Encounter histories format issue

[Tim Clark]

I am having issues getting my data into Mark. I have read "A Gentle Intro" and have worked their examples. However, when I try to enter my own data a window pops up stating:

"The Encounter Histories file c:/pathname/file.inp only contains 285 semicolons. Is this file a proper MARK encounter histories file? Press cancel now to verify the contents of this file. Otherwise the Encounter Histories File will be used."

Then the program chugs along for a little while and terminates itself.

I have reproduced the problem using the following data with eight encounter occasions and two attribute groups:

10000000 0 1 ;
01000000 1 0 ;

I copied the format directly from the aa.inp dataset in the Mark examples. When I run the aa.inp file everything works fine. However, when I try to load the test file I still get the same error message (path and #semicolons differ) but the program does not terminate.

I would appreciate any help and suggestions as to what I am doing wrong.

Thanks,

Tim

[cooch]

I am having issues getting my data into Mark. I have read "A Gentle Intro" and have worked their examples. However, when I try to enter my own data a window pops up stating:

"The Encounter Histories file c:/pathname/file.inp only contains 285 semicolons. Is this file a proper MARK encounter histories file? Press cancel now to verify the contents of this file. Otherwise the Encounter Histories File will be used."

Then the program chugs along for a little while and terminates itself.

I have reproduced the problem using the following data with eight encounter occasions and two attribute groups:

10000000 0 1 ;
01000000 1 0 ;

I copied the format directly from the aa.inp dataset in the Mark examples. When I run the aa.inp file everything works fine. However, when I try to load the test file I still get the same error message (path and #semicolons differ) but the program does not terminate.

I would appreciate any help and suggestions as to what I am doing wrong.

Thanks,

Tim

A bit bit more information needed - in particular, what operating system were you using when you created the .INP file? Some operating systems do 'interesting' things with line-feed characters at the end of lines, which can cause problems.

[Tim Clark]

Cooch,

I am using Windows XP on a dell 5150 laptop. The file was created with Notepad. I have also had the same problem when I tried to run it on a HP laptop, also running XP. I thought XP was fairly "normal" when dealing with these types of files. Any way of determining what it might be doing to the file? It looks normal to me when I open it in notepad.

Thanks,

Tim

[dhewitt]

Perhaps it's your text editor. The default Notepad that ships with Windows can add funky characters to files sometimes, usually at the very beginning. Try a different, better text editor like Notepad++ or the like. Open the file in that program and look for odd characters (they'll be hidden when viewed in Notepad). I think this has to do with encoding, which I still don't understand.

[jhines]

Tim,
If you have MS word, you can load the input file into Word, go to the format menu and select 'reveal formatting'. Then click the 'show all formatting marks' in the bottom of the 'reveal formatting' box. You shoud then be able to see any tabs or other characters which are invisible in Notepad. Make sure the input file doesn't contain any 'tab' characters (which look like arrows).

Once you've fixed the input file, save as 'plain text' and put the filename in quotes.

[Tim Clark]

Sorry for the late follow-up, but I had to go offshore for a while.

I have downloaded Notepad++, used reveal codes in both Notepad++ and in Word, and still can't find any problems with my data. I un-installed and reinstalled Mark on two different computers and have the same problem on both. They are both running Windows XP, one is a Dell and the other an HP. I thought it might be that my encounter histories were too long (I understand 240 is max), so I have been working with a year when I only have 167 encounters and the program is still closing on me. I have also removed all of the comments, and still have the same problem. The error message I am getting with that file is

"The Encounter Histories file E:\Mark\GEC_2000.inp only contains 28 semicolons. Is this file a proper MARK encounter histories file? Press Cancel now to verify the contents of this file. Otherwise, this Encounter Histories file will be used.".

I hit OK, the message about creating a .dbf file comes up, the program chugs along for 30 seconds, and then it quits.

I hate to ask, but would someone be willing to take a look at one of my files and tell me what I am doing wrong?

Thanks,

Tim