Exchange Plus

Overview

XMLExchange Plus was renamed Exchange Plus because the application has become a useful tool for registry operation activities beyond the XML data exchange format. Features have been added to the application over time.

Exchange Plus is a tool for reading and writing data exchange files formatted according to the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) XML Data Exchange Standard.

Features

The following features are available in Exchange Plus:

• Dictionary maintenance. This module is intended to help users who are not XML experts produce valid NAACCR XML dictionaries. Potential users include metafile administrators who may be asked to define a user dictionary based on custom items collected at their registry.
• Conversion. This module converts data exchange files from the flat-buffer format to NAACCR XML format (NAACCR v18 only), from NAACCR XML format to flat-buffer format, and from NAACCR XML format to delimited format.
• Flat and delimited file creation. XMLExchange Plus was developed to work with analytic software tools such as R and SAS, which do not accept NAACCR-formatted XML data files as inputs, but can accept flat and delimited files produced by this application to perform data manipulation, statistical calculation, and graphical display.
• Run EDITS. This module runs EDITS against a NAACCR XML data file and creates a GenEDITS-style report (detail and summary).
• Import, view, update, and export NAACCR data. This module allows users to:
  • Import NAACCR files.
  • View the data in a grid.
  • Update individual records in grid cells or apply batch updates for file manipulation.
  • Export updated files with or without application of filter criteria.
  • Anonymize confidential data.
  • Split files by number of records or by a field value.
  • Combine multiple NAACCR files into one data source.
  • Specify the connection string to the CRS Plus database (for CRS Plus users) and run linkage on all records in the data source against all abstracts or consolidated records in the CRS Plus database. This feature is helpful for casefinding, completeness, and prioritization of data to determine if records exist in the database before importing into CRS Plus.
• Validation. This module runs schema validation to verify that the XML file is a valid NAACCR XML document and that the file does not contain any data items that are not defined in the base or user-defined dictionary. It also validates the data type and length of each data item and produces a validation report.
• Data file mapping. This module converts any kind of delimited or fixed column position file to the current NAACCR XML file. It also maps data items with a different code and format structure to NAACCR standard codes to helpt registries with data linkages and preparation of data to write to the database in the NAACCR standard format.

System requirements

Exchange Plus has been developed for Microsoft^® Windows^® 10 and subsequent operating systems. The minimum hardware requirements are the same as those of the operating system used. If your computer runs Windows satisfactorily, it should do well with this program.

Installing Exchange Plus 2.6

Version 2.6.0.0, build date September 9, 2024

This release of Exchange Plus includes a fix for export of combined NAACCR XML files, nesting appropriate tumors with patients.

The Exchange Plus installer includes:

• A readme file. Its contents also are displayed in the main window when the application is opened.
• A PDF version of the comprehensive Exchange Plus manual that can be accessed from the Help menu.
• The NAACCR XML base dictionary for the current version of the NAACCR XML Standard. The base dictionaries were final at the time of release of XMLExchange Plus but are subject to change over time and can be replaced in the XMLExchange Plus Dictionary folder. Please check NAACCR's website for the latest versions of the base dictionaries and replace the dictionaries in the Data Dictionary folder as needed. Exchange Plus will install to a different location (C:RegPlusExchangePlus) than XML Exchange Plus. XML Exchange Plus does not need to be uninstalled. It can be retained temporarily to retrieve saved user dictionaries, scripts, and reports to move to the Exchange Plus directory.
• .NET 6 or higher .NET runtime is required to run Exchange Plus. The Exchange Plus install automatically installs .NET 6 if it is not present on the computer.

To install the latest version of Exchange Plus:

• Download the latest version of Exchange Plus, ExchangePlusInstaller_09_09_2024.zip (ZIP file, 78 MB, September 9, 2024) to your computer.
• Unzip the file and run setup.exe to install the application.
• SQL LocalDB is needed to use the Mapping feature. If LocalDB is not installed, a prompt will display to accept the license agreement. When accepted, SQL Server Express LocalDB will be installed, followed by a prompt for the Exchange Plus Setup Wizard.

The following updates were included in this release of Exchange Plus:

• Supports the NAACCR Data Exchange Standard, XML Specifications for Cancer Registry Records, version 1.8: The data type dateTime has been implemented.
• Enhancements for running edits: Editing has been enhanced for multiprocessing. Individual edit options have been added to allow users to suppress edits. The Run Edits interface has been enhanced.
• Mapping function: Resolves an issue where data was not aligned properly if commas were included in the data file.

Technical support

For technical support, contact cancerinformatics@cdc.gov.