File xtmodel.ster could not be opened for output

[Donald Griesdale]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, thanks for your patience.

I am trying to perform a bivariate random-effects meta analysis for diagnostic test accuracy using the MIDAS command.

I had it working before and I noticed that there is a file created in my current directory named 'xtmodel.ster'

Now, I get the error message
file xtmodel.ster could not be opened for output
r(603):

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Don Griesdale

[Stephen Jenkins]

Donald: you haven't shown us everything that you typed and got back from Stata (or the relevant lines of your do/log file), so we have to guess ...
A .ster file is created by an estimates save command, and you can get the estimates back with estimates use. Ensure that your current working directory is the correct one. That is, perhaps you saved the estimates in what you refer to now as the "current working directory", but when you tried to retrieve them you were in a different directory. As I said, we have to guess ...

[Donald Griesdale]

Hi Stephen. Thanks for the reply. I tried clearing my estimates with the same result. There is a file 'xtmodel.ster' within the directory where my .do file is stored. Perhaps it needs to be somewhere else?

Here is my code and thanks in advance for your advice.:

"
midas tp fp fn tn if parameter2==7, res(all)

file xtmodel.ster could not be opened for output
r(603);

end of do-file

r(603);
"

[Stephen Jenkins]

Don: I had to search midas to find out what it is (please explain the provenance of user-written code; see the FAQ advice). When I installed it, from SSC, I did a viewsource midas.ado and see that there is a line estimates save xtmodel, replace in the file. I am now puzzled why you get your error message. My best guess right now is that your current working directory when issuing the midas command is a directory in which you do not have write permissions. The information returned from error 603 is a little daunting (see below). Perhaps you should contact Technical Support?

[P]     error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Return code 603
        file __________ could not be opened;
        This file, although found, failed to open properly.  This
        error is unlikely to occur.  You will have to review your
        operating system's manual to determine why it occurred.

[Sergiy Radyakin]

Donald, a quick (<45sec) look at midas shows that it is prone to the same bug as outlined in my post in this thread plus the bug that Stephen has identified, and more.

As became usual recently, you don't read the FAQ and don't write the version of Stata or midas itself, probably to extend this thread?

Changing your current directory to a different location, where you have the permissions to write might help solving your problem. But that bug will still prevent you running midas in multiple sessions simultaneously.

Best, Sergiy Radyakin

[Donald Griesdale]

Thanks so much Sergiy and Stephen. I will definitely try those suggestions!

[Donald Griesdale]

Don: I had to search midas to find out what it is (please explain the provenance of user-written code; see the FAQ advice). When I installed it, from SSC, I did a viewsource midas.ado and see that there is a line estimates save xtmodel, replace in the file. I am now puzzled why you get your error message. My best guess right now is that your current working directory when issuing the midas command is a directory in which you do not have write permissions. The information returned from error 603 is a little daunting (see below). Perhaps you should contact Technical Support?

[P] error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Return code 603
file __________ could not be opened;
This file, although found, failed to open properly. This
error is unlikely to occur. You will have to review your
operating system's manual to determine why it occurred.

Hi Stephen,

First, sorry that I didn't correctly specify the code or version.

I've managed to create a new directory and run the .do file from the new directory. It works now!

thanks so much for your help.

Don