Identifiers

Overview

By default LORIS provides 3 different identifiers for each candidate:

  • CandID, also known as the DCCID, is a unique randomized 6-digit numeric ID (e.g. '436792') assigned automatically by LORIS upon the candidate's registration. The CandID is not configurable.
  • PSCID (Project Study Center ID) is a unique configurable ID. It can be set up to be either manually entered when registering a candidate or automatically generated and usually contains the site or project abbreviation followed by sequential or randomized characters (e.g. 'MTL0006'), but its exact format is customizable.
  • ExternalID is a unique configurable ID. It can be set up to be either manually entered when registering a candidate or automatically generated and it is generally completely de-identified (no site or project information incorporated) to be used for data dissemination.

The format and the generation of the PSCID and ExternalID must be configured by an admin by editing the config.xml file.

Configuration

Configuration from the front end

not yet available

Configuration from SQL

not yet available

Configuration from the config.xml file

Both the format and the generation of PSCIDs can be configured by an administrator in the config.xml file. These settings are applied to any and all new candidates.

PSCIDs can be created for new subjects in one of 3 ways: sequentially generated, manually entered, or randomly generated.

  1. sequential generates PSCIDs sequentially for each new candiddate registered. (default)

xml <PSCID> <generation>sequential</generation> <structure> <seq type="siteAbbrev"/> <seq type="numeric" length="4" min="10" max="9999"/> </structure> </PSCID>

Example PSCID generated: MTL1234 Where the site's alias is MTL

  1. manual asks the user to enter the PSCID when registering a new candidate.

xml <PSCID> <generation>user</generation> <structure> <seq type="alphanumeric" length="2"/> </structure> </PSCID>

Example PSCID accepted: A1

  1. random generates PSCIDs with a random numerical value for each new participant registered.

xml <PSCID> <generation>random</generation> <structure> <seq type="static">PREFIX</seq> <seq type="numeric" length="4" min="1" max="9999"/> </structure> </PSCID>

Example PSCID generated: PREFIX3994

Options for the type element of the <seq> tag are: - siteAbbrev: A string value that will be used as a dynamic prefix. Value drawn from the Alias field of the psc table in the database. - projectAbbrev: A string value that will be used as a dynamic prefix. Value drawn from the Alias field of the Project table in the database. - static: A string value that will be used as a fixed prefix. Value defined in the config.xml file. - numeric: An integer value generated dynamically in accordance to the generation method defined. - alphanumeric: An alphanumeric string value generated dynamically in accordance to the generation method defined. - alpha: An alphabetic string value generated dynamically in accordance to the generation method defined.

Note: The last 3 types above (numeric,alphanumeric,alpha) can be associated with a length attribute. The length defaults to 4 when not specified.

Note: The last 3 types above (numeric,alphanumeric,alpha) can be associated with minimum min and maximum max values for sequentially and randomly generated PSCIDs. By default sequence will start at the lowest possible values (i.e.: 0000, AAAA).

Interaction With LORIS

The PSCID and CandID are used throughout LORIS including when uploading files and media linked to a candidate. The CandID is mainly used internally to link data across the database.

The PSCID is dependent on the list of sites in the psc table of the database, more specifically the Alias column that is used for the siteAbbrev type in the generation of the ID. Please refer to the Sites Parameter Setup page for more details.

The PSCID is also dependent on the list of projects in the Project table of the database, more specifically the Alias column that is used for the projectAbbrev type in the generation of the ID. Please refer to the Projects Parameter Setup page for more details.