- EpiData-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

First public test of new Entry Client (xml file structure) - please test and comment
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 11 Sep '10

11 Sep '10

Announcement: An important development step has been reached: The first public test release of the new EpiData Data Entry Client. Since the first release of EpiData software in 1999 focus has been on data quality, stability and simplicity seen from the end users point of view. This strategy has been extended with more functionality and release of Analysis some years ago. Following the large user base resulting in download counts in several thousands as documented on the download pages - and unknown dissemination of copies to other users - an important decision was made a few years back to rewrite the whole software for the next decade. This has resulted in change to a new development environment (freepascal and Lazarus - see lazarus.org), which allows for crossplatform development based on the same source code, but also a new file structure. The EpiData XML file format "EPX" combines and replaces the current qes, chk and rec files into on physical file. It will also allow for more extensive access control at section level and compliance with so-called GCP (Good Clinical Practice) principles. The specification of the EPX format takes place in discussions with The Danish Data Archives (http://samfund.dda.dk/default-en.asp) in relation to securing compatibility with the DDI formats (see http://www.ddialliance.org/) The file structure will be fully documented. Currently you can see the principles in http://www.epidata.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/documentation:datafileformat:xml_v0 The re-written software will consist of three parts - and possibly batch processors for repetitive tasks. a. EpiData Data Manager b. EpiData DataEntry Client c. EpiData Analysis Therefore it is a crucial step in the development that users having either Linux, Macintosh or Windows operating systems can now test the new software released in as well 32 and 64bit versions for as well Manager and Data Entry Client (a+b). Users are urged to test as well data definition, change in definitions and entry for files. Also please comment the development on this list. In particular test and discuss these aspects: a. can we define all structures we would like ? - notice that in definition of data paste of text and qes like structures is possible b. is the naming of structures and aspects correct ? c. is the "feel of the software" easy to adapt to from earlier versions ? d. Also test local language formulations of data forms and entered data. In particular point c is important. We have to renew the system and principles. but would not like to loose a large number of users. Notice that the current release is NOT containing the controls in check files, but this will come later. We have a detailed development plan, which has been discussed in previous mails on this list. In the sample data base we have included 12 different local language fonts, which we can see on our monitors here, including Danish, Asian and right-left such as Arabic. The text included should say "Sample text", which we translated with an automatic translator on the web. On linux the right-left or left-right is shown correctly, but in windows all local fonts are aligned to the left border of the text field. The current test release is not for production, but only for test. But we proceed to add further functionality and more introduction documents until most of what was contained previously is available. Programming is done by Torsten Christiansen here in Denmark and specification via current functionality in EpiData Entry and Analysis, plus the discussions on this list and with the "Friends of EpiData Group", see the credit page on epidata.dk. The test version is released as a combined package of Manager plus Entry Client, but also includes the "sample.epx" file and is found on: http://www.epidata.dk/testing.php As soon as stability has been secured via your tests we will change the status from test to release with limited functionality. The time for this is not defined, but some aspects are crucial before turning to first actual release, e.g. secured timed back-up or reading of EPX files into analysis. One major change for entry is that now all data resides in memory until saved, therefore the user is asked to save project when closing. This will result in longer load times at the initiation of entry, but allows for quicker search and moves between records. Regards to all Jens Lauritsen Initiator and coordinator of EpiData Software Denmark

1 3

When do we have open source of EpiData?
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 09 Sep '10

09 Sep '10

Hello: I want to know when we have released for the public the source code of EpiData? I see on the web page of EpiData that this initiative is part of the interesting strategy. By the way I'm using EpiData because of that, along with other reasons like the low resources of hardware demanding to execute it. Regards, -- Omar Bautista González - Coordinador de Investigación para el Desarrollo, Diseño, Monitoreo y Evaluación Visión Mundial República Dominicana - Colaborador en investigación social del movimiento del software libre en República Dominicana

1 2

Command that Can affect Two diffrent Records
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 08 Sep '10

08 Sep '10

Hello, I have a questionnaire that i got from interviewing household members. However i was making sure that from each household i interview a male and a female respondent. You realize that some of the questions here for a household have got have the same answers eg Number of persons in the household, number of mosquito nets in the household etc. So, am inquiring to know whether there is any command i can include in my chk file to identify error between two records. I badly need your help, otherwise its so tiresome to check over 1500 records pair by pair. Thank you and regards Edson B Statistician River Blindness Elimination Program, Uganda

1 2

sf36 scoring file for EpiData - as pgm file ?
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 27 Aug '10

27 Aug '10

Does anyone have a scoring algorithm for SF36 - in the free version - not the licensed one, where one has to pay to Qualimetrics for usage. ? regards Jens Lauritsen Epidata Association Denmark

1 0

Double entry and validation
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 17 Aug '10

17 Aug '10

We have troubles with 'Double entry and validation'. We have chosen Tools - Prepare Double Entry Verification, chosen a key field to match records and 'Ignore text fields'. The first time it functioned OK - Epidata stopped, when the control entry differed from the original one, and you could chose between the original entry or the new one. But when a collegue started the following day, Epidata did not react, when the control entry differed from the original one. What are we doing wrong? Yours Søren Skadhede Computer Programmer Enheden for Psykiatrisk Forskning Aalborg Psykiatriske Sygehus +45 721 37229 / +45 2244 3951 e-mail: sosk(a)rn.dk<mailto:sosk@rn.dk>

1 0

Re EpiData notes file
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 16 Aug '10

16 Aug '10

Thanks to everyone who responded to my plea for help. 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/>

1 0

EpiData Notes file
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 16 Aug '10

16 Aug '10

Can anyone help with this? We set up an EpiData database with a notes file <filename>.not. The notes file appears to have corrupted and has taken the qualitative data from over 40 surveys with it. I was wondering if there was any way I could recover this or if I'll need to re-enter all the data manually into a word document. To help work out what/where/if something went wrong with EpiData the breakdown of events is as follows: * First ~45 surveys are entered without issue. * From ~survey 45 when the notes file opened up it would not allow me to type unless I pressed enter a few times and then backspace (pressing enter once and backspace once would create space for two characters to be typed). It was cumbersome but the data was still going in alright. * On closing the notes file whilst entering survey 60 the computer froze for a moment and EpiData was 'not responding' for about 20-30 seconds and then went back to normal functioning. * The next time the notes file was opened the cursor appeared about halfway through the qualitative data for survey 19 and all data after there had been wiped. I opened the notes file in notepad to confirm this was the case. Do you know of some recovery technique for this kind of problem? Thanks, 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/>

1 3

How to define Jumps at a variable using another variable
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Aug '10

12 Aug '10

Hi all, Please help me on how I can define this jumps. Variable a04 is exact age of respondent while variable a06 is another question. Variable a06 is only applicable to respondents whose age range is 0-18 otherwise a jump is required to variable a08. This is what I have done below but I keep getting error message. Kindly help on how I can achieve the jumps. Thank you. Bola Adedoyin (Mrs) DC Pro-Data Consult Lagos, Nigeria a06 BEFORE ENTRY define tempv # IF a04 RANGE 0 18 THEN tempv=1 ELSE tempv=2 ENDIF tempv JUMPS 2 a08 END END END END

1 9

Help - Merging parent and child file into a single file
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 10 Aug '10

10 Aug '10

Hi all, Please how can I make parent and child datafile merge into one single file when converting the data to SPSS. Thank you. Bola Nigeria

1 1

Design decision for Data Entry Client
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 10 Aug '10

10 Aug '10

Development of the stand alone Data Entry Client is progressing and we need to take some decisions. In short the revised setup will be such that a project manager person will use the EpiData Data Manager to define data files, to document file contents etc. whereas the actual data entry will be done with a dedicated Entry Client, which can only do entry. On the list it was suggested earlier that it is important that the entry persons can get a quick overview, e.g. by data lists, spreadsheet view of the data or a codebook. We will look at this later. I invite you all to discuss and comment on the following aspects: a. Show field names on entry form. Could be either: A1 Be part of the data file definition (sort of built into the datafile) A2: Defined via an ini file for the client I tend to think that this is part of the project managers decision, and therefore it should be A1, but I am not sure. Currently this is NOT part of the data file definition, but part of the ini file for the Manager . . b. When the Entry Client opens a data file, which record should be shown ? b1. The first one b2. The last one b3. An empty "new" record - ready for entry (as in current EpiData Entry) Would depend on the project. I suggest we decide on b2. This shows how far entry is and the user can then issue a specific action to continue adding (e.g. ctrl+N). We can always discuss later if some of this could be controlled by commands or specifications, but a default must be defined now. Regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association

1 3