Dirk Enzmann wrote:

Using the following .qes and .chk files with EpiData version 3.1, EpiData's behavior is strange:

If I use the [-] numeric key to enter missing values in the field "schtype", EpiData jumps to the field "male" (i.e. "class" receives no focus). If I use the [-] key in field "male", EpiData issues the error message "'-' is not a valid floating point value" although missing values are defined.

The problem seems to be the movement to the next field after using the [-] key, because if I drop field "coder" the problem of field "male" does not occur.

Is there a problem in the check file I did overlook or is this a problem of EpiData version 3.1? Are there any solutions/suggestions?

two problems in above

1. I've noticed that the [-] key sometimes gives this error - the field is not accepted (the missing values are not recognized as legal). This seems to be a random occurrence. Closing the file and starting data entry again has solved the problem for me.

2. The problem of EpiData skipping a field after using [-] to enter a missing value can be addressed for now by checking whether the skipped field is blank before proceeding (see below). This problem only arises when the default missing value has the maximum number of digits in a numeric field. In Dirk's case, missing value is 9997 or 9999 in a #### field. Another solution is to make these special missing value codes negative numbers (e.g. -1) or smaller numbers (e.g. 999), which will be smaller than the field size. Then there is no skipping. This problem does not occur with fields of length one.

Jamie Hockin Public Health Agency of Canada ---------------------------------

* -- .chk -------------------------------- LABELBLOCK LABEL country * [0.2 ] 430 Austria 320 Belgium 3870 "Bosnia and Herzegovina" 11 Canada 3850 Croatia 3570 Cyprus 4200 "Czech Republic" 450 Denmark 440 "England and Wales" 3720 Estonia 3580 Finland 330 France 490 Germany 360 Hungary 3540 Iceland 3530 Ireland 390 Italy 3710 Latvia 3700 Lithuania 310 Netherlands 442 "Northern Ireland" 470 Norway 480 Poland 70 Russia 441 Scotland 3810 Serbia 3860 Slovenia 460 Sweden 410 Switzerland 10 "United States" 580 Venezuela END LABEL schtype * [0.3 ] 1 "slot1 (lowest grade)" 2 slot2 3 slot3 4 slot4 5 slot5 6 slot6 7 slot7 9998 "other schooltype" 9999 "no answer" END LABEL class * [0.4 ] 9997 "ambiguous answer" 9999 "no answer" END LABEL male * [1.0 ] 1 male 2 female 7 "ambiguous answer" 9 "no answer" END END

* ========================================

BEFORE FILE HELP "ISRD2 pilot study nation" END

* ========================================

casenum * [0.1 ] KEY Autosearch casenum RANGE 1 9999 MUSTENTER TYPE STATUSBAR "CaseNum = " END

country * [0.2 ] * RANGE 1 9996 BEFORE ENTRY IF (ISBLANK(country)) THEN COMMENT LEGAL USE country SHOW ENDIF END COMMENT LEGAL USE country MUSTENTER REPEAT TYPE COMMENT END

schtype * [0.3 ] RANGE 1 9996 MISSINGVALUE -1 * COMMENT LEGAL USE schtype MUSTENTER * TYPE COMMENT END

class * [0.4 ] RANGE 1 9996 MISSINGVALUE 9997 9999 * COMMENT LEGAL USE class MUSTENTER AFTER ENTRY IF (class = 9997) THEN WRITENOTE "ambiguous answer" ENDIF END * TYPE COMMENT END

male * [1.0 ] RANGE 1 2 MISSINGVALUE 7 9 * COMMENT LEGAL USE male * before entry * if (isblank(class)) then * goto class * endif * end MUSTENTER * TYPE COMMENT AFTER ENTRY IF (male = 7) THEN WRITENOTE "ambiguous answer" ENDIF END END

coder * [66.0s] BEFORE ENTRY if (isblank(male)) then goto male endif TYPE "(alphanumeric)" GREEN END MUSTENTER WRITENOTE "@coder" END * -- end .chk --------------------------------