CSPro Users Forum

Is there any possibility to tabulate fields which are Alpha?

Is it possible to convert alpha to numeric for tabulation?

Unfortunately, only numeric values can be tabulated. In general in CSPro, if you want to convert an alpha string to a number, you can use the tonumber function.

It would take some more advanced programming, but you could use the working storage dictionary, and the labels in it, to indirectly create a table from alpha values. Your tab logic might look something like this:
Download the attached program to see how this works.

Tabulating from alpha field could be useful, especially with multiple choice check boxes.

Someone suggested me to use the code below to convert alpha into numeric, but it fails to compile.

Could someone advice how this code could be used or how it could be improved?

Thank you


function alphachk ( alpha(26) alphavar, alphlen, alpha(10) tail );

{ Function to check entry of alpha string variables }
{ alphlen: length of first consecutive part for the field, e.g. A-G is 7 }
{ tail: the residual characters in the valid string, i.e., X, Y, W, or Z }
alphanew = alphalst[1:alphlen]; { string of acceptable values }
alphanew = concat( strip(alphanew), strip(tail) );
totlen = length(strip(alphanew));
aok = 0; { if aok = 0, string is bad, if aok = 1, string is good; assume bad to start, i.e., empty string }
alphsize = length(strip(alphavar));
if alphsize then { not empty string }
{ check for "?" as only character }
aok = (alphavar[1:1] = "?" & alphsize = 1);
if !aok then { if not a single "?", check string }
aok = 1; { now assume string is good until we know otherwise }
l = 1; { l is position in string of acceptable values }
a = 1; { a is position in input string }
{ loop while the string is still good and there are more letters }
while aok & a <= alphsize do
aok = pos(alphavar[a:1],alphanew[l:totlen-l+1]);
if aok then { letter is acceptable }
l = l + aok; { increment l to position after letter in string of acceptable values }
a = a + 1 { increment a to next letter in input string }
endif
enddo
endif
endif;
alphachk = (!aok); { alphachk = 0 - if string is good, = 1 - if string is bad }
end;

The reason that this code may not have compiled for you was that you needed to declare several variables at the top of your code.

What this function does it check whether a string includes only valid multiple-response characters. The second parameter specifies the number of choices taken from the beginning of the alphabet. The third parameter allows for additional characters to be specified.

The function makes sure that each multiple choice selection is entered only once, and that the selections are entered in alphabetical order. See attached for an application that shows this, or look at this code:

Many thanks!

Sorry, I'm a newbee in CSPro. Can somebody help me with tutorial how to tabulate the multiple choice using alpha field. Applying "BreastFeeding" sample I am able to input the data in checkboxes. How can I analyze the values I got i.e frequency of Q1_1 ... Q1_5 from all cases.
I also tried with Fake_String sample but in my case I let the data input with a,b,c,d,e and not with numeric value so I cannot tabulate using this method.

Thank you for any support.

if you want to convert an alpha string to a number, you can use the tonumber function. It would take some more advanced programming, but you could use the working storage dictionary, and the labels in it, to indirectly create a table from alpha values. Your tab logic might look something like this: