[R] library(foreign) read.spss warning

[Matt Shotwell]

There is some information about this subtype in the PSPP source code,
and for other subtypes not yet implemented by read.spss. The PSPP source
code indicates that this subtype consists of "Value labels for long
strings", which isn't very illuminating to me (probably because I don't
use PSPP, or SPSS, though I increasingly have need to import SPSS data
files). Copied below are the relevant bits.

-Matt

>From (the PSPP source file) src/data/sys-file-reader.c:

enum
  {
    /* subtypes 0-2 unknown */
    EXT_INTEGER       = 3,      /* Machine integer info. */
    EXT_FLOAT         = 4,      /* Machine floating-point info. */
    EXT_VAR_SETS      = 5,      /* Variable sets. */
    EXT_DATE          = 6,      /* DATE. */
    EXT_MRSETS        = 7,      /* Multiple response sets. */
    EXT_DATA_ENTRY    = 8,      /* SPSS Data Entry. */
    /* subtypes 9-10 unknown */
    EXT_DISPLAY       = 11,     /* Variable display parameters. */
    /* subtype 12 unknown */
    EXT_LONG_NAMES    = 13,     /* Long variable names. */
    EXT_LONG_STRINGS  = 14,     /* Long strings. */
    /* subtype 15 unknown */
    EXT_NCASES        = 16,     /* Extended number of cases. */
    EXT_FILE_ATTRS    = 17,     /* Data file attributes. */
    EXT_VAR_ATTRS     = 18,     /* Variable attributes. */
    EXT_MRSETS2       = 19,     /* Multiple response sets (extended). */
    EXT_ENCODING      = 20,     /* Character encoding. */
    EXT_LONG_LABELS   = 21      /* Value labels for long strings. */
  };

and

  static const struct extension_record_type types[] =
    {                   
      /* Implemented record types. */
      { EXT_INTEGER,      4, 8 },
      { EXT_FLOAT,        8, 3 },
      { EXT_MRSETS,       1, 0 }, 
      { EXT_DISPLAY,      4, 0 },
      { EXT_LONG_NAMES,   1, 0 },
      { EXT_LONG_STRINGS, 1, 0 },
      { EXT_NCASES,       8, 2 },
      { EXT_FILE_ATTRS,   1, 0 },
      { EXT_VAR_ATTRS,    1, 0 },
      { EXT_MRSETS2,      1, 0 },
      { EXT_ENCODING,     1, 0 },
      { EXT_LONG_LABELS,  1, 0 },

      /* Ignored record types. */
      { EXT_VAR_SETS,     0, 0 },
      { EXT_DATE,         0, 0 },
      { EXT_DATA_ENTRY,   0, 0 },
    };


On Fri, 2011-03-25 at 18:39 -0500, Robert Baer wrote:
> I got the following:
> > library(foreign)
> > swal = read.spss("swallowing.sav", to.data.frame =TRUE)
> Warning message:
> In read.spss("swallowing.sav", to.data.frame = TRUE) :
>   swallowing.sav: Unrecognized record type 7, subtype 21 encountered in system file
> > 
> 
> The bulk of the data seems to read in  a usable form, but I'm curious about what might be getting lost because I don't know how to translate type 7, subtype 21.  I did not generate the SPSS data so I'm not certain of the version, but I'm assuming version 18 or 19.  I did a quick Find on the PSPP manual for Type 7 and subtype 21 and came up dry.
> 
> Any insights or clues how I might learn more?  
> 
> Thanks,
> Rob
> 
> 
> > R.Version()
> $platform
> [1] "i386-pc-mingw32"
> 
> $arch
> [1] "i386"
> 
> $os
> [1] "mingw32"
> 
> $system
> [1] "i386, mingw32"
> 
> $status
> [1] ""
> 
> $major
> [1] "2"
> 
> $minor
> [1] "12.2"
> 
> $year
> [1] "2011"
> 
> $month
> [1] "02"
> 
> $day
> [1] "25"
> 
> $`svn rev`
> [1] "54585"
> 
> $language
> [1] "R"
> 
> $version.string
> [1] "R version 2.12.2 (2011-02-25)"
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------
> Robert W. Baer, Ph.D.
> Professor of Physiology
> Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
> A. T. Still University of Health Sciences
> Kirksville, MO 63501
> 660-626-232
> FAX 660-626-2965
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.