I was somewhat displeased with my effort yesterday so I tried again. Sorry for the use of bandwidth but I suspect others might find this routine useful. This time it also handles string variables and doesn't have to have variable names - although they are useful to have.

It also allows for delimiter lengths greater than 1.

' Reads in character delimited data using SPSS script ' Use at your own risk. ' Terry.Taerum@ualberta.ca ' ' Program to read in character delimited file and produce spss system file. ' Assumes that first line has list of variables separated by the same delimiter ' that the data is separated by. An example would be: ' height%weight%length%value ' 10%20%33%15 ' 17%11%13%12 ' ... ' In the file above, the delimiter used would be the percent (%) sign.

Option Explicit Public strNotSelVar() As String Public strSelVar() As String Public bolString() As Boolean Public intArrayIndex() As Integer Public numVariables As Long Public VarNames() As String Public TextFileName As String Public Delimiter As String Public qRunJob As Boolean Public qReadVarNames As Boolean Sub Main Rem This part works with the data files. Dim objDataDoc As ISpssDataDoc Dim objDocuments As ISpssDocuments Set objDocuments = objSpssApp.Documents Set objDataDoc = objDocuments.GetDataDoc(0) objDataDoc.Visible = True DialogGetFileInfo

If (qRunJob) Then Open TextFileName For Input As #2 Dim LineOfText As String Line Input #2,LineOfText Call GetVariables(LineOfText,Delimiter,VarNames,numVariables) DialogGetVariableInfo

If (qRunJob) Then

Call CreateSyntaxFile(VarNames,numVariables) objDataDoc.Visible=True End If End If End Sub Sub CreateSyntaxFile(VarNames() As String, numVariables As Long) Dim iVars As Integer Dim lenDelimiter As Integer lenDelimiter=Len(delimiter) Dim FileName As String On Error Resume Next MkDir "C:\temp" On Error GoTo 0 FileName="c:\temp\char.sps" Open FileName For Output As #3 Print #3,"new file." Print #3,"input program." Print #3,"data list file='"+TextFileName+"'" Print #3," /#s$(a255) ." Print #3,"numeric #count ." Print #3,"compute #count=#count+1 ." If (qReadVarNames) Then Print #3,"do if #count gt 1 ." End If Print #3,"string #s1(a255) ." Print #3,"numeric #index1 to #index";Format(numVariables);" ." Print #3,"vector indexx=#index1 to #index";Format(numVariables);"." Print #3,"loop #i=1 to";numVariables;" ." Print #3,"compute indexx(#i)=0 ." Print #3,"end loop ."

For iVars=0 To numVariables-1 If (bolString(iVars)) Then Print #3,"compute indexx(";iVars+1;")=1 ." End If Next Dim vi1, vi2 As Integer vi1=numVariables vi2=-1 For iVars=0 To numVariables-1 If Not(bolString(iVars)) Then If (iVars<vi1) Then vi1=iVars End If If (iVars>vi2) Then vi2=iVars End If Print #3,"numeric "&VarNames(iVars)&"." End If Next If (vi2>=vi1) Then Print #3,"vector vx=";VarNames(vi1);" to ";VarNames(vi2);" ." End If

Dim si1, si2 As Integer si1=numVariables si2=-1 For iVars=0 To numVariables-1 If (bolString(iVars)) Then If (iVars<si1) Then si1=iVars End If If (iVars>si2) Then si2=iVars End If Print #3,"string "&VarNames(iVars)&" (a8)." End If Next If (si2>=si1) Then Print #3,"vector sx=";VarNames(si1);" to ";VarNames(si2);" ." End If

Print #3,"compute #iptx=1." Print #3,"compute #ivar=0." Print #3,"compute #istr=0." Print #3,"loop #i=1 to ";numVariables;"." Print #3,"compute #ipt=index(substr(#s$,#iptx),'"+delimiter+"') ." Print #3,"if (#ipt<=0) #ipt=12 ." Print #3,"compute #s1=substr(#s$,#iptx,#ipt-1) ." Print #3,"compute #iptx=#iptx+#ipt+";lenDelimiter;"-1 ." Print #3,"do if indexx(#i) eq 1 ." If (si1<=si2) Then Print #3,"compute #istr=#istr+1 ." Print #3,"compute sx(#istr)=#s1 ." End If Print #3,"else ." If (vi1<=vi2) Then Print #3,"compute #ivar=#ivar+1 ." Print #3,"compute vx(#ivar)=num(#s1,f12) ." End If Print #3,"end if ." Print #3,"End Loop ." Print #3,"end case ." If (qReadVarNames) Then Print #3,"end if ." End If Print #3,"end input program." Print #3,"execute ." Print #3,"save outfile='c:\temp\save1.sav'" Print #3," /keep "; For iVars=0 To numVariables-1 Print #3,VarNames(iVars);" "; If (iVars+1 Mod 10 = 0 And iVars<numVariables-1) Then Print #3," " End If Next Print #3," ." Print #3,"execute ." Print #3,"get file='c:\temp\save1.sav' ." Print #3,"execute ." Close #3 Dim objSyntaxDoc As ISpssSyntaxDoc Set objSyntaxDoc = objSpssApp.OpenSyntaxDoc (FileName) objSyntaxDoc.Visible = True objSyntaxDoc.Run objSyntaxDoc.Close End Sub Sub GetVariables(LineOfText,Delimiter, VarNames() As String, numVariables As Long) Dim qDone As Boolean qDone=False Dim lngIndex, lngIpt, lngLen As Long lngLen=Len(LineOfText) lngIndex=1 numVariables=0 While Not qDone lngIpt=InStr(lngIndex,LineOfText,Delimiter) If (lngIpt>0) Then lngIndex=lngIpt+1 numVariables=numVariables+1 ElseIf (lngIpt<=0) Then qDone=True If (lngLen > lngIndex) Then numVariables=numVariables+1 End If End If Wend

ReDim VarNames(numVariables) As String lngIndex=1 Dim iVars As Integer For iVars=0 To numVariables-1 lngIpt=InStr(lngIndex,LineOfText,Delimiter) If (lngIpt=0) Then lngIpt=lngLen+1 End If If (qReadVarNames) Then VarNames(iVars)=Mid(LineOfText,lngIndex,lngIpt-lngIndex) Else VarNames(iVars)="Var"&Format(iVars+1) End If lngIndex=lngIpt+1 Next

End Sub

Sub DialogGetFileInfo Begin Dialog UserDialog 540,203,"Read in Character Delimited Data",.DialogFileInfo PushButton 430, 14, 90, 21, "OK", .cmdRun PushButton 150, 14, 200, 21, "Click to get raw data file", .cmdRawData PushButton 430, 40, 90, 21, "Cancel", .cmdCancel Text 35, 40, 100, 14, "Text File Name:", .txtTextFileName TextBox 150, 40, 250, 21, .TextFileName CheckBox 20, 75, 240, 20, "Check box to read variable names.", .cmdReadVarNames Text 20, 100, 400, 14, "Choose (or enter) your delimiter string. The default is Hash (#)", .txtDelimiter TextBox 10, 120, 40, 21, .Delimiter PushButton 50, 120, 100, 21, "Hash #", .cmdHash PushButton 150, 120, 100, 21, "Percent %", .cmdPercent PushButton 250, 120, 100, 21, "Comma ,", .cmdComma PushButton 350, 120, 100, 21, "SemiColon ;", .cmdSemi PushButton 450, 120, 100, 21, "Ampersand", .cmdAmp PushButton 50, 145, 100, 21, "Tab", .cmdTab PushButton 150, 145, 100, 21, "Space", .cmdSpace End Dialog Dim dlg As UserDialog Dialog dlg qReadVarNames=dlg.cmdReadVarNames End Sub Function DialogFileInfo(strDialogItem As String, intAction As Integer, intSuppValue As Integer) As Boolean Select Case intAction Case 1 ' Dialog box initialization DlgEnable "cmdCancel", True DlgEnable "cmdRun", True DlgEnable "cmdRawData", True DlgEnable "cmdReadVarNames", True DlgEnable "cmdPercent", True DlgEnable "cmdHash",True DlgEnable "cmdComma", True DlgEnable "cmdSemi", True DlgEnable "cmdAmp", True DlgEnable "cmdTab", True DlgEnable "cmdSpace", True DlgText "Delimiter", "#" Delimiter="#" Case 2 ' Value changing or button pressed Select Case strDialogItem Case "cmdRun" TextFileName=DlgText("TextFileName") Delimiter=DlgText("Delimiter") If TextFileName="" Then MsgBox "Please provide a Text file for the raw data.", 48, "Character Delimited Data File" dialogFileInfo = True ElseIf Delimiter="" Then MsgBox "Please provide a delimiter.", 48, "Character Delimited Data File" dialogFileInfo = True Else dialogFileInfo = False qRunJob=True End If Case "cmdCancel" dialogFileInfo = False qRunJob=False Case "cmdRawData" TextFileName=GetFilePath$(,"txt",,"Raw Data File to be read from:",0) dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "TextFileName", TextFileName Case "cmdReadVarNames" Case "cmdPercent" Delimiter="%" dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdHash" Delimiter="#" dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdComma" Delimiter="," dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdSemi" Delimiter=";" dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdAmp" Delimiter="&" dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdTab" Delimiter=Chr(9) dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter Case "cmdSpace" Delimiter=" " dialogFileInfo=True DlgText "Delimiter", Delimiter End Select End Select End Function

Sub DialogGetVariableInfo ReDim strNotSelVar(0) As String ReDim strSelVar(0) As String Begin Dialog UserDialog 540,203,"Select String Variables",.DialogVariableInfo ListBox 30,28,140,119,strNotSelVar(),.lstVarInFile ListBox 290,28,150,119,strSelVar(),.lstSelVar PushButton 450,14,90,21,"OK",.cmdRun PushButton 450,42,90,21,"Cancel",.cmdCancel PushButton 172,77,116,21,">Make String>",.cmdMoveIt Text 290,14,140,14,"String Variables",.lbl1 Text 30,14,140,14,"Numeric Variables",.lbl2 End Dialog Dim dlg As UserDialog Dialog dlg End Sub Function DialogVariableInfo(strDialogItem As String, intAction As Integer, intSuppValue As Integer) As Boolean Rem Note Note Note This routine is a Modified copy of an SPSS provided script file. Select Case intAction Case 1 ' Dialog box initialization DlgEnable "cmdCancel", True DlgEnable "cmdRun", True GetVarsFromFile 'Sub that gets the variables from file and puts in list box Case 2 ' Value changing or button pressed Select Case strDialogItem Case "cmdRun" DialogVariableInfo = False qRunJob=True Case "cmdCancel" DialogVariableInfo = False qRunJob=False Case "lstVarInFile" DlgText "cmdMoveIt", ">Make String>" DlgEnable "cmdMoveIt", True DialogVariableInfo = True Case "lstSelVar" DlgText "cmdMoveIt", "<Make Numeric<" DialogVariableInfo = True Case "cmdMoveIt" If DlgText("cmdMoveIt") = ">Make String>" Then Call AddToSelList Else Call RemoveFromSelList End If DialogVariableInfo = True End Select End Select End Function Sub AddToSelList() Rem Note Note Note This routine is a Modified copy of an SPSS provided script file. Dim intSelIndex As Integer Dim i As Integer intSelIndex = DlgValue("lstVarInFile") For i = 0 To UBound(intArrayIndex) If (intArrayIndex(i) = intSelIndex) And (bolString(i) = False) Then bolString(i) = True Exit For End If Next i Call PopulateLists End Sub Sub RemoveFromSelList() Rem Note Note Note This routine is a Modified copy of an SPSS provided script file. Dim intSelIndex As Integer Dim i As Integer intSelIndex = DlgValue("lstSelVar") For i = 0 To UBound(intArrayIndex) If (intArrayIndex(i) = intSelIndex) And (bolString(i) = True) Then bolString(i) = False Exit For End If Next i Call PopulateLists End Sub Sub PopulateLists() Rem Note Note Note This routine is a Modified copy of an SPSS provided script file. Dim i As Integer Dim intNumNotSel As Integer Dim intNumSel As Integer intNumSel = 0 intNumNotSel = 0 ReDim strNotSelVar(intNumNotSel) As String ReDim strSelVar(intNumSel) As String For i = 0 To UBound(bolString) If bolString(i) = False Then ReDim Preserve strNotSelVar(intNumNotSel) As String strNotSelVar(intNumNotSel) = VarNames(i) intArrayIndex(i) = intNumNotSel intNumNotSel = intNumNotSel + 1 Else 'Variable is selected for analysis ReDim Preserve strSelVar(intNumSel) As String strSelVar(intNumSel) = VarNames(i) intArrayIndex(i) = intNumSel intNumSel = intNumSel + 1 End If Next i DlgListBoxArray "lstVarInFile", strNotSelVar() DlgListBoxArray "lstSelVar", strSelVar() End Sub Sub GetVarsFromFile() Dim i As Long ReDim bolString(NumVariables) As Boolean ReDim intArrayIndex(NumVariables) As Integer For i = 0 To numVariables bolString(i) = False intArrayIndex(i) = i Next i DlgEnable "lstVarInFile", True DlgEnable "lstSelVar", True Call PopulateLists End Sub