Exchange Plus

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XMLExchange Plus was renamed to Exchange Plus since the application has transformed into a useful tool to assist central cancer registries in several registry operation activities extending beyond the XML data exchange format. Several enhanced 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 NAACCR XML Data Exchange Standard.

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. This audience includes metafile administrators who may be asked to define a user dictionary based upon custom items collected at their registry.
  • Convert. 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.
  • Produce Flat and Delimited Files. 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, 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 prior to importing into CRS Plus.
  • Validation. This module runs schema validation to verify 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 file or fixed column position file to the current NAACCR XML file, and also maps data items with different code and format structure to NAACCR standard codes to assist registries with data linkages and preparing 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 2.5

Version 2.5.2.3, build date January 2, 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:\RegPlus\ExchangePlus) than XML Exchange Plus. XML Exchange Plus does not need to be uninstalled; in fact, 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 during installation if .NET 6 or higher version is not present on the computer. If the computer already has .NET 6 or higher .NET version, it will skip .NET 6 installation.

To install the latest version of Exchange Plus—

Note: For those that have installed a beta version of Exchange Plus, uninstall Exchange Plus if previously installed (be sure to save user dictionaries and scripts to a different location prior to uninstall). Delete the Exchange Plus application folder after un-install.

  • Download the latest version of Exchange Plus, ExchangePlusInstaller.zip (ZIP file, 69 MB, January 2, 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. Once accepted, SQL Server Express LocalDB will be installed followed by a prompt for the Exchange Plus Setup Wizard.

The following updates were included in a previous release of Exchange Plus—

  • Supports the NAACCR Data Exchange Standard, XML Specifications for Cancer Registry Records, Version 1.7: The dictionary item attribute “trim” was retired in v1.7 and removed from the dictionary maintenance module in Exchange Plus. The values “rightBlank”, “leftBlank” and “rightZero” of the dictionary item attribute “padding” were retired.
  • Uses Edits Engine, version 6.x (Edits60.DLL): When edit metafiles created in version 5 format are selected in the Run EDITS module, a prompt will be displayed to convert the metafile to the new format. Conversion is completed quickly and the original edit metafile is left unchanged; a new copy of the converted metafile is created with a name that ends with “_Edits60”. After the conversion completes, the converted metafile will be selected.
  • New Feature Added for Mapping: Sample mapping configurations and files are packaged in the install to assist users in understanding the feature. Built-in translation functions are available and can be copied or modified, new translation tables can be created, and custom mapping code can be written for those familiar with writing programming code.

Technical Support

For technical support, contact cancerinformatics@cdc.gov.