Blair,
here's the next suggestion. As a default ML writes strings as (A50) into the syntax. Why not let the user decide how long the strings should be? You could add another parameter or field right next to the "write as text" field where one could enter the prefered length. Alternatively, by default ML could just write the maximum length within SPSS.
And yes, I know that I could alter the syntax, but a) I can't (http://www.empirisoft.com/Support/showthread.php?t=403) and b) it would be much more convenient if one could chose.
Thanks !
Rene