How to Create a QScript for Importing Data into Q

Introduction

Speed up your data import by creating a script.

Requirements

• The importdata.zip file, which includes the data file we will use for this article.

Method

In a QScript, the project variable represents your Q project. In order to import a new data set, we need to apply the addDataFile method to our project variable. The basic arguments are as follows:

addDataFile(data_file, override_file_name, options)

• The data_file argument assumes that the data file is in the same location as the QScript file so only requires the data file's name and extension. 
• The override_file_name should be set to null for Q.
• The options argument lets you optionally tell Q to do the following:
  • auto_tidy_labels - Automatically clean up variable labels.
  • auto_detect_questions - Automatically identify and combine multiple-response and grid questions.
  • strip_labels_html - Strip HTML from variable labels.
  • Note, these are all set to false by default.

Now let's look at our example:

var data_file = project.addDataFile("Phone.sav", "null", { auto_tidy_labels: true,
                                                                   auto_detect_questions: true,
                                                                   strip_labels_html: true });

• In this case, we will import the Phone.sav file as a data set and allow Q to tidy the data set using all 3 cleaning options.
• By additionally declaring this as data_file, we can then perform other QScript functions on this data set where necessary.
• Note, this addDataFile QScript method is designed only for when you need to upload a new data set to your project. 

Next

How to Use QScripts in Q

How to Create a Custom QScript