Utility Programs

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Utility programs are small programs that perform a variety of useful functions for Registry Plus programs. They are implemented as Microsoft® Windows® applications using dynamic link libraries (DLLs) for their core operations. The DLL mechanism allows other programs to link to function libraries at run-time, giving full access to the capabilities within.

Conversion Specifications for NAACCR 24

The conversion specifications describe the actions of the conversion program written to convert records in the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) version 23 XML to the NAACCR version 24 XML standard.

Effective with implementation of the NAACCR XML standard, data items are defined in XML dictionaries. The NAACCR base dictionary defines the standard NAACCR data items maintained by NAACCR as defined in the NAACCR Data Standards and Data Dictionary. The NAACCR base dictionaries for versions 23 and 24 are included in the NorthCon installation and are stored in the Data Dictionary folder within the application folder. The NAACCR base dictionaries are needed to convert data from NAACCR version 23 to 24.

The base dictionaries were final at the time of release of NorthCon, but are subject to change over time and can be replaced in the NorthCon Data 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.

User items must be defined individually in a user dictionary to convert data in user-defined fields from version 23 to 24. A simplified method for adding data items to a user dictionary has been added to NorthCon to address user-defined data items.

Conversion specifications are described below.

  1. Performs conversions related to staging and schema for cases diagnosed on or after January 1, 2018.
    Manual review is not necessary for conversion to NAACCR v24.
  2. Sets Staging API Versions Current rather than calling to the latest AJCC Cancer Surveillance DLL to update the current version data items.
  3. Enables grouping of tumors by Patient ID when the input file is sorted by Patient ID.
  4. The NAACCR Record Version [item 50] value is set to ‘240’ in each converted record.

NorthCon24.exe Record Converter: NAACCR 23 to NAACCR 24

Initial release, version 1.0.0.7, build date July 24, 2023

NorthCon24.exe, a freestanding program for Microsoft Windows, converts files of cancer registry records from NAACCR 23 to NAACCR 24, which are data formats prescribed by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR). Input files should conform to NAACCR version 23 XML. Converted output files will contain records in the NAACCR version 24 XML standard format. See the program’s online help in the Documentation folder for usage instructions. An additional resource with conversion specifications in spreadsheet format is also available: NorthCon 240 Conversion Spreadsheet.

Note: Files processed through NorthCon are expected to meet NAACCR standard data requirements. Version 23 edits should be run and errors corrected prior to running the conversion.

The setup package contains a description of the application program interface and instructions for running the software.

This release of NorthCon 24 includes the latest nconv24.dll, which can be used to perform conversion with a program other than NorthCon24.exe. After installation, nconv24.dll can be found in the same directory in which you installed NorthCon24.exe.

Note: If a user dictionary is not needed to convert data from NAACCR version 23 to 24, the NorthCon24.exe.config found within the NorthCon V24 directory, will need to be updated to remove the LocalDictionary definition.

Converting Previous Versions

The following older versions convert older NAACCR data files to more current NAACCR versions—

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