binary data now with attachement

[ronaldv]

 Greetings,

A student of the department I work came back from the UK with a binary file containing measurement data. The file has the extention .dat but is no diadem file and it contains no header. She says it was generated with labview 3.1.1. and she was able to view the data with a program called "graph data" that seems to belong to labview 3.1.1.
Optimistic as I am I thought it wouldn't be a problem to read the data into diadem 8.1 (LV 7.1 on win XP) but no way.
I can see some data but's all rubbish. The measurements consist of a time value and than 8 voltage channels of wich some are not used (zero).
The data range is -5V till 5V and (not sure) resolution 16 bits and every 0.5 sec a sample, blockwise grouped
With a fileviewer I can see the time string and the 8 channels but with the import header function in diadem I get scrap. Time flies and values beyond 5V and below -5V
I searched the web for an old version of labview but did not succeed but I'm also convinced that diadem 8.1 is capable of reading this file. I only don't kow how.
Is there anybody outthere with a suggestion?

See attached file

[KvZ]

Hi,

Is it possible to get a hold on this VI? I've checked an old image of LabVIEW 3.1.1 but it was not in there. If we have this VI I could be able to find out how it is formated.

Thanks

Karsten

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi ronaldv,

DIAdem 8.1 and previous versions really has only one easy way to read binary files-- create a DIAdem DAT header file for it.  There are three main ways to do this:

1) Create the DAT header file on-the-fly with a VBScript library
2) Create the DAT header file with the LabVIEW-DIAdem Connectivity VIs
3) Create the DAT header file manually with the "Import via header" dialog in DIAdem DATA

I think the easiest option for you is 1).  Just download the LabVIEW-DIAdem Connectivity VIs and use the "Write DIAdem File.vi" to convert the data you read in with your "graph data.vi" into a DIAdem DAT file and R64 file.

Ask if you have further questions,
Brad Turpin
DIAdem Product Support Engineer
National Instruments

P.S. The "non-easy" way of importing binary files into DIAdem 8.1 and previous versions involves writing a special C++ DLL

[ronaldv]

Hi Karsten,

Thanks for your reply. I've got hold of the vi (at least I think so, 7.1 is unable to read it) Can you have a look? We do't have 3.1.1 anymore.

Regards,

Ronald

[KvZ]

Hi Ronald,

I'm able to open it in LabVIEW 4.0.1 but it is just an empty VI (with blue front panel), There is no code inside.

Thanks

Karsten

[ronaldv]

That's bad news,

The people in the UK where the measurments were taken are on holiday. We asked somebody else in the lab and gave him instructions how to get the vi. Obviously not the right instructions.
Thanks anyway, to be continued...


Ronald