Christine reported:

I am having a problem with the Export data command in Epidata. I had made a rec file for someone else and I wanted to show them how they could save the file to another directory after they had completed their data entry. I clicked on EXPORT Data/Back up but I got a message saying "invalid filename." No dialogue box came up at all just the message, so I had not selected a file to export. There was no problem I could see with this file. I had sucessfully created it and entered data into it.

I had no problem here exporting to the name you used with: EpiData Entry (version 3.1, build 060106)) on windows xp

The error you are mentioning could indicate to me, that you are working with Windows Vista, since I have seen a number of very strange errors on this. Due to the fact that Vista is by default to dis-allow (reject) many logical choices by the users. The other possibility is that you have insufficient rights to export to the folder, where you try do so, and only the error message is insufficient. On one particular pc I had a problem, that suddenly the Vista system decided to delete the CHK file of a system. Most likely because the work I did coincided with an internal routine cleaning up files (not under user control) and the setup of that pc was to delete all files called CHK, which by windows is used also as the extension for files found by defragmentation. If this happens repeatedly we might have to change the extension of the chk file to something else, e.g. ckh

- finally also it could be a bug in the EpiData Entry software.

Please try to export on a different pc and see if you can replicate. is it a problem with the file name or with exporting as such to recfile.

When reporting problems here it is good practice to tell which software version, build and operation system.

regards Jens Lauritsen EpiData Association