SDA 4.1 Documentation for XCODEBK FORMATTING

NAME

DESCRIPTION

CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT

• Element or Object Names Used in Templates for Variable Descriptions

• Symbols Used in Variable Lists

• Symbols Only Used for ASCII File Output
  • Symbols Used in Templates for Headers and Footers
  • Symbols Used in Introductory and Appendix Files

ELEMENT OR OBJECT NAMES USED IN TEMPLATES FOR VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

*variable(y)

The template consists of one or more of the object names given below; they may be given either in upper or lower case. Each object name inserts into the variable description the appropriate content. The position of each object name in the template indicates to XCODEBK where the corresponding content should be put when constructing the variable descriptions.

Depending on the input to XCODEBK (DDL file, or SDA dataset), some objects may be ignored. For example, if input is taken from a DDL file, instead of from an SDA dataset, objects which require the processing of the data file (such as STATISTICS) are ignored. Also, depending on the input, some elements of the actual content of some objects will be ignored if the corresponding information is not available.

The following list includes all of the object names used for basic codebooks plus all of the descriptive elements which each object inserts into a variable description.

VARNAME

Variable or item name AND long label

VAR

Variable or item name ONLY (no long label)

TEXT

Text for the item (text of the question)

CBTEXT

TEXT2

Same as CBTEXT (for backward compatibility)

CATEGORIES or CATEGORIES(ALL) or CATEGORIES(CASES)

Category codes and labels; also percentages, if requested and input is from an SDA dataset. If percentages are requested, they are placed to the left of the category codes.

The `ALL' or `CASES' specification (in parentheses) is optional. It can be used to control which categories with labels are displayed if the codebook input is taken from an SDA dataset. (If input is from a DDL file, all defined category labels are displayed.)

• By default, if no option is specified in parentheses, all VALID categories with labels are displayed -- even if there are no cases with that code. Missing data codes, on the other hand, are only displayed if they have cases.
• If the `ALL' option is used, then ALL codes with labels are shown -- even if they are missing data codes.
• If the `CASES' option is used, then only those categories with cases are displayed -- whether they are valid categories or missing-data categories.

DATE

Date that the SDA variable was created (if input is from a an SDA dataset)

GROUP

Combines into one element the contents of PROPERTIES and SOURCE. Those two tags can be used separately, but the display is more compact if they are combined into a group with this keyword.

HLINK

A hypertext link to supplementary information, if an HLINK file was specified and an HTML codebook is being generated.

PROPERTIES

Instrument type, data type, allowable input codes, number of decimal places specified (if other than zero), missing-data codes( if any), and the minimum and maximum valid codes (if specified)

PARAMETERS

Same as PROPERTIES (for backward compatibility)

SOURCE

Either the input location in the data file or the instructions for creating the variable, if it is a recode or computed variable

SOURCEF

Same as SOURCE (for backward compatibility)

STATISTICS or STATISTICS(ndecimals)

Set of summary statistics for the variable (only available if input is from an SDA dataset). By default, 3 decimal places are shown for the mean, standard deviation, and variance. You can override this default by using the optional 'ndecimals' specification. Specify the desired number of decimal places in parentheses after `STATISTICS'.

TITLE

Title of the study

SYMBOLS USED IN VARIABLE LISTS

*abc

The text `abc' will appear in the table of contents as a heading

**abc

The text `abc' will ALSO appear at this point in the codebook, at the top of a page
(It is recommended always to use the two-asterisk version. For Word codebooks, a heading specified with a single asterisk will not produce anything.)

2*xyz

The text `xyz' will appear in the table of contents as a second-level heading

2**xyz

The text `xyz' will ALSO appear at this point in the codebook, at the top of a page
(It is recommended always to use the two-asterisk version. For Word codebooks, a heading specified with a single asterisk will not produce anything.)

[x

Insert the contents of the file `x' (located in the CBTEXT directory) into the codebook at this point, at the top of a new page

@y

Use the template named `y' for the variables which follow

@@

Use the default template for the variables which follow

#

The remainder of the line is a comment, not a list of variables

SYMBOLS USED ONLY FOR ASCII FILE OUTPUT

Symbols Used in Templates for Headers and Footers

A template for a header or footer is a single line which follows a line beginning with one of the following:

*oheader

Header for ODD-numbered pages

*eheader

Header for EVEN-numbered pages

*header

Header for pages not otherwise specified

*ofooter

Footer for ODD-numbered pages

*efooter

Footer for EVEN-numbered pages

*footer

Footer for pages not otherwise specified

%d

Insert the current date (e.g., October 12, 2003)

%p

Insert the current page number

%t

Insert the title of the study

a | b | c

Left-justify `a'; center `b'; right-justify `c'

Symbols Used in Introductory and Appendix Files

Within the text files used for introductory or appendix files, it is possible to include instructions about when to skip to a new page. Each of the following symbols must appear on a line by itself, beginning in the first column.

%P

Skip to a new page at this point

%EP

Skip to an EVEN-numbered page at this point

%OP

Skip to an ODD-numbered page at this point

SEE ALSO