Problems with NVivo 12 (Mac version)

[jimmerricks]

I am getting the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "NormaliseNVPX.py", line 141, in <module>
    raise RuntimeError("Failed to start database server")
RuntimeError: Failed to start database server

I think this is because sqlanyenv.sh and sqlanysrv.sh are unable to find the latest version of NVivo (which is called NVivo 12.app not NVivo.app). Is the only fix for this to download SQLA?

[jimmerricks]

I symlinked the application to NVivo.app and that seemed to do the trick. Bit of an ugly fix.

As a follow-up, DenormaliseNVPX.py hasn't been upgraded to version 12. Is there anything I can do to help with that?

[jschultz]

That work-around is probably OK for now. sqlanyenv.sh and sqlanysrv.sh need to be made smarter. What they should do is look for candidate executable dbeng?? and work from there. They should also allow an override using environment variables or command-line options. Feel free to give it a go and make a pull request.

As for NVivo 12, I haven't updated DenormaliseNVPX.py for the simple reason that there is a bit of work required to do the actual crunching to make it work with NVivo 12 and I haven't had time to look at it. What I would suggest is that you convert to NVivo 11 (or 10) format and then load the result into NVivo 12 which will update the format, and clean up the file at the same time.

In any case the conversion into NVivo's native formats isn't 100% perfect and I would always recommend forcing NVivo to clean it up, eg by merging the converted file into an existing or empty NVivo project file.

[jimmerricks]

For whatever reason, NVivo wasn't able to import the downgraded denormalised file.

I will look into updating sqlanyenv.sh and sqlanysrv.sh, and have a play around with different formats to see if I can find a pipeline that works. Thanks for the help.

[jschultz]

Hi, just letting you know I've updated the scripts to do a better job of looking for SQL Anywhere executables. You can also specify the executable using the --sqlanywhere argument. Let me know if it works for you.

I'm also keen to hear from users about what they are doing with this code. I'd like to get into some kind of community with people interested in open source qualitative data analysis. One day I'll start a blog but for now github is a useful channel for communication.

[jimmerricks]

That's great. Thanks.

I am using NVivo for the research project I'm employed on. I'm not doing a whole lot with the nvivotools at the moment — I was principally looking for a way to bring the database file size under control to ease version control and collaboration with my colleague. I am, however, very interested in open source QDA. While it's nice to see NVivo supporting the REFI-QDA Standard, there is still a huge need for open source tools in this space.