YSI Data Scout Advanced - Manual (Page 88)

Set this text box blank to select the default standard Windows
®
text editor NotePad. Since NotePad has file-size limits, it usually
“suggests” an automatic switch to the WordPad editor if its limits are reached.
6.1.1.4 PLOTTING LARGE DATA FILES
Most typical short data files will plot or print fast enough that you may not notice the processing time. However, Data Scout Advanced
is capable of generating data files that are millions of bytes in length. Plotting always requires two passes of the data file to be made:
(1) the first pass to get max/min data values for each plotting scale to implement the default “automatic” scaling, (2) the second pass to
do the actual plotting to screen or printer. If you attempt to plot very large files it can take a very long time. For plotting on the screen,
the only indication of such large files will be a printing of a “status data line” on the plot surface for every 10,000th data line processed
during the first pass only. The second pass will display the scales and start to plot points slowly.
Another indication of very large files is that an Abort button appears in the upper right hand corner of the window in place of the usual
Print Plot button. Select the Abort button to end either the pre-scanning (1st pass) or plotting (2nd pass) process. Any plots
generated by an abort may then display only part of the data from the original file (or no data at all if aborted during the pass 1).
Clicking the Print Plot button will cause a re-scan and re-plot of all the data file points and utilize the added resolution of the printer
(if the printer has enough memory). If you get and Error message late in this process, it is because the printer’s memory cannot
support plotting that many points. Most Windows® printer drivers also spool large files to disk (if you have enough disk space) while,
at the same time, unspooling and sending some of this data to the printer. In this case, the spooling may finish long before the actual
data is all plotted in the printer’s memory. This causes the Abort button to disappear and the Print Plot button to be restored. The
user may then exit the Playback application as the printer continues to digest the spooled data file.
6.2 THE CONVERSION MENU
DSPlay has a Convert menu with three selections (figure 6.9). Each selection leads to a utility data conversion program providing three
useful conversion functions. Each function is described below.
Figure 6.9
6.2.1 FORMAT CONVERSION
The first Convert menu selection (Convert | .Txt/.Atd to .Csv and Vice Versa) causes the following Convert window to open:
Figure 4.10
YSI Incorporated Data Scout Advanced 84