Textpad and SPSS 14.0

[Gonzales, Dana L]

I've noticed a slight glitch with Textpad and 14.0. If there is an error
in the syntax, the SPSS output quickly notifies me of the error. But
when the syntax is correct, I see the message "transformations pending"
in SPSS at the bottom of the window. This remains for quite a long time,
even in small datasets. When I close the dataset saving the changes, and
reopen - the dataset includes the changes from the syntax. Has anyone
else noticed this?

 

Thanks,

 

Dana Barber Gonzales, PhD

Assistant Director Medical Residency Program

Family and Preventive Medicine

College of Medicine

4301 W. Markham St. Slot 530

Little Rock, AR 72205-7199

Office: 501-686-6593

Fax: [phone]

 


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[Keith McCormick]

Hi Dana,

I can't tell everything that might be going on from your message, but
there is one detail that caught my eye.  "This remains for quite a
long time, even in small datasets."  This implies that it requires a
long time to run, which doesn't see to be the case.

"Transformations pending" means that a transformation has been run,
but a procedure has not yet been run.  Perhaps your syntax ends with a
transformation without an "execute" or another procedure.  Executes
are rarely needed, but if the syntax ends in a transformation this
could occur.  What I can't tell from your post is the role that
Textpad plays in this, or what is having when you reopen it.  I hope I
understood your post.

Best, Keith
keithmccormick.com

On 6/21/06, Gonzales, Dana L <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I've noticed a slight glitch with Textpad and 14.0. If there is an error
> in the syntax, the SPSS output quickly notifies me of the error. But
> when the syntax is correct, I see the message "transformations pending"
> in SPSS at the bottom of the window. This remains for quite a long time,
> even in small datasets. When I close the dataset saving the changes, and
> reopen - the dataset includes the changes from the syntax. Has anyone
> else noticed this?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Dana Barber Gonzales, PhD
>
> Assistant Director Medical Residency Program
>
> Family and Preventive Medicine
>
> College of Medicine
>
> 4301 W. Markham St. Slot 530
>
> Little Rock, AR 72205-7199
>
> Office: 501-686-6593
>
> Fax: [phone]
>
>
>
>
> Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.  If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
>

[Cathie Atkinson]

I don't use textpad and I've noticed this too.  I thought it was
associated with the multiple data sets I usually have open.

At 04:29 PM 6/21/2006, Gonzales, Dana L wrote:

>I've noticed a slight glitch with Textpad and 14.0. If there is an error
>in the syntax, the SPSS output quickly notifies me of the error. But
>when the syntax is correct, I see the message "transformations pending"
>in SPSS at the bottom of the window. This remains for quite a long time,
>even in small datasets. When I close the dataset saving the changes, and
>reopen - the dataset includes the changes from the syntax. Has anyone
>else noticed this?
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>
>
>Dana Barber Gonzales, PhD
>
>Assistant Director Medical Residency Program
>
>Family and Preventive Medicine
>
>College of Medicine
>
>4301 W. Markham St. Slot 530
>
>Little Rock, AR 72205-7199
>
>Office: 501-686-6593
>
>Fax: [phone]
>
>
>
>
>Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any
>attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
>may contain confidential and privileged information.  Any
>unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is
>prohibited.  If you are not the intended recipient, please contact
>the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

[Richard Ristow]

Not a Textpad user, but curious:

At 04:29 PM 6/21/2006, Gonzales, Dana L wrote:

>I've noticed a slight glitch with Textpad and 14.0. If there is an
>error in the syntax, the SPSS output quickly notifies me of the error.

So far, so good, of course.

>But when the syntax is correct, I see the message "transformations
>pending" in SPSS at the bottom of the window. This remains for quite a
>long time, even in small datasets. When I close the dataset saving the
>changes, and reopen - the dataset includes the changes from the
>syntax. Has anyone else noticed this?

On the description, this doesn't sound like a particularly Textpad
thing. It's interesting if the convention for transferring text between
Textpad and SPSS has changed enough in SPSS 14 to make this work
differently, though.

>I see the message "transformations pending" in SPSS at the bottom of
>the window. This remains for quite a long time, even in small datasets.

That message will never clear by itself, no matter how small the
dataset. As Keith McCormick noted, it's because of SPSS's "lazy
evaluation": calculate transformed values only just when they're
needed. ("Lazy evaluation" isn't a pejorative. It's an important
efficiency technique, which is why SPSS uses it.)

You can clear "transformations pending", and see the transformation
results, by clicking, on the menu, Transform/ Run Pending
Transformations. (It's at the bottom of the 'Transform' list.) That
puts in a EXECUTE statement which is, alas, the reason a lot of people
think you need an EXECUTE when you do transformations; but, anyway, it
does the job. SPSS has been this way, probably as long as SPSS for
Windows has been around.

That leaves the question: why does this happen to you when you're
editing code in Textpad for SPSS 14, when it didn't when you edited
code in Textpad for earlier versions?

The answer is, it oughtn't to make any difference: Textpad hasn't
changed; and, in that respect, SPSS hasn't changed.

Check carefully, to make sure you weren't submitting code with a
procedure or EXECUTE before, and are now submitting code that doesn't
have those.

If none of this helps, post some code that does give you
Transformations Pending, and that you think shouldn't, or didn't with
earlier SPSS releases. It'll be possible to comment on the code itself;
as for running from Textpad, some other Textpad user on the list may be
able to help.

Good luck,
Richard Ristow

[Parveen Sharma]

I would also go with Richard. It seems the following statement is missing at
the end of the code

EXECUTE.


Regards,
Parveen

On 6/28/06, Richard Ristow <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Not a Textpad user, but curious:
>
> At 04:29 PM 6/21/2006, Gonzales, Dana L wrote:
>
> >I've noticed a slight glitch with Textpad and 14.0. If there is an
> >error in the syntax, the SPSS output quickly notifies me of the error.
>
> So far, so good, of course.
>
> >But when the syntax is correct, I see the message "transformations
> >pending" in SPSS at the bottom of the window. This remains for quite a
> >long time, even in small datasets. When I close the dataset saving the
> >changes, and reopen - the dataset includes the changes from the
> >syntax. Has anyone else noticed this?
>
> On the description, this doesn't sound like a particularly Textpad
> thing. It's interesting if the convention for transferring text between
> Textpad and SPSS has changed enough in SPSS 14 to make this work
> differently, though.
>
> >I see the message "transformations pending" in SPSS at the bottom of
> >the window. This remains for quite a long time, even in small datasets.
>
> That message will never clear by itself, no matter how small the
> dataset. As Keith McCormick noted, it's because of SPSS's "lazy
> evaluation": calculate transformed values only just when they're
> needed. ("Lazy evaluation" isn't a pejorative. It's an important
> efficiency technique, which is why SPSS uses it.)
>
> You can clear "transformations pending", and see the transformation
> results, by clicking, on the menu, Transform/ Run Pending
> Transformations. (It's at the bottom of the 'Transform' list.) That
> puts in a EXECUTE statement which is, alas, the reason a lot of people
> think you need an EXECUTE when you do transformations; but, anyway, it
> does the job. SPSS has been this way, probably as long as SPSS for
> Windows has been around.
>
> That leaves the question: why does this happen to you when you're
> editing code in Textpad for SPSS 14, when it didn't when you edited
> code in Textpad for earlier versions?
>
> The answer is, it oughtn't to make any difference: Textpad hasn't
> changed; and, in that respect, SPSS hasn't changed.
>
> Check carefully, to make sure you weren't submitting code with a
> procedure or EXECUTE before, and are now submitting code that doesn't
> have those.
>
> If none of this helps, post some code that does give you
> Transformations Pending, and that you think shouldn't, or didn't with
> earlier SPSS releases. It'll be possible to comment on the code itself;
> as for running from Textpad, some other Textpad user on the list may be
> able to help.
>
> Good luck,
> Richard Ristow
>

--
__________________________
Parveen Sharma
Ph: 9899790674 (Delhi)