Installing the SPSS Data Access Pack

The SPSS Data Access Pack allows you to install any or all of the following

components:

• Connect ODBC drivers
• SequeLink ODBC client
• SPSS ODBC driver
• Online documentation for Connect ODBC and SequeLink in Adobe Acrobat

(PDF) format

These components allow you to retrieve data from databases in a network.

environment.

To Start the Installation Program

From your SPSS product CD-ROM. If your SPSS product includes a single CD-ROM,

follow these steps to install the SPSS Data Access Pack:

E Insert your product CD into the CD-ROM drive.

E The AutoPlay feature presents a menu. Choose Install SPSS Data Access Pack.

Installing Microsoft Data Access Pack

Microsoft Data Access Pack is included with your SPSS product. Install it if your

SPSS product requires it or if you need a Microsoft Access database driver.

To install the Microsoft Data Access Pack:

• Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive.
• Choose Browse the CD-ROM from the AutoPlay menu.
• Navigate to the Microsoft Data Access Pack folder.
• Select the folder for your language and open it.
• Double-click Microsoft Data Access Pack.exe.
• Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

Information and Limitations

New features - For a list of new features in the latest SPSS for Windows release, please visit http://www.spss.com/spssbi/spss/whats_new.htm.

For a list of new features in SPSS 12.0, see the What's New in SPSS 12.0? topic in the online help or the cover letter that was included with your system.

Reading new files in older versions - Because of changes to the format of the SPSS document (*.spo)  file, output documents created in SPSS 12.0  may not be readable by earlier versions of SPSS.

USER GET and USER PROC dropped - SPSS for Windows no longer supports the USER GET and USER PROC syntax commands.

Specifying substitution fonts when converting TrueType to PostScript in EPS exports - When exporting charts or maps from the SPSS Viewer to Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), one may choose an option to convert TrueType fonts to PostScript fonts.  Although the default behavior of this option is to match up a TrueType font with a PostScript font family for conversion, one can explicitly specify a substitution PostScript font in the IEx_Font.ini configuration file located in the SPSS installation directory (directions and samples included).  This feature may prove useful for users of multi-byte text who require conversion to a specific PostScript font.

Enhanced Metafiles (EMF) cropped in Internet Explorer - SPSS Viewer objects exported as EMFs are cropped when viewed using Internet Explorer.  Netscape cannot read the EMF format.

SPSS doesn’t work with Altiris Vision User Module 3.1 - There is a memory conflict with Microsoft DirectDraw and SPSS when Altiris Vision is installed using the “Run before logon” option.  In order to resolve this problem you must not install Altiris Vision with this option - use "Add to startup menu" or "Run manually" instead.  You must uninstall and re-install Altiris Vision if you already have an installation using “Run before logon” and are experiencing problems.

Known Problems

Graphics - The new SPSS Graphics system contains the following known problems:

§   Data element style preferences cannot be saved in a template.

§   Point labels for some FACTOR, PROXSCAL, and ALSCAL plots. Where the point represent variables in FACTOR, PROXSCAL, and ALSCAL plots, the points are labeled with the variable name. In previous versions, the points were labeled with the variable label.

§   Uninstalling SmartViewer. If you have SPSS for Windows and SmartViewer installed on the same computer, uninstalling SmartViewer may cause SPSS for Windows to stop displaying graphics. You can correct the problem by repairing your SPSS for Windows installation.  In the Windows Add/Remove programs, locate SPSS 12.0 for Windows, press Change, and follow the prompts to repair the system.

Text Import Wizard and characters - SPSS cannot process string values longer than 255 characters. Before you import the data, edit it to reduce the length of the strings. If you encounter a problem importing a value that contains a foreign  character, edit the file and remove the character to fix the problem.

SPSS Connect ODBC drivers for SQL Server - The SPSS Connect ODBC driver to use depends on the version of SQL Server at your site. Use the SPSS OEM 4.2 SQL Server Wire Protocol driver for SQL Server versions  7.x and 2000. Use the SPSS OEM 4.2 SQL Server with SQL Server version 6.x databases.

Note that you can use the Microsoft SQL Server driver for SQL Server versions 6.x and higher.

SPSS Connect ODBC drivers, double-byte and Oracle - If you want to access data from an Oracle database that has double-byte characters, do not use the Oracle Wire Protocol driver. Instead use the Oracle driver.

Save can lose all cases - Under rare conditions, SPSS can lose data when you save a file. You may be able to work around  the problem by noting when SPSS issues warning that all cases have been removed.  If you haven't removed all cases and you get that warning, please take the following precaution, even if cases still appear in the Data Editor. Exit SPSS without saving the data file.

Installation on Korean Windows 98 - If you are prompted to reboot when you install SPSS for Windows on the Korean version of Windows 98, do not allow the system to reboot automatically. Instead, choose No, and then shut down and restart the system manually before you use SPSS for Windows.

Switch Output Language - The Switch Output Language feature allows you to get output in various languages other than English.  The translations included with this English installation are not final.  Some items may still be in English, and some translations may change.  Updated files will be available for download from the SPSS website at http://www.spss.com/tech/downloads/.

Windows 98 and printing - If you're running Windows 98 and you encounter a problem printing headers and footers in your output, it may be due to the version of a Microsoft system DLL, the Rich Edit Library (riched32.dll).

If you encounter the problem, you can work-around the problem by replacing your current riched32.dll with the version that SPSS requires. Note that replacing a system DLL can cause problems with other applications.

To replace riched32.dll:

Step1. Rename the current riched32.dll. For example, rename C:\Windows\System\riched32.dll to C:\Windows\System\riched32_new.dll.

Step 2. Copy the SPSS version of riched32.dll from the SPSS installation directory to your system directory. For example, copy C:\Program Files\SPSS\riched32.dll to C:\Windows\System\riched32.dll.

Step 3. Restart the computer.

Step 4. Confirm that the problem with SPSS is fixed.

Step 5. Confirm that other applications still work as expected.

If you encountered this problem with SPSS, it is probably because you installed an application that uses a different version of the DLL. If you encounter a problem with another application, revert to your original dll, or contact the application vendor or Microsoft for a resolution. Note that any time you install another application on your computer, that application may replace riched32.dll, so you may need to repeat steps 1-5 to print headers and footers in SPSS output.

OMS with OMXL, and OUTPUTSET - When you use the OMS command to create output in the OXML format, and you use OUTPUTSET to route each output object to a separate file, the output will be well-formed but invalid XML. To work around the problem, use

   OMS /DESTINATION FORMAT=OXML OUTFILE='file spec'

instead of

   OMS /DESTINATION FORMAT=OXML OUTPUTSET=spec.

Multiple response sets - Although the Original Tables module allows one to create multiple response sets which are used in the TABLES procedure, these sets can only be persisted in a system file from an SPSS for Windows dialog.  The new Custom Tables module has a new dialog which makes use of a new syntax command (MRSETS) for creating multiple response sets.  Although the new mechanism offers some improved functionality, there may be problems using a new multiple response set with the old Original Tables module.

Using data files saved in SAS formats in SAS JMP and the SAS Viewer - Data files saved in various SAS formats from SPSS should work in SAS.  There are known problems using SAS files saved in SPSS with the SAS Viewer and SAS JMP 5 - these applications have a different mechanism for reading files which isn’t the same or as stable as the one used in SAS.

Filename limitations for data files saved in SAS formats - The following excerpt is from the SAS JMP 5 README: “Double-byte characters should not be used in filenames when writing SAS files [from within JMP]. This is a limitation of the SAS local data provider that is to be corrected in version 9 of SAS”.  This holds true for SAS files saved in SPSS.

Using data sets with a large number of cases in the Data Editor - When data are read in to SPSS, memory is allocated in the Data Editor to accommodate all of the cases.  If a very large data file (millions of cases) is opened (even when connected to an SPSS Server) it is possible that the computer running SPSS for Windows will run out of virtual memory.

The number of cases that can be held in memory by the Data Editor can be limited by a special setting  This threshold can be set by using the virtualr.exe utility, which is located in the SPSS installation directory.   The default is to allocate memory for up to 100,000 cases as needed.  If a Data Editor-specific operation is used to pass the threshold, such as scrolling to the end of a large file, memory for all of the cases will be allocated.

The threshold setting does not affect the ability to carry out any operations in SPSS for Windows, but it may affect performance with large datasets.  You should not change the default unless you have memory exhaustion problems.  In that case, set a smaller value using VirtualR.

Caching data - The Database Wizard and the Text Wizard provide an optional setting that automatically caches the data that they import. By default caching is on and the wizards create a copy of the entire dataset. If you turn caching off, SPSS does not have access to the entire data file -- the original data source is re-read as needed -- and the total number cases is unknown. When the total number of cases is unknown, Go to Case, Copy, and Paste do not work as expected in the Data Editor. You can correct the problem by turning caching on.

Performance with wide files - If your data file has many columns, you can improve the performance of the graphical user interface by setting your General Options to avoid displaying variable labels in alphabetic order. Select Options from the Edit menu, and go to the General tab to set options for Variable Lists. The other combinations of options perform well.

C:\…\LOCALS~1\Temp\spss####xxx.tmp contains an invalid path - There is a defect in SPSS which manifests itself when one first starts SPSS after a fresh install and runs a procedure after making changes to the Options settings under the Edit menu.  This defect will not reappear after one closes down SPSS and restarts.

Installing Multiple Copies of Adobe Acrobat - It is highly recommended that you only install one version of Adobe Acrobat on a computer.  Some browsers might have problems loading multiple plug-ins for multiple versions of Acrobat.  If you wish to upgrade to the version of Acrobat which is located on the SPSS CD-ROM, please uninstall all other versions first.

Oracle and SequeLink Server - If you are using the SequeLink Server at your site, it might not work correctly with Oracle 8. Use Connect ODBC instead. Connect ODBC is included in the SPSS Data Access Pack.

Japanese characters in Data Direct driver setup - Japanese characters cannot be specified in the Data Source Name or Description of the version of Data Direct database drivers which are shipped with SPSS 12.0.  Data Direct acknowledges that this is a problem, and plans to release a fix.

Linear Mixed Models -

§   In the Random dialog box if the Include Intercept checkbox is checked but no factors or covariates are specified as random effects, the Next button will not become available. Therefore, in order to generate a RANDOM subcommand with no effect(s) other than an intercept, that subcommand must be the last one specified in the Random dialog box. If there are multiple subcommands specified, the last of which contains only the intercept, that specification will not be generated unless Continue is clicked while remaining at that last specification, unless that specification also includes a subject combination.

SPSS Maps - The SPSS Map Option contains the following known problems or requirements:

§   Running a network installation of SPSS - The Map Option will not run from a network installation. If you need to run the map option, install SPSS on your desktop computer.

§   Limited number of ranges in Range of Values map - If you save an output file that contains a Range of Values map that has more than five ranges defined, you will not be able to reopen that file. Therefore the limit on the number of ranges in the Create Range of Values Map dialog has been set to five. You can create a Range of Values map with more ranges using syntax or by editing the map, and you can copy that map as a metafile into another application such as a word processor; but if you save the SPSS output file containing such a map, you will be unable to open the file at all. The problem is in third-party software. SPSS Inc. has not yet been able to obtain a fix from the software vendor, but will distribute a patch as soon as the fix becomes available.

§   Range of Values map causes application error with Natural Break and no data - If your data specification results in no data records for mapping, the Natural Break formula for determining ranges fails with an application error. This most commonly happens if your choice of a geoset or layer within a geoset does not correspond to your data. A mismatch table should be produced to indicate this problem, but the application error prevents it from being shown.

§   Copy Objects unavailable with maps - Maps are copied to other software as metafiles. Copy Objects will not work correctly. A side effect of this is that you must copy and paste maps one at a time.

§   Bar chart and pie chart map theme size not restored - Changes you make to the size of bar charts and pie charts in editing maps are not retained when the map is saved and restored.

§   Variable to refine geographic match can cause SPSS to hang - If you use both a geographic variable and a variable to refine the match, the resulting data table can exceed the capabilities of Maps and cause SPSS to hang. Most significantly, with United States data, if you use County and State as your geographic and refining variables and have data for more than a few states, you will experience this problem. If you are using the various county-level data files distributed with SPSS Maps, you can avoid this problem by specifying the 5-digit FIPS codes as your geographic variable and no refining variable. FIPS codes identify counties uniquely. For data containing state and county variables but not FIPS codes, a solution to add FIPS codes to the data will be available on the SPSS web site.

§   Maps require updated system resources - If it has been a while since you added Microsoft products to your system, you may have outdated system resource files. Installing Internet Explorer 4 or 5 (required for the SPSS Statistics Coach) will update those files.

§   Error messages may appear during install under NT - If you have a version of NT 4.0 that has not been updated recently, you may see messages during installation about failure of geoset installation. The SPSS installation replaces the system resource file required for successful installation, which will take place after you reboot your machine at the end of the SPSS installation. You can safely dismiss and ignore the warnings.

§   Maps does not use the FILTER or WEIGHT commands - This could lead to misinterpreted results.

Resources