Lanna Lee Maheux

April 14, 2014 by Lanna Lee 1 Comment

Memorize This! How to use Memorized reports in WinCross

Do you use Memorized reports? If you haven’t used them in a couple of years, TAG has updated the interface to make it easier and better to use.

For instance, now there is an edit screen under the Run menu. Much easier! Before I would edit the reports by opening the report file in Notepad, make my changes and save it.

I confess, I’ve been using them regularly only for the past couple of months. We need Excel files with three different significance testing versions, so we have to run three sets of Excel files. The memorized reports option makes this simple, especially if we are still in field when we start analyzing the data/preparing the report.

Previously, I used memorized reports only for one or two long-standing projects, now I’m using Memorized reports for every project.

Here are some of my thoughts on Memorized reports. Please feel free to comment if you have any feedback or tips!

Set Up Tables

The set-up is pretty WYSIWYG. (Click on pictures to make them larger).

1. Go to SetUp | Memorized Reports | Tables

2. Enter Memorized report filename and Table report filename | Click Table Specifications

3. Set Up Table run as usual

4. Set up Excel File (Can only do one type per table filename)

5. Save Excel File – Click OK | Save Table Run – Click OK

6. Save Memorized Report – Click OK – IMPORTANT: Must click append after first run of tables is set up

Editing Syntax

memorized report syntax with Excel file

For this, I know only enough to make it easy for me to update on the fly.

I’ve highlighted some of the most important items you will need update:

• Start: The [TABLES] starts off each set of tables

• Banners/Tables: The last line for each set of tables is always a star followed by a series of numbers: *1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

The first number is the number of the banner’s order in the job syntax, so the first banner is 1, the second is 2 (this means if you insert banners after you set up the memorized reports you might need to change the number)
The subsequent numbers are the table numbers, in order from the top in the job syntax – this would match the sequence number in the run tables dialog box.
One Banner per line. A second banner would appear below the first, example:

*4,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17
*5,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17

• CASES TO RUN:600 tells WinCross how many cases to run for this banner. – Make sure that the cases to run matches the number of records in the SPSS file (important when a job is still in field)

• Files:

Excel file name is after SPREADSHEET:
OUTPUT: holds the report file path and name.

• No blank lines BETWEEN the tables/[TABLES] syntax
• Always have one blank row at the end, after the last set of tables to run, or you will get an error when the last set of tables runs

Syntax:

JOB:U:\Academic Lanna\Independent Study\happysurvey.job
TYPE:SPSS, VIEW-3, READ
DATA:U:\Academic Lanna\Independent Study\surveydata for wincross.sav
[TABLES]
CASES TO RUN:310
RECORDS PER CASE:1
IGNORE WEIGHTING:NO
SHOW TOC:NO
TABLE OVERRIDE:1
PAGE OVERRIDE:0
APPLY GLOSSARY:YES
INTERWEAVE:NO
VIEW: ASCII
WRITE TABLES:SEPARATE
FORMAT:PERCENT
TEXT:CELL
SIGNIFICANCE:RIGHT
SUPPRESS SIG BLANKS:NO
BLANK LINES:YES
EXCEL SHOW TOC:NO
DIRECTORY:U:\Academic Lanna\Independent Study
SPREADSHEET:Banner1
EXCEL VERSION:XLSX
WRITE EXCEL FREQUENCY:NO
WRITE EXCEL VERTICAL PERCENT:YES
WRITE EXCEL HORIZONTAL PERCENT:YES
WRITE EXCEL SIGNIFICANCE:YES
SUPPRESS BLANK AFTER BANNER IN EXCEL:NO
WRITE EXCEL CONSTANT PERCENT:YES
EXCEL CONCATENATE COLUMNS:YES
EXCEL FREEZE BANNER:NO
EXCEL FREEZE ROW TEXT:NO
EXCEL COMBINE TABLES:NO
EXCEL WRITE TABLE TITLES TO THE LEFT:NO
EXCEL USE ENHANCED FONTS AND COLORS:NO
EXCEL OVERALL BACK COLOR:#FFFFFF
EXCEL BANNER BACK COLOR:#DBF0F7
EXCEL ROW TEXT BACK COLOR:#FFFFE3
EXCEL ODD ROW BACK COLOR:#E7FFFF
EXCEL EVEN ROW BACK COLOR:#FFFFFD
EXCEL GROUP COLOR1:#E3FBE9
EXCEL GROUP COLOR2:#FFE6D0
EXCEL GROUP COLOR3:#FFECF5
EXCEL GROUP COLOR4:#FFDCDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR5:#DCFFDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR6:#DCDCFF
EXCEL GROUP COLOR7:#CDDCDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR8:#DCCDDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR9:#DCDCCD
EXCEL GROUP COLOR10:#DCCDCD
EXCEL GROUP COLOR11:#CDDCCD
EXCEL GROUP COLOR12:#CDCDDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR13:#BBDCDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR14:#DCBBDC
EXCEL GROUP COLOR15:#DCDCBB
EXCEL USE ROUNDED NUMBERS:NO
OUTPUT:U:\Academic Lanna\Independent Study\Banner1.rpt
*2,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31

Example of syntax for one set of tables:

Final Thoughts

I am excited about the changes to Memorized Reports dialogs in the past couple of years, and I would love to learn more about them.

I am using Memorized reports because I need to run more than one set of Excel files for the same banner. I would love to be able print more than one sig test version/set of Excel tables with one banner. When I print 3 Excel versions, it creates 3 text reports that are exactly the same. If I had a choice to turn off the saved Text report my folder wouldn’t get bogged down with reports I don’t need.

I have found a Pitfall – I don’t know if it’s because of editing, but it seems like each memorized reports file has a limit as to how many banners versions you can run within the file. I’ve had the banner syntax cut off on me. Now I don’t keep more than six or nine banner runs in each memorized report file.

I’ll ask again, do you use Memorized reports in WinCross? If so, do you have any pointers for us? Thanks!

Filed Under: WinCross Tagged With: crosstabs, crosstabulations, memorized reports, TAG, time-savers, Wincross

April 9, 2014 by Lanna Lee Leave a Comment

A Note about Examples

It bears mentioning that, because the data I work with on a daily basis is proprietary and whatnot, any examples I provide here on WinCross Tab Tips will be either from my own academic independent study project(s) OR from publicly available datasets.

Yesterday’s datasource was the happiness study I conducted a few years ago.

That is all.

Filed Under: WinCross

April 8, 2014 by Lanna Lee 1 Comment

WinCross Time-Saving: Create Project

For the first year or so using WinCross, I did not take advantage of the Create Projects option in the file menu. I’m not sure why. But now creating a project is one of the first things I do when I set up a job.

“Create Project” pairs the current job and it’s corresponding datafile so you can easily access them again. Then the next time you want to open that job, all you have to do is click the green file folder to Open your project.

Here is how you can take advantage of Create Project:

Open Job file
Open Data file (that corresponds with Job file)
Click File then Create Project…
Type Unique Project name in the Create Project dialog box
Click Save

Now you are ready to go!

Now you won’t have to navigate to the job file and data file every single time you want to work on that study. You can just click on the project from one central area, and let WinCross get it for you.

Here are some of the things I do to make this work easier:

I keep the same name for the job’s dataset, for example the dataset for jobname.job is called jobnamedata.sav. So if we are still in field, every time I update the data, I make sure to save the new dataset over the old dataset, newjobnamedata.sav would be saved over jobnamedata.sav. If I need different crosstab versions of the data, I will either temporarily open the new dataset OR I will create a new Project mapping the new dataset name to the old job name. And, of course, I always keep a back up of my data!

If I change the name of my dataset, I will save over the previous project by using the same exact name I originally used in the Create Project dialog box (instead of Typing a Unique Project name in the Create Project dialog box).

Do you create projects in WinCross? Why or why not?

Filed Under: WinCross Tagged With: crosstabs, Projects, time-savers, Wincross

March 30, 2014 by Lanna Lee Leave a Comment

Feedback from Use the Use: Reindex

The Analytical Group left a comment on the Use the Use post (here), addressing my pitfall/pet peeve with the duplicate indexes=0 issue.

To clarify, here is what I said:

The last pitfall is more like an annoyance, with the new version of WinCross (#14), WinCross is no longer allowing duplicate indexes=0. Previously WinCross allowed duplicate indexes=0, because when you re-opened the job file, it would automatically assign a proper index number for it. Now, if you are playing around with the tables, you can inadvertently make your blank indexes turn to 0s. This is fine if it only happens to one table; problematic for more than one in that the tables will not run!

And here is what The Analytical Group replied:

In case it helps, note that while editing in the job file you can select the “Reindex” command from the (right-click) context menu. This will reindex all the tables in the job file, taking care to update any index numbers that appear in USE statements or “RT” ranking options.

THIS is part of the reason why I wanted to do a blog about WinCross – so I could learn stuff too! So, if anyone else has some feedback for me, bring it!

Filed Under: Feeback, WinCross Tagged With: reindex, USE, Wincross

March 28, 2014 by Lanna Lee 5 Comments

Use the Use

Do you use the USE syntax function in WinCross? It is one of my favorite things, and I KNOW I “use” it the most.

What USE does is allow you to “borrow” syntax logic from a previous question. You can make minor changes by assigning new variables or new values to the Rows or changing the filter (or all three!)

How is this helpful? When you have a matrix question with several attributes yet the values are all the same, you can create one table, and then with USE, quickly create subsequent tables.

In order for the USE to work, you will need an index number. This happens automatically when you create your table in the Add Tables section. If you coded the origin table by hand you can make up your own index (as long as it is unique) OR you can save your job and re-open it; WinCross will magically populate any missing index numbers.

The syntax of the USE function always starts with the word, in all caps: USE. This is followed by the equals sign, and then the index.

If you were making another table that only changed the filter, the USE would look like this:

USE=2354

If you want to change a variable, you would add that after index number, like so:

USE=2354,VARIABLE1=VAR7

If you want to change a value, you would add that logic aftger the index number:

USE=2354,(1)=(5)

You could do more than one action in a use, changing variable(s) AND value(s)

USE=2354,VAR6=VAR8,VAR7=VAR9,(6)=(3),(7)=(2)

Where is the index number? The index number is located in the top of the table, right after the ^ sign. It is always a number.

As you can see, in the table below, the index number is 789:

TVar1^789
OW,ST,And Other Global (for the table) Row/Table Options here
This is where the title goes
SAttribute 1 – This is the subtitle
Total Respondents^TN^0
First Row in table^VAR1 (1)^
Second Row in Table^VAR1 (2)^
Third Row in Table^VAR1 (3)^

Let’s say you want to add tables for three more attributes with different variables. You’d simply copy and paste the first few rows, and add the USE function, like this:

TVar2^
OW,ST,And Other Global (for the table) Row/Table Options here
This is where the title goes
SAttribute 2
Total Respondents^TN^0
USE=789,VAR1=VAR2
TVar3^
OW,ST,And Other Global (for the table) Row/Table Options here
This is where the title goes
SAttribute 3
Total Respondents^TN^0
USE=789,VAR1=VAR3
TVar4^
OW,ST,And Other Global (for the table) Row/Table Options here
This is where the title goes
SAttribute 4
Total Respondents^TN^0
USE=789,VAR1=VAR4

Notice that all I did was change the subtitle and variable names, now when the table is run, it will point to the variable in the USE function line. If I wanted to change the values in the rows, like if I wanted to change the First Row in Table from value (1) to value (5), all I would need to do is add ,(1)=(5) to the use line.

Pitfalls

Of course, with anything, there are pitfalls. The obvious is copy/paste errors. That is why, when I create table syntax for a matrix with several attributes, I use a home-made Java program to generate the syntax.

Another pitfall is that if you have the wrong index (or variable/value assignments) your tables will not have the correct data. [This is why it is nice to have someone check over your tables when you are done programming them, if you have the luxury.]

The last pitfall is more like an annoyance, with the new version of WinCross (#14), WinCross is no longer allowing duplicate indexes=0. Previously WinCross allowed duplicate indexes=0, because when you re-opened the job file, it would automatically assign a proper index number for it. Now, if you are playing around with the tables, you can inadvertently make your blank indexes turn to 0s. This is fine if it only happens to one table; problematic for more than one in that the tables will not run!

Do you use the USE? What do you think about it?
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Filed Under: WinCross Tagged With: crosstabs, crosstabulations, syntax, USE, Wincross

March 25, 2014 by Lanna Lee 1 Comment

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March 24, 2014 by Lanna Lee 1 Comment

Welcome!

Welcome to Wincross Tab Tips!

It’s all about CrossTabs.

This site is geared toward the data geek. The statistics nerd. Someone who knows what crosstabs are.

This blog is for the table jockeys. The women and men who crunch that data into tabular form using tools like SPSS and WinCross. We will share tricks and tips and have a fantastic time at it!