Printable View
I ran some preliminary trials to see if my data is storing well. The titles I had to then manually shifted over to the right a cell since they were not in the correct data columns. The issue appears to be that "Inifile" takes up two columns worth of data but only has one title. Does anyone know how to fix this glitch?
Thank you.
I assume you're looking at the .CVS data?
Sometimes features of the data being recorded can trigger inappropriate section breaks in .CVS data. Can you tell what data is being recorded in the two columns that Inifile is creating? In other words, give me an example of what is recorded in the two columns.
Attaching a .CVS file with the first 3-4 columns and 2-3 rows of data might help.
[quote=jkzuerch;19439]I ran some preliminary trials to see if my data is storing well. The titles I had to then manually shifted over to the right a cell since they were not in the correct data columns. The issue appears to be that "Inifile" takes up two columns worth of data but only has one title. Does anyone know how to fix this glitch?
Thank you.[/quote]
Hi.
If this issue continues to be relevant for you, please describe what you see in the cell beneath the "Inifile" variable name. for instance, an example experiment that I ran shows "default.mlp" in the cell directly under Inifile.
Also, how are you viewing the contents of the CSV file?
Some programs read-in text data with the incorrect default text import settings, such as creating two columns where a comma and a dot exist. In fact you may not want both a comma and a dot delimiter, and so you need to tell the text import function to use only the comma delimiter.
Excel should read in your CSV data without needing to tell it anything, because it sees the Comma-Separated Values; however, SPSS text import may need to be edited, because it tends to include too many default delimiters, and hence may sometimes create extra columns (which give the appearance of "shifted" data).
Hi jkzuerch.
Both User2000 and timdrichie gave great advice about how to fix the error with the file. I would also encourage you to upload a file that has this error because it would be easier to help you fix it if we could see exactly what output you are dealing with.
However, let me suggest that you just delete the “Inifile” column from your spreadsheet in the meantime so that you can analyze your data; I assume that you do not need it for any of your analyses. Based on my interpretation of your original post, it is just the titles in the first row of the recorded data that are not recorded in the correct column. Are all of the actual data values in rows 2 on down in the spreadsheet are recording the correct values in the correct cells of the spreadsheet?
If so, here is what I would do after I opened the original data spreadsheet in Excel or a similar program:
[LIST=1][*]Highlight and cut the entire row 1 of the original data spreadsheet. This should leave you with an empty row 1.[*]Open a new spreadsheet and paste row 1 from the original data spreadsheet in it.[*]In the new spreadsheet, delete the Inifile column heading that takes up the two cells.[*]In the original spreadsheet, delete whatever was recorded in the “Inifile” column.[*]Highlight the entire row 1 in the new spreadsheet and copy.[*]Highlight the empty row 1 of the original data spreadsheet and Paste the entire row from the new spreadsheet.[/LIST]
This should give you a version of the original data spreadsheet with all the column headings in the correct place.
Like I said, this is only to give a temporary solution for the practical purpose of analyzing your data. We’d love to help you fix the original error that you encountered so that it doesn’t happen again and that you can run your research without a problem. Please do think about uploading a version of your file that has the problem because we could help you fix it a lot faster that way.
Hope this helps!
Psychboiler.
Hi,
I apologize for the delay in my response. The attached document has a sample of the issue. The fourth column labeled "Inifile" stores its data into two separate columns so that the titles for the rest of the columns are not above the correct set of data.
Thank you in advance,
Joanna
Hi Joanna,
When I downloaded your file and it automatically openned in Excel, all of the values appeared to be properly aligned in their respective columns. I only had two odd things happen. First, there was a blank row between Subject numbers 17 and 18. I'm more curious about my second observation in the first row of the spreadsheet with the column headings. Why is the column U (the one with all of the cells containing Suppression Questionnaire 2) header "none" and why does column V have no header? Did you name a variable or questionnaire file in yourMediaLab study as "none?"
Psychboiler
hi Joanna,
I think I see what you mean. The file that you had include is named:
"Suppression_Study_-_Version_2,_Part_B.csv"
Notice the comma in "Version_2,_" --this is where the file path and name are being separated and shifting your columns to the right, such that "default.mlp" should be under Inifile, the date should be under the Date heading etc.
You want to see under "Exper" the entire path plus the entire file name, but this is not happening currently. I suspect that it is the comma within your file's name that is confusing MediaLab when it writes to the file.
Try renaming your experiment file to something simpler with no comma in the file title, such as "Suppression_Study_Version2_PartB.csv"
Run a few sessions, make sure that all new data is saved under the correct column. Please let me know if that solves it.
Hi,
Thank you. Yes, I will definitely avoid using a comma with my next study, since it is shifting the data over one column.
Cheers,
Joanna
Commas in file names? Huh.. yes, this could cause all sorts of issues! We'll have to make an allowance for this such that it will not throw off the reading of CSV files. Maybe have MediaLab/DirectRT extract any commas and replace them with periods (or somesuch) when creating the data files. Honestly, I'm surprised Windows even lets you use commas as they are illegal in short file names and they are used as argument delimiters when using command line type stuff. Interesting--glad it's working ok now!