trouble reading OLD save files using Alteryx

[Catherine Kubitschek]

I've got a consultant trying to read data from SPSS system/save files. He's having no trouble with a file originally created in SPSS 22 but older (and smaller) files are causing problems.

The consultant is running Alteryx 10.6 on a Windows 7 machine.

The older files were created in UNIX using SPSS 6. The steps we've taken:

• We've added the ".sav" extension. 
  
• When that didn't help we tried opening the file in SPSS (19, 22, 23, 24) and resaving it with a different name. SPSS has no trouble reading the old files but the new saved files still don't sit well with Alteryx.
• I tried computing a dummy variable and then executing before the save - the theory being that it would force a read through the data and that might make a difference.
  
• Saving a modern version of the file has been done on three different Windows 7 computers (including the computer that created the "modern" working SPSS 22 file.

The Alteryx error reads:

Start: Designer x64: Started running  at 9/8/2016 3:14:04 PM

Error: Designer x64: The Designer x64 reported: InboundNamedPipe::ReadFile:  Not enough bytes read. The pipe has been ended.

End: Designer x64: Finished running  in 4.5 seconds with 1 error

===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD

[Jon Peck]

The first question is what Alteryx is using to read the sav file.  They ought to use the free libraries that IBM provides, but if they are using homemade code that thinks it understands the sav file format, they could be in trouble.  The sav file format has been extended many times, although it remains backwards compatible.

Since resaving the files with V22 or later doesn't help, it wouldn't be the old format, which changed in SPSS 7.5, that is the likely cause.  One possibility  is that there is a character encoding issue.  If Statistics is saving the file in Unicode mode, try using code page mode and vice versa.

No need for a transformation to force a data pass.  SAVE always forces a pass.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 1:41 PM, Catherine Kubitschek <[hidden email]> wrote:

I've got a consultant trying to read data from SPSS system/save files. He's having no trouble with a file originally created in SPSS 22 but older (and smaller) files are causing problems.

The consultant is running Alteryx 10.6 on a Windows 7 machine.

The older files were created in UNIX using SPSS 6. The steps we've taken:

• We've added the ".sav" extension. 
  
• When that didn't help we tried opening the file in SPSS (19, 22, 23, 24) and resaving it with a different name. SPSS has no trouble reading the old files but the new saved files still don't sit well with Alteryx.
• I tried computing a dummy variable and then executing before the save - the theory being that it would force a read through the data and that might make a difference.
  
• Saving a modern version of the file has been done on three different Windows 7 computers (including the computer that created the "modern" working SPSS 22 file.

The Alteryx error reads:

Start: Designer x64: Started running  at 9/8/2016 3:14:04 PM

Error: Designer x64: The Designer x64 reported: InboundNamedPipe::ReadFile:  Not enough bytes read. The pipe has been ended.

End: Designer x64: Finished running  in 4.5 seconds with 1 error

Does anyone have any ideas what might be going on with the SPSS 6 files? Is there a better way to be certain they're saved in a more modern SPSS as if the newer SPSS had read the data in from flat files and done the complete analysis itself?

Any suggestions are appreciated. We're working from the Alteryx side as well.

Thanks.

Catherine

===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD

--

===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD

[Catherine Kubitschek]

Thanks, Jon -- both for pointing us in a direction and for the information on file formats and the power of SAVE.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 4:09 PM, Jon Peck <[hidden email]> wrote:

The first question is what Alteryx is using to read the sav file.  They ought to use the free libraries that IBM provides, but if they are using homemade code that thinks it understands the sav file format, they could be in trouble.  The sav file format has been extended many times, although it remains backwards compatible.

Since resaving the files with V22 or later doesn't help, it wouldn't be the old format, which changed in SPSS 7.5, that is the likely cause.  One possibility  is that there is a character encoding issue.  If Statistics is saving the file in Unicode mode, try using code page mode and vice versa.

No need for a transformation to force a data pass.  SAVE always forces a pass.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2016 at 1:41 PM, Catherine Kubitschek <[hidden email]> wrote:

I've got a consultant trying to read data from SPSS system/save files. He's having no trouble with a file originally created in SPSS 22 but older (and smaller) files are causing problems.

The consultant is running Alteryx 10.6 on a Windows 7 machine.

The older files were created in UNIX using SPSS 6. The steps we've taken:

• We've added the ".sav" extension. 
  
• When that didn't help we tried opening the file in SPSS (19, 22, 23, 24) and resaving it with a different name. SPSS has no trouble reading the old files but the new saved files still don't sit well with Alteryx.
• I tried computing a dummy variable and then executing before the save - the theory being that it would force a read through the data and that might make a difference.
  
• Saving a modern version of the file has been done on three different Windows 7 computers (including the computer that created the "modern" working SPSS 22 file.

The Alteryx error reads:

Start: Designer x64: Started running  at 9/8/2016 3:14:04 PM

Error: Designer x64: The Designer x64 reported: InboundNamedPipe::ReadFile:  Not enough bytes read. The pipe has been ended.

End: Designer x64: Finished running  in 4.5 seconds with 1 error

Does anyone have any ideas what might be going on with the SPSS 6 files? Is there a better way to be certain they're saved in a more modern SPSS as if the newer SPSS had read the data in from flat files and done the complete analysis itself?

Any suggestions are appreciated. We're working from the Alteryx side as well.

Thanks.

Catherine

===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD

--

===================== To manage your subscription to SPSSX-L, send a message to [hidden email] (not to SPSSX-L), with no body text except the command. To leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF SPSSX-L For a list of commands to manage subscriptions, send the command INFO REFCARD