On Thursday 10 January 2002 12:23 pm, you wrote: > >Hi, > >I hope that you guys can help me, I have looked at the tutorials and > > searched online, but have not found what I am after yet. > > > >I am wanting to import a file that set up as such: > > > >Date Time CH0 CH1 CH2 ..... CH19 > > > >Where the channels are temperature readings. > >They are measureing temperatures at different distances from a pipe, CH0 > >through CH4 are one series, then 10' down the pipe there are CH5 through > > CH9, and so forth. This information is recorded in 5 minute intervals. I > > have not been able to figure out how to get this information imported as > > of yet. Any suggestions, or can someone point me to a good explanation > > of this? > > > >TIA, > >Fred > > Not sure what you mean by "series" here, different times? > > I would take the file into Excel and cut and paste to restructure it. > Much easier than trying to find some complicated .general format. > Assuming the file doesn't exceed Excel's row count (16K?). > > What are you trying to visualize? Individual pipes' temperature > regimes at different time steps? > > In other words, if you are making an animation, what is going to > change? Time is typically what changes, but it could just as well be > "distance from 0" (0, 10, 20, etc. on different frames). > > If individual pipes, do I take it that CH0 is pipe 0 at position 0', > and CH5 is pipe 0 at position 10'? If so, this file format is kind of > ugly. You need to reorganize it so that each record has the SAME > columns. > > That is, make the columns: > > DATE TIME CHANNEL_ID PIPE_ID POSITION TEMPERATURE > 110102 1100 1 1 0 32 > 110102 1100 5 1 10 33 > 110102 1100 10 1 20 34 > ... > 110102 1105 1 1 0 31.7 > 110102 1105 5 1 10 34 > .. > > > Next file: > > DATE TIME CHANNEL_ID PIPE_ID POSITION TEMPERATURE > 110102 1100 2 2 0 35 > 110102 1105 6 2 10 37 > > you get the idea > > > If you know what a normalized data base is, that's what you are > making. Many values will be repeated, but that means that each and > every record has all the data it needs: no looking up values in other > relational tables. That also means you can Select or Include based on > any column value since every row has all data required. > > Note that only one channel can occur per line. Modify your data > format to fit the above schema and importing will be much easier. > Although an advanced user could write the necessary code to pick > apart the different pipes from one input data file, I would recommend > you split the data into one file per pipe. That will permit DX's > ImportSpreadsheet to trivially connect the positions along the pipe > so you can Autocolor by Temperature then Tube it as a realization. > Set up the animation to advance one frame every 5 minutes by > Including based on the Time parameter (Sequencer values will drive > Include's min and max values). That means that at each time step only > a few points will pass through to the Image, out of all available > points in the input file. (All the points will be loaded into memory > when you import, but Include will invalidate most of them each time > step.
Thanks Chris! I guess I didn't explain myself very good, there is one pipe, 60' long, and at 3' down this pipe there is a thermistor on the surface of the pipe, (CH0), and at 9.5" away from the pipe there is CH1, at 17.5" there is CH2, at 25.5" there is CH3, and finally at 33.5" there is CH4. This is repeated at 21' down the pipe with CH5,CH6,CH7,CH8,CH9. Likewise at 39' and 57' down the pipe. The Channels are measuring temperature, in one minute intervals. Sorry I didn't explain myself better, however I think the explanation you gave me will help me get where I need to go. Thanks so much, I have had no luck at finding information on this. Thanks again! Fred
