Hi Matthias,
I've applied Option 2: all stale codes that belonged to deleted branches in your "data extraction" set have been deleted. With them, also all the "item-code" associations (what we normally call "coding") have been removed, so, unless you'll delete new branches, the error will not show up again. I've checked your comparisons and I can confirm that this worked as expected.
If you'll delete another branch, the error may reappear in the short term. If this happens, please get in touch and we'll revive this discussion (apply option 2 again, if feasible). However, this is happening because of a bug: as soon as a new version of EPPI-Reviewer will be published (I don't have a set date, it's likely to be January, but may be later), the error will disappear once and for all and no one will need to take extra precautions to avoid it.
In the mean time, in case you prefer not to ask for our help, the easiest way to avoid getting the error again (if and only if you need to delete a branch which contains codes from a codeset where reconciliation needs to be done) would be:
- Do not delete a whole branch (avoid deleting the branch root).
- Instead, delete each single code, starting with those that have no children (and/or delete those that have "to be reconciled" codes applied, and when done, delete the whole remaining branch in one go).
Let me stress that we don't wish EPPI-Reviewer users to go through this process, it's an unnecessary waste of time, so please remember that after the next update no additional precaution will be need.
More in general, I'd like to offer some unrequested remarks:
Reconciling the differences of a full data-extraction exercise is always tricky. The reconciliation window doesn't really help too much, it's designed to aid the reconciliation of screening exercises (where it visually helps spotting the differences). In case of data extractions, the differences are normally too many to reconcile in this way.
However, the reconcile window helps in 3 ways:
1. You can pick which version to complete. By contrast, completing a coding from the "Document Details" window only allows to complete the coding that belongs to the currently logged-on user.
2. You can view and save the data shown there in tabular format. This then allows to discuss the differences and decide what version to complete and what amendments to apply to it (see below for a popular alternative).
3. You can click on the link showing the item ID and thus open up the item details (this could be useful both before and after completing the coding, depending on how you are planning to proceed).
Note that from the "Document Details" window, in the "Coding Record" tab you can produce a different comparison report, which will show the codes applied in a tree-like form (instead of tabular). I think this latter form is slightly better, but I guess it depends on the specific circumstances. To get this report, select the two lines for the "Data Extraction" coding and click "Run Comparison" (opens a popup, so watch out for the popup blocker!).
Please do not hesitate to get back in touch whenever you'll experience any difficulty: we are here to help.
Thanks again,
Sergio