Automation in Stata 2022 SDAS Webinar - Do-Files

I have included below the do-files for all of the examples that we covered in the Automation webinar. The do-files are all in text file format (.txt) as the .do format is not recognised for upload. You can open them in Stata as-is, or you can change the .txt suffix to .do manually through File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac).

Example 1 - A Simple Do-File:

summary

.txt

Download TXT • 46B

Example 2 - Nested Do-Files:

summaryV2

.txt

Download TXT • 47B

dosumm

.txt

Download TXT • 9B

dodesc

.txt

Download TXT • 8B

Example 3 - Macros in Stata

This was an interactive example. I have included the commands that were run in this example below with some additional comments:

local item = 1
display `item'
local item = "one"
display `item' //Gives an error, as it is interpreted as a variable name
display "`item'"
global item = 1
display $item //This is a global macro, as different from below
display "`item'" //This is a local macro, as different from above
display "What is your name? " _request(name) // response stored in $name
Laura
display "$name"

Play around with macros to get a good feel for how they work.

Example 4 - Positional Arguments Do-File:

positionals

.txt

Download TXT • 42B

Example 5 - Automated Analysis:

RunAnalysis

.txt

Download TXT • 412B

It is highly recommended that you define all your positional arguments as local macros at the beginning of your do-file, something I neglected to do here. The do-file will run just as well if you don't do this, but it can sometimes make it difficult to determine which positional arguments you have used where.

Example 6 - Automated Reporting:

createCancerReports

.txt

Download TXT • 9KB

cancer_bowel

.xlsx

Download XLSX • 6KB

cancer_lung

.xlsx

Download XLSX • 6KB

I have included several datasets (as excel files) that this report will run on given the right positional arguments. You will notice for this report that I do define the positional arguments as local macros at the start. Were I to create a report like this in earnest I would likely have separated parts of it out into separate do-files and taken advantage of Stata's ability to nest do-files. In this case as an example it suited me to have it all in one file.

Example 7 - Scheduled Automation

runCancerReportsBatch

.txt

Download TXT • 673B

I have included the batch file (as .txt) that we created for our scheduled job using Task Scheduler in Windows. To use this file on Windows it needs to be re-saved as a batch file (.bat extension). You would also need to make sure the files from Example 6 above had the correct names, were saved as their respective Stata equivalent (.do or .dta), and that the file paths were updated for your computer. You can test a batch file by just double-clicking it. It doesn't need to be scheduled to run, so you are able to check it works before scheduling. Or if you have a report you want to schedule but it only needs to be run sporadically, you can set up a batch file and just double-click to run when you need it to run.

If you have any questions about any of the items here you can email me at sales@surveydesign.com.au