The user interface was substantially modified in Version
4.0, providing a more modern look with rich, dynamic
components.
This also allows for the simplification of the interface for
beginning users by hiding more advanced options
until they're needed.
In Version 4.0.1:
A question mark now indicates that
online help is available by clicking on the
question mark. In previous versions of SDA, the online help was
accessed by clicking on the name of the option -- a mechanism
that was not clear to all users.
In Version 4.0.2:
Drag and drop from variable tree to input text
boxes
You can drag and drop a variable from the variable tree to an
input field on a form. (Note that although the variables in the
tree include both the variable name and the label, only the
variable name will be "dropped" into the input
field.)
In addition to "drag and drop," however, the procedure of
clicking on a variable to transfer it to the "Selected" box, and
then clicking a button to transfer the variable to the
appropriate input field continues to function as in previous
versions.
Right-click on variable tree to view variable
description
You can right-click on a variable in the tree
to bring up a context menu where you can click on View
variable to view a description of the variable's
contents.
This is a shortcut for the procedure of first selecting a
variable to put it in the "Selected" box and then clicking on the
"View" button.
In Version 4.1.6:
SDAWEB: Users can save analysis runs
Users can save analysis runs, retrieve and automatically
repopulate the appropriate analysis form with the options
specified that produced the run, and re-run the analysis. The
user can also modify the options on the form and save it, either
overwriting the current saved run or creating a new one by saving
it under a different name. A 'Save Run Options' accordion menu
has been added to the options forms for all analysis programs.
Users can provide a name and an optional label for the currently
specified options and save them. A list of saved runs is
displayed on a new 'Saved Runs' tab. From this list, the user
can click on the 'Run/Modify' button to automatically display the
appropriate analysis form and repopulate the form with the saved
options.
SDAWEB: Users can modify variables created by
RECODE or COMPUTE
A 'Modify' option has been added to the 'Actions' column of the
'List Created Variables' tab. When this option is selected,
either the recode or compute form is automatically displayed, and
the form is repopulated with the options that created the
variable, including the original recode map or compute statement.
This allows the user to modify the options and create a new
variable, either by overwriting the previous one or creating a
completely new one by changing the name of the output variable.
ACCESSIBLITY VERSION
In Version 4.0.1:
The Version 4.0 interface was modified to include an
accessibility interface that was compliant with Section
508. There is a checkbox at the top of the option screen to
enter that mode.
RE-RUNNING (BOOKMARKABLE) ANALYSIS OUTPUT
In Version 4.0.1:
When the result of one of the analysis programs (TABLES, MEANS,
etc.) is sent to your browser to be displayed, the URL in the
address window at the top of your browser now contains all of the
information necessary to re-run that specific analysis. There
are various ways to make use of this new feature:
You can bookmark the URL in your browser,
in order to run the same analysis later. This is a good way to
document compactly the various steps of your analysis.
You can also e-mail the URL to someone,
and the recipient can simply click on that URL in the e-mail to
run the analysis. This method is easier than saving the output
in a file and then sending someone the file that you have saved.
You can also copy and store one or several URLs in
a file, perhaps with some commentary. If you put the
URLs in a Word file, for example, you can define the URLs as
hyperlinks. Then you can control-click a URL within the file to
re-run the analysis. This is another way to describe and
document the analysis you are carrying out. You can also e-mail
such a file to someone else, who can then read your commentary
and re-run the analyses.
Note that the results for a restricted dataset will
still be restricted to those users who have been
granted access to that dataset. The analysis will not be re-run
on a restricted dataset unless the user is logged in and
authenticated.
NEW SDA MANAGER WEB APPLICATION (Version 4.0 and later)
A new SDA Manager web application is part of the SDA
distribution package for Version 4.0 and later. The SDA Manager
consolidates all of the management functions
for an SDA archive into one web interface. And all of the
configuration information for an SDA archive is consolidated into
one location -- a MySQL database. Previously, the management
functions were handled by separate applications, and the
configuration information was dispersed in various files across
the system.
The SDA Manager webapp also supports the configuration of
personal user workspaces. These user
workspaces enable analysts to create and store recoded and
computed variables in their own private storage areas.
The SDA Manager also allows an archive manager to easily
configure dataset-level access control for
specifying which users can access which datasets.
DOWNLOAD AND EDIT VARIABLE LIST (Version 4.1.1)
The current variable list can now be
downloaded in the SDA Manager. That list can then be edited
(further) and re-uploaded for the selected study. After re-
creating the online codebook, the revised variable list will be
in effect for the variable tree used by the analysis programs and
for the headings in the online codebook.
TURN OFF DEFAULT CHARTS OR COLOR CODING (Version 4.1.7)
SDAMANAGER provides new options to disable the
default display of charts and/or table color coding
for all datasets in the archive. If these new
options are turned on in SDAMANAGER, users will still be able to
display charts or apply color coding to tables, but those
features will have to be chosen manually by the user.
NEW INPUT FORMATS FOR CREATING SDA DATASETS
In Version 4.1:
The SDA Manager now accepts new data formats,
in addition to a text data file and a DDL metadata
file, as input for creating SDA datasets. The following formats
are now accepted:
An SPSS system file (for example, x.sav)
A Stata system file (x.dta)
A comma-separated values file (x.csv)
(with variable names in the first row)
A tab-separated values file (x.tsv)
(with variable names in the first row)
A variable named CASEID is no longer
required for creating an SDA dataset.
The new data formats now accepted (SPSS, Stata, etc.) do not
always have a CASEID variable, so this requirement was dropped
for all SDA datasets. However, if you define a CASEID variable,
it is still used for some checking, as when new variables are
added to a pre-existing SDA dataset.
In Version 4.1.1:
Non-English text can now be included in
character data variables. The text should be
encoded in UTF-8. This works best when data input comes from CSV
or TSV files.
IMPROVEMENTS TO USAGE REPORT GENERATION
In Version 4.1.5:
The "Generate Usage Report" tab added an option to use the
various -c options (for displaying client addresses). A date
picker widget was added to choose date ranges. An option was
added to filter client addresses. Wildcards can now be used with
client addresses and dataset names.
CHANGES TO ANALYSIS PROGRAMS (after Version 3.5)
ALL PROGRAMS (in Version 4.1.3)
Output made HTML5 compliant
The HTML output of the various analysis programs was modified to
be compliant with the HTML5 standard. However, this does not
affect the appearance of the output in any significant way.
MEANS (in Version 4.0)
Calculate a median for each cell
An option was added to calculate and display the median of the
dependent variable, in addition to the mean. If there is a very
large number of cases and table cells, there may not be enough
memory to calculate the exact median for all the cells of the
table. In that case an estimate of the median, called the
remedian, will be computed for some of the cells. An
asterisk next to the median statistic indicates that it was
estimated by the remedian.
MEANS (in Version 4.0.3)
Calculate a percentile for each cell
An option was added to calculate and display a specified
percentile (from the 1st to the 99th percentile) of the dependent
variable in each cell. Similar to the median, an estimate for
each percentile may be computed and indicated by an asterisk, if
the there is a very large number of cases and table cells.
Display the minimum and/or maximum value for each cell
The minimum and/or maximum value of the dependent variable for
the cases in each cell of the table can be displayed.
TABLES and MEANS (in Version 4.1.2)
Output results as a CSV file
SDA includes a new option in TABLES and MEANS to output
statistical results in CSV format for importing into other
applications (such as Excel) for creating custom charts. CSV
files can also be useful for preparing tables for inclusion in
manuscripts.
LOGIT (in Version 4.0)
Contribution to probability of '1' rather than '0'
An option was added to convert the logit or probit coefficients
to the scale of a probability, to show how much each independent
variable contributes to an increase in the probability that the
dependent variable is predicted to be '1' rather than '0'.
VIEW/DESCRIBE (in Version 4.0.2)
Bars to show relative frequencies
When a frequency distribution is displayed (for variables with
256 categories or fewer), each category is now displayed with a
horizontal bar to show the relative size of
the percent of cases falling into each category.
RECODE (in version 4.1.4)
Recode map made more flexible
Recode rules for character missing data and system missing can be
combined with other recode rules on the same line.
CHANGES TO THE XCODEBK PROGRAM
In Version 4.0.3:
Bars to show relative frequencies
When a frequency distribution is displayed (for variables with 40
categories or fewer -- or a number that can be specified with the
XCODEBK program), each category is now displayed with a
horizontal bar to show the relative size of the percent
of cases falling into each category.
In Version 4.1.3:
Codebook output improved
The style of the output was improved and made compliant with
HTML5.
The "frames = no" option was made the default output mode
and made easier to navigate.
Accessibility improvements were made for those using screen
readers
In Version 4.1.7:
Enhancements to hlink file option
The hlink file option now makes the specified hyperlinks
accessible from SDAWEB's variable tree, not just from the HTML
codebook. See the hlink documentation for details.
CHANGES TO THE SDALOG PROGRAM
In Version 4.1.5:
New and modified options
SDALOG added a -r [daterange] option so output can be limited to
a range of dates (or a single date). Also added a -a
[client_address] option that limits output to specified hostnames
or numeric IPs. Address strings can contain wildcards (*). The -s
[study_name] option was modified so the name can contain
wildcards (*). These options make the previous -f and -F options
obsolete. The -f and -F options will no longer be documented but
will not yet be removed.
CHANGES TO THE UNDERLYING ARCHITECTURE
SDA versions 4.0 and later have converted completely
from CGI to Java servlets for the web user interface.
(The previous SDA interface was a blend of CGI and servlet-based
components.) For an archivist who is setting up an SDA archive,
the installation procedure is simplified. The coordination of
CGI and servlet-based components -- which can be tricky to
configure -- is no longer necessary. Also, SDA 4.x requires ONLY
a servlet container (Tomcat) to run. An additional web server --
Apache or IIS -- is no longer required (since CGI is no longer
used).
Upgrading from SDA Version 3.5
What does this mean for organizations that already have SDA
archives? What changes in the new SDA version -- and what
doesn't? Many of the pieces of the current SDA architecture
remain the same as before. In particular, the SDA assets that
organizations have developed -- such as SDA datsets, codebooks,
etc. -- are fully compatible with SDA 4.x.
The things that DO NOT CHANGE in the
new architecture include:
The SDA dataset format
The SDA codebook format
The
SDA metadata syntax (DDL)
All the non-CGI SDA
programs (analysis programs, codebook creation program,
etc.)
The things that DO CHANGE are:
The CGI programs (hsda, hsda2, etc.) are
completely replaced by a servlet-based web user interface.
The configuration information that was
previously stored in HARC files is now stored in a MySQL
database. (However, a simple procedure,
HARCimport,
is provided in the SDA Manager to import the information from
existing HARC files into the database.)
Improvements in Version 4.1.4
The C++ analysis programs are 64-bit executables in SDA
4.1.4. (In previous versions of SDA
they were 32-bit.)
The configuration for automatically sending emails about
automated nightly maintenance tasks
is now done interactively via the SDAMANAGER. (Previously this
configuration had to be
done manually by editing an XML file on the server.)
MySQL 8 is now supported (along with the continuing support
of MySQL 5.7)
The password encoding algorithm used by SDAMANAGER has been
upgraded to the more secure bcrypt algorithm.