NCSS has an interactive (point and click) user interface which makes in easy to learn and use. At times, however, it is necessary to repeat the same steps over and over. When this occurs, a batch system becomes more desirable. NCSS 2007 includes a macro system that utilizes a batch language with over 45 commands that lets you create a macro (script or program) and then run the macro. With the click of a single button, you can have the program run a series of procedures. You may record a macro by saving the steps as you complete an analysis or write your own script. This tool allows you to call and run an NCSS routine from within another environment.

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Below are some example macros:

Example 1 - Automatically Run a Procedure

This macro opens a dataset and calculates descriptive statistics on the first five variables of that dataset.

'***  Open a dataset
DataOpen "C:/Program Files/NCSS97/Data/Sample.s0"

'***  Load the Descriptive Statistics procedure
'***  Note that the default values are used.
LoadProc DescStat

 '***  Specify that the first five variables are to be analyzed
Option DescStat  1 "1:5"

'***  Run the analysis
RunProc DescStat
 

Example 2 - Run Several Procedures

This macro opens a dataset, calculates descriptive statistics on the first two variables, and then runs a linear regression using those two variables.

DataOpen "C:/Program Files/NCSS97/Data/Sample.s0"
LoadProc DescStat
Option DescStat  1 "1:2"
RunProc DescStat
LoadProc LinReg
Option LinReg 204 1
Option LinReg 205 2
RunProc LinReg
 

Example 3 - Simple Looping

This macro opens a dataset and calculates descriptive statistics on the first five variables of that dataset. Unlike Example1, this macro uses a simple loop to step through the five variables.

Notice that the loop finishes once the variable I# is equal to '5'.

DataOpen "C:/Program Files/NCSS97/Data/Sample.s0"
I#=0
Flag1:
        I#=I#+1
        LoadProc DescStat
        Option DescStat 1 I#
        RunProc DescStat
IF I#<5 GOTO Flag1
 

Example 4 - Multiple Analyses Using Filters

This macro opens a dataset and runs separate simple linear regression analyses and scatter plots for three groups within the dataset. The three groups are defined be the ‘Iris’ variable in the dataset. The macro finds the levels of the ‘Iris’ variable and uses the resulting values to determine the groups. Thus, the macro does not require knowledge of the group names nor does it require knowledge of the number of groups to be analyzed.

'Open the FISHER.S0 database. %p% is replaced by the folder that

'Obtain the unique values of the Iris variable and put them in C21
VarTrans C21 "Uniques(Iris)"
RunTrans

'Obtain the number of unique Iris values using C21
NumRows C21 n1#

'Loop through the unique Iris values for grouping
I1# = 1
Flag1:
GetCell C21 I1# IrisGroup$

'Filter the values according to the Iris variable
LoadProc Filter
LoadTemplate Filter "Example5_Macro"
IrisFilter$ = "Iris = " & IrisGroup$
Option Filter 3 IrisFilter$
RunProc Filter
UnLoadProc Filter

'Run the Linear Regression procedure for the filtered group
LoadProc LinReg
LoadTemplate LinReg "Example5_Macro"
RunProc LinReg
UnLoadProc LinReg

'Run the Scatter Plot procedure for the filtered group
LoadProc ScatPlot
LoadTemplate ScatPlot "Example5_Macro"
RunProc ScatPlot
UnLoadProc ScatPlot

'Loop through the unique Iris values for grouping
I1# = I1# + 1
IF I1# > n1# GOTO Flag2
GOTO Flag1

'Turn Filter Off
Flag2:
LoadProc Filter
Option Filter 1 0
RunProc Filter
UnLoadProc Filter

'End of Macro
Print "MACRO COMPLETE"

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