MLwiN bug fixes

MLwiN 2.1 bug fixes

MLwiN 2.17

02-Feb-10

Please note that there is a bug in this release: The problem is that certain file names are being misinterpreted as if they are command arguments. Examples of file names where this happens are ones containing a space followed by a number, a "C", "G", "B" or "K". When this happens MLwiN is unable to open or save the file, giving a "Wrong Params" error. The complete file name including the path could be misinterpreted.

The workaround is to either rename and/or move the file so that it does not match the above criteria, or to open the command interface and click the most recent line starting with "LOAD" or "STOR". The user must then replace the "LOAD" or "STOR" command with one appropriate for the type of worksheet and press enter to run them command. The appropriate replacements are as follows:

	LOAD	STOR
MLwiN	RETR	SAVE
MLwiN (compressed)	ZRET	ZSAV
Stata	RSTA	SSTA
Minitab	RMTW	SMTW
SPSS	RSPS	SSPS

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. This bug will be fixed in the next release.

New Features and Bug Fixes:

GCLEar <N> no longer removes text labels from all graphs
Sandwich estimators are now used for weights set up by the GUI
MCMC options now correctly displays the currently selected leveling level
The "Copy" button in the "customised predictions" window is now always visible when viewing the prediction grid
Renaming stored models is now possible
The following screens no longer incorrectly execute previous commands: Listwise, Merge, Join, Sort
Storing MCMC model results now saves more information
Allow copying results from the "variance" window
Ordered Multinomial models in MCMC only previously worked if the last category e.g. A in alevchem example was chosen as reference category - now works in both directions
Fixed crashes after using COMB and UCOM commands

MLwiN 2.16

03-Dec-09

Ignore black lines when reading text data
Preserve whether a term is in the fixed part when loading old worksheets
Fix bug where clearing the graph "y title" actually cleared the "x title"
Fix DESC command to correctly allow setting more than one column description at a time
Improved the consistency of equation colouring
Allow ADDTerm to re-add terms that have been removed from the equation by FPARt
WIPE is now better at clearing worksheet state

MLwiN 2.15

15-Oct-09

Fixed potential error when reading worksheets containing column descriptions
Re-enabled "standardised weights" option in the weights window
Fixed potential crash when changing the equation scale

MLwiN 2.14

22-Sep-09

Fixed reading in Stata files after there was already data in the worksheet
Fixed issue parsing unquoted single parameters
Take missing values into account for centiles and nested means in customised predictions
Remember graph row and column codes when retrieving worksheets
Fixed a crash when loading a worksheet containing column descriptions where the number of columns is different to the number saved in the worksheet
Fix "recode by value" to work on columns after empty columns in the data

MLwiN 2.13

25-Aug-09

Running multivariate discrete response models from a macro gave different results to running from the GUI when binomial (as opposed to extra-binomial) variation was specified for any response(s) other than the last response. This was because when these models were run from a macro, only the last random parameter was constrained, and so extra-binomial variation would be used for all but the last response regardless of the user's specification. Thus if the user wanted to fit, say, a trivariate binomial response model with all responses having binomial variation, then if the user ran the model from a macro the first two responses would fit extra binomial variation and the third response would estimate binomial variation. If the user instead used the user interface all three responses would be fit with binomial variation as required.

MCMC methodology features new in MLwiN 2.13 (Further details…)

parameter expansion
hierarchical centring
orthogonal parameterisations
structured MCMC
structured MVN

Other changes:

Fixed potential crash running multivariate models from a macro
Fixed to remember "None" reference category in modify term
Fixed to truncate labels that exceed Stata limits, rather than crashing
Fixed to save variable with a default name, rather than skip them when the name is invalid in SPSS
Fixed copy when the number of columns to be copied is two fewer than the number of rows
Fixed incorrect results from running multivariate discrete models from macros
Fixed potential crash loading a worksheet containing a model run in MCMC
Fixed Crash when running single level models from macros, where a column of 1s of the same length as the response variable and called 'cons' is not present in the worksheet

MLwiN 2.12

07-Jul-09

Fixed "highlight styles" window to work again
Fixed worksheet space leak when columns were erased in the opposite order in which they are created
Fixed model timing functionality in the GUI
Fixed potential crash when clearing the worksheet
Fixed potential data corruption when running a model through macros
Fixed crash on startup if the default worksheet size is set too high
Problem with with running models from macro files This bug effects version 2.10 beta 6-11 and release versions 2.10 and 2.11

MLwiN 2.11

28-Apr-09

Removed offset information when clearing the model
Fixed ISTA to not only use the first imputed data set
Increased precision of data exported by ISAV
Fixed crash in customised predictions when differences are selected in a multivariate model
Fixed SWAP to maintain whether a term is in the fixed part when swapping a term with itself
Fixed SWAP command to maintain the reference category when swapping a term with itself
Information from the EXCL command is now saved in the worksheet
Fixed potential crash in the MRAN command
Fixed potential error in the display of number of cases when loading one worksheet over another
Fixed potential crash after loading a worksheet containing MCMC information
Fixed potential crash when copying a prediction grid where the specification was incomplete
Fixed incorrect command generated when weights is ticked in averages and corellations
Fixed buffer overflow when copying columns with names greater than 19 characters

MLwiN 2.10

27-Feb-09

Fixed potential problem when pasting in extreme values
Fixed crash in customised predictions where terms had been removed from the model

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 10

19-Jan-09

Fixed problem where sometimes variables could not be removed from the model
Fixed labelling in customised predictions window
Allow specifying offset in negative binomial models
Fixed crash when removing offsets
Fixed crash when category name clashed with a column name
Fixed crash when the last model term was not in the fixed part
Fixed incorrect likelihood calculation
Increased precision in some calculations
Fixed crash in orthogonal polynomial
Fixed crash when importing data back from BUGS
Fixed column only trellis graphs not displaying
Fixed crash when specifying coverage interval in customised predictions

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 9

Nov-08

Allow UNIQ command to work if the input and output columns are the same
Fixed crash in cross classifications window if the number of classifications was left empty
Allow copying images of graphs again
Fixed graph scaling issues when switching from a categorical to continuous x axis
Fixed crash if the MLwiN window was resized to be too small

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 8

released 14-Oct-08

Allow Monitoring Chain Length of zero in MCMC
Customised predictions can now be properly cleared from a previously saved worksheet
Fixed crash when minimising the model comparison window
Allow UNC pathnames to be used in files
UNIQue command should now give feedback for invalid parameters

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 7

released 11-Sep-08

Fixed memory corruption when the user selects only one of median or mode for a multinomial customised prediction
Fixed bug preventing LOGA and LOGO from opening files
MSTO now records likelihood for normal models estimated in RIGLS

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 6

released 14-Aug-08

Fixed crash on clearing model with only the response specified
Fixed problem loading stored models
Allow custom x-axis graph scale without custom y-axis scale
Fixed crash in MOVE command
Fixed crash when filling customised prediction grid
Fixed a worksheet corruption caused by the EXPL command
Fixed saving worksheets where a previous worksheet has not been loaded
Likelihood is now calculated and stored in the same way in macros as for the GUI
ADDT command changed to use 10000 as base for orthogonal polynomial instead of 1000

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 5

released 21-Apr-08

Fixed crash on clearing a model with prediction window open
Fixed crash on generating a prediction grid with no model
Corrected schgend category name in tutorial dataset
Reset Centring information when loading a worksheet
Speedup when running macros that write a lot of text to the output
Fixed window name not being removed from status bar if the title changed
Fixed crash in cross-classified models containing missing values

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 4

released 11-Apr-08

Fixed Predictions grid display problem
Fixed crash on subsequent formatted text input/output
Fixed crash when attempting to plot greater than 6x6 graphs

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 3

released 9-Apr-08

Fixed a crash caused by running a macro that does not load a worksheet
Fixed a crash when viewing predictions with a mean or median selected
Allow plotting customised predictions where mean is not specified
Increased maximum number of columns involved in data manipulation from 400 to the number of columns in the worksheet
Fixed toggling general notation causing crash
Discrete macros folder now has the correct CHKRES macro
Fixed GBAR command to work correctly

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 2

released 7-Apr-08

Added support for SPSS system missing value
Discrete macros folder now has the correct POST macro

MLwiN 2.10 Beta 1

released 31-Mar-08

MLwiN crashes when editing data

This is caused by the cursor moving to the next line after you finishing editing the data. If there isn't a visible cell to move to the application will crash.
Workaround

A temporary solution is to resize/scroll the data window so that there is always a visible cell below that which you are editing.

Attempting to save to a read-only device causes MLwiN to crash

MLwiN crashes when Paste window minimised

If the user selects Edit > paste and then attempts to minimise the resulting window MLwiN will crash with a runtime error.

This is caused by window resizing code being able to be run while there is no window visible to resize.

Incomplete line in input file causes problems

If the user attempts to import delimited data where some of the rows do not have data or delimiters for every column MLwiN will import fewer than expected rows and place data in the wrong column.

While it can be argued that such input files are invalid, unfortunately Microsoft Excel produces such data when the user attempt to paste data containing blanks at the end of the last column.