Hi Dave,
I also volunteer to do PAT safety testing during my "20% time".
Clambering around Snowdonia as a boy, I eschewed* the Rheilffordd yr
Wyddfa/SMR in favor of shanks' pony...
* OK, I was made to...! For the good of my soul???
On 9/05/19 8:04 AM, Dave Hill wrote:
I have a csv file which details the results of equipment tests, I carry
out PAT testing as a volunteer at a heriatge railway in N. Wales. I want
to extract how many items were tested on each test day. So far I have
generated a List of test dates, but I am now stalled at how to
efficiently count numbers tested on each date.
Can I have a list of tuples, where one item is the date and the second
the count?
or is there a better construct?
Thanks in advance,
Dave
For completeness, I have listed below an extract from a target file,
where the 10 digit number is the UNIX timestamp
182 1515001232
Toaster 13 2000 1
183 1515001259 Contact Grill 13 2000 1
245 1515001367
3G Cube Adaptor 13 0 1
246 1515001396 13A IEC Lead 5 0 1
248 1515001415
Worktop Light 3 30 1
420 1515001440
Fly killer 0 0 1
424 1515001461
Dairy fridge 13 0 1
427 1513277293 Fire 13 0 1
429 1515001489
Toaster Avanti 13 0 1
When you say "target file", is this coming off the tester via a link
cable to your PC, or are you capturing by hand to a spreadsheet?
A tactic which many people 'miss' is that a workbook may contain
multiple spreadsheets, and that the data on one spreadsheet may be
auto-magically 'copied' onto another. Thus if the above is data coming
off the PAT into one spreadsheet, I would immediately create a more
meaningful sheet, 'for human consumption', which has column headings and
converts (re-formats) the timestamp into a readable date (as suggested
elsewhere), but is otherwise pretty-much a direct copy. We now have a
sheet used for data capture/computer processing and something separate
(and prettier) as a report/presentation for people.
From the spec, above, we are only interested in the date. Remember that
considering the whole timestamp only makes life confusing. So convert
them (only) to dates. These can be strings because Python compares
strings as easily as dates! The time component could be retained if
sequence (of testing) might be important.
The sad reality is that a daily count could be accomplished in either
LO-Writer or MS-Excel. No reason why you shouldn't use Python though.
(Assuming that the data appears in (forward or reverse) date sequence)
Read-in the data sheet/CSV file, row-by-row, taking note of the date of
the first data-entry, and starting to count from one. Then increment for
each row where the date matches. When the dates don't match, report,
reset the counter, and note the new date.
How will you lay-out and present this report? Another spreadsheet?
Screen? Paper?
When you say "count numbers tested on each date", the above method will
let you know a (single) daily total of tests-performed.
Did you (also) mean that you want to track how many of tests were
performed within categories of devices, eg how many toasters on the one
day? In which case, further design consideration is required, eg which
devices fit into which category and how to match "Toaster" with "Toaster
Avanti"...
--
Regards =dn
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