Starting a New Session

To start a new session:

Select File > New Session (see Figure 1, Option 1). The Data File Type dialog appears.
Select the radio button for the file type you want.
Click on OK. If you selected Comma Separated Values or Fixed Width the Select File dialog (see Figure 7) appears. If you selected Delimited Values the Select Delimiter dialog (see Figure 6 below) appears.
If you selected Delimited Values you must select the delimiter in your data file from the dialog by clicking on the radio button. If you have another delimiter, select the radio button for other and enter the delimiter in the text field. Once you have selected the delimiter click OK to open the Select File dialogue (see Figure 7 below).
From the Select File dialog (see Figure 7) use the dropdown menu for the Look In field to find the folder with your file and select the file from the folder contents with your mouse. The file name will appear in the File Name field.
Select the Open button. The Select fields dialog appears (see Figure 8 below).
To join your delimited session with a map file select a .gen or .shp file from the dropdown menu in the Map File field.
Check the Area ID checkbox for the appropriate variable. If you also have the State or County Name as a field, click the check box in the Area Name column across from that field.
Select OK. Depending on your selections you may get a dialog box asking if your data contains specific information. Once you have answered the question in the dialog box, the Graph dialog appears (see Figure 10).

Figure 5 - Data File Type Dialog

Options - Figure 5	Description
1. Comma Separated Values	Allows you to select a data file in the comma separated (or delimited) values format (.csv).
2. Fixed Width	Allows you to select a fixed-width file for your data file.
3. Delimited Values	Opens a dialog allowing you to select a delimiter other than commas.
4. OK	Accepts your selection and moves you to the next step.
5. Cancel	Cancels the new session request.

Figure 6 - Select Delimiter Dialog

Options - Figure 6	Description
1. Tab	Recognizes tabs as delimiters between values.
2. Colon	Recognizes colons as delimiters between values.
3. Semi-colon	Recognizes semi-colons as delimiters between values.
4. Other	Allows user to define the delimiter between values.
5. OK	Accepts your selection and moves you to the next step.
6. Cancel	Cancels the new session request.

Figure 7 - Select Data File

Options - Figure 7	Description
1. Look In	Browse to a folder containing desired comma-separated values files (csv).
2. Folder Contents	Select a file from the folder.
3. Open	Opens the selected file and opens the Select fields dialog.
4. Cancel	Closes the file selection dialog.

Figure 8 - Select Fields Dialog

Options - Figure 8	Description
1. Select	Opens the Select a map file dialog.
2. Area ID	A unique identifier for the area.
3. Area Name	The name of the area
4. Sub Area ID	A unique identifier for sub-area. A sub-area is an area that is included within another area (for example, a county is a sub-area of a state). When creating box-plots sub-areas' values are used to build a box-plot distribution for each area.
5. Sub Area Name	The name of a sub-area.
6. Cohort Variable	Used to identify cohorts (by-groups).
7. Statistic	The value to be shown in the graph.
8. Filter Variable	Limits the areas shown on the graph.
9. Ignore Field	This field will be ignored.
10. OK	Initializes a session and opens the Graph dialog.
11. Cancel	Cancels all selections and closes the Select fields dialog.