DF_SSvars — Display essential variable information from data dictionary
DF_SSvars
{study}
[-S parts format]
[-P #, #-#]
[-F #, #-#]
[-prune]
[
[-M string]
| [-m string]
]
[-v]
DF_SSvars lists variables defined in the study data dictionary.
The report creates a compact variable listing of selected information from the data dictionary. The presentation is typically one line per variable, unlike DF_SSschema, which presents multiple lines per variable.
The output is organized by plate, where each plate begins with plate-specific information followed by the variable listing.
The plate-specific information includes:
plate number
plate descriptive label
is DFSEQ in the barcode or the first data
field on the page?
TYPE information from the visit map, file map and conditional plate map where the value may be one or more of:
Required. listed as required for at least one visit
Optional. listed as optional for at least one visit
Conditional. defined in the conditional plate map
Missed Visit Notification. plate signals that the visit was missed
Early Termination. plate signals early termination of a visit cycle
The variable-specific information for each plate lists each variable, one per line. Each line begins with the variable field number [6]. If the field is:
essential, a * is displayed after the field number,
required, a + is displayed after the field number,
otherwise, a - is displayed, or nothing.
If a minimum reason level is defined, the optional/required/essential symbol is followed by the minimum reason level.
Any combination and ordering of the following parts of the variable definition may be selected using the -S option.
v | variable name |
V | alias |
D | variable description |
S | style |
L | legal values |
F | format |
d | VisitDate tag (identifies subject scheduling visit dates) |
P | pivot year for dates |
i | imputation method for dates |
H | help message |
W | maximum width (stored in database) |
w | display width (visible on-screen) |
P | plate number |
m | module[instance on plate] |
M | module description |
J | edit checks on field entry |
K | edit checks on field exit |
j | edit checks on plate entry |
k | edit checks on plate exit |
C | code labels |
s | skip field specifications |
T | data type (int, string, check, choice, date, time) |
B | blank space |
Note: If a field attribute is too long to fit in the specified space it is truncated. In the format string %-25s means left justification in a 25 character space, and %25s means right justification. Additional space may be added between columns, e.g. -S v,D,S "%-15s %-35s %-25s" puts 2 spaces between each of the 3 columns.
Note that the value for variable type (code letter T)
encodes both the variable's base type and it's style name.
This can make it more difficult to retrieve variables by their style name
only as the base type must also be known.
To include variable attributes other than those included by default, or to
change the formatting used to display the attributes, use -S.
The attributes to be included are specified by including their
corresponding code letter(s) from the above list, comma-delimiting
multiple code letters as necessary.
The code letters must be followed by a formatting specification.
If more than one code letter is included, the corresponding formatting
specification must be enclosed in " as it will contain more than
one formatting option.
The attribute selected by the first code letter is formatted with the first
formatting option, the second code letter with the second option, and so on.
Formatting options follow the same specifications that can be found
described in other sections, such as
Formatting Specifications.
To select the variables to be listed, use one or more of
the -P, -F, and -M|m options.
Use -P to select variables from specified plates,
-F to select variables by field number, and
-M|m to select variables which match on one or
more specified strings.
String matching, as requested by -M|m,
is performed case sensitive and independent of word boundaries.
For example,
-M Date will match VisitDate but
not date.
The match can occur on any variable attribute, not just those variable
attributes selected by -S.
Matching can occur on more than one string.
In such a case, the possible string matches are listed, space-delimited,
following the option.
If the variable to be selected must match on all of the specified strings,
use -M.
Conversely, if the variable to be selected may match on any of the specified
strings (at least one must match), use -m.
-S parts format | Select variable attributes to be listed and their
output format (default is:
|
-P | Select plates |
-F | Select variables by their field position |
-prune | Exclude variable if all requested attributes are not defined |
-M string, -m string | Select variable if all (or any in the case of
-m) specified strings are found in the
definition |
-v | Suppress the variable listing, showing only plate information |
Example 2.102. Select variables from plate 2 containing the
string date in any attribute
-P 2 -M date
DF_SSvars: Variable Specifications. DFstudy 2. Dec 09,2014 14:06 PAGE 1
PLATE 002 Patient Entry Form (23 fields)
DFSEQ: in the barcode, TYPE: Required
Name Field Description Style Store Format Legal
9- VISDAT Entry Date S03 Study Date 8 dd/mm/yy 01/ ...
12+ BDATE Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) SimpleDate 8 dd/mm/yy
20+ SFDATE Date of First Study Follo S60 Future Date 8 dd/mm/yy 01/ ...
Note that the match string, date, does not appear in the
report output.
In this case it matches the variable's type attribute which is not
displayed by default.
Example 2.103. List variables from plate 2 that have a variable
type attribute beginning with date
-P 2 -M "%T date"
DF_SSvars: Variable Specifications. DFstudy 2. Dec 09,2014 14:08 PAGE 1
PLATE 002 Patient Entry Form (23 fields)
DFSEQ: in the barcode, TYPE: Required
Name Field Description Style Store Format Legal
9- VISDAT Entry Date S03 Study Date 8 dd/mm/yy 01/ ...
12+ BDATE Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) SimpleDate 8 dd/mm/yy
20+ SFDATE Date of First Study Follo S60 Future Date 8 dd/mm/yy 01/ ...
The output in this case is the same as the output from the previous example.
The data type of each of these variables is date although
the variables have different variable style attributes.
Example 2.104. List all required date variables from plates 1 and 2
-P 1,2 -M "%T date" "%A required"
DF_SSvars: Variable Specifications. DFstudy 2. Dec 09,2014 14:10 PAGE 1
PLATE 001 Blood Pressure Screening Visits (38 fields)
DFSEQ: in the barcode, TYPE: Required
Name Field Description Style Store Format Legal
33+ BDATE Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) SimpleDate 8 yy/mm/dd
PLATE 002 Patient Entry Form (23 fields)
DFSEQ: in the barcode, TYPE: Required
Name Field Description Style Store Format Legal
12+ BDATE Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) SimpleDate 8 dd/mm/yy
20+ SFDATE Date of First Study Follo S60 Future Date 8 dd/mm/yy 01/ ...
Example 2.105. List all dates and all required variables from plates 1 and 2
-P 1,2 -m "%T date" "%A required"
This example differs from the previous one in the use of -m
instead of -M.
This includes variables that match at least one of the selection strings.
The resulting variable list is much larger than for the previous example and
is omitted for that reason.
Example 2.107. Display the name, description, and legal values
for all variables on plates 1, 3 and 6 through 8 that have the string
VisitDate in an attribute
-S v,D,L "%-15s %-25s %s" -P 1,3,6~8 -M VisitDate
[6] The variable field number also corresponds to the order in which variables were defined on the plate, the order in which they are traversed in DFexplore and the order in which they are stored in the study database records.