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  • 1 min read

QualCoder 2 8 Released

Hello,

I am pleased to announce a new release of QualCoder, version 2.8. This release includes a Windows 10 exe.

This release contains bug fixes and additional functionality.

The release is available from: https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.8

The main new functions are:

Code by case.

You can select a case and code the files or text file portions assigned to that case. There is some reduced functionality compared to the existing Code Text and Code AV functions:

  • in text files: no auto-coding -- due to risk of auto coding non-case assigned text portions.
  • in A/V files only duration segments can be coded, the associated text file is not shown -- due to file conflicts in how the data structure works in Code by Case.

The code by case function will be useful when importing a survey and one or more of the survey columns is designated 'qualitative'. The qualitative data are converted into a single text entry on import. Sections of this text are assigned to the relevant case (relevant survey row) and can then be coded for each case (survey row entry).

SQL statements

You can save SQL statements for later use. SQL statements can be deleted via right-click menu option.

With regards Colin

  • 1 min read

Windows QualCoder exe

Installation and use on Windows have been made a lot easier.

I have created an exe file for Microsoft Windows. It was created on Windows 10 64 bit and also works on Windows 7 64 bit. Double-click to run. All python modules are included in the exe.

The VLC audio/video software does still need to be installed for QualCoder to work. https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The QualCoder exe is available here:

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.7

The exe file was created using pyinstaller 4.2 and bundles python 3.8 into the exe file.

  • 3 min read

QualCoder 2 7 Release

The latest version of QualCoder has been released. https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.7

Release 2.6 was removed as there was an error.

The wiki manual is current. https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/wiki The pdf and odt manuals in the release folder do not show the latest functionality and so are outdated.

Fixed bugs:

Coding text: when searching for text and the 'all files' option is selected, an error occurs. (due to an upgrade in another functionality). Fixed.

Case deletion: This can affect the case attributes for multiple cases. Fixed.

Functionality:

Added dark mode. Activate in Settings.

Added search text function in Journals and in Manage Files > view audio/video file.\ Improved overly sensitive code extension and reduction keys in Code text (Shift or Alt + Left or Right arrow).

Added new auto-code function in Code text. This function uses start and end marks for autocoding. It includes all of the start mark and stops just before the end mark. The line ending character is '\n'.

Added an 'Important' function to coding. This flags coded text, AV, images as important codes. To use for obtaining exemplars. Added 'I' shortcut in code text code av text to mark important

Added a files filter when coding text, AV, images. This shows a filtered list of files, based on attribute values selected.

The codes tree -- can now merge one category into another category.

Improved importation of file variables from REFI-QDA Projects. Improved exportation of REFI-QDA Project file.

Added ctid unique autointeger column to the code_text database table.\ This also updates older QualCoder projects, when opened.

Can now edit coded text files while the text file contains coded/annotated/case-assigned text. Avoid selecting text chunks and deleting or pasting text across selected text chunks which contain combinations of unmarked text sections and marked coded/annotated/case-assigned sections. As this will not update those assigned text segments correctly. Press Ctrl+E when in the text area, to activate and exit this editing mode.

Reports:\ Added function to report on annotations in text files.\ Added function to add reporting memos: Options: None, Coded text memos, All memos.

Installation and running QualCoder:

Windows:

Install VLC or from the Windows Store. Download and unzip the QualCoder-2.7.zip release.

The software does not have an exe for Windows. Download and install the Python programming language https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. The minimum version that works for QualCoder is python 3.6. Download the file (at the bottom of the web site) "Windows installer (64-bit)" (or 32-bit if you have an older system) and install Python. IMPORTANT: in the first window of the installation mark the option "Add Python to PATH"

Install extra modules to Python. Type the letters "cmd" in the Windows Start searching engine, and click on the black software "cmd.exe" -- this is the command console for Windows. In the console paste, using the right-click context menu (ctrl+v does not work) the following:

py -m pip install pyqt5 lxml Pillow ebooklib ply chardet pdfminer.six openpyxl

Then click enter. Wait, until all modules are installed (the command phrase should be again visible: "C:\Users[Your Windows account name]> or similar).

Run QualCoder from cmd.exe Move to the QualCoder-2.7 folder. Then type py -m qualcoder

Or run by double-click. Open the QualCoder-2.7\qualcoder folder. Double-click the main.py file to run. You can make a shortcut to this file and keep the shortcut on the desktop.

Linux:

Install these modules from the terminal:

sudo apt install python3-lxml python3-ply python3-six python3-pdfminer python3-chardet python3-qt5 python3-pillow

On some Linux versions you will need to install pip

sudo apt install python3-pip

sudo python3 -m pip install pdfminer.six openpyxl ebooklib

In the terminal, Go to the QualCoder-2.7 folder, then type:

sudo python3 setup.py install

To run. From the terminal type:

qualcoder

(Note: This release does not include a Debian install package.)

  • 1 min read

QualCoder 2 5 Release

There are mostly minor changes in this release. The link to the 2.5 release is shown below:

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.5

Mainly removing bugs:

Bug of defaulting only to character attributes when attribute is created now – fixed.

Bug with csv survey import – fixed.

Bug deleting when deleting a case that can affect other case attributes – fixed.

Minor bug regarding overlapping codes and text cursor position – fixed.

Added Portuguese language (draft translation), as there is lots of interest from Brazil.

  • 2 min read

QualCoder 2 4 release

The latest release of QualCoder has been published: https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.4

It contains a major change from many opened dialog windows. to a tabbed interface with four tabs for actions performed log, coding, manage and reports.

Details of other updates are:

  • Use of base64 for icons.
  • Export option for case and file attributes.
  • Reports -- Case matrix -- various options for the matrix columns: codes, categories, top categories.
  • Extra explanation for text search in code text regards Regex.
  • Additional shortcut keys when coding:
  • Shortcut R to select Recent codes. (requires text selection)
  • Shortcut Q to Quick code with the most recent code. (requires text selection)
  • Shortcut M to memo a code. (click on the coded segment first)
  • Shortcut O to cycle through overlapping codes in situ. (click on the coded segment first)
  • Code in context of original file -- now available in code text, code image, code av, graph and code reports results. In the coding menus in code text ,code image, code AV, click on 'Show coded files' code tree menu option then in the displayed codes window, click on a colored heading to show the code in its original context.
  • In code text: the font size for the document text can be changed. (Future: this may be moved to an option for all document text in the Settings menu).
  • In Manage Attributes. Right click on 'numeric' for an attribute and there is a menu option to change to 'character'.

I skipped the 2.3 release as I could not change two minor issues after the code was released on Github.

  • 1 min read

QualCoder 2 2 Release

The latest release of QualCoder is available from:

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.2

The changes are:

  • Improved UI features,with the use of icons and files selector list.
  • Improved imports and exports of REFI-QDA projects. Still an experimental function.
  • An option to link to files rather than store them internally in the project folder.
  • No longer store files larger than 2 Gbytes internally in the project folder for REFI-QDA compatibility.
  • Coded text memo functionality added.
  • Additional text auto-coding options for sentences (in one file or across all text files).
  • Auto-coding undo option.
  • Select multiple files for deletion function.
  • Italian language added.
  • Greek language added (translation requires revision).
  • Added warning when entering text into numeric case attribute.
  • Fixed error, new case attributes were always assigned to numeric type.

Revision of Japanese and Spanish translations is also required.

REFI-QDA:

REFI-QDA project export and import has improved. However, further testing of absolute and relative file links needs to be undertaken. In audio and video transcripts, the transcript codings and syncpoints require further testing. For REF-QDA project import, variables are stored as text so: boolean, date, integer and floating point. Although some of these are cast as numeric during operations. QualCoder does not import sets or graphs as it does not have this functionality.

With the newer iconified toolbars, the icons have not been tested on Mac OS.

  • 1 min read

QualCoder 2 1

The latest QualCoder release is now available.

Improved REFI MAXQDA import – Qualcoder now tests for Sources and sources directory in the qdpx folder. Improved REFI-QDA and RQDA imports by auto-selecting a coder name for use on import. Added key commands for changing text coding sizes. Shift + Left arrow, Shift + Right arrow, Alt + Left arrow, Alt + Right arrow.

Audio and Video play speed now ranges from 0.1 speed up to 2.0 speed. Added key commands for audio/video play speed. Ctrl + Shift + < and Ctrl + Shift + >

Added video window right-context menu. This can be used to resize the window if re-sizing is difficult. It can also export a screenshot of the current image in the window.

Added exportable relation table to match the RQDA relation function. Added the RQDA getCodingTable function. This is a SQL command, under joins in the SQL Dialog).

Release:

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/2.1

  • 1 min read

QualCoder 2 0

The August 2020 of QualCoder is available from https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases

This release contains bug fixes. It also contains a lot of GUI improvements, including storing window sizes and a recent project menu. There is improved importing and exporting of files. Import of survey files in xlsx format is now available. There is also a Japanese language option (which will need revision), https://www.qdaa.info/qual-coder-install-windows10?fbclid=IwAR010UsEE_tq4_5iNbOZ_Tp91587YJnp1QGUtXvB9F4xa0g9F3fTJOUGrmw

The importation and exportation of projects in the REFI-QDA format is experimental and not fully compliant with the standards. There is improvement in text coding with better support for imported REFI-QDA files with some characters, e.g. smart quotes, than the previous version.

This release requires the installation of the python module: openpyxl The manual contains the instructions to install this module.

The release contains a Debian for Linux and a master.zip folder. The source.zip, source.tar.gz contains one bug in the AV module to do with coding AV segments. The master.zip contains the source code also, without the bug.

  • 1 min read

Qualcoder-1 9 Release

This latest release May 2020 of QualCoder is available from https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases

This release fixes some bugs.

Improvements

  • Improved French translations.
  • When image coding the boxes are colored to match the code color.
  • Auto-coding text allows you to assign multiple differing sections of text with the same code by using the pipe '|' separator. For example assigning the words politics|politicians with a selected code.
  • There are additional options in the view graph dialog. Right-click context menu on a line gives options to emphasis selected lines by color, thickness and style.

Citing

There have been some requests of how to cite QualCoder. This is an example in APA style:

Curtain, C. (2020) QualCoder 1.9 [Computer software]. Retrieved from

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/1.9

Some limitations

ebook importation may not always work.The importation and exportation of projects in the REFI-QDA format is experimental and not fully compliant with the standards.\ Exports\ Functionalities that may not match the standard:\ Coding for a/v transcripts is also exported as a TextSource.\ Transcript synchronization with a/v is approximated from textual timepoints in the transcript.\ Large > 2GBfiles are not stored externally.

Imports

PDF sources not imported.\ Audio and video transcriptions, synchpoints and transcription coding to be further tested.\ Sets and Node Graphs are not imported: Qualcoder does not use this functionality.\ Large > 2GBfiles are not stored externally.

  • 1 min read

Latest release

The latest source code and a Linux debian release are now available.

Changes include the RQDA project import function and various bug fixes.

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases