The YES3 Exporter User Guide

Daily Email Notifications

When enabled, you can designate one email address that will receive a summary of project export activity including: (1.) date and time of report, (2.) REDCap project information, and (3.) details about download and export activity in the last 24 hours. Notifications are released only when exports occur. To disable the daily email notification, you may change the email notification setting to “no” at any time.

Host File System Exports

YES3 Exporter "payloads" can be written to a designated host file system folder (i.e. to mounted secure institutional file shares) which, among other things, is intended to support Datamart integration. To safeguard data security, enabling this setting requires approval by a REDCap administrator.

Backup Retention

Export specifications can be rolled back and restored to a prior saved version. By default, 20 generations are retained, but you may choose to retain more or all generations.

Device recommendations

Each YES3 Exporter component - like REDCap itself - has a responsive interface, that is it will adapt to various screen geometries from 4k desktops to mobile phones. The Event Prefixes, Export Logs and YES3 Exporter Documentation components all work tolerably well with a portrait-orientation device viewport width of 375 pixels, which covers most mobile phones. However there are practical considerations for the YES3 Exporter Main component, driven by the complexity of the export specification editor. Our target display device for the editor is a standard HD desktop screen (1920x1080 pixels). For an optimal user experience on a desktop, we recommend a minimum screen width, with the browser's magnification set to 100%, of 1200 pixels. For mobile devices, the minimum viewport dimensions for editing export specifications appear to be 600x600 pixels, which should cover devices ranging from "phablets" to full-size tablets. Most mobile phones will not work for editing, in either portrait or horizontal orientation.

Action icons

YES3 Exporter feaures are accessible through a collection of 'action icons,' which are clickable icons displayed in the top-right section of every YES3 Exporter page. For example:

The YES3 icon at the far right is not technically a YES3 Exporter action icon, rather it is a link that will take you to the YES3 page on our REDCap portal website. There you will find information about the background, goals and plans of the YES3 initiative.

Help panels

Of particular interest is the question-mark action icon: clicking on ? will display a page-specific help panel that will briefly explain all of the available features and their associated action icons. Help panels are overlays that can be repositioned or dragged out of the way as you work.

Here is the help panel for the YES3 Exporter Main (editor) page:

Light and dark themes

You can choose between a light and dark theme, and your choice will persist between sessions and between YES3 Exporter components. Theme selections work though action icons. A crescent moon icon will instantaneously switch to the dark theme, and a sunburst icon will switch to the light theme.

Review the YES3 Exporter Event Prefixes

1. Before creating your first data export, review the prefix that will be assigned to events with horizontal layouts.

2. Access the event list by clicking the ‘ YES3 Exporter Event Prefixes’ link under External Modules on the left menu.

3. You can edit the pre-generated event prefixes.

   1. Special characters are permitted but will be removed during exports and downloads.

4. Click save after changes are made.

Quick Start

1. Click the button to add a new export.

2. Enter the export name and select a layout.

a. Please be mindful of the following limitations when creating a new export:

• Export names cannot be duplicated.

• Special characters are permitted but will be removed during download.

• Create new exports judiciously. Unlike the parent system, you cannot filter, sort, or delete exports in the YES3 Exporter (but help is on the way).

3. Once completed, click “ Save”.

4. The Export Settings page will be displayed. Here you can customize your export.

   

5. Once you have selected your options, click the button to save your changes.

6. Select 'Export Items' in the display setting to add forms/fields.

7. Click the button located along the top menu to add forms/fields.

8. To add forms

   a. Select ‘Form’ for object type, then select the event and the form to add to the export.

   • You may choose to insert as single export item which will display as:

     

   • You may choose to insert as one export item per form which will display as:

     

   • You may choose to insert as one export item per field which will display as:

     

   b. Once you have chosen your display, click . An asterisk will appear next to each unsaved item.

   c. After you have finished adding forms to the export items, save the changes.

9. To add fields:

   a. Select ‘ Field’ for object type, then select the event and type the field name.

   • As you type, the field will auto-populate.

     

   b. Select the field that you would like to add to the export and click ‘ Save’.

   c. Once you have chosen your display, click ‘ Save’. An asterisk will appear next to each unsaved item.

   d. After you have finished adding fields to the export items, save the changes.

10. Click to download the data and/or data dictionary.

Export Layout

There are three export layouts:

1. Horizontal

   • Longitudinal projects: one row per record

   • The Exporter will automatically add prefixes to field names to differentiate data from distinct events. Prefixes can be changed in YES3 Exporter Event Prefixes.

2. Vertical

   • One row per record + event

   • The REDCap event id is included in the data export file.

3. Repeating Form

   • One row per record + event + instance

   • Only one repeating form can be defined in the export. In this version, you cannot export repeating events.

Export Settings

On the Export Settings view pane, you can specify how data is exported across all fields.

Settings for Selecting Records

The selecting records option allows you to specify the field, event, and value required for inclusion in the export. This feature uses ONE field to identify the target records.

As an example, you may wish to restrict an export to data on those individuals who screened positive on an assessment. To optimize this feature, the target status (e.g. screen positive) must be identified through a query to ONE field in your REDCap project. Additional examples are found in the ? icon.

Settings for Data Compliance

The data compliance settings replicate the parent REDCap system. Removed fields will not appear in an export. No field label or placeholder will be included in the data export.

Settings for Conditioning Exported Values

Sanitize exported text values

This option removes nonprintable characters including tabs, line feeds, html tags, etc. from text fields. International characters will remain intact.

Max character length

You can restrict the number of characters included in the export. Field labels are typically restricted to 200-250 characters to support integration with statistical programs such as SAS.

For text fields, the character restriction is applied to ALL text fields which may result in incomplete data. If you have also opted to Remove all freetext fields, the more restrictive specification will be followed.

Export Items

On the Export Items pane, you can edit what data will be exported. You can make changes by using the pencil icon to edit an item or the trashcan icon to delete an item. To move an item, hover the cursor on the left side row number until a hand icon appears then drag it up or down to its new location. Remember to save your changes.