- EpiData-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

New test versions (manager, entryclient, template cmd tool)
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 26 Aug '11

26 Aug '11

Dear All As previously announced the programs released today have had a significant change to the underlying structure of the project file (the .epx/.epz XML structure). The reason for this is that the previous structure could not be described by a XML Schema file. A schema file is a standardised way of describing the structure and internal logic of an XML file. Some of the logical properties of the structure were inconsistent and therefore changed. This has as a positive "side effect" that the overall loading and saving time for a project file has improved quite a bit. The changes will - as warned two times on this list - break compatibility with previously created files. An updated version of the sample.epx file is provided with the downloads and additionally the EpiData Commandline Tool has been updated (and release for all platforms) to support the new XML structure. Please read previous mails on the list to see further explanation and how you can avoid problems in relation to the changed XML structure. The currently available test version of EpiData Analysis does NOT support the new XML structure. An updated version will be released in a few days. Common fixes/changes: * Updated XML structure * Import from STATA 12 now supported. * New saving algorithm, for improved speed. Manager: * Fixed a bug where removing a control marked for copy would cause breakdown if copy/paste was later invoked. * Fixed shortcuts for MAC. * Added boolean field to "other fields" * Fixed bug with "delete all" * Speed improvements for copy/paste and placing new controls (mainly visible with very many controls). EntryClient: * Fixed shortcut overlap in MAC * Speed improvements with loading project files. * Speed improvements when browsing records. EpiC: * Updated to support new XML structure. Regards Torsten Christiansen and Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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Warning: Changes in XML structur in the next test release of Manager and EntryClient
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 22 Aug '11

22 Aug '11

Dear all As I already informed on August 17th the next test release for Manager and EntryClient will require ALL current EPX and EPZ files to be recreated. The next test release will be available within the next few days. Obviously this can be annoying, but as previously announced we do need to have the flexibility of changes all the way to release of version 1. If you are preparing projects for future use I recommend that you either: a. - Export your data with current test version into stata format - import again with the new test version (when this is ready) - add jumps, calculations etc after the import. (Labels will be imported correctly) or b look at the template principles explained in http://www.epidata.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/documentation:templateformat and then use the template command tool to create the epx files. A revised template tool will be released at the same time as the next test release. In other words: Do not spend too much time on fine tuning epx files at this point. Datastructures are fine, but details must be expected to change, e.g. specifications of jumps, range, notes etc. The XML structure used in v1.0 will be supported for all future releases after that. regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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key unique code not working fully
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 17 Aug '11

17 Aug '11

I have a database with 2 unique keys: stickno and randid. The CHK file contains the following code for these fields: stickno KEY UNIQUE 1 RANGE 1 500 MUSTENTER END randid KEY UNIQUE 2 RANGE 100 1699 MUSTENTER AFTER ENTRY IF (randid>899) and (randid<1300) THEN HELP "randid must be 100-899 or 1300-1699" TYPE=WARNING ENDIF END END Despite the KEY UNIQUE commands, I found 2 records with stickno=290 and randid==227. I believe KEY UNIQUE was present in the CHK file prior to beginning data entry, but even if not, when attempting to open the REC file I should receive a warning alerting me to the duplicates. This doesn't happen when I keep the EIX file in the same directory as the database. After deleting the EIX file from the directory, when attempting to open the REC file I do get a warning alerting me to the duplicates. What information does the EIX file store? I've attached it in case you're able to determine where the error lies. I haven't attached the database because it contains data on real patients and I can't edit it without changing the EIX file. Any insights would be much appreciated. Cheers, Suzanna Vidmar Senior Research Officer Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia telephone: +61 3 9345 6372 facsimile: +61 3 9345 6000 email: suzanna.vidmar(a)mcri.edu.au www.mcri.edu.au <http://www.mcri.edu.au/> ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

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Revision of XML structure and changes in next test release of Manager and EntryClient
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 17 Aug '11

17 Aug '11

Dear all Since last test release of July 15th summer vacation is now over and the following has been fixed or worked on: a. copy-paste bugs b. other minor issues c. develop a scripting tool to validate function (simulate user performance) d. WIKI documentation updated - e.g. see: http://www.epidata.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/documentation:program_keys e. Critical external review of the XML structure The next test release will follow when these aspects are all covered. More comments below. Comments: Yesterday a critical review of the current XML structure for the data files was performed with the Danish Data Archive. It turns out that a few issues requires some changes to the XML structure (tag-attribute), to ensure consistence and possibility of developing a schema file for the XML. Schema files are content describing files, which will enable other software to read the epx files and validate contents against the formal specification. While this is rather technical - and of no interest - to most users, it means that with the next test release the XML structure will change (again). If you are preparing projects for future use I recommend that you either: a. - plan to export your data with current test version into stata format - import again with the new test version (when this is ready) or b look at the template principles explained in http://www.epidata.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/documentation:templateformat and then use the template command tool to create the epx files. A revised template tool will be released at the same time as the next test release. In other words: Do not spend too much time on fine tuning epx files at this point. Datastructures are fine, but details must be expected to change, e.g. specifications of jumps, range, notes etc. The XML structure used in v1.0 will be supported for all future releases after that. regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

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Excel data upload into EpiData
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Aug '11

12 Aug '11

Jens & Jamie, Thank you for suggestions time to time on Epidata programming that I am working on. We are replacing existing disease database (specific disease) that is in Access plateform with Epidata. The access database was not stable over the years, so lost a chunk of data few times. Hope Epidata is the solution. I completed most programming including several calculated fields, some are very complex assiging risk factors. The data is in MS Excel. It has ~ 2000 data with ~ 100 variables. All the data fields in both (Epiadta QES and Excel) systems are identical except IDNUM is extra in Epidata. I am looking the best way to migrate excel data into the blank epidata. May be I should convert excel to .REC file first, then import, or may be .TXT is better. I have tested with small dataset by cerating .REC file first then import. It did work. Any suggestion would be appriciated. Thanks Bijay On Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 11:01 AM, <epidata-list-request(a)lists.umanitoba.ca>wrote: > Send EpiData-list mailing list submissions to > epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > epidata-list-request(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > > You can reach the person managing the list at > epidata-list-owner(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of EpiData-list digest..." > > > EpiData-list mailing list > ___________________________________ > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Export EpiData to Excel - is there a solution/an > alternative? (epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca) > 2. relational files on epodata analysis > (epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca) > 3. Re: relational files on epodata analysis > (epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:03:19 +0200 > From: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] Export EpiData to Excel - is there a > solution/an alternative? > To: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Message-ID: > <23065_1313082200_ZZh0y4eF~ > 8kfp.00_4E440B57.4040905(a)uni-bielefeld.de> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hey everybody, > > thank your so much for your efforts and the enormous help! I need some > time to consider your proposals and the next steps now :-) > > My boss has done a lot of work with Excel and she is just worried 1. > that we have to adapt to a new system and 2. that we can't combine the > data from the Open Office sheets with already existing Excel sheets. > > Thanks again and greetings, > Nina > > > > Am 11.08.2011 17:45, schrieb epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca: > > I suppose the starting point really is to answer the question, "What do I > want to do with the data in Excel?" > > > > ? look at it in a spreadsheet view? - EpiData Analysis can do this > (Browse) > > ? do some simple calculations on some fields? - EpiData Analysis can do > this > > ? do some really complicated calculations on some fields? - just export > some key identifying fields and the fields you need into Excel and merge the > results back into your EpiData file > > ? do some special analysis that is only available in Excel? - same idea, > but I can't think of any that would use very many fields > > ? create a database that will support mail-merge ? - you won't need many > fields for this > > > > If your boss has a fixation on an old version of Excel, then you are > limited to exporting 256 fields (columns). Excel 2010 or newer can handle > over 16,000 columns > > > > Jamie > > > >> thank you very much! I tried to suggest that to my boss but she is not > convinced yet. Are there any other possibilities available? > > > > _______________________________________________ > > EpiData-list mailing list > > EpiData-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > > http://lists.umanitoba.ca/mailman/listinfo/epidata-list > > > -- > Nina-Claire Himpe > Wiss. Mit. von Prof. Dr. Ulrike Davy > Lehrstuhl für öffentliches Recht, deutsches und > internationales Sozialrecht, Rechtsvergleichung > Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft > Universität Bielefeld > Postfach 10 01 33 > 33 501 Bielefeld > > UHG T7-109 > Tel.: 0521 - 106 2508 > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:59:24 -0500 > From: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Subject: [EpiData-list] relational files on epodata analysis > To: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Message-ID: > <6c3a19b721250cea381f09c055a1d1f1.squirrel(a)webmail.uady.mx> > Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 > > I woul like to request a simple exaple to relate 2 files and create a new > one using epidata analysis. > Thank you in advance > > Jose Farfan > > > ----------------------------------------- > "Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán" > http://www.uady.mx/ > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:50:49 -0400 > From: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Subject: Re: [EpiData-list] relational files on epodata analysis > To: epidata-list(a)lists.umanitoba.ca > Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP24D73CD429C739981CD0C1FD220(a)phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > This is quite simple. Please read the help for the MERGE command in > Analysis. > Here is a simple example in a zip file. >

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relational files on epodata analysis
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Aug '11

12 Aug '11

I woul like to request a simple exaple to relate 2 files and create a new one using epidata analysis. Thank you in advance Jose Farfan ----------------------------------------- "Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán" http://www.uady.mx/

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Export EpiData to Excel - is there a solution/an alternative?
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 11 Aug '11

11 Aug '11

Dear member of the team, dear all, I am having the following problem and would be very grateful if there was a solution (or alternative) to it: The data I want to export to Excel consists of approximately 960 lines in Epidata formats (= 960 colums in .xls). As I understand EpiData (and as the test with the used data showed) it is impossible to export more than 256 lines to Excel (version 2003) because of the Excel 2003 column limit . Is there any way to export the 960 lines to Excel? Or is there another alternative I should consider? Thank you very much in advance! Greetings, Nina-Claire Himpe

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follow up: big data sets
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 05 Aug '11

05 Aug '11

I tried the new Entryclient with two large data sets. Set 1: 500 integer fields, 500 records, uncompressed size: 1.1 MB as .epx 45K as .epz - load the file: 150 seconds - jump from record 1 to last record: 1 or 2 seconds - * to get empty record: 5 seconds - save file: 3 second - load in Analysis (running under Wine, so a bit slower than on an equally powered PC): 5 seconds - freq v500: immediate - no difference with .epz file Set 2: 20 integer fields, 10,560 records, uncompressed size: 1.1 MB - load the file: immediate - jump to end or new record: immediate - load in Analysis: 7 seconds - freq v1: immediate I expect the typical "large" data set would be somewhere between these two. Most large data sets I have used are like Set 2 and have been extracts of national databases. I might use the Entryclient on these, but unlikely. I've seen others using data like Set 1, but never really understood why they used such large data sets as most data items were unused and interesting only in a clinical review of individual subjects. (technical note: time to execute a Javascript loadxml() <500 msec) Jamie

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File size and program freezing
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

Hello, I was hoping to get an idea for the size of files people are working with in the new EpiData Manager. I am currently trying to work out issues when I try to open a .epx file. The file is quite large at 60,000 Kb. I don't know if the problem is with Manager being able to handle a file of this size, or if the file contains some sort of corruption. The file is quite important, so any feedback or assistance would be most appreciated. Cheers, Jonathan Edwin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jonathan Edwin Outbreak Management Division Public Health Agency of Canada jonathan.edwin(a)phac-aspc.gc.ca

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Adding sections or fields inEpiData Manager(length/height of dataform)
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 02 Aug '11

02 Aug '11

My understanding of a section is for the logical grouping of a set of questions (such as personal details, which one may wish to password protect, for instance). Such a section may consist of many questions. If that is the case, then it seems reasonable to me that a section could thus take the whole page. Such a section could be just one of many (which may be any size, smaller or bigger), so that indeed one doesn't just have one section. Regards, Neville ----------------------------------------- ************************************************************************** The information contained in the EMail and any attachments is confidential and intended solely and for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). It may not be disclosed to any other person without the express authority of the HPA, or the intended recipient, or both. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose, copy, distribute or retain this message or any part of it. This footnote also confirms that this EMail has been swept for computer viruses, but please re-sweep any attachments before opening or saving. HTTP://www.HPA.org.uk **************************************************************************

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