Spectrum Viewer 2.6 Documentation

<body> <div class=Section1 style="width: 613; height: 8481"> <A name=whatisit></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>WHAT IS <a href="http://www.phys.tue.nl/people/etimmerman/specview"> SPECTRUM VIEWER</a>?</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Spectrum Viewer (SV) is a utility that can help you manage two-dimensional spectra from, for example, measuring apparatus (its functionality is similar to the XMGR program which is used a lot in the UNIX world). This kind of equipment usually puts out text files or binary files with one or two columns of data. Spectrum viewer is designed to make the loading and displaying of a set of these spectrum files (up to 4000 in one go) as easy as possible. Furthermore some file manipulation (like selecting a displayed data set, and then physically deleting the corresponding file from disk), data manipulation (like smoothing, trimming, spike elimination) and very simple analysis (like calculating the area of a peak) is implemented. For complicated analysis there are programs like Excel or Origin or Matlab (just to name a few), SV concentrates on quickly displaying what you have just measured.</span></p> <a name=whatsnew></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>What's new?</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Ver</span></b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>sion 2.1:</b></span></p> <ul> <li>ctrl-click hides a plot instantly <li>ctrl-shift-click selects a plot and all the plots originating from the same data file <li>"Open special format" now supports external plug-ins for very complex measure files. <li>Pan functionality restored (was deleted in version 2.0): shift-drag drags the whole graph around.</li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Ver</span></b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>sion 2.0</b></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Up to 100 levels of undo and redo (default 5)</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">The XY value displays (on the top right of the graph) are now continuously updated when the mouse is moved, no need to click on the graph to get a value</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Drag plot. You can pick up a plot by the mouse and drag it to any place you want. A bit easier than manually giving the numeric values with the shift X and shift Y command.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Copy to clipboard. In order to export the data sets to Excel or similar programs, you had to choose View->Table and then ctrl-a, ctrl-c. With "copy to clipboard" you can skip this step.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Easier drawing of the zoom rectangle. When you want to draw a rectangle to the edge of the graph, you can go <i>over</i> the edge with the mouse, you don't have to position the mouse exactly <i>on</i> the edge anymore.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Improved rectangle draw speed when many plots are loaded (60+)</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Many functions now support selecting just a part of a plot by drawing a rectangle before invoking a specific function, like<b>:</b></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"Delete data points" deletes (discards or interpolates by choice) all the data points within a drawn rectangle. Handy for deleting single spikes from a plot. For data sets with a lot of spikes it is better to choose the "delete large spikes" command in the "smooth" menu.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Highly improved "delete offset jumps"</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"Draw new data set" works now with dragging, instead of just clicking. Ctrl-Z deletes the last data point(s) you drew, one at a time.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Resample, define a given number of data points and the program spreads them out over your plot. Might be handy when your data points are not x-equidistant.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">View Trend now can be done manually, with the up and down arrows you can "thumb through" the data sets</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Improved legend, a right-click on a legend name changes it without changing the name in the name window as well</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Drag and drop of measure files into Spectrum Viewer</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">Name panel can be docked/attached to the right hand side of the graph panel</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">The font of the name panel can now be changed</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">The "open special format" settings now include axis names and graph title.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"> The maximum number of data sets that can be loaded is now settable, up to 4000, in case any poor guy needs it :-). Set it low for maximum speed, set it high when you need it. The default is 50.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"> Some bugs hunted down, squished and eaten... hakuna matata!!</li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Ver</span></b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>sion 1.8</b></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Hidden plots</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Ctrl-a extension: only select the plots within a rectangle</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Select only the plots within a "zooming rectangle"</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Histogram of Y values</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Perform shift Y and multiply Y only on a selected part of a plot</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Save session</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">SVF file format</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">DDE program control</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Bug fixes</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Several slight changes to make the program more user friendly</span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Version 1.8.1</span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">By special request: <a href="#normalize">Normalize Y</a> (in the "Position" menu). <i>You</i> can email me with a special request as well and I'll see if I can implement it.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The folder history in the "file open" panel is now saved when the program is closed. It used to contain only the folders opened during a particular session, now it contains all folders opened in the past, up to 15</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p> folders</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">A minor bug fix that would ask the user a confirmation twice when he wanted to overwrite a file</span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Version 1.8.2</span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><a href="#center">Center Y</a></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal">  <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2>INSTALLING THE PROGRAM</h2> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>You can install the program by running setup.exe. You can uninstall the program by either running setup.exe for the second time, or by using the “Add/Remove Programs” option in the Windows Control Panel. The program will install itself by default in the C:\Program Files\SpectrumViewer folder. </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>In the program subfolder called "TestSpectra" it will install a few files that you can use<o:p></o:p> to test and experiment with the program. The files all have a "txt" extension so you can examine them with notepad. By doing this you can also get an idea of what files the program is able to read. There are 28 TwoColumnExample files, that you can use for experimenting with opening a whole bunch of files at the same time. Furtheron there is a "one column example" file, a "time format example" file, and a file with 8 columns. Look at these files with notepad and you will see instructions on how to open them in the program. </span></p> <A name=basic></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2>BASIC OPERATIONS</h2> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Opening a file</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This is done with ctrl-O as a shortcut, or by clicking “File -> Open data set(s)”. A dialog box opens where you can select the files you want to open.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <img border="0" src="filemenu/FileOpen.gif" width="331" height="323"></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>In the upper window you can select the files, and by clicking “Add” they appear in the lower window. The files in the lower window are the ones that will actually be opened. This way, you can even select files across multiple folders and put them in the lower window before opening them. After clicking “OK” all the files will be opened and displayed. In the application subfolder “TestSpectra” you can find a few spectrum files that you can use to test the program.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:36.0pt'><b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>NOTE ON FILE FORMAT:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>The program assumes by default that the measure file is a text file which consists of <a href="tutorials/openspecial/TwoColumnExample.txt" target="_blank"> one or two columns of data</a> (if your file has more columns, you have to use “Open special format”). After opening, it determines by itself the number of columns that the file has. With one column it numbers the X of every consecutive data point from zero to the number of data points in the file, while storing the data value in the Y axis. With two columns, the left column becomes the X axis, and the right column becomes the Y axis. If you would like it the other way around: swapping axes after loading is very easy, just select all sets by pressing ctrl-A and do “Edit -> Swap X and Y axis”. Or, you can set the X and Y columns manually with the “<a href="#openspecial">Open special format</a>” command. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Zooming in and out<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>By default, the graph is set to “auto scaling” which means that the display is just as large as it needs to be to display the complete data set. Keep in mind that the Y-axis doesn’t start with 0 this way; it starts with the lowest data point! Zooming in (or out) to the desired view can be done in several ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Click and drag the mouse over the image. This will create a  “rectangle to zoom to”. After doing this, a right mouse click will zoom in to the rectangle. Another right click (or pressing F5, “redraw”) will zoom back to the full view of the graph. <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Set the viewing range manually by “View -> <a href="#xyaxis"> X/Y Axis</a> -> Viewing range”.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>- Panning</b><p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Panning is done by dragging the mouse over the graph while pressing "Shift".<p class="MsoNormal">  <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Selecting a displayed data set</b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>You can select a data set by double clicking on its plot, or clicking on the corresponding plot name in the name window.<o:p></o:p> Double clicking on a name will select that data set and deselect all others. Selecting a name, pressing shift and selecting another, will select all the names in between the two. Ctrl-a selects all plots. Ctrl-a in combination with a zooming rectangle (see "Zooming in and out" above) will select all plots with data points within that rectangle. Holding down ctrl-shift while clicking on a data set name, will select all data sets originating from the same data file (if that data file contains multiple data sets).</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Selecting just a part of a displayed data set</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Many functions support operation on just a part of a plot. You can select part of a plot by first selecting it completely, and then drawing a rectangle around the part of the plot you want to mutilate. </span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Hiding a displayed data set</b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>You can hide a data set instantly by holding down the ctrl-key and clicking on its name in the name panel. To hide multiple data sets at once, select them and press ctrl-h (or View->Hide selected data set). A hidden set will not appear on the graph</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">, but its name will still be present in the name window in a thin font. You can unhide the data set by clicking on its name. Ctrl-u unhides all data sets.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Determining a point on the graph<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>When you move the mouse over the graph, the corresponding X value and Y value of the mouse cursor position are displayed on the numeric displays in the upper right corner of the graph. The decimal precision of these numeric displays is one higher than the decimal precision of the X axis and the Y axis indicators. This precision is determined by the program dependent on the content of the data sets. If you are not satisfied with the presented precision, you can set it yourself with the menu: “View -> <a href="#xyaxis"> X/Y axis</a> -> Decimal precision”.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=plotstyle></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Adjusting the color of a data set, or assigning the Y value to another Y axis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Right-clicking on the name of a specific data set will bring up the “Data Set Style” window. </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="basic/style.gif" width="259" height="556"></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> Here you can adjust the color, the name, the line style, the point style and the active Y axis. Not all options are mutual compatible. For example, setting the point style only has an effect if the points are actually visible: when the plot style is set to “connected points” or “scatter”. The program will store the new settings in the <a href="#inifile"> SpecView.ini file</a> and remember them when the program is restarted. When you make a mistake (for example, you’ve accidentally made all the plots the same color), just close the Data Set Style window and select Undo. All changes made when the style window was opened will be undone. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <h1><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></h1> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2>MENU DISCUSSION:</h2> <A name=file></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2><u>FILE MENU</u></h2> <p align="center"><img border="0" src="filemenu/FileMenu.gif" width="301" height="284"></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Draw new data set</span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>By clicking on the graph</b></span>: <span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Creates one new empty data set. Every point you click on the graph is added to the data set, until you right-click the mouse. You can also drag the mouse, and the program will draw new data points as you go. Ctrl-z will remove the last drawn data point(s), one at a time. Drawing data sets yourself can be useful for <a href="intro/Background.jpg" target="_blank"> subtracting a background from an existing plot</a>. With this you can draw the background into a new plot, and then subtract it from the original plot using “Analyze -> <a href="#subtract"> Subtract plot</a>”</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>By entering numeric values:</b> If you need to multiply your data set with a sliding scale to compensate for measurement sensitivity (for example</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p> 0.5 at the start and 2 at the end), you can do so by drawing a new graph with these two values and then <a href="Multiply.gif" target="_blank"> multiply your original plot with it</a>. However, drawing such values by hand would be a tedious task. Hence the possibility to enter the data points with the keyboard. First you have to enter the number of wanted data points, then the X value and Y value of every data point.</span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- <b>Open data set(s)</b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This was already discussed in the <a href="#basic"> basic operations</a> part.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=openspecial></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Open special format<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>If the file to read is a binary file, or if it consists of more than two columns, or if the file has some lines to skip before the actual data begins, you can set the properties of the data set with this panel. If the file is so large that the processing of the graphs takes very long, you can also perform data reduction during the file read process. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Once set, the program remembers the special file settings while it is loaded. Every file that is opened will then be opened using the special format, unless it is again disabled with the disable button. Even when the program is ended and restarted the special format settings will remain, as they are stored in the <a href="#inifile"> SpecView.ini</a> file. When you use a lot of different types of files, you can store the different settings in presets.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="filemenu/openspec.gif" width="335" height="463"></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center">Note: this image is from version 1.8. Since no one reads a manual anyway, I haven't taken the effort yet to make new screen shots and replace all the old ones. The images are all quite similar to the new version. The manual text is updated correctly, however.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><b>The special format takes into account that a data file can consist of</b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">binary data</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>more than two columns of data<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>some initial lines with general parameters<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>repeated data with several measurements in one file<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>initial “measurement-parameter” lines preceding every repeated data set<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>X can consist of a time format (data logging files, for example)<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">t</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>oo many data points (resolution)<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>For some examples of which files the program can read, take a look at the <a href="tutorials/openspecial/OneColumnExample.txt" target="_blank">One column example</a>, <a href="tutorials/openspecial/TwoColumnExample.txt" target="_blank">Two column example</a>, <a href="tutorials/openspecial/8ColumnExample.txt" target="_blank">8 column example</a>, <a href="tutorials/openspecial/TimeFormatExample.txt" target="_blank">Time format example</a>, <a href="tutorials/openspecial/RepeatedDataExample1.txt" target="_blank">Repeated data example 1</a> and <a href="tutorials/openspecial/RepeatedDataExample2.txt" target="_blank">Repeated data example 2</a> files. There are presets stored in Spectrum Viewer to read these files.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>To be able to display these types of files you get the choice to:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><i>Select the file type:</i></b> text or binary.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Set the X column</b></i>: </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>the column you would like to end up in the X axis (0 has the same effect as opening a file with one column only, see <a href="#basic">basic operations</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Set the Y column</b>:</i> </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>the column you would like to end up in the Y axis. 0 opens every column in a separate data set. <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Define if the X column is in time format</b>:</i> </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>when data logging, the X value can be a time format. The problem with this format is, is that it consists of several (usually 2 or 3) columns of digits, separated by a ":". When specifying that the X column represents a time, you also have to specify the time format (H:M, M:S or H:M:S). The program then calculates the number of minutes, or the number of seconds, for the X value. Keep in mind, when specifying the Y column, that the program still will see the time columns as individual (two or three) columns.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b><i>Define if the data file consists of repeated data</i></b></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b><i>Define if this repeated data belongs to one measurement or to several measurements</i></b></span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Define if you want Data Reduction</b></i>. </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>If the number of data points in a file is so large that processing afterwards becomes very slow, you can reduce the number of data points in several ways. <b>1</b> <b>-</b> You can limit the number of data points in a data set: all the data points which are read after the limit is reached are discarded. <b>2 - </b>You can skip a given number of data points at the beginning of each file. <b>3 - </b> You can discard a given number of data points at the end of each file. <b>4 - </b> You can automatically <a href="#smooth">downsample</a> a data set after it is read from the file.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b><i>Auto scale:</i></b> Automatically set the gain or offset directly after reading the file. Opposed to setting the gain on the axis itself, this <i>will</i> alter the data.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Skip file contents</b></i>:</span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'> "skip initial lines" defines the number of (text)lines to be skipped at the beginning of the file.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> "Skip repeated lines" </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'> defines the number of lines to be skipped at the start of each “window” of repeated data, when applicable.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b><i>Set the default file names:</i></b> </span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The “default file spec” setting determines the default file name that will already be filled in in the “<a href="#basic">open file</a>” dialog box. If all your file names end on .dat, make the default file spec “*.dat”, and the dialog box will only display the files actually ending on .dat in the selected folder. Then you can open them all in one go by just pressing ctrl-a.<![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>If you have several types of data files that end on different extensions, you can use the “default file extensions” setting. For example, if your measure files all end on “.meas.txt” or “.spec.txt” you could set the default extensions line to “*.meas.txt;*.spec.txt” and these extensions will appear in the “files of type” select box in the “<a href="#basic">open file</a>” dialog box. Thus you can switch easily between the files you want to display in the dialog box</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">.</span></p> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><i><b>Define a plug-in name</b></i>:</span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'> If a data file is so complicated that even Spectrum Viewer can't read it, you can write your own file converter. This converter will be loaded each time a file is read, thus providing "native support" of that file format. The converter should be an exe file, the first argument to it should be the file to open, the second argument should be the file to write to (SV will provide these names when the exe file is called). The format written should be the Spectrum Viewer proprietary SVF format, for which I've included a <a href="progsect/SVF.c.txt">c-file</a> and a <a href="progsect/SVF.h.txt">h-file</a> to create.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b><i>Set the default axis names and graph title:</i></b> </span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>When a file is opened with a special format setting, the axis names and graph title will be changed according to this preset. When the fields are empty the axis names be left untouched</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Close selected data sets / close all data sets<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Try it and see what happens </span><span style='mso-char-type:symbol; mso-symbol-font-family:Wingdings'>J</span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Save data set / Save data set as<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>After manipulation you can save a data set with its original name, or with a new name. A data set is always saved as a text file with two columns, the X axis as the left column and the Y axis as the right column.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Save all selected in one file<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This can be used to save several data sets into one tab-separated, space-separated or comma-seperated ascii matrix file, or into one binary matrix file. </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="filemenu/saveall.gif" width="481" height="228"></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> The formats available are<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>YYYY</b>: Discards all X data. Puts the Y array of the first selected set in the first column, and all the Y arrays of the following selected data sets in the following columns.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>X YYYY</b>: Puts the X array of the first selected set in the first column, the Y array of the first selected set in the 2<sup>nd</sup> column, and all the Y arrays of the following selected data sets in the following columns.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>XY XY XY</b>: Puts The X and Y array of the first selected set in the first two columns, the X and Y of the 2<sup>nd</sup> selected set in column 3 and 4, and so on.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>Spectrum Viewer format (.svf)</b>. This binary format preserves several Spectrum Viewer specific data, like axis names. Mostly useful for programmers.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">Note: <b> instead of saving to a file</b> you can also generate a table from the data (View -> Table), then press ctrl-a and ctrl-c. This way the data is copied into the clipboard and can be pasted into most Windows programs.<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b>- Save session</b><p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><o:p></o:p>This saves the state of the program into a Spectrum Viewer format file. After opening this file you will see the exact same view as when you saved it (Axis names, hidden plots, selected plots and all).</span> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Delete selected data set(s) from disk<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Unloads a selected data set from memory <i> <b>and deletes the corresponding file from disk. </b></i>Before deleting, the program will select all the data sets from the file to delete, so you can see what you're deleting, and asks for a confirmation. This can be handy to delete files of failed or unwanted measurements. Be careful though, because once they’re gone, they’re gone!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Print graph<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Prints the graph. Please note you can set the <a href="#view"> graph title</a>, the <a href="#xyaxis"> X axis name</a>, the <a href="#xyaxis"> Y axis name</a>, the <a href="#graphstyle"> Grid color and grid font</a>, and the <a href="#graphlegend"> Legend and its font</a> before printing. The graph background color will be white when printing. Setting the grid color to white will make the grid invisible on the print.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Exit<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Closes the program.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=edit></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2><u>EDIT MENU</u></h2> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="editmenu/EditMenu.gif" width="254" height="363"></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Undo/Redo/ Levels of undo<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Up to 100 levels of undo and redo are available. The default is 5<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Copy data set</span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">to clipboard: </span></b>Copies a tab-separated table of the selected data sets into the clipboard. This table can then be pasted into Excel or other table-oriented programs. You can specify the format: XYXY, XYYY or YYYY</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">to another data set:  </span></b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Creates a fresh copy of the selected data set in the <i>program</i>. The copy is placed in the first empty data set.</span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Copy graph bitmap to clipboard<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Copies the graph bitmap image to the clipboard, so you can easily paste it into any program you like (don’t forget to name the axes and the graph first if needed, just as when printing, see for more details the print command). Originally I had the plan to also give the option to export to .bmp, but since almost everybody would immediately open the resulting file into a photo editor and save it as .jpg, I thought it would be just as easy to just paste the graph into a photo editor from the clipboard. Hence only the clipboard option. If someone desperately needs the .bmp option, drop me a mail.<o:p></o:p> </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Paste new data set(s) from clipboard<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Copies the contents of the clipboard into new data sets. Columns should be separated by tabs, and rows should be separated by newline characters. Most popular programs, Excel for one, copy their matrix contents to the clipboard this way.</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> Since the program cannot know beforehand how the data is organized, you have to choose between YYYY, XYYY and XYXY.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Move data set</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Moves the selected data set to another place in the order. You can specify where the data set should be placed (the default value is the first free data set).</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Trim data set(s)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Deletes all the unnecessary data points from a plot. You have to give a range, and every data point outside the range is discarded from the data set. You can select the range by giving the correct X values, or by giving the exact data points. The latter can be handy if the first or last few samples of a data set always contain rubbish.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Delete data points</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Deletes (discards or interpolates, by your choice) all data points within a rectangle you just drew.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p> Handy for deleting single spikes from a plot. For data sets with a lot of spikes it is better to choose the "delete large spikes" command in the "smooth" menu. See also <a href="tutorials/spikes/spiketutorial.htm" target="_blank">this tutorial</a>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Delete specific Y values</b></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Here you have to define a band inside of which data points are invalid. These data points will be discarded. The number of data points in the plot will decrease with the number of discarded data points. You can use this if all invalid measure data gets a specific Y value, zero for example.</span><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Select all sets<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Deselect all sets<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Speaks for itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Invert selection<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Selects all sets that are not selected, and de-selects all sets that are selected. Handy when, for example, you want to delete all sets but one. Select the one you want to keep, press <ctrl>-I and press <del> and you’re done.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Sort selected data set(s)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Sorts all the data points of a plot by X-value. To see this in action, draw a new set as a circle, and then sort it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Merge selected data set(s)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Creates one new set that contains all the data points of all selected sets, sorted by X value.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Chop up selected data set(s)</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">If your data set consists of several measurements, you can chop it up so every measurement is in its own data set. Then you can use "Position->Shift X->Shift first element to" to position the sets underneath eachother, when desired.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="editmenu/Chop1.gif" width="186" height="186">  <img border="0" src="editmenu/Chop2.gif" width="183" height="186">  <img border="0" src="editmenu/Chop3.gif" width="187" height="186"></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Delete raw data block</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal>This function is only useful when you work with self-defined Spectrum Viewer files (.svf). These files can contain a custom data block which is ignored by Spectrum Viewer (this block can contain measurement parameters or raw data for example), but it will remain attached to the data set, so that when saving the file again the data block is not discarded but will be saved as well. If for some reason you want to discard this data block (for example, when a data set is copied), this function does it for you.</p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <A name=position></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><u><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">POSITION MENU</span></b></u><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="posmenu/posmenu.gif" width="184" height="228"></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Shift X<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Shifts the data set in the X direction by the value you specify. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Shift Y<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Shifts the data set in the Y direction by the value you specify. When you draw a "zooming rectangle" (by clicking and dragging the mouse over the graph) before selecting Shift Y, only the data points within the X range of the rectangle will be affected.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Multiply X<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Multiplies the X value of all the data points of the selected set(s) by the factor you specify.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Multiply Y <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Multiplies the Y value of all the data points of the selected set(s) by the factor you specify. When you draw a "zooming rectangle" before selecting Multiply Y, only the data points within the X range of the rectangle will be affected.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Drag plot</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">In this mode you can pick up all selected plots with the mouse and place them anywhere on the graph. The result is the same as with a Shift X or Shift Y operation, but now it is done with the mouse instead of manually typing in the values you want to shift by. In the top left corner the dragged amount is displayed, as well the momentary value as the cumulative value (when several drags were done on the same plot). In this mode the plots can also be shifted around by using the cursor keys. Or, when you click on the indicators of the cumulative vector, you can specify your own cumulative vector (entering X=0 and Y=0 here will result in the plot jumping back to its original location). Exit this mode by escape or right-clicking with the mouse.</span></p> <a name=center></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b>- Center Y</b></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Deletes an offset on your plot by centering it around zero. There are two ways to do this:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>using the plot's minimum and maximum Y value</b>: This is probably best for clean (not noisy) plots. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">It takes the Y value of the highest data point and the Y value of the lowest data point, and shifts the plot so that its mean value is zero: Zero = (Ymax + Ymin) / 2</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>using the mean value of one period</b>: Useful when your plot contains <a href="#spikes">spikes</a>, in which case the above method will not work properly. This method tries to determine the mean value of all the Y values of one complete period, and then positions the plot around it. In order to determine the length of one period you first have to draw a rectangle around one. This rectangle doesn't need to be very tight, just try to draw a more or less symmetrical rectangle around one period</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">. The program then will try to determine the actual zero crossings by itself. Of the rectangle only the X values will be used as a starting point to find the zero crossings, so the command can be used to center multiple plots with different offsets at the same time, given that their periods are equal in length. The noiser your plot is, the more erroneous the results of this function can be, so take a bit of care to visually check if the centering was done properly. You can always try to smooth a copy of your plot, center it, and then shift the original plot with the same factor which was used when centering the smoothed plot. This can be easily done, because:  </span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal">  <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The shift factor will be stored in the "Position -> Shift Y" default value, so that you can later shift other plots with the same factor, when desired.</span> <a name=normalize></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Normalize Y</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Multiplies the Y values of a given plot in such a way that the largest value of the whole plot becomes equal to a value you specify. </span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> When you draw a "zooming rectangle" before selecting Normalize Y, only the Y values of the data points within the X range of the rectangle will be used to calculate the multiply factor, before the whole plot will be multiplied with this factor. The factor itself will be stored in the "Position -> Multiply Y" default value, so that you can later multiply other plots with the same factor as well.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Append selected data sets<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Creates one new set that appends all selected sets, by shifting the X values of the original sets, in a way that X<sub>2,first</sub> = X<sub>1,last </sub>+ (X<sub>1,last </sub>– X<sub>1,(last-1)</sub>), etc. They will be appended in a top-down order (the upper selected data set first, the lowest last). If you need to append in another order, you can use the <a href="#move">move data set</a> command.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Swap X and Y axis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This function swaps the X and Y axis of the selected set(s) only, <i>not</i> of the whole graph. Do this, and then a sort operation, for an interesting effect.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <A name=smooth></a> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"><u><b>SMOOTH MENU</b></u></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="smoothmenu/smoothmenu.gif" width="217" height="232"></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Average all selected data sets into one</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p><img border="0" src="smoothmenu/Average1.gif" width="185" height="190">        <img border="0" src="smoothmenu/Average2.gif" width="189" height="191"></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Creates one new data set that contains all the data points of all selected sets, sorted by X value.<o:p></o:p> After this it downsamples the resulting data set by the number of sets that were selected. See for the downsampling procedure the command below (Downsample, average X and Y). </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=smooth></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Smooth</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Averages the Y-value of every data point with its neighbours. First you have to define the width. The width is the number of data points on either side that will be averaged into the current data point. So a width of 1 means that 3 data points are averaged into one: the center data point, and the point left to it, and the point right to it. A width of 2 means 5 data points are averaged, and so on. The source points are taken from the original plot, not the already processed plot. With a width of 2 the algorithm would be like this:</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>X<sub>new,i</sub> = X<sub>old,i </sub>;  Y<sub>new,i</sub>  =  (Y<sub>old,i-2 </sub>+ Y<sub>old,i-1</sub> + Y<sub>old,i</sub> + Y<sub>old,i+1</sub> + Y<sub>old,i+2</sub>) / 5</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Downsample (average X and Y) </span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This will reduce the number of elements in a data set by taking their average. It will also smooth the look of the data set, by compromising the resolution. You have to specify the number by which the number of data points will be reduced. For example, if a downsample-by-3 is performed then the following will take place:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>X<sub>new,1</sub> = (X<sub>old,1</sub> + X<sub>old,2</sub> + X<sub>old,3</sub>) / 3; Y<sub>new,1</sub> = (Y<sub>old,1</sub> + Y<sub>old,2</sub> + Y<sub>old,3</sub>) / 3<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>X<sub>new,2</sub> = (X<sub>old,4</sub> + X<sub>old,5</sub> + X<sub>old,6</sub>) / 3; Y<sub>new,2</sub> = (Y<sub>old,4</sub> + Y<sub>old,5</sub> + Y<sub>old,6</sub>) / 3</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>So with a downsample factor of three, the resolution will be cut in three as well.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Downsample overlapping parts<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal>This can be used if the X distance of a data set is not consistent. This can happen if 2 data sets are merged, or a data set consists of 2 partially overlapping measurements. In the overlapping part there will be more data points per X value than in the non-overlapping part. With this function, you can downsample these data points without downsampling the other data points as well. You have to specify the "equidistant factor". If you specify 0.3 (the default), it means that when the next data point is closer than 0.3 times the x-distance of the previous point, it will be downsampled. For an example of this function in action, open the TwoColumnExample28.txt file, zoom in to the sawtooth part at 1/3 of the plot, and perform the "Downsample overlapping parts" action. You will see that only the sawtooth is smoothed and that the other data points are left alone.</p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Upsample selected data set(s)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Increases the number of data points in a plot, by putting extra data points in between the original data points. These extra points are interpolated (they are placed on the line that connects the original data points). An upsample factor of 2 doubles the number of data points (NB by putting ONE point in between the original points), a factor of 3 triples it, etc.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>- Resample selected data set(s)</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">This function resamples your plot to the number of data points you specify. It takes the first data point and the last data point, and equally spreads out all the other data points over your plot. Can be handy when your plots are not X-equidistant.<b> </b></span></p> <a name=spikes></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Delete large <a href="tutorials/spikes/spiketutorial.htm" target="_blank"> spikes</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Deletes large spikes on all selected data sets. For single spikes it might be faster to use the "delete data points" option in the "Edit" menu, but for a plot with many spikes this function can be <i>very</i> handy.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> You have to define:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]><o:p></o:p></span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>The maximum Y value:</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> all points that exceed this value will be discarded.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>The minimum Y value: </span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>all points that are lower than this value will be discarded.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The maximum Y value percentage increase:</span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'> all points on a plot that are higher than x% of the previous point will be discarded. So a value of 200% means that the next point cannot be more than twice as high as the previous point.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The minimum Y value percentage decrease: </span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>all points on a plot that are x% lower than the previous point will be discarded. So a value of 50% means that the next point cannot be less than half the value of the previous point.</span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">This function will not change the number of data points in a plot. When an invalid value is encountered (the "spike") the program will search within the plot for the nearest valid value. When this is found, the program will draw a line between the last valid point and the next valid point, and place all the "out of spec" points on that line. </span><p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">When you first draw a rectangle, only the data points which fall within the rectangle are processed.</span><p class="MsoNormal">  <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Delete <a href="tutorials/spikes/spiketutorial.htm" target="_blank"> offset jumps</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>When your plot halfway jumps to another offset value and continues from there, you can compensate for that jump with this function.<o:p></o:p> You have to give the maximum absolute Y jump. If the plot exceeds this jump at a certain point, the jump value will be subtracted from all following data points</span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">. If the plot jumps up, and later jumps back, the shifted portion is put back into place while the surrounding portions are left untouched.. For noisy plots you can select a width higher than 1, then the jumping value will be calculated with a mean value of the last few data points before the jump and after the jump.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">When you first draw a rectangle, only the data points which fall within the rectangle are processed.</span></p> <h1> </h1> <h2><u>ANALYZE MENU</u></h2> <p align="center"><img border="0" src="analyzemenu/analyzemenu.gif" width="220" height="300"></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Differentiate<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Calculates the derivative of the selected graph(s). This can be done in two ways. "Direct" calculates the derivative between two data points, and places the result in the middle<o:p></o:p> of them. It can be handy if you need to have the derivative of every single data point in your graph, but the results can be pretty noisy, and even erroneous if the X values aren't equidistant. "Smoothed" on the other hand takes the derivative of the two points surrounding a data point, and places the result over the data point in the middle. This makes the result a lot less noisy, and is the preferred method to use. By increasing the width factor you will increase the "number of data points away from the point in the middle" from which the derivative will be taken. The larger the width, the smoother the result will be, but very high factors can give erroneous results. You have to experiment a bit to get the optimum between smoothness and accuracy. To check if a derivative is correct, integrate it after taking the derivative, you should get your original plot back (apart from the starting offset which is lost by differentiating).</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Integrate<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Calculates the sum of the area of the selected graph, which is the inverse of a differentiation. This function will calculate the area from the start of the plot until every data point. This way you end up with a plot, not just one area value. The last data point will contain the area of the whole graph this way. If you only need the area of the whole plot (or a part of it), you can use the <a href="#xarea"> Area above X axis</a> command.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Log, Power<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Calculates log(y), ln(y), 10<sup>y</sup>, e<sup>y</sup> and y<sup>??</sup>. </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The last function can also be used to take roots: y<sup>1/2</sup> = sqrt(y), or divide by y: y<sup>-1</sup> = 1/y.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- </span><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Absolute value of Y</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Converts all negative values into positive values. Leaves the positive values alone.</span></p> <A name=xarea></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Area above X axis<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Calculates the area of a selected plot above the X-axis between a given range. The area appears at the top of the graph. SumY means the sum of all Y values between the given range, Area gives the actual area (calculated by the sum of the width x height of every data point in the range).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Area above line (peak area)</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p><img border="0" src="analyzemenu/PeakArea.jpg" width="149" height="142"></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>You draw a line between two points by clicking on the graph once for each point, and then the program calculates the area of the selected plot above this line. You can select different plots (by double clicking on the names at the right side) while the same line stays active. Every time when just one data set is selected, the area above the line is calculated and displayed. When more than one set is selected, the display disappears, to re-appear again when just one set is selected. This makes it easy to switch between plots while leaving the same line active. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Full Width Half Max</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><a href="analyzemenu/fwhm_hr2.gif" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="analyzemenu/fwhm_hr2.gif" width="328" height="317"></a></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><br> Calculates the ful width half max distance of a peak. The Y value of the peak is determined by clicking on it (this way it also works with a bit noisy peaks). You have to do this BEFORE you select the FWHM command. The program assumes that exact Y value of your last click (displayed in the indicator at the top right of the graph) is the max Y value of the peak. So click carefully, as the outcome of the FWHM command will be as accurate as your click! The X value of your last click will be the starting point from where the program will go down both legs of the peak. This doesn't need to be as precise as the Y value, just as long as it falls within the area of the half max distance line.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">When the command is given the program will go down both legs of the graph until it shoots through half the peak value. When this happens it will draw a line between this last data point (which is <i>below</i> half the max value) and the data point before it (which should be <i>above</i> half the max value). Then it will determine the exact X value where the line crosses the half peak value. It will calculate this for both legs of the peak and then display the distance of these two X values.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Histogram of Y values</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">You have to specify the number of bands (default 10) and the Y range within which the Y values wil be counted. If the number of bands specified is very high, the resolution is very high as well, but the number of values in one band will be very low. You can fix this by downsampling in the way below:</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Downsample (average X, add Y)</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Especially made for histogram purposes. Normally, downsampling takes the average of the X values as well as the average of the Y values. In this case however, it takes the average of the X values and <i>adds</i> the Y values. This way you can combine several histogram bands into one.</p> <A name=subtract></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Subtract plot</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><img border="0" src="intro/Background.jpg" width="173" height="169"></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Subtract one selected plot from another. This only works when exactly two plots are selected. The subtract algorithm does the following: It first determines the common range of the two plots. For this common range, it takes each point of the source plot (SP), interpolates the y value of the plot to subtract (PTS) on the exact x-location of the SP-point, then subtracts that PTS y-value from the SP y-value. The resulting plot thus contains exact as many points as the SP (in the shared range of the two plots), on the exact same x-locations.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>If the PTS contains many more points than the SP, then the resolution of the PTS would become lost if it were subtracted. In order to prevent this, the SP is temporarily upsampled if it contains less than half the points of the PTS in the shared range.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Add 2 selected plots<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Adds one selected plot to another. This only works when exactly two plots are selected. The add algorithm works exactly the same as the subtract algorithm above (as far as the number of elements in the resulting plot is concerned), except that it <i> adds</i> two plots, instead of subtracting them. The upper selected plot will always be the source plot.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Multiply Y of 2 selected plots<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Multiplies one selected plot with another. This only works when exactly two plots are selected. The multiply algorithm works exactly the same as the subtract algorithm above (as far as the number of elements in the resulting plot is concerned), except that it <i> multiplies</i> two plots, instead of subtracting them. The upper selected plot will always be the source plot.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Divide Y of 2 selected plots<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Divides one selected plot by another. This only works when exactly two plots are selected. The divide algorithm works exactly the same as the subtract algorithm above (as far as the number of elements in the resulting plot is concerned), except that it <i>divides</i> two plots, instead of subtracting them. The plot above the divide line will be the source plot.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Multiply Y with X of the selected plots<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Multiplies the Y value of a data point with its X value. </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> This can be used, for example, with U-I plots (U means voltage, I means current). By multiplying Y with X, you get U x I, which means the power (P). </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <A name=view></a> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <h2><u>VIEW MENU</u></h2> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <img border="0" src="viewmenu/viewmenu.gif" width="223" height="359"></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![endif]><o:p></o:p><b>- View only selected, Hide selected, Unhide all</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Hidden plots do not appear on the graph. Their names will still be present in the name window in a thin font. Hidden plots can be very handy when working with a lot of data sets simultaneously.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Table<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Will bring up a table with all selected or all active data sets. You can choose between the YYYY, XYYY or the XYXY format (this works the same as in the Save all in one file command). It can be handy to take a look at the actual data of your data set, but you can also use it to export the data sets into other analysis programs by selecting all cells (ctrl-a), then copying them into the clipboard (ctrl-v), switching to your other analysis program (Excel for instance), and pasting the data into a worksheet with ctrl-v. This is quicker than first saving it into a text file and then importing it again. Please note to set the precision high enough in the table menu, otherwise some resolution may be lost while copying and pasting.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- 2D intensity plot<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><b>View: </b>This will change the view from 1D single plot lines to a 2D picture of the Y values of the data sets. Each line represents one data set. The X value will be the X value of the original plots, </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">the Y value represents the data set to which the horizontal line belongs (you can give these a more meaningful value by using the y-axis <a href="#graphstyle">Gain and Offset</a> options), and the color of the plot represents the Y value of the data set, where by default black represents the lowest value and white represents the highest value. If no set is selected, all sets will be displayed in the graph window. If some sets are selected, only the selected plots will appear in the graph window. In order to change the appearance of the plot you can set the:</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>Custom settings:</b> Here you can set the values to which the different colors belong, as well as the colors themselves. The "auto values" option will set the lowest color to the lowest value present in the plot, the highest color to the highest value present, and distribute all other colors in between. A "smoothing" option is also present: when checked the graph will smooth its appearance, to give the graph a less "checkered" look. Tip: you can set these color values also when you're in the 1D view mode. Looking at the plots in 1D mode can give you a good clue to the values to which you want to set the different colors. Then, switching to 2D mode the new settings will be instantly active.</span></li> </ul> <A name=graphstyle></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Trend<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>This will run a "loop of selection", which means that all data sets will be selected one by one, from the first one to the last one.<o:p></o:p> This way, when you've done several identical measurements, you can see the difference between them as they get highlighted one by one. The delay time is the time that each plot will stay selected before the next one is selected.</span></p> <A name=graphlegend></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Graph Title<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Here you can enter the graph title.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=graphlegend></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Graph Legend<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><b>View legend: </b>This will produce a legend of the graph on the graph itself. Every plot will have its own line, each of which can be dragged over the graph individually by pressing CTRL and dragging the text line with the mouse.<o:p></o:p> If you want to drag the legend lines as a block you can drag just the topmost text line, then disable the legend, and enable it again. The new text lines will appear right underneath the topmost line. The contents and color of a text line will be identical to the corresponding name of the plot in the data set names window. You can set the names in that window by right-clicking on any active name in it. </span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>Legend font style:</b> if the graph window is sized, the legend text will be scaled to it. In order to keep it readable you might need to adjust the font after sizing the graph window.</span></li> </ul> <A name=graphstyle></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Graph Style<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Here you can set the graph background color and the grid color, as well as the axis indicator fonts, the axis name fonts and the name panel font.<o:p></o:p> You can make the grid invisible by giving it the same color as the graph background (keep this in mind when exporting the graph to a bitmap or printing it).</span></p> <A name=xyaxis></a> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- X-axis/Y-axis/Right Y-Axis: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>Viewing range</b><o:p></o:p></span><b>:</b> S<span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>ets the viewing range of the graph. “Redraw” (F5) will undo this.</span> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><b>Reverse:</b> Will flip over (mirror) the plot.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'><b>Name<o:p></o:p></b></span><b>:</b> N<span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>ames the corresponding axis.<o:p></o:p></span> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Decimal precision: </span></b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Gives the number of decimals to display on the axis values. By default the program tries to set an optimal precision based on the content of the data sets. If the precision is set manually, this setting will overrule the auto setting as long as the program is loaded. <o:p></o:p></span> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Toggle decimal/scientific format: </span></b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Speaks for itself.<o:p></o:p></span> </a> </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Gain: </span></b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>This one is a bit tricky. It multiplies the display of the given axis by the number you specify. <i>It does not alter the data. </i>This can be useful with data files that consist of one column. The X-values will be 0, 1, 2, 3, etc. and setting a gain on the X axis can alter the display without altering the data.<o:p></o:p> Or, in 2D view mode, the gain can be used to give the Y axis a more meaningful value.</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Offset: </span></b><span style='mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>As with the gain, it does not alter the data, it just offsets the axis value.</span></li> </ul> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Show cursor<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Displays a crosshair cursor. This can come in handy when working with two Y-axes, to read the right Y-axis values of a plot, since the decimal indicator on the top of the screen only displays the Y value of the left Y axis.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>- Redraw display<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Re-sets the viewing range to autoscale and re-draws all plots.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><u><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">HELP MENU</span></b></u><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- <b>View documentation</b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Loads this document.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">- Reset all help popups</span></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">When the program is first started, all kinds of explaining popup windows show up when the user performs an action. Every popup is only shown once, it will never appear again. Until this command is selected.</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><b>Programmer's section</b><![if !supportEmptyParas]></span></p> <a name="DDE"></a> <p class=MsoNormal align="center"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> </span></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![endif]><o:p></o:p></span><u><b>CONTROLLING SPECTRUM VIEWER WITH OTHER PROGRAMS, USING DDE</b></u></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left">When writing a measuring program, you can use Spectrum Viewer as your data display with DDE. First save the data file, open a DDE connection to Spectrum Viewer and tell it to open the file automatically. Working this way has two advantages:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Your file has to be saved in order for SV to open it, so the data is already safe on disk when you see it displayed</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">You can instantly use all powerful SV features (smoothing, spike elimination) on your data </li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">When opening a connection to SV, use the following parameters:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font face="Courier New" size="2">#define SV_DDE_NAME  "SV Server"   /* server name */<br> #define SV_DDE_TOPIC "SV Client 1" /* topic of the conversation */<br> /* Commands supported by the server: */</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font face="Courier New" size="2">#define SV_FILE_OPEN  "FileOpen"<br> #define SV_FILE_CLOSE "FileClose"</font></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><font face="Courier New" size="2">I have included a <a href="progsect/DDE_Example.c.txt" target="_blank">C example file</a> you can use as a starting point to connect your own program with Spectrum Viewer.</font></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <a name="SVF"></a> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"><b><u>THE SPECTRUM VIEWER FILE FORMAT (.svf)</u></b></p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left"> </p> <p class=MsoNormal align="left">Spectrum Viewer can read a lot of files. Text, binary, you name it. Still I felt the need to create yet another proprietary file format. Why? When SV exits, it saves its state (including all loaded data sets) into the LastSession.svf file. When the program is restarted, it loads this file and the program comes back exactly the way you left it. As demands grew, so did the svf format, and finally it is mature enough to make its specs public. You can even use the svf format to store your own data, and not use Spectrum Viewer at all, but use your own programs to read it. In my opinion the format is very versatile. The general specs are:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">The file can contain multiple data sets, all with x, y and z data (at present z data is ignored by Spectrum Viewer, it is read and saved, however). The data format is binary 32-bit float. Binary, so it reads fast (no need to convert strings to floats). I chose float over double because it halves the file size and memory usage, speeds up reading time and for most applications the double precision isn't needed anyway.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Each data set can have its own file path, axis names, graph name, data set name.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Each data set can have a text block with info about the data set (e.g. measure parameters). This text block can be seen (and edited) in the <a href="basic/style.gif" target="_blank">data set style window</a>, in the info text box.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Each data set can have an own data block which will be ignored by SV. This data block can contain anything, raw data, measure parameters, whatever you want to put in there. It won't affect the display of the file in SV. The only thing you have to specify is the size of the data block. SV reads the data block, attaches it to the data set and saves it again when the data set is saved in svf format (so you won't lose the data block when saving to another file). Of course, this data block is only useful if you have written another program which knows what to do with it, like a calibration program.</li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">The exact structure of the SVF file is described below. If you decide to use the format yourself, I have included SVF.h and SVF.c as well so you can get started right away. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">The exact structure of a .svf file is as follows. First, there are the file parameters.</p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">File version number, 4 chars. currently 0 0 0 1</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Number of bytes to skip, unsigned int (4 bytes). Must be zero, unles you have a custom data block, then you have to put its size in bytes here. </li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Custom data block. Can be anything, as long as you give its correct size in the above parameter. SV will ignore this block and skip over it. This is the FILE data block, each data set can have its own custom data block as well.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">XReverse, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0. If this is 1 the X-axis display will be mirrored.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">YReverse, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">YRReverse, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">NrOfDataSets, int, 4 bytes.</li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Then, for each data set the following block:</p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Number of bytes to skip, unsigned int (4 bytes). Must be zero, unles you have a custom data block, then you have to put its size in bytes here.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Custom data block. Can be anything, as long as you give its correct size in the above parameter. SV will ignore this block and skip over it. This is the DATA SET data block.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">DataPath, null-terminated string, max 255. If not required one 0 byte (which in fact is a string with zero length). Can be longer than 255, SV won't crash, but SV will chop off the string at 255 chars.  DataPath is the physical path of the file name of the data set. It is used in the "Delete file from disk" menu command, and with the DDE "DSDelete"command. When 0, SV will fill in the name of the file opened. When specified, SV will use the specified name. This name <i>can be different from the actual .svf file name this data set is in. </i>This is used for example in the LastSession.svf file, where the data path will not point to the LastSession.svf file, but to its original file. When not sure what to put in this field, make it 0 and everything will be allright.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">DataSetName, string, max 252. If not required one 0 byte. Can be longer than 252, but will be chopped off. This is the name that will appear in the name window. When 0, SV will put the file name in the name window</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">GraphTitle, max 255. If not required one 0 byte. Can be longer, etc.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">XName, max 255. If not required one 0 byte. This is the name that will be given to the X-axis (like "Energy (eV)"). When a .svf file is opened, SV will look at the axis names of the first data set, and put them in place. When afterwards a data set is selected SV will automatically read the axis names and put <i>them</i> in place. This way you can display different data sets simultaneously, and always have the correct description on the axes. When 0, SV will leave the axes names as they were.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">YName, max 255.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">ZName, max 255. At present Z data is ignored by SV, it is read and saved, however. I've put Z data in here for future use.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">DSInfo, max 1023. This is a text block which can be viewed (and edited) in the data set style window, in the info text block. Here you can put measure parameters which you need to be able to see when displaying the file in SV.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Hidden, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0. If this is 1, the file will be already hidden when opened.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Selected, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">RightYAxis, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0.</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">ZDataPresent, char, 1 byte, may be 1 or 0</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">NrOfDataPoints, int, 4 bytes</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">X[0], float, 4 bytes</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Y[0], float, 4 bytes</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">if (ZDataPresent) Z[0], float 4 bytes</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">X[1], Y[1], Z[1], X[2], ...., Z[NrOfDataPoints-1].</li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left"> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">If you're interested to use this format in your own programs, take a look at the <a href="progsect/SVF.h.txt" target="_blank">SVF.h</a> file and the <a href="progsect/SVF.c.txt" target="_blank">SVF.c</a> file.  <A name=plugins></a> <p class="MsoNormal" align="left">   <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><b><u>USING PLUG-INS FOR NATIVE DATA FILE SUPPORT</u></b></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal>When your data files have such an exotic format that even Spectrum Viewer cannot read them anymore, you can write a plug-in converter program which SV can call to convert the file to a format it can read. This program should be an exe file which takes two arguments: the input file (the file to convert) and the temporary output file. Both arguments will be generated on-the-fly by SV when it calls the plug-in program.</p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal>When opening a file with a plug-in, the following happens. You open the files in SV just like you used to, with the "open file" dialog box. SV will now go down the file list you have created (all the selected files), and will call the plug-in program for each file of the list. The plug-in program will generate a converted temp file, SV will read the converted temp file, and delete the converted temp file after reading. That way it will be like the conversion never took place and SV did read your original data file from its original location.</p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal>I've written an <a href="progsect/pluginfileconverter.c.txt" target="_blank">example program</a> which you can use as a skeleton for writing your own converter programs. The compiled version of this program is called PluginFileConverter.exe, and it is present in the SV program folder. You can test the use of this plug-in converter program with the "Plug-in" preset on the "Open special format" panel.</p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <p class=MsoNormal> </p> <A name=inifile></a> <h1> </h1> <h3><u>SPECVIEW.INI</u></h3> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Most of the settable parameters (<a href="#plotstyle">plot colors</a>, <a href="#openspecial"> special format settings</a>, working folders etc.) are stored in the file SpecView.ini every time the program exits. It is again loaded when the program is restarted. The SpecView.ini file is located in the application data folder. This would typically be</span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\SpectrumViewer.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">or</span> <span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">C:\Windows\Application Data\SpectrumViewer.</span><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Storing all the settings on exit can sometimes be a disadvantage. For example, <b> if you made a mistake and gave all plots the red color (and forgot to undo it), the program will remember this setting when it is restarted</b>. If you don’t want to re-set all the plot colors manually, you can delete the color lines in the SpecView.ini file, leaving the other lines untouched. Next time the program starts, it will assign its own default colors to the plots, while it still will read the other parameters from the ini file as usual. If you delete the whole ini file there’s no problem either, the program will assign its default values to all parameters when it starts, and it will rewrite the ini file on exit. Editing the ini file while the program is loaded is useless, as the program will overwrite the file again when it exits. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <A name=comline></a> <h1><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></h1> <h1> </h1> <h3><u>COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS</u></h3> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Some of the SpecView.ini settings can also be given as command line arguments (they will overrule the SpecView.ini settings). This can particularly be useful if you are writing measuring software and want to launch the spectrum viewer from within that program. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>The command line arguments are:</span></p> <ul> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">[File to open]. If present, this should always be the <i>first</i> argument. The other ones may be in random order</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>"-D [foldername]" defines the Application Data folder, where Specview.ini will be stored</span></li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"-I [foldername]" defines the default working folder</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"-S [filespec]" defines the default file specification, see open special format</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"-E [file extensions]" defines the default file extensions, see open special format</li> <li> <p class="MsoNormal">"-L [1/0]" defines whether or not the last session file should be loaded (default 1)</li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">The strings between brackets should not have spaces in them, it might be necessary to use the Windows short pathname format. <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Without command line arguments, the program defaults to the SpecView.ini file in the Windows Application Data folder.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> So there it is, the Spectrum Viewer. Have fun with it, and if you have any suggestions about additional functionality, or want to report a bug, don’t hesitate to mail me: <a href="mailto:erwintimmerman%20at%20yahoo.co.uk">erwintimmerman at yahoo.co.uk</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'>Erwin Timmerman<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=541467; var sc_partition=3; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/frames.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://c4.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=541467&java=0" alt="free website hit counter" border="0"></a> </noscript> </body>