What's new in SPSS Statistics SAV DSC

Setting custom properties in the connection string. All global properties can now be set in the connection to the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC. For more information, see Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC.

Unlabeled values in SAV data. When reading categorical variables, the default behavior of the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC has changed. To avoid the potential for data loss when the case data contains values that do not match a predefined category, the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC now does the following:

▪When accessing the case data with an MDM document. Any values that do not match one of the categories in the corresponding MDM variable are matched to the variable's Other category, if it has one. In addition, if the Other category has a helper field, the actual data value will be stored in that field. For more information, see Handling unlabeled categorical values.

▪When generating an MDM document from the .sav file or accessing the case data with no metadata. All cases in the file are scanned and categories are generated for all values for which no value labels exist. You can amend the behavior to match that of previous versions of the . For more information, see Determining categories.

Determining Categorical Variables. Three new properties have been introduced to control how the determines which variables are categorical. These properties apply only when generating an MDM document from the .sav file or accessing the case data with no metadata. For more information, see Determining categorical variables.

Invalid Language Settings. When asked to use a language that is not supported on the current computer, the default behavior of the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC has changed. Instead of continuing and producing garbled text, the now issues an error message and stops. You can amend the behavior to match that of previous versions of the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC. For more information, see Invalid language settings.

SavLanguage and SavCodePage Properties. These existing properties can now also be set in an MDM document or in the connection string. For more information, see Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC.

ImportFactors Property. When generating MDM Elements from a SAV numeric variable's labeled values, this new property can be used to specify that the element's Factor property will be set to the labeled value if it is non-missing. For more information, see Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC.