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Re: st: RE: New command in SSC: -checkfor2-


From   [email protected]
To   [email protected]
Subject   Re: st: RE: New command in SSC: -checkfor2-
Date   Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:12:10 -0400

Ok.
I will consider a table doing something like:
-on the top: available
-on the bottom: unavailable
Allow me some time to make the necessary changes.
I also suppress all the red marks (replaced by green).
Many thanks for your support. Stata list is indeed the
best place to learn stata.
Amadou.



                                                                                                                                               
                      Jean-Benoit Hardouin                                                                                                     
                      <jean-benoit.hardouin@ors        To:       [email protected]                                                
                      centre.org>                      cc:                                                                                     
                      Sent by:                         Subject:  Re: st: RE: New command in SSC: -checkfor2-                                   
                      owner-statalist@hsphsun2.                                                                                                
                      harvard.edu                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                               
                      09/19/2005 03:02 PM                                                                                                      
                      Please respond to                                                                                                        
                      statalist                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                               




[email protected] a �crit :

>Jean,
>I will try to improve my code based on your remarks.
>Essentially, I used anything in place of varlist because with the latter
>the program aborts when a variable specified does not
>exist. But this is the core of the program: check whether
>the variable exists or not.
>
>
OK, that's right (I have considered only one (other) aim which interests
me : the possibility to obtain a list of the variables with a little
amount of missing values)

>I will consider the use of return, but why a table?
>
>
If you have full of variables, your outputs are difficult to read: a
table allows obtaining a synthetic result !
Best,
Jean-Benoit

>I'll contact you privately to further discuss about these topics.
>Best regards.
>Amadou.
>
>
>
>

>                      Jean-Benoit Hardouin

>                      <jean-benoit.hardouin@ors        To:
[email protected]
>                      centre.org>                      cc:

>                      Sent by:                         Subject:  Re: st: RE:
New command in SSC: -checkfor2-
>                      owner-statalist@hsphsun2.

>                      harvard.edu

>

>

>                      09/19/2005 02:28 PM

>                      Please respond to

>                      statalist

>

>

>

>
>
>
>
>Dear Amadou,
>I find several drawbacks in the programing of -checkfor2- :
>      - the use of "anything" instead of "varlist" in the syntax command
>avoids to use list of variables as var1-var10 or var*
>      - the idea to use a global macro variable is, from my mind, a bad
>idea (I prefer a "return" command)
>      - the "red" characters concerns by convention the error messages
>and are not adapted to an output
>      - the "outputs" as string are not very easy to read when we have
>full of variables (why not a table)
>      - the smcl syntax in the hlp file is uncorrect to format the
>paragraphs: the result is not very nice
>      - the classical way to present the hlp file is to separate the
>description of the options and the syntax (in 2 parts)
>I hope this help !
>The idea of your command is good, but your command is not very easy to
>use !
>
>/*Amadou, pas de probl�me si tu as besoin d'aide en fran�ais pour
>am�liorer ta commande !*/
>
>Jean-Benoit Hardouin
>
>
>*******************************************
>Jean-Benoit Hardouin
>Regional Health Observatory - Orl�ans - France
>
>Biostatisticien
>Observatoire R�gional de la Sant� du Centre
>BP 2439
>1, rue Porte Madeleine
>45032 Orl�ans Cedex 1
>t�l : 02 38 74 48 80
>fax : 02 38 74 48 81
>Email : [email protected]
>*********************************************
>
>
>
>[email protected] a �crit :
>
>
>
>>A long way to go before becoming a good stata programmer.
>>
>>
>>
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>>Thanks to Nick.
>>
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>
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>>I will make the necessary corrections today and resubmit.
>>
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>>You've made two very good observations. And I really need
>>
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>>that kind of remarks to help me improve my first steps as
>>
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>>a real stata programmer.
>>
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>>I am so used of nmissing that I guess I've used it without even
>>
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>>noticing it.
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>>In the same token, working with DHS data usually require sorting
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>>data before attempting many managements.
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>>I guess there also, my old reflexes just prompted up, without even
>>
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>>noticing.
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>>Again, thanks for your good remarks. In the future, I'll be more
>>
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>>cautious to these kind of details.
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>>Amadou.
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>
>>                     "Nick Cox"
>>
>>
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>
>
>>                     <[email protected]>           To:
>>
>>
><[email protected]>
>
>
>>                     Sent by:                         cc:
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>                     owner-statalist@hsphsun2.        Subject:  st: RE: New
>>
>>
>command in SSC: -checkfor2-
>
>
>>                     harvard.edu
>>
>>
>
>
>
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>>                     09/19/2005 01:05 PM
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>                     Please respond to
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>                     statalist
>>
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>>Note that -checkfor2- runs the user-written command -nmissing-
>>which would need to be installed separately if a user had
>>not previously installed that. The help file makes
>>a cross-reference to this program but does not spell out
>>that it is required.
>>
>>As it happens, it is not clear why -nmissing- is used at
>>all, as it is only employed to pick up the number of
>>missings which could, and indeed should, be done much
>>more efficiently and directly with a -count-.
>>
>>Another detail that is worthy of note is that -checkfor2-
>>-sort-s on each variable in turn. This is not documented,
>>appears unnecessary for what the program does, and is
>>indeed a misfeature as in general -checkfor2- will
>>change the sort order of your data. I think it is a
>>good principle that Stata commands should only change
>>the sort order of your data when that is a purpose
>>of the command and is also explicitly documented.
>>
>>Nick
>>[email protected]
>>
>>[email protected]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Thanks to Prof. Baum, a new Stata command is available from the SSC
>>>archives:
>>>
>>>-checkfor2- A Stata module to check whether a variable exists
>>>or not in a
>>>dataset.
>>>
>>>Description:
>>>
>>>checkfor2 is a routine to check for existence of a list of
>>>variables within a
>>>(usually big) data set.
>>>checkfor2 searchs through the data whether the variable
>>>exists. If it does not,
>>>a message is issued.
>>>If it does, the program looks for missings structure.
>>>Finally, if requested, the
>>>program stores the
>>>available variables in a macro for future use. A tolerance
>>>level for missings
>>>could also be set.
>>>To install the package, type:
>>>
>>>  .ssc install checkfor2
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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