Date:         Sun, 19 Sep 2010 11:33:34 +0200
Reply-To:     John F Hall <johnfhall@orange.fr>
Sender:       "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         John F Hall <johnfhall@orange.fr>
Subject:      Re: How to do tabular export of variable view info?
Comments: To: Max Freund <max.freund@cgu.edu>
Comments: cc: Bruce Weaver <bweaver@lakeheadu.ca>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Yep, it's sometimes quicker to do a workaround, especially if time is of the essence and/or money is pouring down the drain whilst messing around attempting solutions in SPSS.

John Hall
johnfhall@orange.fr 
http://surveyresearch.weebly.com 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Max Freund 
  To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
  Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 10:33 AM
  Subject: Re: How to do tabular export of variable view info?


  Never mind, all -- I went back and ran Display File Information, then copy-pasted the output into Excel and knitted together the variable information and attributes.  


  Problem solved, even if it did take some massaging...



  --Max


  --
  Max Freund, M.I.I.M. . max.freund@cgu.edu . (909) 632-1624
  Doctoral Student in Organizational Behavior, Claremont Graduate University (www.cgu.edu/sbos)
  Partner, LF Leadership (www.lfleadership.com)


  On Sep 18, 2010, at 11:51 PM, Max Freund wrote:


    Hi John,


    I looked at some info about CODEBOOK, and it looks like the output is a long variable-by-variable text list of attributes as well.  I understand what you're saying about the challenge of presenting multiple label or missing values per variable, but there are ways around that -- e.g. a text separator like a semicolon or line break within each cell, or else a nested table display.


    In any case, I do appreciate the input and I'd welcome any other suggestions you or others have.  Is there some way to output just the value labels or missing values, and I can use other means to parse them and copy them into a spreadsheet?


    Thanks,
    Max


    --
    Max Freund, M.I.I.M. . max.freund@cgu.edu . (909) 632-1624
    Doctoral Student in Organizational Behavior, Claremont Graduate University (www.cgu.edu/sbos)
    Partner, LF Leadership (www.lfleadership.com)


    On Sep 18, 2010, at 6:54 PM, Jon K Peck wrote:



      Jon Peck
      SPSS, an IBM Company
      peck@us.ibm.com
      312-651-3435 


            From:  Max Freund <max.freund@cgu.edu>  
            To:  SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU  
            Date:  09/18/2010 06:14 PM  
            Subject:  [SPSSX-L] How to do tabular export of variable view info?  
            Sent by:  "SPSSX(r) Discussion" <SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------



      Hello, 

      I have a couple of data files I'd like to export for sharing with by non-SPSS users.  I know how to export the data itself as an Excel file, but I don't know how to export the Variable View (including value labels and custom attributes).  Ideally, I'd like it to be in a tabular format like the Variable View -- not in a long, text-based data dictionary format that would be hard for non-SPSS users to wade through. 

      >>>Have you looked at the CODEBOOK command?  It's not a grid, but the output is better organized than DISPLAY DICTIONARY.  Of course, if you include things like value labels and missing value codes, the output is intrinsically nonrectangular.  CODEBOOK lets you select which attributes to show. 


      When I manually select the Variable View table and copy-paste it into Excel, it cuts off the value labels field at just one item followed by an ellipses.  Also, for some reason it does not copy the contents of the custom attribute column(s) but just leaves a blank column. 
      >>>No idea what is going on with that. 

      (As a side-question, how do I delete a custom attribute?  I tried using "VARIABLE ATTRIBUTE DELETE=[AttributeName]." but it returned the warning "VARIABLES is required. Execution of this command stops.") 
      >>>There are two kinds of attributes: file and variable.  VARIABLE ATTRIBUTE, therefore requires a variable list, e.g., 
      VARIABLE ATTRIBUTE VARIABLES=fred to sam 
      DELETE =attr1 attr2 attr3. 

      If these are file attributes, you need to use DATAFILE ATTRIBUTE. 

      If you just want to control which attributes are displayed in the Data Editor, use View>Customize Variable View 

      HTH, 
      Jon Peck 


      If it matters, I'm using SPSS 18 for Mac. 

      Thanks in advance, 
      Max 

      --
      Max Freund, M.I.I.M. . max.freund@cgu.edu . (909) 632-1624
      Doctoral Student in Organizational Behavior, Claremont Graduate University (www.cgu.edu/sbos)
      Partner, LF Leadership (www.lfleadership.com) 







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