arthur-shaw
commented
10 months ago @kbjarkefur , I like this idea. All of these commands would have shared code (e.g., capture variables in a macro, return the macro as r(varlist), message about number/list of variables, etc.). All of these commands would benefit from having the shared documentation with details on each sub-command. And all of these command would probably have a common API (e.g., limit scope of selection by variable name glob, etc.).
The only change I might propose is the name. For the main command, consider sel_vars. For the sub-command, consider is_{suso_type}. In pseudo English, this would read: select variables that are {suso_type}.
For the API, here's a link to one part of our past discussions.
For the implementation of these question type selectors, here's a synthesis of what I've done in cleanstart:
is_single_select. Single-select question whose answer options aren't linked to a roster ID or to a list question:type == "SingleQuestion" & (mi(linked_to_roster_id) & mi(linked_to_question_id))is_numeric. Numeric question:type == "NumericQuestion"has_decimals. Is not an integer:is_integer == 0is_text. Is a text question:type == "TextQuestion" & mi(mask)follows_pattern. Text question that follows a pattern:type_var == "TextQuestion" & !mi(mask)is_list. List question:type == "TextListQuestion"is_multi_select. Is a multi-select question:type == "MultyOptionsQuestion"is_multi_ordered. Multi-select with question order recorded:type == "MultyOptionsQuestion" & are_answers_ordered == 1. (NOTE: in the data shared, renameare_answered_orderedtoare_answers_ordered. Will be fixing this upstream momentarily.)is_multi_yn. Multi-select yes/no:type == "MultyOptionsQuestion" & yes_no_view == 1is_multi_checkbox. Multi-select checkbox:type == "MultyOptionsQuestion" & yes_no_view == 1is_date.type == "DateTimeQuestion" & is_timestamp == 0is_timestamp.type == "DateTimeQuestion" & is_timestamp == 0is_gps. GPS question:type == "GpsCoordinateQuestion"is_variable. Computed SuSo variable:type == "Variable"is_picture. Picture capture question:type == "MultimediaQuestion"is_barcode. Need to look this up.type == " "QRBarcodeQuestion""
My only concern is that this would require a fair number of metadata characteristics. Some might be able to be combined (e.g., linked_to_roster_id and linked_to_question_id_var could be combined into a is_linked indicator). Most need to stay as his.
Here's my quick compilation:
- General:
type - Linked or not:
linked_to_roster_id,linked_to_question_id - Numeric:
is_integer - Text:
mask - Multi-select:
are_answers_ordered,yes_no_view
kbjarkefur
@arthur-shaw , when I looked at this with fresh eyes I thought of a way that I think will be better to do the
sel_is_numeric,sel_is_stringcommands. Creating one command for eachsel_is_???will be a pain to maintain across that many files. So how about we make the type a sub-command. Like this:sel_is numeric,sel_is stringetc. Then there is only one commandsel_isand it accepts the sub-commands below:sel_is numeric. All numeric questions.sel_is string. All questions that contain text (i.e., Text and List types)sel_is text. Text questions onlysel_is list. List question onlysel_is multi_select. All multi-select questions.sel_is multi_ordered. Multi-select questions where answer order is captured.sel_is multi_yn. Multi-select with yes/no answers.sel_is multi_checkbox. Multi-select with checkbox input.sel_is gps.I can create this quite quickly. But let me know what you think first