Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 2009 13:19:00 -0600
Reply-To:     ViAnn Beadle <vab88011@gmail.com>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         ViAnn Beadle <vab88011@gmail.com>
Subject:      Re: Simple (I think) problem with a Macro
Comments: To: David Futrell <dfutrell62@yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:  <17225.75988.qm@web53911.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

You cannot directly transfer a data value to a macro in this way. You are
getting this error because G4max in the macro is just a string value. Macros
are really, really limited (e.g., dumb). In the past clever SPSSers would do
things like generate macros on the fly by using the WRITE command to create
a syntax file with some interspersed data values. Now, the best way to do
this is to use Python to generate the syntax and run it because Python knows
about the contents of the dictionary (variable names and such) and can
retrieve case values.



From: SPSSX(r) Discussion [mailto:SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
David Futrell
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 8:25 AM
To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Simple (I think) problem with a Macro





Hi everyone:

I have an annoying problem with a macro that I hope someone can help me
solve.
The following syntax works perfectly.

DEFINE !REPORTMACRO().

!DO !I=1 !TO 865
temporary.
select if any(!I,g4id1 to g4id9).
compute report_owner=!I.
save outfile=!QUOTE(!CONCAT("D:\Monthly Pulse Survey\G4 Reports\ID
",!I,".sav."))
/keep report_owner empid.
!DOEND

!ENDDEFINE

!REPORTMACRO.

However, I want to use a calculated value in the !DO line instead of the
constant (in this case 865) because this value varies across reporting
periods and I currently have to calculate it and manually enter the value
into the macro.

I can easily calculate what the end value should be using the aggregate
command. Here's what I've tried to do:


compute max_x=max(g4id1 to g4id10).
AGGREGATE
  /OUTFILE=* MODE=ADDVARIABLES
  /BREAK=
  /G4max=MAX(max_x).


DEFINE !REPORTMACRO().

!DO !I=1 !TO G4max
temporary.
select if any(!I,g4id1 to g4id9).
compute report_owner=!I.
save outfile=!QUOTE(!CONCAT("D:\Monthly Pulse Survey\G4 Reports\ID
",!I,".sav."))
/keep report_owner empid.
!DOEND

!ENDDEFINE


!REPORTMACRO.

The calculated value (G4max) is exactly 865, but when I try the syntax, I
get this message:


>Warning # 228
>Invalid string found where numeric value required in macro expression.

>Warning # 221
>Macro expansion found an error interpreting an operation code.  Check the
>arguments to functions and loop parameters for valid values.

>Error # 1.  Command name: !ERROR_MACRO
>The first word in the line is not recognized as an SPSS Statistics command.

>This command not executed.

Any ideas?

David Futrell
Eli Lilly and Company






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