DNA 3.0.7

TL;DR

DNA 3 is a major rewrite of DNA. It requires Java 11. The sample database requires the password sample for all users. There are not a lot of functions in the rDNA R package yet, so use DNA 2.0 beta 25 for now if you require R. Otherwise DNA 3 is ready for production. There is no manual yet. Work on improving DNA 3 and especially rDNA will continue over the summer.

Installation and requirements

• DNA 3 requires Java 11 or higher (unlike DNA 2, which required Java 8 or higher). Please update your Java version if you have an old version. On the terminal or command line of your operating system, you can check which Java version you have by typing java --version. The recommended Java version is Adopt OpenJDK 11.
• You can download the jar file and simply open it with a double-click if you have Java 11 installed on your computer.
• You can also start DNA from the command line or terminal of your operating system by navigating to the directory where the jar file is stored and typing java -jar dna-3.0.7.jar. Note that DNA will be closed when you close the terminal window.
• MacOS users occasionally report problems. DNA should in principle work just fine on MacOS. But some users with old MacOS versions (e.g., Catalina) have reported that they can only open DNA from the terminal (see above). Other MacOS users have reported that they first have to allow the DNA jar file to be opened via double-click in their system settings. See here for instructions.
• On Linux/Unix systems, make sure you give the jar file executable permissions if you want to start it via double-click.
• rDNA from now on requires a jar file with the same version as rDNA. The new dna_jar function allows you to find the jar file on your computer or download it to your computer. It is recommended that you put the jar file into the inst/java/ sub-directory of your rDNA package folder in your local R library tree. The dna_jar function will attempt to do this for you, but you might just as well put a copy of the jar file there manually.
• The sample database was updated to the new DNA 3 file format. Please use the password sample to log into the database. This password is valid for all coders present in the sample database.
• The .graphml files exported by DNA can be read by visone. It is recommended to download the latest visone jar file.
• If you encounter any issues, please do feel free to open an issue in the issue tracker.

New features of DNA 3.0

• Cleaner user interface, where many additional functions, such as regex highlighter or document editor, were moved into separate dialog windows which can be opened from the menu.
• DNA 3 works with three kinds of DNA databases: SQLite, MySQL (and the more recent MariaDB, which is basically a rebranded version of MySQL), and PostgreSQL. MySQL and PostgreSQL are remote databases that can be run on a server on the internet for collaborative coding while SQLite is a file-based local database. All three were in principle supported in DNA 2, but the remote databases never worked very well. DNA 3 now offers full and equal support of all three database formats.
• The table structure inside the databases has been improved for data safety and performance, and the databases are now accessed in a more secure way, where data loss (e.g., in the event of power outage or internet connection loss) is much less likely because data access is bundled in transactions.
• DNA 3 provides comprehensive coder management with passwords and coder permissions and allows users to show or hide the documents and statements owned by other users.
• Database access is in real time, which means changes are written immediately to the database. This means any changes are immediately available to other remote coders as well. (Though they have to refresh their data to see the changes).
• By default, DNA 3 comes with a new statement type: the NPF Story Element, which operationalises the core aspects of the Narrative Policy Framework.
• In DNA 3, you can create, edit, and delete statement types at any point in time, even after the database has been initially created.
• DNA 3 allows you to create and remove new attribute variables for storing additional meta-data about actors, concepts etc. Previously, only type, alias, and notes were hardcoded as attribute variables for each variable.
• It is possible to rename entities, such as actors or concepts, across all statements in the new attribute manager.
• DNA 3 has an editor for multiple statements at once to recode them more effectively.
• DNA 3 has a document editor, also for multiple documents at once, to recode documents more effectively.
• A message log will keep track of any error messages and any changes you make. You can export log messages to XML or JSON files.
• DNA 3 offers saving and opening connection profiles. They are like bookmarks for database connections for easier database access without having to re-enter the connection URL, password etc. each time. The details in the connection profiles are encrypted on your hard drive.
• DNA 2 documents and statements can be imported into DNA 3 databases (but not vice-versa).

Things that don't work yet

While DNA 3 is an improvement over DNA 2 in many ways, the following things have not been added back in yet:

• The rDNA R package has only a few rudimentary functions as of right now, which allow you to open and close databases and connection profiles, but there are no functions for creating networks and analysing the data in any way yet. This will be added step by step to future versions. If you require analysis in R, it is recommended that you work with DNA 2 for now. You can later convert the data to DNA 3 once rDNA has been updated with more useful functions.
• There is no manual yet. Some of the details from the DNA 2 manual may still be valid, but don't rely on it. Documentation will be created when time permits, but first rDNA needs to be improved.
• DNA 3 has the same network export functionality as DNA 2. Eventually, new network export functionalities will be added, and they will permit more powerful analyses.