Exporting XML Files

Command:

File -> Save -> XML Format...

DataLab is able to save the current data in XML format. XML files are text files which are structured according to the XML specification and always - in contrast to e.g. CSV files - contain the complete information of the dataset (including any markings).

After calling the command File/Save/XML Format... the user has to specify the name of the XML file. If the user enters the name of a file already existing on the disk, the system issues a warning message and asks whether to change the file name, overwrite the existing file or cancel the command.

The XML file uses the following tags:

Attribute	Description
datatable	The container of the data; it has to contain the attributes "sig" and "id" specifying the strings "SDLCSuite" and "DataLab", respectively.
comment	Comment on the dataset
size	The attributes "cols" and "rows" specify the size of the matrix
colnames	column (variable) names
rownames	row (object) names
colattrib	column attributes (currently not used and always empty)
rowattrib	row attributes (class numbers of the objects)
datacells	Cells of the data matrix. Each cell is defined by the tag "cell", its position and status are specified by the sub-tags "col", "row" and "state", respectively.
vardef	Definition of the types of the variables. Four possible definitions: "nominal", "ordinal", "interval" and "ratio". Nominal and ordinal variables contain additional information about the assigned identifiers (tag "idf").

Hint:

Please note that the XML format cannot be loaded by DataLab. The sole purpose for the XML export is to provide a universally usable format for exporting data to other applications. Parsing of large XML files is inherently slow, so DataLab does not support the import of XML files (use, for example the ASC format, instead).