Changing numerical value range in datafinder advanced search

[helloworld23]

I am trying to use the advanced search in Datafinder to find all files with a certain value in the amplitude channel.  I am trying to do this by searching for the channel name = Amplitude, and channel maximum = number. For some reason, maximum has a restriced value range of 1 to 1, and this is hindering my search capabilities. When I try searching for another value out of the range, say Amplitude = 0.2, I don't get any results.  Is there any way that I can lift the value restriction or work around it in another way? 

I have attached a screengrab of the search that I am trying to conduct, as well as an example .tdms data file.  

Cheers,

Ellie 

[EvaW]

Hi Ellie,

I used your example .tdms data file. In your example file the Amplitude channel has the value 1, so I changed the value of the Amplitude channel from 1 to 0 (I also tried 0.2), saved the file, and added the modified file to the search areas of my DataFinder. Then I executed the query you used in the screengrab. The DataFinder successfully returned the example file as a search result.

If your indexed data does not contain any files with Amplitude = 0 the DataFinder will not be able to return them. You can use the ... button at the right end of the maximum condition row to receive a range of the indexed data for the maximum property. This range will be restricted to the conditions which are already entered in the query form. In your example it will be restricted to channel name = Amplitude and group name = Input Voltage Parameters.

I hope this helps.

Have a nice day,

Eva

[helloworld23]

Ok, thank you for trying it out. I am glad to hear that you got it to work. 

I think the fact that the maximum value range only goes from 1 to 1 (on the ... button) is evidence that the data was not indexed correctly (or incompletely).  

I have tried to right click on the folder that has the data of interest and reindex it (see attached screen shot) but the data that I want (drew an arrow to it) still isn't popping up in the search.

Does the fact that it's apparently not indexing this data have something to do with the fact that it's in subfolders? 

Thanks once again! 

[EvaW]

The DataFinder automatically indexes the data in the subfolders of the search areas (except you exclude a subfolder explicitly, an excluded folder is grey instead of yellow). Since the tdms icon is displayed for the file you are searching for, it seems that the DataFinder successfully indexed your file. If the file wasn´t indexed yet, the icon would be an hourglass.

If you expand the file you are searching for in the DIAdem NAVIGATOR, the containing groups should be displayed. If you then expand the group with the Amplitude channel and select the Amplitude channel, then the property list at the bottom should display all properties of this channel the DataFinder has indexed. Please have a look at these properties and verify that the maximum property has been indexed correctly.

Hopefully this brings us closer to the solution of your problem.

Have a nice day,

Eva

[helloworld23]

Ok, so I checked out what you said and yeah, it makes sense why my search is returning no results. When I expand the groups, I get NOVALUE for Amplitude max and min.  However, when I load the same data set into the internal data portal (from the indexed location) it shows a value for Amplitude. 

Now that I know what we're looking for, I found another post that says to "update the characteristic value" .  So I did that for both the selected channel and all channels, hit the refresh button, and still got NOVALUE in the file browser.  

Other post: http://forums.ni.com/t5/DIAdem/When-does-Maximum-and-Minimum-Channel-Property-get-calculated/td-p/22...

Still not sure what I'm doing wrong here.  

[Brad_Turpin · Accepted solution]

Hi Ellie,

The TDMS file you posted does not have a Maximum or Minimum property saved to the "Input Voltage Parameters/Amplitude" channel (or any other).  If you resave that channel from DIAdem, it will, but you should decide how best to populate those properties automatically.  The DataFinder can't query a property whose value is set to NoValue.

What's confusing about this scenario is that DIAdem automatically calculates the Maximum and Minimum properties for every channel loaded into the Data Portal, so it LOOKS like those properties had values-- when you load them into DIAdem they do.  But if you look at the DataFinder property table, as Eva suggests, you'll see that the values are all NoValue.

Here's a white paper that talks about a number of topics like this:

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/14252/en/

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments

[EvaW]

"update the characteristic value" only updates the values in DIAdem (the data portal) but it does not update the file itself. The DataFinder will not be able to index the updated values until you have saved the file in DIAdem.

Have a nice day,

Eva

[helloworld23]

Ok, that makes sense. We have not been using TDMS set properties when writing data.  In order to fix this, does it make more sense to create a VI that overwrites existing TDMS files to have channel properties, or to re-save all of the files from DIAdem data portal? We have a large number of files which I assume would require a script to carry that out in DIAdem.  I don't have any experience writing scripts in DIAdem.  If you think that option is best, please refer me to any relevant resources on writing DIAdem scripts.

Thanks,

Ellie 

[Otmar]

(duplicate information deleted)

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Ellie,

In either case (LabVIEW VI or DIAdem script), all you have to do to the existing TDMS files is add to the bottom of each TDMS file the 4 properties outlined in the white paper I linked you to in my previous response.  Here's a DIAdem VBScript that does that.  Actually, this VBScript will work in DIAdem 2012 and previous.  If you have DIAdem 2014 or later I can post an updated version for you.

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments