SUBJECT: European Union - External Trade
PRODUCT: Comext database. CD-ROM Ver. 5.06 (c) ECSC-EEC-EAEC
PLATFORM: Windows
MEMO: Comext Stand-Alone software
version for 2003
DATE: Feb. 17, 2003 -- R4 April 14, 2003
AUTHOR: Euros Publications
PURPOSE: To outline the basic steps to produce trade tables.
URL: http://www.euros.ch/comext-sa-t4.html
SEE ALSO: "FIRST EXTRACTION.pdf"
on the Comext CD and the "USER MANUAL"
on the Help Menu in Comext or under "Start-Programs-Comext" in Windows.
On the top left menu of the main Comext screen, click on the Picon. 
In the next window give your Plan a name (for example, "first job"), highlight
"EEC Special Trade" and click OK.
In the next window you will select your Dimensions.
|
|
one or more selections from the list |
|
|
| REPORTING
(or DECLARANT) |
EU reporter countries |
|
|
| PARTNER | Partner countries |
|
|
| PRODUCT | Products |
|
|
| FLOW | Import or export |
|
|
| STAT-PROCEDURE | Regime 4
"total trade" |
|
|
| PERIOD | Months |
|
|
| INDICATOR | Quantity, sup_quantity or value |
|
|
When you have finished making selections for each Dimension, click on
the DISKETTE icon 
at the top of the main Comext screen to save your Plan.
Pull down the Extract menu from the top of the main Comext screen and click "Generate Table".
You can give a title to the Table. If you want text headings, highlight
the Dimensions
and click on LABEL (L).
Highlight the Dimension you want on a given axis and click the X-axis
columns, horizontal along the top) or the Y-axis (rows, vertical on
the left).
Click the "Generate Table" button, confirm the Table (first job-0.S0) and click OK.
The Completed Work window automatically opens with the Table (first job-0.S0) highlighted.
Click "Move to file" to save the file as a Table. The Table is in a
tab-delimited
TEXT format (.txt).
By default your Tables are given a number ## and are saved as .txt
files in the \Data
directory where you installed Comext, for example under
C:\Program files\Comext\Client\CXTCD\Data\
But you can give your own name and specify your own work directory.
You can retrieve the Plan (first job-0) later from the "Completed Work" menu.
In Windows, use a spreadsheet application such as EXCEL or a text editor
such as
WORD to retrieve the Table from the work directory.
Your Tables are saved as .txt files in the directory where you installed
Comext,
for example under C:\Program files\Comext\Client\CXTCD\Data\
or in your own work directory.
Click on "Completed Work" at the top of the main Comext screen. Highlight
the Plan you want,
for example first job-0, and click on the "Dump" button.
The Dump Option window shows the default settings with the Dimensions
all on the Y-Axis
and the separator as a comma ( , ).
Click the "Dump" button, confirm the Dump (first job-0.D0) and click OK.
The Completed Work window automatically opens with the Dump (first job-0.D0) highlighted.
Click "Move to file" to save the file in comma-delimited .dpx format. This is a "flat file".
By default your Tables are given a number ## and are saved as .dpx
files in the \User
directory where you installed Comext, for example under
C:\Program files\Comext\Client\CXTCD\Data\
You can give your own name and specify your own work directory.
=============
Open the .dpx file in
a spreadsheet application such as EXCEL,
specifying a Delimited file type, with both tab and comma separators.
There will be 45 lines of descriptive information at the top the spreadsheet.
Towards the bottom, the data will be within the headings "BEGIN" and
"END":
| Q | **BEGIN: Dump_Data | ||||||
| ~ |
4
|
400
|
TOTAL |
1
|
4
|
200152
|
38019060
|
| ~ |
4
|
400
|
TOTAL |
2
|
4
|
200152
|
67823840
|
| ~ |
5
|
400
|
TOTAL |
1
|
4
|
200152
|
12777728
|
| ~ |
5
|
400
|
TOTAL |
2
|
4
|
200152
|
26211562
|
| R | **END: Dump_Data | ||||||
Click on "Completed Work" at the top of the main Comext screen. Highlight
the Plan you want,
for example first job-0, and click on the "Out Data" button.
You will be able to save your jobs in the following formats:
.csv .dat
.dpx .html .sas .spss
.xml