Library of Resources

Import Filters | Macros | Thesauri

More than 25 macros are presently available, and this number is growing. These automate repetitive tasks involving VantagePoint and other software (for example, MS Excel) to generate complex outputs easily. Some of these macros handle basic operations - for example, "Plot Matrix" wherein you select all or part of a matrix that crosses one field against another in VantagePoint (such as # of appearances of a topic by year), and the macro automatically generates a 3-D plot in MS Excel. Other macros enable multi-faceted processes - for example, "SuperProfile" allows you to break out values for several fields of information for a set of items (such as the "Top 10" companies patenting on a topic of interest) Once you design a desired intelligence product, macros can speed the process. We target rapid competitive and technical intelligence "in a day." The key is to apply well-conceived macros.

Macro Listing

	Name
	Aduna Cluster Map
	Notes:		Creates a dynamic map that shows links and overlap between items in a list. Runs from a group or whole list and items can be filtered out after creation
	Requirements:		Version 6.1 of VantagePoint; Java Runtime Environment 1.5 or higher The files "AdunaSelection.html", "aduna-clustermap-2006.1.jar", "aduna-clustermap-2006.1-resources.jar", and "SendFieldList.vpm" are in your \Macros\Resource directory.
	Usage:		Note: Applet can take a long time to load for lists with large numbers of records. For more info on Aduna cluster maps, see: http://www.aduna-software.com/technologies/clustermap/overview.view
	Calculate Lags
	Notes:		Calculates difference between two date fields
	Requirements:		Assumes dates are formatted YYYYMMDD
	Usage:		Changes YYYY0000 to YYYY0101. Missing/problem dates are put in a "Data Error" entry. For records with multiple dates, calculates from earliest to earliest in each field.
	Catenate Fields
	Notes:		Catenate two fields in a record into a new field. The second field can have multiple values per record.
	Requirements:		The first fields is a 'single' field
	Usage:
	Clean Derwent Assignees
	Notes:		Change Derwent codes into their most common assignee name unless they are a) -N or -R codes or b) -I codes in a record with a non -I code.
	Requirements:		Derwent WPI data with "Patent Assignee Codes" and "Patent Assignees (long)" fields
	Usage:
	Clean Patbase Families
	Notes:		Remove duplicate raw records, keep only the most recent pub for each app, combine families with Patbase data, then save your combined file
	Requirements:		Works ONLY with Patbase Documents imported with the Patbase-Documents-XML.conf filter.
	Usage:		To be run immediately after import. Script minimizes to speed processing.
	Close All Views
	Notes:		Closes all active views in your dataset - only the Summary sheet will remain.
	Requirements:
	Usage:
	Color Cross-Correlation Matrix
	Notes:		Color code cross-correlation matrix based on whether there are shared records or not.
	Requirements:		A cross-correlation matrix is open.
	Usage:		Just because cells in a cross-correlation matrix have a positve number does not mean that the terms actually appear together on any records. This script will color in all the cells with actual records.
	Combine Author Networks
	Notes:		Creates and runs a thesaurus to combine all authors who only publish with a lead author. If authors appeared on more than 50% of lead authors, their name is included. Authors who published a single paper together are also combined into a single entry.
	Requirements:		Author/Inventor list (preferably cleaned) must exist. You may have to tell your anti-virus software to allow the script since it creates a file (the thesaurus) and then deletes it.
	Usage:		This is usally used as a grad-student/lab assistant filter. Minor authors/inventors will disappear, and teams that usually publish together will be merged. The author/inventor list will usually be much shorter after running this script. It could also be used to filter out minor terms from a keyword list.
	Combine Groups
	Notes:		Combine selected groups in a list
	Requirements:		List with groups must exist and should preferably be open
	Usage:		This macro creates a super-group that includes all the terms from other groups. You are first given the option to combine ALL the groups in a field. If you say NO, it will step through each group and ask if you wish to include it. This is the equivalent of "OR-ing" groups together by using the list comparison function to identify common terms within the list. This example covers basic interactions with the user and manipulating a list.
	Company Activity Gantt Chart
	Notes:		Create a Gantt chart of company's active years. Can plot 2 year fields (priority and publication)
	Requirements:		Requires VPv6 A saved dataset is open with organization and year fields.
	Usage:		Quickly compare the range of active years across multiple organizations. Note: Image file is stored in the same directory with the VPT file
	Company Profile Scatter Plot
	Notes:		Create a scatter plot of organizations. The x-axis is number of classifications per publication. The y-axis is the average number of people per record.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv6 A dataset is open with organization, people, classification, and unique identifier fields.
	Usage:		Plot organizations based on the subject diversity of their publications and the size of their research teams. Note: Image file is stored in the same directory with the VPT file
	Copy Sheets
	Notes:		Attempt to re-create the lists and matrices from one dataset to another. ONLY works with default named lists.
	Requirements:		Two datasets are open. The "original" and the target. Only works on lists and matrices. Maps and other sheets will be ignored.
	Usage:
	Count Matrix Rows with Multiple Column Values
	Notes:		Given a matrix, count the number of row items that co-occur with more than one column item. Results returned in a popup.
	Requirements:		A co-occurrence matrix is open with more than one column
	Usage:		Using cleaned lists, quickly count the number of authors that appear with multiple organizations or patents with multiple assignees.
	Count-Frequency Plots
	Notes:		Create a Count-Frequency plot for each field in the dataset. Attempts to fit a 2nd order polynomial to the log of the distribution.
	Requirements:		Dataset is open
	Usage:		Intended as a seed for bibliometric exploration of distributions in NLP, keyword, classification, and other fields. see Zhiqiang Bi, Christos Faloutsos and Flip Korn, "The DGX Distribution for Mining Massive, Skewed Data", KDD 2001, San Francisco, CA, August 2001
	Create All Lists
	Notes:		Creates a list view of all fields in the current dataset.
	Requirements:		Dataset must be open.
	Usage:		Handy when testing an import filter, this is primarily intended as an example. Open it up in the Run Macro dialog box to view an example of the VBScript language these scripts use.
	Create Dataset Summary
	Notes:		Export a summary of the active dataset and its fields to xml file in data directory. Displays xml file in browser sheet.
	Requirements:		Dataset is active and saved.
	Usage:		Quickly review the fields in your dataset for size, coverage, groups, and metatags. The summary produced is static and will not reflect changes you make after it is created.
	Create Espace patent links
	Notes:		Create a field with links to Espace abstracts based on the Patent Number field
	Requirements:		File has a clean (no extra spaces) patent number field.
	Usage:		This script demonstrates creating and running a thesaurus from within a script. The links could potentially be to anything with a consistent URL.
	Create Full Coverage Group
	Notes:		Creates a group that includes as many records as possible from as few terms as possible.
	Requirements:		Will prompt for a field if list is not already open.
	Usage:		User chooses to add terms to the group from the top (most frequent) or bottom (least frequent). Script then does a second pass trying to remove terms but keep full coverage. Script can attempt to make multiple, non-overlapping groups of terms.
	Export Groups to Excel
	Notes:		Exports a list of items in each group to an Excel file. Each group has its own column.
	Requirements:		A list with groups exists.
	Usage:		If you have used the factor mapping or PCD analysis to create a set of groups, this is an easy way to export those groups so they can be reported to and shared with non-VantagePoint users in a table. As a scripting example, it also demonstrates the basic interaction with Microsoft Excel.
	Export Groups to Text
	Notes:		Exports a list of items in each group to a text file. Groups are listed one after the other with group name in ALL CAPS.
	Requirements:		Requirements: A list with groups exists.
	Usage:		If you have used the factor mapping or PCD analysis to create a set of groups, this is an easy way to export those groups so they can be reported to and shared with non-VantagePoint users in a document. As a scripting example, it also demonstrates creating a text file.
	Export Title List
	Notes:		Export to MS Word a formatted list of titles in each group from the selected field.
	Requirements:		A title field exists and groups exist in the selected descriptor field.
	Usage:		When there are too many records to read in a fancy printed list, export just the titles. This is specifically intended for exporting factor groups since the titles are sorted by the number of grouped terms they include. If you allow titles to be exported to multiple groups, titles will be prefaced with an asterisk after they have appeared in another group. You also have the option to list titles not affiliated with any groups at the end of the document if you want the document to include every title in the dataset.
	Find Most Recent Patent Number
	Notes:		Starting with a collection of long formatted (includes date) patent numbers, return the most recent patent number (short format) for each record.
	Requirements:		Assumes that the items in the field end in an 8-digit date (YYYYMMDD) set off with a space.
	Usage:		Notes: In case of a tie, the script prefers US then EP then WO records, then all other authorities alphabetically.
	Get Earliest Year
	Notes:		Takes a multi-valued year field (e.g. Priority Years) and creates a new field with only the earliest year for each record.
	Requirements:		There is a clean year field
	Usage:
	Get Latest Year
	Notes:		Takes a multi-valued year field (e.g. Patent Family Publication Years) and creates a new field with only the most recent year for each record.
	Requirements:		There is a clean year field
	Usage:
	Make Earliest Date
	Notes:		Go through a list of dates. Put the first one for each record into a new field.
	Requirements:		Dates are expected to be in YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD format. A field with years or other non-date information will cause errors.
	Usage:		Use to create a field with, for example, the earliest priority date from a patent family record.
	Make Pivot Chart
	Notes:		Creates a PivotChart in Excel.
	Requirements:		Matrix must be open. User selects third field. Excel version compatible with PivotCharts (98 or later).
	Usage:		The script lets you take advantage of the 3-field analysis and visualization capabilities of Excel.
	Mark Unique
	Notes:		Mark keywords (or some other terms) unique to a term in another field.
	Requirements:		There is a field with items you want to compare and a field with potentially unique items.
	Usage:		This script is a handy way of comparing a group of affiliations or journals to see what terms or phrases are appearing in each that do NOT appear in the others. The uniqueness is only within the group of terms compared, not the whole dataset. For that, create a new dataset from every term BUT the term in question and use the list comparison function to flag the terms that disappear. This script will end by creating a copy of your comparison term field with groups for each of the items that was being compared. To get these groups out, use the ExportGroups2Excel script.
	Matrix Column Cross Product
	Notes:		Export to Excel a cross product of row items by column
	Requirements:		A matrix must be open.
	Usage:		Use with a cross-correlation matrix to evaluate the total "connectedness" of each column, for example, in a cross-correlation of organizations by subject terms Note: Script is limited to Excel's maximum of 256 columns.
	Matrix Column Sum
	Notes:		Export to Excel a count of number of row items per column
	Requirements:		A matrix must be open.
	Usage:		From a matrix of classifications (rows) by organizations (columns), find the number of unique and total classifications applied to each organizations' records. Note: Script is limited to Excel's maximum of 256 columns.
	Matrix Row Cross Product
	Notes:		Export to Excel a cross product of column items by row
	Requirements:		A matrix must be open.
	Usage:		Use with matrix of records (rows) by keywords or classification (columns) to asses the centrality of each record. Records with many, common terms will have a higher cross-product than records with a few, infrequent terms.
	Matrix Row Sum
	Notes:		Export to Excel a count of number of column items per row
	Requirements:		A matrix must be open.
	Usage:		Similar to MatrixColumnSum but avoids Excel's limits on columns. Can be used to examine the dispersion of vocabulary by calculating the number of organizations or journals (columns) per term (row).
	Matrix Viewer
	Notes:		View a node-edge representation of a matrix in a browser sheet.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv5 A matrix must be open.
	Usage:		Similar to VantagePoint's other maps, this script displays terms as nodes and shared records or correlations (depending on matrix type) as lines between them. If the matrix has different fields in its rows and columns, they will be represented with different color nodes. Different layouts can be selected from the drop-down at the top of the sheet. Additional usage instructions can be found at the bottom of the sheet. Note: Script used J.Heer's Prefuse visualization package (www.prefuse.org). Nodes can be moved and clicked to bring up records in title/detail windows. Visualization is sized based on display area available when first run. Re-run to re-size. Warning: In force-directed (animated) layout, map will continuously update and use processor power unless paused, even if you switch to another sheet.
	Move Groups
	Notes:		Move groups from one list to another.
	Requirements:		List with groups is open
	Usage:		Handy way to apply categories created in one field to another field. For example, applying groups of subject terms to a list of organizations.
	Multiple-Match Thesaurus from Matrix
	Notes:		Create a thesaurus (.the file) from items in a matrix. Row items will be top level items and columns will be sub-items.
	Requirements:		A matrix is open.
	Usage:		This is a handy way to create a thesaurus file from two existing fields. For example, you can create a thesaurus that links author names (columns) to organizations (rows).
	Open File in Browser Sheet
	Notes:		Get a file name from user then attempt to open the file in a new browser sheet
	Requirements:		File is html or other format that can be rendered by internal browser.
	Usage:
	Plot Fields
	Notes:		Create a Rank by # of records plot for each field in the datset.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv6 Dataset is open
	Usage:		Makes a series of small plots in a browser sheet. This is an example of using ChartDirector, a graphing package, and browser sheets to display information. Note: All charts are temporary PNG files in \VantagePoint\TempData\ directory. For more information on ChartDirector and to acquire a developer's licence, please visit the ChartDirector website.
	Plot List (Browser Sheet)
	Notes:		This script creates a plot of a list on a browser sheet in VantagePoint.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv5 Dataset must be open and a list viewed.
	Usage:		This script plots the ENTIRE list to a column chart. Columns are sorted by number of records unless the data type is "Year". Clicking on the chart will call up the associated titles.
	Plot List (MS Excel)
	Notes:		This script creates an Excel plot of a portion of a list.
	Requirements:		Dataset must be open, a list viewed, and a portion of the data in the list must be selected prior to running this script.
	Usage:		This script is simple, but most users love it. It is a handy way to export "top 10" list data to Excel and begin plotting it. Most users modify the charts to their own preferences after it is finished.
	Plot Matrix (MS Excel)
	Notes:		This script creates three Excel plots of a portion of a co-occurrence matrix. The code is very similar to the PlotList macro.
	Requirements:		Dataset must be open, a co-occurrence matrix viewed, and a portion of the data in the matrix must be selected prior to running this script.
	Usage:		The script is typically used to plot trends from a matrix with years as the columns. The plot follows the sorting of the matrix so be sure that the years are sorted with the most recent years on the right.
	Record Export
	Notes:		Output a Word, Excel, text, or XML file containing a pre-selected set of fields from each of the records in a list selection or group.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv5 Unique identifier field exists. User has grouped or selected the records to export.
	Usage:		This script provides an example of how you can export records with a set of pre-selected fields. The list of fields, currently configured for generic literature records, is on line 7. You can change the default list.
	Super Profile
	Notes:		Create a profile table of a group of items in a field.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv5 or newer The files "SendFieldList.vpm" and "SuperProfileForm.html" are in your in your \Macros\Resource\ directory.
	Usage:		This script opens a form where you "build" your profile. The first column will always be the items from the group you selected. In subsequent columns, you will first pick an analysis type for the column, then pick a field as the basis for the column, and finally specify how many items for each cell in the column. When finished adding columns, click submit.
	Terms By Year
	Notes:		Create new field with groups showing which terms appeared in which year (first, last, or all). Offers option to export results to an Excel table.
	Requirements:		Requires VPv5 There is a cleaned year field with at least two items.
	Usage:		This handy script groups terms by the year they appeared. Grouping by first year is a good way to find who or what only appeared in the dataset recently and what has been around for a while. Grouping by last year can show you which terms have depreciated and are no longer in use. In addition, if you export the Excel report, you can get a total of how many grouped terms appeared in each year. This can be used as an indicator of the maturity of the set (see the "maturity" section of the Analysis Guide).