redcapAPI (version 1.3)

importRecords: Import Records to a REDCap Database

Description

Imports records from a data.frame to a REDCap Database

Usage

importRecords(rcon, data, overwriteBehavior = c("normal", "overwrite"),
  returnContent = c("count", "ids", "nothing"), returnData = FALSE,
  logfile = "", ...)
# S3 method for redcapDbConnection
importRecords(rcon, data,
  overwriteBehavior = c("normal", "overwrite"), returnContent = c("count",
  "ids", "nothing"), returnData = FALSE, logfile = "", ...)
# S3 method for redcapApiConnection
importRecords(rcon, data,
  overwriteBehavior = c("normal", "overwrite"), returnContent = c("count",
  "ids", "nothing"), returnData = FALSE, logfile = "", ..., proj = NULL,
  batch.size = -1)

Arguments

rcon

A REDCap connection object as created by redcapConnection.

data

A data.frame to be imported to the REDCap project.

overwriteBehavior

Character string. 'normal' prevents blank fields from overwriting populated fields. 'overwrite' causes blanks to overwrite data in the REDCap database.

returnContent

Character string. 'count' returns the number of records imported; 'ids' returns the record ids that are imported; 'nothing' returns no message.

returnData

Logical. Prevents the REDCap import and instead returns the data frame that would have been given for import. This is sometimes helpful if the API import fails without providing an informative message. The data frame can be written to a csv and uploaded using the interactive tools to troubleshoot the problem. Please shoot me an e-mail if you find errors I havne't accounted for.

logfile

An optional filepath (preferably .txt) in which to print the log of errors and warnings about the data. If "", the log is printed to the console.

...

Arguments to be passed to other methods.

proj

A redcapProject object as created by redcapProjectInfo.

batch.size

Specifies size of batches. A negative value indicates no batching.

Details

A record of imports through the API is recorded in the Logging section of the project.

importRecords prevents the most common import errors by testing the data before attempting the import. Namely

1. Check that all variables in data exist in the REDCap data dictionary.

2. Check that the study id variable exists

3. Force the study id variable to the first position in the data frame (with a warning)

4. Remove calculated fields (with a warning)

5. Verify that REDCap date fields are represented in the data frame as either character, POSIXct, or Date class objects.

6. Determine if values are within their specified validation limits.

See the documentation for validateImport for detailed explanations of the validation.

References

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12393004/parsing-back-to-messy-api-strcuture/12435389#12435389 https://github.com/etb/my-R-code/blob/master/R-pull-and-push-from-and-to-REDCap.R See also the REDCap API documentation Please refer to your institution's API documentation.

Additional details on API parameters are found on the package wiki at https://github.com/nutterb/redcapAPI/wiki/REDCap-API-Parameters

See Also

validateImport

Examples

# NOT RUN {
> #*** Note: I cannot provide working examples without
> #*** compromising security.  Instead, I will try to
> #*** offer up sample code with the matching results
>
>
> #*** Create the connection object
> rcon <- redcapConnection(url=[YOUR_REDCAP_URL], token=[API_TOKEN])
>
>
> #*** Import a record for a new patient
> NewScan <- data.frame(patient_id = 1022,
+                       redcap_event_name = "entry_arm_1",
+                       bmi = 24.689,
+                       patient_characteristics_complete = 1)
>
> importRecords(rcon, NewScan)
REDCap Data Import Log: 2014-06-20 16:08:31
The following (if any) conditions were noted about the data.


1
> ## No conditions were noted, 1 record was uploaded
>
>
>
>
>
> #*** Import a record for a new patient with an erroneous BMI value
> NewScan <- data.frame(patient_id = 1022,
+                       redcap_event_name = "entry_arm_1",
+                       bmi = 244.689,
+                       patient_characteristics_complete = 4)
>
> importRecords(rcon, NewScan)
REDCap Data Import Log: 2014-06-20 16:08:33
The following (if any) conditions were noted about the data.


1022   entry_arm_1   244.689   Entry for 'bmi' is larger than
the acceptable maximum.  Please confirm.
1
> ## One condition was noted.  Notice that the BMI value was still
> ## uploaded to REDCap.
# }