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