News in PX-Edit
Copenhagen, 2 October 2014
PX-Edit: The Mission
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PX-Edit is an expert tool for specialists for efficient
editing and creation of PC-Axis files (for PX-Web)
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PX-Edit should be able to
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read every valid px table
detect most of all the possible errors (at least all real-life ones)
repair majority of the detected problems
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New features are added when they are considered
feasible, sensible and necessary
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PX-Edit is feedbackware
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
..What, No New Version?
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Plenty of reasons…
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The ongoing platform shift makes it possible to
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The new versions will work only on supported Windows
platforms (Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10)
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utilize the same code base for every PX-Edit family products
get rid of old stuff (DDE, Excel 2.1, ancient file mapping, ..)
explore interesting possibilities (compression, .NET, compiling, ..)
the old PX-Edit versions (2.4 - 3.1) are still available if needed
The next slides will show the current status of all of the
‘PX-Edit application suite’
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
PX-Edit
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Version 3.1 (new features since Tirana)
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chart creation and interface revisited
interface changes: eg. language and default lists
Excel: hyperlinks in output, big table reading
recognising two or more keywords in one row
iso-8859-15 as default value for CODEPAGE
support for special language codes (eg. bs-Cyrl-BA and bs-Latn-BA)
Version 3.2
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new development environment: in beta phase
exciting possibilities (chart engine, speedups..)
new features in the wishlist: vs/agg files, saved graphics, variable joining..
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
PX-Job
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Version 3.1
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automation and validation in Statistics Finland’s publication process
new features:
set (specialised settings file),
–k (keep the file date), –v (validation),
–ydd.hh.mm (hours/minutes included),
etc.
internal switches for CONTACT updates and MATRIX renewal
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speedups!
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Version 3.2
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some switch syntax changes necessary (alphabet is running short  )
proposed new features: calculator routines, variable joining, ..
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
(Some of the) Tamed Bugs
Sparse table saving added zeroes at the end of the file
 Keyword fetch crashed if there was nothing to fetch
 Period in full path name puzzled file saving
 Copy + Paste from Excel rounded all numbers to integers
 Empty Excel cells were not treated properly
 Windows’ VirtualStore prevented application updates
 Selecting one language in multilingual table surprised file saving
 Empty data part was always saved as zeroes
 www link input crashed
 The execution order in Calculator was always fixed
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veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
PX-View
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Version 3.2 (now in alpha phase)
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follows PX-Edit development cycle
possible to pack every needed feature in a single executable
limited features
threaded file input
as few changes in the PX-Edit source code as possible
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
PX-Tool
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Version 2.4
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outdated but still functioning
uses different approach to file handling than PX-Edit
monolingual px files only
Version 3.2
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platform shift necessary:
multilinguality
Unicode
new features and rethinking..
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
Statistics Finland’s Internal Apps
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PX-Flat
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makes two-dimensional tables from multidimensional tables
used mainly for the time series database
PX-Packages
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output for special customers
(Bank of Finland:
Special Data Dissemination Standard
> National Summary Data Page
> SDMX..)
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
Installation
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The installation package in Statistics Finland’s site will install
(usually) the latest PX-Edit (and PX-Job) in one workstation
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When already installed, you may simply replace the old files
with the update package (.zip)
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no external settings (eg. Registry, .NET)
especially the .paq file(s) and the dyalog132rt_unicode.dll
The centralised installation needs one network directory,
which all the users are allowed to read
the language files can be localized
 all the preferred company settings will be defined in one
initialisation file (px-edit_31_main.ini)
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veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
Some Useful Settings File Tricks
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Support for different PX-Web installations
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Minimized language selection list with language names
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px-web_version={2003|2005|2007|2008|2013}
languages_main=fi suomi,sv ruotsi,en englanti
Selection lists for many keywords
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they may be language-specific, if needed
listedit_SUBJECT-AREA[en]=Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery=
<<MAA;Construction=RAK;Culture and the Media=KLT;
<<Education=KOU;Elections=VAA;Energy=ENE;Enterprises=YRI;
<<Environment and Natural Resources=YMP;
…
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
There’s (Still) Not Fabulous Documentation, But
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PX-Edit_main_31e_ini.txt
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detailed explanation of every PX-Edit settings file switches
PX-EditJob_bat.txt
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all the PX-Job switches and options with some examples
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014
PX-Edit Is Feedbackware
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I cannot correct errors or add new features I don’t know about
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
veli-matti.jantunen@stat.fi
Kööpenhamina 2.10.2014