REDCap Support Topics of the Day:   

4/24/2018 =  Nested branching logic.  How to provide branching logic for a date range for age = under 20 or age = over 30. 

[prescreener_consent] = '1' and ([bariatric_surgery] = '1' or  (([age] >='0'  and [age] < 20) or ([age] > 31)) or ([bmi] >= 66 or  ([bmi] >='0' and [bmi] < 25)) or [pregnant] = '1' or [previously_pregnant] = '1' or [breastfeeding] = '1' or [previously_breastfeeding] = '1') 

4/25/218 =   Landing Pages (all the rage these days), how they work, why you need one, and their association with the Public Survey Link, and Longitudinal Events.  

4/26/2018 = Progress bars are cool. Get yours today! How do I create a progress bar for a survey queue?

4/30/2018 = RT Ticket 200,000 goes to REDCap! 

5/1/2018 = New Project Creation Requests are way up! . Maxx Morning Training Fail 

5/2/2018 = Theresa is planning more 2018 REDCap seminars than you can shake a stick at. 

5/3/2018 = Warren branching logic magic: How do I show a field only if field 1 is less than field 2? 

*1 to each field will force REDCap to evaluate number values in the branching logic.  [vashigh]*1 < [vaslow]*1

5/4/2018 = REDCap Consultation and Presentation Tracking System up and running. Creates a ticket to RT once you hit submit. https://is.gd/talktoREDCap 

5/7/18  = Did not find any morel mushrooms over the weekend 

5/8/18 = PREVAIL Twilio project 87% response rate via text messaging over 1 year

5/9/18 = External module email notification update. Triggering events with repeatable forms in longitudinal events seems to work now. 

5/10/2018 = Numerators, Dominators and T Scores, Oh My!!!   How do I determine the number of questions answered within a survey?

5/11/2018 = Demo Lab Archives working with REDCap. http://www.labarchives.com/ 

5/12/2018 = REDCap user increase over time

5/14/2018 = It's Monday and Warren does all the tickets.

5/15/2018 = The REDCap E-mail External Module is driving us crazy, but we will hopefully get everything figured out shortly. https://redcap.vanderbilt.edu/consortium/modules/index.php

5/16/2018 =  Maxx Presents the quarterly REDCap Update to the CCTST REDCap Advisory Committee

 Somers- REDCap May 16 Final.pptx

5/17/2018 = Eliminate those unsightly underscores for piped data which has not been populated by adding the @DEFAULT action tag along with the following: @DEFAULT " " to your fields. This pre-populates the field with a space, but BE CAREFUL!!! This may cause problems down the road with data analysis because your data is prepended with a space!

8/28/2018 = 70 tickets in 2 days. Summer is ending   

8/29/2018 = It's external password reset day. 

10/2/2018 = It's survey Queue Day! Use it early and often. 

10/5/2018 = 'm' is for minutes, "M" is for Months. M O O N spells moon.

10/6/2018 = hard week...right to left language challenges, datediff in survey queue challenges, API error detective work, Data Access Group and Multiple ARM duplicate record ID bug, REDCap Matrix field formatting challenges, Vet service forms, Maxx's VW broke down, it rained a lot. 

10/16/2018 = PRO TIP: Not sure if your logic syntax is correct? Trying using the syntax within branching logic in a field, it will tell you whether it is valid. Sometimes the wrong font for a quotation mark can cause it to be invalid!

10/25/2018 = You had no idea how badly you needed Smart Variables until you actually had them.

10/26/2018 - It's Friday, which means it's raining.

10/29/2018  = Maxx doesn't read this page, because if he did, he would have known about the 10/16 entry

29 Nov 2018  =  Today is "Can't remember the password for things we need" day

12/12/2018= So you want to filter a report based on participants who have entered more than one choice for two checkbox fields? No problem!

(([restrainpositions(1)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(2)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(3)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(4)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(5)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(6)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(7)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(8)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(9)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(10)]="1")) OR (([restrainpositions(10)]="1") AND ([restrainpositions(1)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(2)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(3)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(4)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(5)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(6)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(7)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(8)]="1" OR [restrainpositions(9)]="1")) AND (([clintrainpositions(1)]="1") AND ([clintrainpositions(2)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(3)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(4)]="1")) OR (([clintrainpositions(2)]="1") AND ([clintrainpositions(1)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(3)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(4)]="1")) OR (([clintrainpositions(3)]="1") AND ([clintrainpositions(1)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(2)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(4)]="1")) OR (([clintrainpositions(4)]="1") AND ([clintrainpositions(1)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(2)]="1") OR ([clintrainpositions(3)]="1"))

12/18/2018 = I hate spam 

12/21/2018 = It's Friday, which means it's raining.

1/4/2019 = It's Friday, which means it's raining 

1/8/2019 = What combinations of Default, Hidden, and Calculated Feilds will cancel each other out?  Can you Default using a smart variable and will it load if you hide it?  Can you hide a calculated field and branch off of the result or pipe the result in? Does Big Foot live in East Form State Park? Yes:  http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=60924

1/11/2019 = It's Friday, which means it's snowing

1/23/2019 Locations (based on IP address) from which the CCTST's REDCap instance has been accessed (excluding surveys):

2/12/2019 = How to make it stop raining:  if([rain]>1,[sun],"")

2/22/2019 = WE ARE FRIENDLY!

2/22/2019 = Why isn't the save file to PDF External Module working? *note it’s working - we just needed to ask Warren.

2/28/2019 = Never program a multi-event survey queue with the unique event name and variable name again (if you can help it), use a smart variable to define first, previous, current, next, last event and then insert the variable name in brackets.  Then you can copy and past and not have to write custom branching logic for everything. 

3/12/2019 = REDCap updated today but more excited about this meme I found: 

4/4/2019 = if ([brain_cells]<1,000,000,000 AND [nerve_qty=<1, "home","work")

*Update from Theresa:  Warren, you are missing a bracket!

4/17/2019:   datediff([event_1_arm_1][cv_due],'today','m','mdy',false >= 2   is date-diff for send if variable date and "today" is less then 2 MINUTES.    m  = minutes,   M = Months.

4/22/2019: Who knew branching logic would be such a hot topic on a Saturday? No, seriously, who knows what happened on April 6th?!

4/30/2019:  It happened!

4/30/2019: Workshop Wisdom Animated Gifs work in REDCap

5/02/2019

?? ........ Hey!  if([variable]<>"",[variable],""

?? ........ If [variable] has a value display [variable] value, if not leave it blank? 

?? ........ Yep! In a calculated field!

?? ........  Isn't it operationally equivalent to just... [variable] 

?? ........ Yep! Isn't it awesome!

?? ..........

5/16/2019: If you're still sad like Dawson, adding a mouseover feature to your REDCap form field might cheer you up. Give it a try:

Add a mouseover to a field:

Any misc. wording  goes here

<p><abbr title="Your subject definition here">subject</abbr> </p>

6/10/2019

This is branching logic which would pop open an alert when two fields don't match

[id_upload] <> [id_de] and ([id_upload] <> "" and [id_de] <> "")

7/19/2019

Public URLs and "Allow respondents to return and modify completed responses" do not play well together, nor do Repeating Instruments and Custom Record Labels.

7/29/2019

Adding REDCap access for the entire planet. One person at a time.

9/10/2019

When adding Smart Variables in Field Labels, consider unchecking Use Rich Text Editor to eliminate and HTML coding interfering with your piping.

9/12/2019

FYI- Modifying an Automated Survey Invitation will not affect any invitation currently queued.

9/26/2019

Notes from REDCap Con....

10/25/2019

Fun Fact: The font setting in Survey Settings will over-ride any font family you set on a survey.

11/4/2019

As requested: Ticket Count Created by Day 

Ticket Break Down 

2/3/2020

Apparently the Image Viewer external module does not like .jpg images created from Microsoft's snipping tool and will not display a preview of the image, unlike every other image known to man. Greenshot is a free alternative that works fine.

3/11/20

Getting calculation/branching errors on your survey but not when entering data as a data entry form? Try deleting your survey settings and re-enabling your instrument as a survey!

4/13/2020

A recent "Wine with DeWine" (only Ohioans will understand!) sums up our situation:

4/23/2020
Warren's brain is fried from creating massive calculations all day. Please do not tap on the glass if he is resting.

6/11/2020

Changing a field name referenced by the Save Survey to a PDF external module is a very bad idea and will cause it not to function properly.

7/9/2020

Project to Project Hack:  Sending variables from project 1 to project 2 

Place a link in project 1www.[project 2 public link]&project2variable=[project1 variable you are piping]

Example:https://redcap.research.cchmc.org/surveys/?s=3TTLMWM3WR&f_name=[f_name]

9/22/20

11 new project requests in one day. That might be a record?

11/13/20

Happy Friday the 13th!

Something to ponder:

No workie

([baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40]<18) or ([baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40_sp]<18)

Workie

([baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40]<18 and [baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40_sp] = "") or ([baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40_sp]<18 and [baseline_arm_1][age_1bfa40]="")


12/10/20

If a form is not designated to an event, then yes, all the fields for that form will be null, including the "_complete" field.

When it is designated to a longitudinal event with other instruments, and does not repeat , it (as well as all other non-repeating instruments) will have it's "_complete" field come up with 0, if any other form on that event has data saved to it. This is built into REDCap core.

2/23/21

Changing an instrument name in Production is a bad idea. In some instances, REDCap hangs on to the original instrument name (you can see this in the code book as it will show the original name in parenthesis). This can cause the survey queue, Alerts and other logic to behave erratically. Moving the project back to Development, changing the instrument name and moving back to Production should resolve the issue. Be careful! Moving a project back to development comes with its own consequences. For example, it will impact Randomization, if enabled.

4/21/21

It looks like the alerts module is a little buggy in that if you select "Every time the form/survey in Step 1B is saved" but then try to change the send time from immediately to another setting, it won't save. However, sending Every time the form/survey in Step 1B is saved is not an option in that configuration (which is why it won't let you modify the alert in that way). So, not a bug per-se, just an unclear "no, you can't do that" configuration attempt. Blame it on the 2" of snow we got last night!

7/6/21

"Rapid structural failure is no fun at all" Maxx in response to Warren's Waterbed story about a ceiling falling in.  

12/22/21

Matrix fields bouncing around all over your project out of order? Check for duplicate Matrix Group names. Having duplicate Matrix Group names can cause questions to appear out of order!