Text Import Wizard forcing XY Channels

[Simon_Aldworth]

Hi,

Following a recent post where I couldn't understand why some of my data channels were XY instead of numeric (https://forums.ni.com/t5/DIAdem/Drag-and-drop-channels-in-VIEW-always-selecting-Time-as-X/m-p/413806...), I now have a related problem that I can't find a fix for. In the case of the previous post, the problem was that my DataPlugin had the box ticked to ensure that the first channel was the X channel. However, I don't have that option in this case.

The problem occurs when I use the Text Import Wizard in which I have selected all the channels to be numeric and there is no option to make the first channel the X channel. When the data is loaded the first channel is numeric and all the others are XY, even though it says they're numeric in their properties.

Each of the steps in the wizard and the final result are shown in the following steps:

Needless to say, this is absolutely not what I intended or want, so how do I avoid it?

Thanks, Simon.

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Simon,

I can see with that data set why you would want to avoid all the channels in your group cleaving to the first channel as their X channel.  You actually didn't post the last page of the Txt DataPlugin Wizard, which is where you have a checkbox to signal your interest in that new feature.  Try uninstalling the DataPlugin you created with the unwanted XY-ness, then going through the wizard again, but this time unchecking the "First channel of group is x-channel" checkbox.

That worked for me to return the imported channels to unattached numeric channels.

Brad Turpin

Principal Technical Support Engineer

NI

[Simon_Aldworth]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the note, but to clarify: I didn't show you the last page because I wasn't shown it. I didn't want to create a plugin so I pressed 'no' when asked if I wanted to.

In this situation I would not expect DIAdem to assume I would want the first channel to be the X channel that all others are linked to. I have, however, since discovered that the reason it's making this assumption is because I have the box ticked in the Navigator settings that says 'Use xy-channel references when loading, saving, and creating channels'. After turning that off and going through the wizard again it left all my channels as numeric.

If my opinion is worth anything, I really think that box should not be ticked by default during installation. I find it an annoying feature that adds nothing to my workflow.

Regards,

Simon.

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Simon,

Yeah, sorry about that.  It makes sense that if you set the XY "kill switch" in the DIAdem Settings (Desktop.DDD) file that it will change the default value of that last dialog page.  I completely forgot that it was an option to load the data without creating a DataPlugin.  That reminds me of the old ASCII Import Wizard days with *.stp files back in DIAdem 8x.

R&D is caught between our traditional customers who want to preserve existing workflows and the hottest trends our potential newest customers are interested in, like ADAS and MDF4 files, where customers absolutely expect XY pairing to happen by default.  I'm sorry this cost you so much time and frustration, but I'm glad to hear you have a good workaround.  I'll ask R&D about options to make this a more obvious choice to all, regardless of the default value.

Cheers,

Brad Turpin

Principal Technical Support Engineer

NI