\name{xmlStatisticMeta}
\alias{xmlStatisticMeta}
\title{Generates XML for a StatisticMeta object}
\description{
  This takes a \code{StatisticMeta} object, a description of the columns
  in a CSV file corresponding, and creates a corresponding
  \code{XMLNode} object suitable for inclusion in a Pretest Description
  (\code{pd.xml}) file.
}
\usage{
xmlStatisticMeta(stat, nextCol= quote(nextPDColumn()))
}
\arguments{
  \item{stat}{A \code{\link{StatisticMeta}} object giving the
    description of the statistic.}
  \item{nextCol}{A expresssion which when evaluated will give the next
column number in sequence.}
}
\value{
  An \code{\link[XML]{XMLNode}} object giving the information contained
  in the the originial argument.  Note that the number and type of
  attributes and child elements will depend on \code{stat$type}.
}
\note{
  The default version of this function uses the
\code{\link{nextPDColumn}()} function to generate 
  column numbers, so it assumes that \code{\link{resetPDColumns}()} has
  already been called.
}
\references{
  \url{http://research.ets.org/~ralmond/StatShop/dataFormats.html}
}
\author{Russell Almond}
\seealso{\code{\link{xmlPretestDescription}},
  \code{\link{StatisticMeta}}, \code{\link[XML]{XMLNode}},
  \code{\link{nextPDColumn}}
}
\examples{
  realstat <- StatisticMeta("mean(Skill1)","Real",columnID="Mean.Skill1")
  discstat <- StatisticMeta("mode(Skill1)","Discrete",columnID="Mode.Skill1", 
     translationTable = integerCodes(c("High","Medium","Low"),NULL))
  probstat <- StatisticMeta("margin(Skill1)","Probability",
     columnID="p.Skill1.", levels = c("High","Medium","Low"))
  resetPDColumns()
  xmlStatisticMeta(realstat)
  xmlStatisticMeta(discstat)
  xmlStatisticMeta(probstat)
}
\keyword{interface}