Hi Sally,

Although there is no manual for the script it is pretty easy and straightforward to use. You have all the information you need under the help file: the description of the different objects, with their method and properties. If you get into the SPSS Help folder you'll see a scripting directory. You can find a lot more about scripts there. There are a whole bunch of PDF files with information about the scripts.

If I could give only one advice about using script it would be to buy an introduction book to Visual Basic. The language used in the script is called Sax Basic and is a limited version of VB. If you already know how VB works, how to handle methods and properties then you can start right away.

There is one thing you should know however: the scripts DO NOT replace the syntax language in any way. They are complementary. As far as SPSS is concerned the script can be used to generate syntax. So you'll still need to know the syntax language. Scripting is really useful if you want to customize syntax by allowing you to capture some information via a dialog box. At least that's the primary way I have for it. Although it's not suited to develop an entire new application it's a nice (and free) alternative to a VB License.

HTH

Jean-Francois

Hi,

I know there have been a lot of nice macros posted on this newsgroup. I wrote a few macros a couple of years ago. Then the scripting feature was added to SPSS. I was told that scripts could do what macros can do plus lots more and that the script language would replace the macro language. So I decided not to work on learning macros any more, that instead I should learn to write scripts. But I feel intimidated by the script language because there are no manuals. So far I have not learned anything about writing scripts! I'm just wondering what other people think about this confusing situation? Do some people use both? Thanks,

Sally University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA