XML4Pharma CDISC SDS (SDTM+SEND) Variable Services

A number of web services about CDISC SDS (=SDTM+SEND) variables and versions have been developed (we decided to keep the older designation "SDS" as we find the term "SDTM" for as well "real SDTM" as for "SEND" confusing and discriminating).

This page also contains a number of RESTful web services that implement the corresponding Implementation Guides (IGs) of both the SDTM and SEND model.

The SDTM-IG versions supported are 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.2 and 3.3. The SEND-IG versions supported are 3.0 (3.1 coming).

Depending on what your application requests, XML or JSON structures will be returned.

NEW: 2020-05-01: Remark that the base of the service has been altered. The old base ("/CDISCCTService") can still be used until the end of June 2020.
Please change the base from "/CDISCCTService" to "/SDSService" in your applications!

NEW: 2018-12-06: SDTM 1.7 / SDTM-IG 3.3 implemented

REMARK: SDS Version 1.5 (the base for the SEND-IG 3.1) is NOT implemented yet (work in progress)

REMARK on accept-headers. In your applications, typically, an "accept header" will be send with the request, asking for either XML or JSON format for the response. Some applications however, such as XSLT or XQuery applications, do not send an "accept header", and what format will be returned is unsure. In such cases, you can either add ".xml" or ".json" at the end of the request string to ensure that either the XML format or JSON format is returned for the response.

IMPORTANT: There is some overlap in functionality with that of the CDISC-Library. We ENCOURAGE you to use the CDISC-Library instead of the services of this page. We do however keep our own services available for several reasons:

• The CDISC-Library API requires "basic authentication". Applications based on XSLT and XQuery however do not allow "basic authentication" yet.
• We want to give users some time to move to using the CDISC-Library. But please do make the transition!

In all cases, the base of the RESTful web service is: http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/.
The base is followed by the name of the service (e.g. "SDSVariableInfo")

The following RESTful CDISC SDS variables services are currently available

• Get SDS Variable Info
• Get SDS Variable Info for a specific SDS Version
• Get SDS Variable Info for "generic" SDS Variable
• Get all variables (with detailed info) for a given Implementation Guide, Version and Domain
• Get SDTM variable detailed information for a given SDTM-IG version, domain and variable name
• Get SEND variable detailed information for a given SEND-IG version
• Suggest SDTM variable based on the similarity between the SDTM variable label and the provided search string
• Get whether an SDTM variable is "required", "expected" or "permissible"
• Get the Label for a given SDTM variable
• Get the "Role" for a given SDTM variable
• Get the SAS Datatype for a given variable
• Get the "CDISC Notes" for a given SDTM variable

You will obtain the following XML (at least if your application/browser requests to get XML):

stating that the SDS variable "LBTESTCD" is and can be used in SDS version 1.2, version 1.3, version 1.4 and recently also in version 1.7

If your application requests JSON, you will get something like:

You will obtain the following XML (at least if your application/browser requests to get XML):

Depending on application request, you will get similar structures as above for JSON requests

Besides getting the information itself, these services are especially useful to test whether a variable was already defined in a specific SDS version.
For example, the variable "--PORTOT" was defined in SDS Version 1.4, but not yet in version 1.3. So if your application requests:

and your application requests XML, you will get:

returns (when XML is requested):

First, the "generic" implementations are displayed, followed by the "domain implementations":

Remark 1: In your request, you can as well use "--LOC" as "LOC".

Remark 2: For variables that have no domain prefix (like "VISITNUM"), just us as is, e.g.: http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/SDSGenericVariableInfo/VISITNUM

The web service will then show you in which domain (and SDS Version) "VISITNUM" is used according to the SDTM-IG.

The number of results in the set may considerably vary. For example, for "--PORTOT", which is a new variable as of SDS 1.4, you will get 7 results (3 generic ones for each of the 3 main classes, for EC, PR, MO and for TU),
whereas for "USUBJID" you will get 100 results (well, not surprising isn't it). For "--TESTCD" you will obtain 57 results.

(first 6 XML nodes are collapsed)

returns (when XML is requested):

Or for a SEND 3.0 domain:

returns (when XML is requested - some elements are collapsed):

returns (when XML is requested):

or similarly for SDTM-IG 3.3:
http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/SDTMVariableInfoForDomainAndVersion/3.3/LB/LBDTC

This Web Service is also IDEAL to find out whether a variable not directly mentioned in the SDTM-IG (e.g. LBSTDTC) is allowed as a variable in the LB domain. In this case, as --STDTC is a "timing variable" it is allowed in ALL general observation classes.
We then automatically obtain all necessary information, e.g. for label, data type, ... from the SDTM model (so not from the SDTM-IG) which can be used in e.g. validation.

Remark that the response is slightly different. There is no "Format" element (as this is only defined in the SDTM-IG, not in the model), but there now is a "CDISC_Notes" element. "Core" is set the "Perm" (permissible), as added non-IG variables are always permissible.
Very important is that the element "Variable_Label" is replaced by the element "Variable_Label_From_Model". The reason for this is that the latter is only a suggested label, which should not be used for validation.

If we try the same for e.g. "OCCUR" (which is not allowed in "Findings" domains at all), we will get for "LBOCCUR":

returns (when XML is requested):

Remark: The SEND-IG version can currently only be "3.0", we are currently working on implementing version "3.1".

You can also add several words, for example:

The responses are ordered by similarity (highest similarity first).

Remarks:

• The search string needs to contain at least 5 characters. Otherwise a return message will be returned.
• This service is experimental and will be further improved in near future. The response structure however will not change. We only intend to improve the search and sorting algorithms.

This service returns the the result "Req" (for "required"), "Exp" (for "expected) or "Perm" (for "permissible") for an SDTM variable (uppercase written) given the domain code (uppercase), and the version of the SDTM-IG (3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.2, 3.3).
ATTENTION: SDTM-IG 3.4 nor SENDIGs have not been implemented yet

P.S. You can also provide the corresponding SDS model version, as there is a 1:1 correspondence between the model version and the IG version.
URL: http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/CDISCCoreFromSDTMVariable/{version}/{domain}/{varName}
Example: http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/CDISCCoreFromSDTMVariable/3.2/SV/VISITNUM
OR (same result): http://www.xml4pharmaserver.com:8080/SDSService/rest/CDISCCoreFromSDTMVariable/3.1.3/SV/VISITNUM

It is important to also pass the domain code, as e.g. the variable VISITNUM is required, expected or permissible, depending on the domain.
The version of the SDS/SDTM-IG standard is also VERY important as the "core" of many variables has been changed upon a new version!

It is important to also pass the domain code, as some variables have different labels (althought this should NOT be the case) depending on the domain.
The version of the SDS standard is also important as the variable labels may depend on the SDS version

The version of the SDS/SDTM-IG standard is important as the roles have in some cases changed over time and the value may depend on the SDS/SDTM-IG version

The version of the SDS/SDTM-IG standard is important for a small number of cases, the datatypes have changed over time and the value may depend on the SDS/SDTM-IG version

It is important to also pass the domain code, as some variables have different CDISC notes depending on the domain.
The version of the SDS/SDTM-IG standard is also important as the "CDISC Notes" oftendepend on the SDS/SDTM-IG version

Courtesy of XML4Pharma - last update: May 2020