Using XML Mapper and XMLMAP to Read Data Documented by Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) Files

Larry Hoyle

This is a paper for SUGI 30 (2005). The code is updated from the SUGI 29 draft version and should be able to generate code to read hierarchical files where all the record group ID fields are in the same location.

Abstract:

Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) files are XML “codebooks” for social science data. A DDI file can describe itself, the conditions under which the data were collected, the data file format, and the variables in the file. SAS XMLMAP provides the capability for a SAS program to read these metadata from the XML file into a collection of SAS datasets. A SAS program uses this capability to write another SAS program that can read the data documented by the DDI file. This paper also describes how the XML Mapper tool was useful in developing the XMLMAP for this project.