I cannot get past info@epidata.com filter no matter what subject I use so I am posting this to the group
DEAR Jens and Michael ,
I have delayed composing this letter for quite some time because I so much appreciate the efforts and accomplishments of the Epidata(ED) team over the years. I was one of the early users and continue to use ED extensively in our very many projects here at the hospital. My problem is that what I see in the QES file is not translated, as it appears, to the data entry screens in the REC file. In other words, the form is not WYSIWIG; in fact, what you see is NOT what you get. What you sometimes get in data entry screens are fields that are scattered all over and the allignment between the lines is comletely lost. This does not happen in EpiInfo(EI). This problem is not apparent in the sample files because they only have one item on a line. To see the misalignment, the QES file must have multiple lines and fields that use the brackets, such as date and boolean fields. I examined the header portion of the REC file generated by both EI and ED and they are essentially identical. The brackets and their conversion are the problem!
Consider the following very simple QES file:
A<mm/dd/yyyy>B<Y>C___ D___________ E___ F___ Note: the font may be changed by you email client. To see the point being made, letter D should be right under letter A, E should be right under B and F under C using a fixed-width font, such as 'courier new' with no spaces between the fields.
I have six fields(A-F) and have intentionally placed B right after A and C right after B. If this file is converted to a REC file in EI, everything is aligned exactly as it appears above. If it is converted in ED, it is not. What EI does is remove the left bracket in field A and shift the REST OF THE LINE one space to the left. It then removes the right bracket from A and again shifts the REST OF THE LINE one space to the left. It then does exactly the same thing for field B. Everything would now be out of alignment with the next line, except that EI then adds two spaces IMMEDIATELY to the right of EACH field from which the brackets have been removed. In fact, if you look at the data entry screen in EI, you will notice that after shifting to the left as described above, two spaces now appear right after field A and two space appear right after field B, and this maintains the alignment with the lines below. ED does exactly the same shifting as EI, but fails to add two spaces to the right of each of these bracketed fields. Changing the font in ED data entry screens to fixed-width does not help.
I develop QES files with hundreds of fields of all types, and bracketed fields hopelessly mess up the alignment in both the screen version and in printed forms. While I can now(since I figured it out) make these adjustments in the QES file to maintain alignment, I cannot recommmend ED to any of my less experienced colleagues because the entry screens and printed reports will look disorganized, resulting in a less aesthetic experience and more data entry errors. I must therefore either personally design every form (which I do not have time for), or have them use something horrible like Excel. EpiData is a splendid product and is indeed legacy EpiInfo because it maintains the elegant features of the latter, while adding many new and really useful ones. The loss of alignment between lines, however, sort of ruins things for me although it probably does not affect most users. If my analysis is correct, I hope the program can be modified relatively easily. If I am wrong, maybe you can’t do anything. Either way, thanks again for all you have done for the rest of us EpiInfo lovers.
Sincerely Steve Blum, PhD Associate Professor Albert Einstein College of Medicine Dept of Epidemiology and Population Health