April 2009 - EpiData-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

Re: EpiData-list Digest, Vol 66, Issue 5
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 30 Apr '09

30 Apr '09

Jamie, Thank you for the chk code... it works perfectly. Very nice indeed. Best regards, Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

1 3

Retreiving a string
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 14 Apr '09

14 Apr '09

Epidata friends, I just spend almost the whole day trying to fix some typing errors. Nothing more than usual before starting some analysis. However It came to my attention that having just one key field maybe a lot misleading. Lets say that there a key id field called number in qes. v1 number ######### if the one who is typing types the worng number lets say 231022009 instead of 221022009 later this error may cause a lot of confusion and lead to other errors. The point is that this particular sort of error is hard to find and locate because this is the one field by which we should locate the record (the link to the CRF). Looking for the record by other fields is very fustrating unless the record has some very unusual data, such as age 99. How many records I would have with age 99?? Most likeli very few. One field that very often hleps is the patient intials, although it has very few letters, very unlikeli there is more than 3 or 4 in every thousand records with the same initials. Therefore I ask to you guys if there is a way in the chk file to retrieve from the name the initials of the full name. v1 number ######### v2 name: <A > v3 initials: <A > The objetictive is: v2 name: JENS LAURISTEN v3 initials: JL v2 name: PEDRO EMMANUEL AMERICANO DO BRASIL v3 initials PEADB Telling the typer to type this is an option, but Is it possible stick this magic in the chk file? I looked in the string functions from Epidata documentation but didnt find anything that could make a way around! Best regards? Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

1 1

Re: Double entry verification numeric fields
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 13 Apr '09

13 Apr '09

Epidata Friends, Yves gave a good work around on the id fields with leading zeros. I was suffering from the very same problem and did not stop to think on a work around. I did try this here with a data of mine and I have a another sugestion. It came to my attention that if the fieldnum has a autoserach command and the typer goes to edit a record already in the dataset then the fieldnum is deleted by the second chk command below. Perhaps a HELP command is more nice. FIELDNUM BEFORE ENTRY fieldnum=integer(fieldchar) goto nextvariable END autosearch list fieldnum END NEXTVARIABLE BEFORE ENTRY IF (fieldnum <> integer(fieldchar)) THEN HELP "PERHAPS THERE ARE SOME NON INTEGER CHARACTERS. CONSIDER REVISING!" ENDIF END This will call the attention of the typer and will not delete the data in the field if the record is to be edited. Best regards. Abraço forte e que a força esteja com você, Pedro Emmanuel

1 0

double entry verification : problem when entering numerical fields
by epidata-list＠lists.umanitoba.ca 12 Apr '09

12 Apr '09

Dear Epidata Team, First we have to thank you very much for the quality of your software. We intend to use EpiData for a double entry verification. Unfortunately, we have found a problem when entering numerical fields. If the keyboarder types 001 in a 3 digit numerical field, Epidata stores 1 (whitch is quite normal). But during the verification step, if they enter 001 again ... there is a message to remind them that there is a difference. Of course, the difference is between the stored value 1 et the first typed digit 0. This is a problem for us. In the framework of Clinical Trials, the operators have to enter exactly what is written on the CRF. A solution could be to define the field as a text one. But of course this allows to enter letters instead of digits, and that is not enough secure. We also tried to associate a numerical range (000-999) to the text 3 characters field (in a .CHK file). With this kind of control, typing a11 is denied, but typing 1a1 is allowed... Do you have an other solution or idea to solve this problem? In your forum, you answered to somebody that this problem will be solved in the next version of EpiData. Have you already an idea of the availability date of this version? Thank you very much in advance, Valérie Conte -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Valérie CONTE Directrice technique adjointe du CREDIM Chef de projet développement CREDIM Centre de Recherche Et Développement en Informatique Médicale ISPED Institut de Santé Publique, d'Epidémiologie et de Développement Casier 11 Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 146 rue Leo Saignat 33076 Bordeaux Cedex Tel : 05.57.57.47.60 Fax : 05.57.57.45.41 --------------------------------------------------------------- Mel : mailto:Valerie.Conte@isped.u-bordeaux2.fr Web : http://www.isped.u-bordeaux2.fr ---------------------------------------------------------------

1 4