st: ckvar package for data validation

[Bill Rising <brising@stata.com>]

Hello Statalisters,

Thanks to Kit Baum, the -ckvar- package is now available from SSC.

The -ckvar- package is a package of Stata utilities which allow data  
validation or scoring rules to be attached to the variables in a  
dataset, making the dataset self-contained and self-validating, even  
across -merge-s or -append-s. Validation rules can be entered and  
edited via a dialog box, so even people who are not Stata-aware can  
add simple validation rules. For Stata aficionados, do-files can be  
attached to variables, allowing very complicated rules. Validation  
rules can be printed out in fashion similar to -codebook-, and the  
commands for attaching the validation rules can be dumped into a do- 
file for future use.

Enjoy,

Bill Rising

P.S. For the curious: all the magic is done via characteristics, but  
no knowledge of characteristics is needed to use the package.
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