Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 1

BASE PROFESSIONAL

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 2

Contents

1 Overview ............................................................................................................. 3

1.1 STARTING PROFESSIONAL _____________________________________________ 3

1.1.1 Professional Window ....................................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 Menus .............................................................................................................................. 6

1.2 FILE TYPES WITH PROFESSIONAL _______________________________________ 6

1.3 PROFESSIONAL TOOLBARS ____________________________________________ 7

1.4 CREATING A NEW SURVEY ____________________________________________ 7

1.4.1 Metadata ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.4.2 Web - Routing Section .................................................................................................... 9

1.5 OPENING AN EXISTING SURVEY _________________________________________ 9

1.6 SAVING AND CLOSING A SURVEY ________________________________________ 9

1.7 TOOLS IN DETAIL ___________________________________________________ 9

1.7.1 MetaData or MDM Explorer ............................................................................................ 9 1.7.2 Locals Pane ................................................................................................................... 11 1.7.3 Using the Expressions Pane ......................................................................................... 12 1.7.4 Breakpoints ................................................................................................................... 13

2 Change Control ................................................................................................ 15

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 3

1 OVERVIEW

Professional is a complete set of tools that supports the building of automated market

research processes. Professional includes an integrated development environment (IDE)

that enables you to create, edit, run, and debug PASW / Dimensions scripts. In simple terms

this is computer software that assists programmers in developing scripts.

Two additional options are available for Professional:

The Interview Option includes components that enable you to develop and test

interviews, and activate them in Interviewer Server.

The Tables Option includes components that enable you to create batch tables

using a script.

1.1 STARTING PROFESSIONAL

To launch Professional, follow the steps below:

Start (From the bottom left corner of Windows)

All Programs

IBM SPSS Data Collection 6

Base Professional

Base Professional

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 4

1.1.1 Professional Window

The individual panes are described in more detail in the table below.

Tab Panel Description

Edit

This is the main part of the desktop, where you edit your files.

If you open an interview script (.mdd) file, the Edit pane is separated into a

Metadata section and one or more Routing sections. By default, the

individual sections can be selected by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of

the Edit pane.

Breakpoints Lists the breakpoints that have been set in a script. When you are

debugging, you use breakpoints to indicate points in your code at which

you want to suspend the running of the script--for example, so that you can

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 5

Tab Panel Description

then step through the following lines.

Output Displays status and other information when you run a script using F5.

Expressions

Use this pane to evaluate an expression or inspect the value of a object

property when you are debugging a script. You can also use this pane to

change the value of a variable. You can also use the Expression pane to

change the value of a variable. For example, if you type a = 15 into the text

box and press Enter (or alternatively, click Execute), Professional will set

the value of the variable to 15.

Find Use to search for text.

Replace Use to search for text and replace with a different text.

Browser Use this pane to interact with the interview when you run an interview script

(.mdd) file.

Workspace

Lists the files in the current workspace. The workspace feature is

particularly useful when you are working on a number of linked files--for

example, a data management script (.dms file) that has a number of

associated Include files. You can add new and existing files to the

workspace by right-clicking in the Workspace pane and choosing Add New

Item to Workspace and Add Existing Item to Workspace, respectively. See

the topic Using the Workspace Feature for more information.

Metadata

Use to browse the questions, variables, and categories in a metadata

document (.mdd) file. This is useful when you need to refer to individual

variables and categories in your script.

Types

Similar to the Visual Basic Object Browser, this shows the properties and

methods of all of the default objects and details of the associated

enumerated constants. Similar information is shown whenever possible for

objects created in the script. When you click on an object, its properties and

methods are listed. To insert a property or method into your code, right-

click it, and from the shortcut menu, choose Add member.

Functions

Lists all of the functions in the Data Collection Function Library, showing

brief details of their parameters. To insert a function into your code, right-

click it, and from the shortcut menu, choose Add Function. For detailed

information about the functions, see PASW Data Collection Function

Library.

Locals Shows the values of the variables in your script when you are debugging it.

Auto

Answer

Shows a list of the questions that have been answered when you run an

interview script (.mdd) file in Auto Answer mode.

Repository

Shows all currently defined Question Repositories. You can navigate for

topics and survey assets, and add asset metadata and routing information

to the working .mdd file.

Help

Shows context-sensitive help topics. To access context-sensitive help,

select an element of your script and press F1, See the topic Using Context-

Sensitive Help for more information.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 6

1.1.2 Menus

We will quickly get you familiar with the menus that exist. You will get to see more of them

throughout the course.

Menu Description

File This is a standard file menu with features like open, close and new.

Edit This is a standard edit menu with features like cut, copy, paste and undo.

View You can control what toolbars and Panels you can see from this menu.

Debug This menu contains items related to the testing of scripts or surveys.

Tools This menu provides access to additional tools and macros. Also the access point

to Professional options.

Window The Windows menu allows you to switch between open scripts and surveys.

Help The help menu allows you to open the DDL from inside Professional.

1.2 FILE TYPES WITH PROFESSIONAL

Professional has been designed for working with PASW / Dimensions script files of the

following types:

Interview Script (.mdd) files

These scripts are used to create interviews that can be activated in version 3.0 (or later) of

Interviewer Server. Interview scripts have a Metadata section, and one or more Routing

sections. The Metadata section is used to define the questions that will be asked during the

interview and is written in mrScriptMetadata. A Routing section is written in mrScriptBasic

and defines which of the questions will be asked during an interview, and in what order they

will be asked. You can have individual routing sections for different interview environments,

for example, "Web" and "Paper".

mrScriptBasic (.mrs) files.

mrScriptBasic is a programming language that enables scriptable access to PASW /

Dimensions components. You would typically use a standalone mrScriptBasic script to

perform tasks that do not involve transforming data, such as creating reports, topline tables

and charts. Sometimes you might develop a mrScriptBasic script for use as an Include file in

one of the Event sections of a data management script. You can run and debug your

mrScriptBasic scripts from the Professional IDE or by using the mrScript Command Line

Runner.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 7

Data Management Script (.dms) files

These scripts are used for performing data management tasks, such as cleaning and

transferring data, creating derived variables for use during analysis, and setting up weighting

schemes. A data management script has two or more different sections, which have different

coding rules and use different technologies. For example, the InputDataSource section uses

property definition and SQL syntax, whereas the Metadata section is written in

mrScriptMetadata, and the Event sections are written in mrScriptBasic. A data management

script is particularly useful when you want to clean and transfer data and create derived

variables, because it handles the connections to the input and output data sources, the

merging of the metadata, and gives you scriptable access to the case data (in the

OnNextCase Event section). You can run your data management scripts from the

Professional IDE or by using the DMS Runner command prompt utility.

In addition to PASW / Dimensions scripts, you can also use Professional to create and edit

the following types of files:

Text (.txt) files

HTML files

XML files

Rich text format (.rtf) files

You can also open other types of text files, such as log files.

1.3 PROFESSIONAL TOOLBARS

Details can be found at

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Program%20Files\SPSSInc\PASWDataCollection5.6\DDL\Documentati

on\DDL.chm::/Professional_toolbars.htm

1.4 CREATING A NEW SURVEY

If you do not have Professional open, please launch it now.

1. From the File menu choose: New > File...

2. The New File dialog shows you a list of available file types. Click the item labeled

Metadata File.

3. In the bottom section of the New File dialog is the File Name, this probably reads

Untitled1.mdd. Change this to MyFirstInterview.mdd and click the Open button.

4. Professional has created your new file.

A Metadata file, also referred to as the MDD, is the name of the survey file type. It

contains all your questions, responses, languages and survey logic.

The survey edit is now available. On the bottom left corner you will see two tabs, Metadata

and Web.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 8

1.4.1 Metadata

The Metadata section is where you will define the questions and responses that will make up

your survey. The Metadata editor should look like below:

Metadata(en-GB, Question, label)

End Metadata

Always having three arguments passed on the Metadata function:

en-GB: the locale or base laungauge for the interview

Question: is the context

Label is the label type

NOTE: It is not mandatory to specify the language, context, or label type, as defaults

will be used if they are not provided. See below table for detailed explanation.

Positional

Parameter

Description

Language(en-US) The language portion of the line (shown here as en-us) will vary

according to the regional settings for your computer. For example, if your

regional settings are set for the UK you will see en-GB instead.

Context (Question) Defines the current user context for the metadata. User contexts define

different usages for the metadata, so that different texts and custom

properties can be used depending on how the metadata is being used.

For example, the Question user context is typically used to define the

default texts to be used when interviewing and the Analysis user context

is typically used to define shorter texts for use when analyzing the

response data.

LabelType Defines the current label type. Label types enable different types of

labels to be created for different types of information. For example, the

default label type of Label is used for question and category texts and

variable descriptions, and the Instruction label type is used for

interviewer instructions.

DataSource (NOT

in IOM) This parameter, used only when the Metadata section is part of a Data

Management Script (.dms) file, identifies the data source to which the

Metadata section relates. You specify the data source using the name

defined for the InputDataSource section in the Data Management Script.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 9

1.4.2 Web - Routing Section

The Web Routing section is where you define the order in which questions are asked and

the circumstances in which they should be asked. A script can have different Routing

sections for different contexts, such as Web, CATI and Paper. The default context is Web,

so you see a Web Routing tab.

When initially created the Routing section of an MDD contains the following script:

Routing(Web)

End Routing

1.5 OPENING AN EXISTING SURVEY

From the File menu choose: Open > File

Browse to the required file and click the open button in the bottom right hand

corner

NOTE: Notice that inside Professional along the top you still have your

"MyFirstInterview" file open. You can switch between surveys by clicking on the tabs

at the top of the editing window.

1.6 SAVING AND CLOSING A SURVEY

To save your file:

1. From the File menu choose: Save. If this is a new file it will open a standard

Save As box for you to choose the location to save the file in.

2. Alternatively from the File menu choose: Save As to save your file with a

different name or to a different location. This will open a standard Save As box.

When you run a survey it will also check whether it has been saved since you last made

changes, and if not it will try to save it.

To close your file:

1. From the File menu choose: Close

2. If you have made edits since you last saved your file you will be shown a dialog

box asking if you want to save your changes. If you click Yes it will open a

standard Save As box.

1.7 TOOLS IN DETAIL

1.7.1 MetaData or MDM Explorer

MDM explorer use to explore the variable and object in MDD.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 10

To Open – Search for shortcut on desktop (see below). Double click the icon.

If no Shortcut on desktop then check “Program

Files\SPSSInc\PASWDataCollection5.6\DDL\Code\Tools\VB6\MDM Explorer\MDM

Explorer.exe"

Explorer window

Open file – file -> Open Document

There is a short delay while the file is loaded. You can now explore the structure of MDM

Document. For example, to display the objects that correspond to the questionnaire items,

expand the Fields folder.

MDM Explorer displays a never-ending loop for Variables and VariableInstances - A

VariableInstance object has a pointer to a Variable object and the Variable object has a

collection of related VariableInstance objects. MDM Explorer merely reflects the properties

on each object. This means that you can open an endless list of Variable and

VariableInstance objects.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 11

1.7.2 Locals Pane

While debugging a script, Professional displays in the Locals pane the current value of all of

the variables in the current scope.

In addition, Professional shows in the Locals pane the current value of the properties of the

objects in the current scope. You can expand and inspect objects by clicking the plus icon

next to the object, but note that an object can only be expanded while the script is halted

during debugging, not when the script has completed.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 12

1.7.3 Using the Expressions Pane

You can use the Expressions pane to evaluate an expression or to inspect the value of an

object's properties. There are two ways of doing this:

1. Type the expression in the text box and click Evaluate.

2. Type a question mark, then type the expression and press Enter. For example, type

?a and press Enter to display the value of the a variable.

You can also re-evaluate an expression that you previously evaluated by selecting the text of

the expression in the text box and clicking Evaluate.

For example, here is the Expressions pane after using the Sqrt function to evaluate the

square root of the a variable:

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 13

Note that sometimes you might need to resize the pane in order to be able to see the output.

Here is the Expressions pane after evaluating the label of q2 :

You can also use the Expression pane to change the value of a variable. For example, if you

type a = 15 into the text box and press Enter (or alternatively, click Execute), Professional

will set the value of the a variable to 15.

The Expression pane can also be used to declare variables, which you can then use to store

the current value of another variable when you are debugging a script. For example, type

dim temp in the text box and press Enter to declare a variable called temp. Then assign the

value of a to temp by typing temp = a and pressing Enter. To restore the original value of a

at any point, type a = temp and press Enter.

1.7.4 Breakpoints

Breakpoints are added into code at the points where you want the execution to stop/hault, so

that you can step through the following lines. This is particularly useful when you have a

rough idea where the problem lies.

How to add - either of ways listed below

Choose Toggle Breakpoints from the Debug menu.

Press Ctrl+B or F9

Click the Edit pane to the left of the line number.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 14

Professional then highlights the line in red and adds the breakpoint to the list in the

Breakpoints pane.

To run the code up to the next breakpoint, press F5 or choose Start or Continue from the

Debug menu.

To run single Line step to following code press F10.

To clear a breakpoint, follow any one of below steps:-

Choose Toggle Breakpoints from the Debug menu.

Press Ctrl+B or F9

Click the Edit pane to the left of the line number.

To clear all breakpoints, press Ctrl+Shift+F9 or choose Clear All Breakpoints from the Debug

menu.

Technical Strategy and Solutions

V e r s i o n 1 . 0

P a g e | 15

2 CHANGE CONTROL

This Document may have been through various revisions.

This table shows updates over time and details any specific updates

Change Summary Date Doc Version

Change detail

Document Launch 02 Apr 2012 V1.0 Initial document launch