Data export
Data export is being done on demand, which means that whenever you want to export the data, you will need to tell the program do to so, by clicking the option in the menu.
Contents
Export to EACTS Database
Export to EACTS Database is an anonymous export, where names of patients and surgeons are not exported.
To export data to EACTS Database, to the central database, click on the menu bar on top, labeled EACTS Database tools, then Export to EACTS Database. You can export data using keyboard, by pressing CTRL+E.
To upload a file with data, go to the upload website, select the file from the disk and press Submit.
Complete export
The complete export allows you to export all of the data into a disk file.
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Personal data, including patients' and staff's names is being exported when using complete export! |
The complete export writes a file in the XML (for information about XML go to [1]) format which is a modern and portable data exchange format. It is also a transparent format, which means that you can easily look inside, read it and use it.
XML file can read in programs like Notepad, or any text editor. The file is intended for integration with external computer systems, and data import from XML always require some programming. It is not intended for direct end-user usage.
If you want to import data into office programs, export the data to CSV format.
XML and XSLT transformation
XSLT Stylesheet allows to transform a XML file into other formats for, example:
- HTML (also multiple HTML files)
- Plain text
- CSV
- SQL scripts
With knowledge on how to write XSLT, you are able to write your own stylsheet and transform the data into formats compatible with various scientific software:
- GNU Octave (free software under GNU GPL)
- R project (free software under GNU GPL)
- Scilab (under Scilab license)
- Matlab
- Splus
CSV file format
A CSV file is a text file, with fields delimited with comma "," or semicolon ";". Other delimiters are also allowed, but rarely used. The text fields can be quoted, most often by the double quote mark. The example CSV file would look like this:
hospital_code,ID,First name,Last name ABC,1,John,Doe ABC,2,Mary Jane,Smith
After reading this file in spreadsheet application like OpenOffice or MS Excel, you would get something like:
| Hospital code | ID | First name | Last name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | 1 | John | Doe |
| ABC | 2 | Mary Jane | Smith |
Table linking
The three main tables: patient, admission and operation are linked like this: File:TableLinks.png
Import to relational databases
In order to work with these files in a relational database, you need to know the unique identifiers in each table.
The patient table uses patient_id as an unique identifier. Analogously, the admission and operation tables have the *_no fields.
The numbers are statically attached to the patients, admissions and operations and will remain the same across all of the exports. However, if you perform another installation of EACTS Database Software and transfer data there, tha patient numbers will change.
ODBC access
Although it's not tested yet, it should be possible to run a standalone Cloudscape server and connect to it via ODBC.
Warning! If you use ODBC access with possibility to write to the database, you should be careful! You can easily corrupt the database when working directly on the database.
JDBC access
Direct access to the database is possible with OpenOffice and JDBC. Read the instructions:
