WINKS FAQ Statistics Software Research

This version of WINKS is no longer supported. Here are some older FAQs concerning that version. We recommend that you upgrade by clicking here.

File not found -- program fails.

This answer refers to error messages when running WINKS such as "File not found" or "End of File". The current version of WINKS requires that all directories and filename referenced be simple -- no blanks and 8 characters maximum. For example, the directory C:\WINKS48 is okay, but if the program is stored in a directory called "C:\Program Files\WINKS" it will not work properly because of the blank in the name and the long directory name. The same is true for data file names. They name mydata.dbf is okay as a filename, but "my research data.dbf" will cause problems. The problem with long file names and directory names will be resolved in the upcoming version WINKS SDA 6.0, which should be available by January, 2007.

Installation troubleshooting for WINKS

Windows XP or Windows 2000 Installation Error

If you get one of the following error messages when loading WINKS into Windows XP or Windows 2000

16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Winnt\System32\config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
config.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
16-bit MS-DOS Subsystem
path to the program that you are trying to start or install
C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.

For Windows XP -- Go to the Microsoft support site at

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;324767

for a resolution. This error is caused by missing or damaged file in Windows.

For Windows 2000, Go to

https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;889506

Version of THREED.VBX is old or outdated

If you get an error message when you try to run WINKS such as "Version of THREED.VBX is old or outdated" or something similar (could also be a similar error concerning the file VBRUN300.DLL), it is usually caused by some other program that has loaded an incompatible version of a VBX or DLL into your WINDOWS directory. The WINKS installation does not write ANY files to your \WINDOWS or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, but some unfriendly programs do. To correct this situation, do one of these two items.

a. (Usually the problem in Windows 3.1) In your autoexec.bat file in your root directory, there is usually a statement that begins something like this:

PATH = C:\WINDOWS;c:\; etc

put C:\WINKS; at the first of this statement, so it reads something like

PATH = C:\WINKS\;C:\WINDOWS; etc

b. Find the old copy of THREED.VBX (or whatever file is causing the problem) in your \WINDOWS or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Rename that file filenname.OLD. Then copy the file with the same name from the WINKS directory to your \WINDOWS or

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

WINDOWS 95 & 98 Installation Information

To find copies of THREED.VBX, VBRUN300.DLL or whatever filename in Windows 95 or 98, you can do the following:

1. From the Start menu, select Find, then choose Files or Folders.

2. In the "Named" text box, enter THREED.VBX (or whatever). Make sure the "Look in" box includes your hard drives, or at least drive C:.

3. Click Find Now. The program will find all instances of the file on your hard drive.

4. Usually, the offending copy will be in the C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory. If you have a copy of the file there, follow the instructions in "b" above. (Some unfriendly programs will copy outdated versions of files to the WINDOWS directories, and this may cause WINKS not to work, even though all of the files in WINKS are perfectly fine.)

5. If fixing the file in C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM does not solve the problem the one of the other files you found in step 3 is old and is conflicting with the program. You'll have to replace any offending copies of the file with the ones from the WINKS directory.

Reboot and try to run the program again.

If you think you have a corrupted version of vbrun300.dll or vbdb300.dll files, you can download fresh copies of these files from the following web site:

www.texasoft.com/support/vbrun.zip

You'll be prompted to save the file, then you will need to unzip it and copy the files vbrun300.dll and vbdb300.dll into your WINKS directory. If you don't know how to unzip files, please see the link to unzipping files on the Texasoft web site at www.texasoft.com.

However, try the info above before downloading new copies of these files.

How to I create a database using random numbers?

This topic is addressed in one of the tutorial topics. Click here to view it.

How do you read a WINKS file Into MS Excel

To read a WINKS file into Excel, simply select File/Open in Excel, then from the "Files of Type List" drop down list on the Excel Open dialog box select "dbase files (*.dbf)". Locate the WINKS file to open and it will open directly into Excel.

Also see Preparing Excel Data for Import into WINKS.

Trouble copying an Excel File into WINKS

Sometimes WINKS does not work properly when you use the File/Utilities/Paste Excel option. An alternate way to move Excel data into WINKS is this:

1. Open Excel, highlight the cells you want to import (including the names of the columns) and then do a "Save as..." and select a dBase file type.

2. Exit Excel.

3. Begin WINKS and open the .dbf file you just saved. Usually the file will come in without any problems. To check the file after opening it, click on edit to verify that the names and numbers are good.

What is the bar at the top of the WINKS histogram graph?

The bar that appears above the box and whiskers plot on the histogram is a data location plot. Its purpose is to give you an idea about the distribution of the data points in your data set. On this plot, a line appears at a location where one or more data points fall.

faq1.jpg (22680 bytes) For example, if your data are all integers, you would see that the lines on this plot appear at equal intervals. In the displayed histogram from the EXAMPLE.DBF database, you can see that the lines on the plot are equally spaced. This is because ages are measured in integers. Thus, although the histogram and box plots indicate that the data might be "normal," the data location plot gives you additional information that tells you the data are probably measured in integers (or at least in fixed intervals.) -- information you could not see using only the other two plots. If your data values are truly continuous, you would see lines on the plot that appear in an almost random fashion. If the data are also normal, there would be a cluster of lines toward the mean of the data with fewer and fewer lines toward the tails of the plot.

In general, the data location plot is another tool to help you understand the distribution of the numbers in your data set.

How do you move data that is currently in SAS to a file that can be read by WINKS?

SAS for Windows 6.12 has a data export facility that allows you to export SAS data to a dBase (.dbf) file. These instructions show how you can create a dBase (WINKS compatible) file from your SAS data.

Step 1: Run SAS and open your SAS data set.

If you are using a permanent SAS data set, your code to open the data set will be something like this:

LIBNAME mydate ‘C:\mydir’;

Or, using menus you can choose Globals/Access/Display Libraries. Then select "New Library" and "Find Folder." Then find the ".sd2" SAS data file you want to open.

If you’re using a temporary data set, enter and submit the code that defines your data. For example:

DATA mydata;

INPUT AGE WT SEX;

CARDS;

datavalues…

;

run;

or if your raw data is in a separate file,

DATA mydata;

INFILE ‘C:\MYDIR\RAWDATA.DAT’;

INPUT AGE WT SEX;

Run;

RESULT – You’ve opened a SAS data set (either temporary or permanent) – now you can export the data set to dBase.

STEP 2: From the SAS File menu, select EXPORT.

If you’re accessing a permanent data set, select the library name you defined above in the Library pull-down menu.

If you’re using a temporary SAS dataset, select "WORK" as the Library name.

STEP 3: From the MEMBER pull-down menu, select the dataset you want to export. (If there are no datasets in MEMBER, then review what you did in Step 1.)

Click Next.

STEP 4: Select dBase file (.dbf) from the "What type file do you want to export?" prompt. (If dBase is not an option, then you did not set up SAS with this feature. Check with you SAS administrator to add that capability to your SAS installation.)

Click Next.

STEP 5: Indicate the name of the export file by clicking BROWSE, finding the directory where you want to put the file, and then enter the filename.

CLICK Save. Then click Finish.

Your dBASE file should now be in the location you indicated. You should now be able to use the file in WINKS. Run WINKS and open the new file. Review the file in the WINKS editor to make sure all the data was properly exported before performing any analysis.

Saving and reloading First Impression Graphs.

When you create a graph using the First Impression module, it allows you to save a file in a .vtc format (right click, save). In general WINKS does not support the .vtc file format, but you can retrieve a saved chart into First Impression by displaying any chart using First Impression, then right click on the chart and select load... open the .vtc file and the saved graph will display.

Problem with F-Statistic in p-value module.

In some early versions of WINKS, in the p-value module (Analyze/ Descriptives/ p-value), the labels for numerator and denominator are reversed. To get the correct p-value, enter the Numerator in the Denominator box and vice-versa. A fix for this problem will be posted shortly. Refer back to this FAQ for information on how to upload and implement the fix. (fixed 11-12-01)

WINKS 6.x & 7.x FAQ

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