This will also allow shorter development time for future new commands and additions. Some issues are still creating problems, such as: - internal errors after kruskal-wallis tests. - parts of relate system not working for some files - creating more intuitive dialogs for remaining parts of the system - removing reported bugs (see mantis system). Some users might find it odd that new problems arise, but this is due to the rewriting of core parts. And consequential changes in other parts of the software take some time to find, if they are not pinpointed by the error tracking system. This system is a collection of pgm files doing all verifying results and function in all parts of the programme. Usually when a new error is reported it is due to not being tested for in the error tracking system. The system is now based on 41 pgm files with around 1150 different conditions being tested and verified. Version 2 will not be released before all of the consequences of the rewriting of core parts has taken place. But as could be stated on the www.epidata.dk/testing.php page : "Many of the functions are running and functioning very well, so after each user has verified the function of what he/she uses there is no problem in using the test versions." E.g. the table module has no known errors just now. Kind regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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A bug of epidata
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 11 Sep '07

11 Sep '07

To any concern, I think that I have found a bug of epidata when I want to export the data from epidata to sas. The content of .qes file: This is a example! The {first} text field: __________ The {second} text field: ________________________________________________________________________________ The {third} text field: ____________ The content of .sas file which is generated by epidata. * EpiData created two files by exporting * D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.rec * * 1. D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.sas * is the SAS command file * 2. D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt * is an ASCII text file containing the raw data. * * You may modify the command file before submitting them. ; DATA bug(LABEL="a bug of epidata"); INFILE "D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt"; INPUT FIRST $ 1-10 / SECOND $ 1-80 THIRD $ 1-12; LABEL first="The first text field:" second="The second text field:" third="The third text field:"; run; The conten of .txt file which is also generated by epidata: a b c d e f When I run the .sas file in sas, the log window showed that: NOTE: The infile "D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt" is: File Name=D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt, RECFM=V,LRECL=256 NOTE: LOST CARD. FIRST=f SECOND= THIRD= _ERROR_=1 _N_=4 NOTE: 9 records were read from the infile "D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt". The minimum record length was 10. The maximum record length was 80. NOTE: SAS went to a new line when INPUT statement reached past the end of a line. NOTE: The data set WORK.BUG has 3 observations and 3 variables. NOTE: DATA statement used (Total process time): real time 0.18 seconds cpu time 0.07 seconds I can get the dataset 'bug' in work library. But it is not what I want. Now I can resolve the problem. I need modify the .sas file. The file which is modifed is listed below: * EpiData created two files by exporting * D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.rec * * 1. D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.sas * is the SAS command file * 2. D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt * is an ASCII text file containing the raw data. * * You may modify the command file before submitting them. ; DATA bug(LABEL="a bug of epidata"); INFILE "D:\statistics\temp\epidata bug\bug.txt"; INPUT FIRST $ 1-10 / SECOND $ 1-80 / THIRD $ 1-12; LABEL first="The first text field:" second="The second text field:" third="The third text field:"; run; The 'second' field caused the trouble. The 'second' field's width is 80. I hope someone can fix it. All the files is attached. You can have a try.

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Re- LIST Command
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

Dear Jens, Thanks for the quick response. I will share my bit on the wiki. Regarding the BROWSE and LIST command message, I was not able to get the output of list command. My programmer found out the solution. We could solve the LIST command problem by SET ECHO=ON. When SET ECHO=OFF, the LIST command is also turned off. If it was supposed to be like that, please include this in the documentation. With regards, Dr. Shavinder Singh

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Issues on EpiData Analysis - list etc.
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 03 Sep '07

03 Sep '07

Shavinder Sing suggested that ..... If each of us writes the documentation of ONE command with example, our command reference can be really exhaustive and useful like EPI6 manual. .... is very appropriate. The idea of a user based documentation centre is exactly the idea of the wiki principles, where everyone can add whatever is possible for them. I expect that a common base wiki will be ready within 6-12 months. Just now the following can be of immense importance: a. Anyone having good examples for distribution consider adding these to the experimental wiki now placed at www.epidata.org/wiki b. Consider writing documents in the form of "how to ...." and make a collection available from a local site, which can then be linked from the main site. c. Make sure that everyone registers for news from EpIData Association, since the number of persons registering there is the only "proof" of usage we have when arguing with authorities that the effort is truly a non-profit international effort. Every so often some discussions come up here in which until now it has been very important to be able to show the large number of registered users. Regarding the "LIST and BROWSE commands are not exactly replaceable." - this is true. I do not understand however why the function of list is not sufficient. There is a deficiency in list not being able to show "value labels", but apart from that I do not see any deficiencies - except that the output window is slow with large amounts of output. Possibly I do not understand the "...kindly preserve the functionality of LIST command as it was in EPI6. " For inspiration of a collaborative effort I suggest everyone to look at the website course developed as part of a number of courses run under the "wings" of IUATLD Union (see www.iuatld.org) by Hans L. Rieder, presented at "http://www.tbrieder.org/epidata/course.htm". The contents have been developed by the "EpiData Promotors" (http://www.tbrieder.org/epidata/epidata_promoters.htm) with some substantive solutions from me. The courses have also influenced the contents of commands and other parts of the Epidata Software. regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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