Professional > Table scripting > Getting started > Opening an existing table document
 
Opening an existing table document
Sample script file: MyFirstTable.mrs
In Creating a simple table of Age by Gender, the following line of script was used to save the table in a table document (.mtd) file:
TableDoc.Save("[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Output\MyFirstTable.mtd")
This saves details of the table structure in an XML file format. If the script includes a line to populate the table before saving the file, the .mtd file also includes the cell values for the populated table. Once you have saved a table document, you can open it again using a script, or using UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation or UNICOM Intelligence Reporter. For example, you can set up a number of tables using UNICOM Intelligence Professional Tables Option, save the tables as an .mtd file, and then upload the file into a project in UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation that uses the same data source so that it can be accessed by multiple users. Alternatively, you could open the table document file using UNICOM Intelligence Reporter, make further changes to the tables, and then upload the file to UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation.
For information on how to open table documents from UNICOM Intelligence Professional in UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation or Survey Reporter, see the UNICOM Intelligence Reporter - Survey Tabulation User's Guide or the UNICOM Intelligence Reporter User's Guide.
To open a table document using a script
To open an .mtd file using a script, you can use the Document.Open method. For example:
Set TableDoc = CreateObject("TOM.Document")
TableDoc.Open("[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Output\MyFirstTable.mtd")
By default, any results saved with the .mtd file are automatically loaded when you open the file. However, you may want to remove the results and repopulate the table using the latest data. To do this, you can add a second parameter when you open the file, to specify that any saved results are not loaded:
TableDoc.Open("[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Output\MyFirstTable.mtd", 0)
This results in an empty table, so you also need to repopulate the table using the TableDoc.Populate() method.
Notice that when using the Open method with a previously saved .mtd file, we did not specify a data source. This information was stored in the .mtd file when it was originally saved. In some cases, though, you may want to open a table document file using a different data source than the one with which you originally created it. For example, you may want to use the same set of tables on a number of different data sets that use the same variables, or you may want to set up your tables using a test data source and then use the same tables on a live data source with a different name or in a different location. You can do this by using the Document.OpenWithDataSet method, which enables you to specify data source details which override the details of the data source saved in the .mtd file:
TableDoc.OpenWithDataSet("[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Output\MyFirstTable.mtd", _
0, _
"[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Data\Xml\museum.mdd", _
, "[INSTALL_FOLDER]\IBM\SPSS\DataCollection\7\DDL\ Data\Xml\museum.xml", _
"mrXmlDsc")
Note If you open a table document file with a data source that is not identical to the one with which you created it, the tables may be invalid. Ensure that the new data source contains the same variables, with the same names and categories, as the original data source.
Requirements
UNICOM Intelligence Reporter
Next
Table population and failover
See also
Getting started