Daqarta
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
Scope - Spectrum - Spectrogram - Signal Generator
Software for Windows
Science with your Sound Card!
The following is from the Daqarta Help system:

Features:

Oscilloscope

Spectrum Analyzer

8-Channel
Signal Generator

(Absolutely FREE!)

Spectrogram

Pitch Tracker

Pitch-to-MIDI

DaqMusiq Generator
(Free Music... Forever!)

Engine Simulator

LCR Meter

Remote Operation

DC Measurements

True RMS Voltmeter

Sound Level Meter

Frequency Counter
    Period
    Event
    Spectral Event

    Temperature
    Pressure
    MHz Frequencies

Data Logger

Waveform Averager

Histogram

Post-Stimulus Time
Histogram (PSTH)

THD Meter

IMD Meter

Precision Phase Meter

Pulse Meter

Macro System

Multi-Trace Arrays

Trigger Controls

Auto-Calibration

Spectral Peak Track

Spectrum Limit Testing

Direct-to-Disk Recording

Accessibility

Applications:

Frequency response

Distortion measurement

Speech and music

Microphone calibration

Loudspeaker test

Auditory phenomena

Musical instrument tuning

Animal sound

Evoked potentials

Rotating machinery

Automotive

Product test

Contact us about
your application!

Notes Edit


Macros: Notes, Notes#fL, Notes#fS, NotesDlg

Introduction:

The Notes edit window is at the bottom of the Daqarta window. You can enter notes here at any time. They will be saved with .DQA files, and will appear here when you later open the file for viewing.

Notes can be up to 2047 characters long, including Enter keys for new lines. You can use the scroll bars to see lower lines. The Font button allows you to select the font you prefer.

If you click the Notes button instead of just starting to type in the Notes window, it will open a larger copy of the Notes window in its own dialog, which can be positioned as desired. This dialog also includes special option buttons for loading Notes from a file, saving Notes to a file, or clearing Notes. There is also a Font button that is a duplicate of the small one on the main Daqarta window.

You can also toggle the Notes dialog open or closed via ALT+SHIFT+N.

In either Notes window, CTRL+Tab moves to the next tab stop. (The Tab key alone will exit the Notes field and move to the next item on the screen.)

CTRL+ALT+D will enter the current date, and CTRL+ALT+T will enter the current time. The Edit Date/Time Preferences menu allows you to specify the date or time format, and whether UTC time or local time will be used. (You can also enter date or time via macros... see the Macro Notes below.)

Most other Daqarta edit controls are for entering values, allowing you to conclude an entry in them just by hitting Enter. That won't work here, where an Enter is used to start a new line. Instead, in the default small Notes window you can use the Tab key to move to the next control, or just click on another control. (In the large Notes dialog Tab moves to the next control in that dialog, namely Load File.)

Alternatively, the little Notes button next to the small edit window changes to 'OK' as soon as you start an entry, and you can click that to end an entry (which will change it back to 'Notes'). Likewise, the OK button in the large Notes dialog will conclude entry and close the dialog.


Loading Notes from a File:

The Load File button at the bottom of the enlarged Notes dialog will pop up a Windows file Open dialog showing all .TXT and .CSV text files in Daqarta's User_Data folder. You can navigate via the standard Windows Open controls to load text files from other folders.

You can use the Files of type: drop-down to limit the view to showing only .TXT or only .CSV files. The selection is "sticky" for subsequent loads (or saves) until explicitly changed.

Alternatively, you can load any other text file, regardless of extension, by entering *.* as the file name, or *.CAL (or any extension), after navigating to the desired folder as needed. If you attempt to load a non-text file (such as .WAV or .DQA) you will get garbage.

Please note: Any existing Notes text is cleared when you accept the Open filename (OK or Enter), just before the file is loaded. There is no warning to save the existing Notes first, even if the text has been edited.

When the load is complete, the full path and filename will be shown on the Notes dialog title bar. This will remain until a save or clear operation, or until you close the Notes dialog. It will not remain if you re-open the Notes dialog.

If you attempt to load any file with more than 2047 characters, including spaces and carriage returns, only the first 2047 will be loaded. An error message box will announce this and show the number of bytes lost by the truncation. You will need to click OK in this box to proceed.

The original file is unchanged by this, but if you subsequently save to the original filename (after the usual overwrite confirmation), the truncated file replaces the original.


Saving Notes to a File:

The Save File button at the bottom of the enlarged Notes dialog will pop up a Windows file Save As dialog showing all .TXT and .CSV text files in Daqarta's User_Data folder. You can navigate to save a text file in another folder.

The Save as type: drop-down button allows you to limit the view to only .TXT or only .CSV files. The selection is "sticky" for subsequent saves (or loads) until explicitly changed.

If you enter a filename without an extension, a .TXT extension will be used unless you have selected .CSV via the drop-down. The file will be saved exactly as it appears in the Notes window, regardless of the extension used; commas will not be removed or added based on the extension.

Likewise, if you enter a filename that includes an extension other than .TXT or .CSV, the saved file will still a text file even if the extension you gave indicates otherwise.

If the file exists, you will be prompted to overwrite it. After the file is saved an "xxxx bytes written to MyFile.TXT" message will be shown on the Daqarta message line above the Generator title.

In addition, the full path and filename will be shown on the Notes dialog title bar. This will remain until a load or clear operation, or until you close the Notes dialog. It will not remain if you re-open the Notes dialog.


Clearing Notes:

The Clear button at the bottom of the enlarged Notes dialog removes everything from Notes memory. It will also restore the default Notes dialog title bar, if it held the name of a loaded or saved file.


Using Notes as a Text Editor:

You can use Notes as a simple text editor by loading the text file with the Load File button, editing as desired, and saving with the Save File button.

Important: Keep in mind that this only works with files shorter than 2047 bytes total, including spaces and carriage returns. If you load a longer file, perhaps to edit only the first part, the excess will be truncated in memory and an error message shown. If you then save the truncated file by overwriting the original, the end will be lost.

How long is 2047 characters? The following RPM_Ramp_List.TXT is only 330 characters, so you can load roughly six times as much:

    ;sec   RPM
    0.00   600      ;Start at 600 RPM, use elapsed time
    2.00   3000     ;Ramp up to 3000 at 2 secs
    4.00   3000     ;Hold at 3000 until 4 secs
    5.00   6000     ;Ramp up to 6000 at 5 secs
    6.00   6000     ;Hold at 6000 until 6 secs
    8.00   600      ;Ramp down to 600 at 8 secs
    10.00  600      ;Hold at 600 until 10 secs

Likewise, if you are creating a file in Notes, you won't get any warning when you exceed the limit during text entry. Characters will appear on the screen as you type them, but they won't be saved to Notes when you hit OK (or otherwise conclude entry, such as by clicking elsewhere). The Notes display will jump to the start of the file, so you won't know that your work was truncated unless you scroll to the end to check.

In addition, this Notes "text editor" will not warn you if you haven't saved your work prior to loading a file.

The upshot is that Notes is a handy editor for modifying or creating short files like those typically used by Arb_From_List, but it's not a replacement for Windows Notepad or a full-featured text editor.


Macro Operations:

NotesDlg=1 opens the large Notes dialog, NotesDlg=0 closes it, and NotesDlg=x toggles between open and closed. You do not need to open the dialog to enter Notes text via macro command.

Notes#fL= behaves almost identically to clicking the Load File button in the large Notes dialog, with the exception that there is no error message if a file longer than 2047 characters is loaded.

This command will not open the large Notes dialog if it isn't open already, only the Windows file Open dialog.

Notes#fL="MyFile" does the same, except that MyFile will be shown as the default filename.

A.Notes#fL="MyFile" will load MyFile.TXT automatically, without invoking the file Open dialog. If a file with that name isn't found there will be no error message; nothing at all will happen.

Similar to the above, Notes#fS= behaves identically to clicking the Save File button in the large Notes dialog. It will not open the large Notes dialog if it isn't open already, only the Windows file Save As dialog.

Notes#fS="MyFile" opens the Save As dialog with MyFile as the default filename.

A.Notes#fS="MyFile" will save MyFile.TXT automatically, without invoking the file Save As dialog. It will overwrite an existing file of that name without an overwrite prompt. The "xxxx bytes written to MyFile.TXT" message will be shown on the Daqarta message line as usual.

Notes= (with nothing following the =) clears the current Notes content, the same as hitting the Clear button at the bottom of the large Notes dialog.

Notes="Notes Test Message" replaces the current Notes with the text enclosed in quotes.

Notes can make use of string variables and expressions. It can also include itself to allow appending and prepending:

Notes=Notes + " with extension." will append the quoted text to the current Notes.

Notes="This is a " + Notes will prepend the quoted text at the start of the current Notes.

Thus, if you use the above examples in the order presented, the final Notes will read "This is a Notes Test Message with extension."

Multiple lines may be included in the command text, surrounded by a single pair of quotes, and the lines will likewise appear in the resulting Notes. For example:

    Notes="This is Line 1.
    This is Line 2."

will result in:

    This is Line 1.
    This is Line 2.

Sometimes it may be more convenient to use a multi-item string with the Newline command (n) inserted where needed. The above could be accomplished with:

    Notes="This is Line 1." +n + "This is Line 2."

You can use string variables to insert many different values in a multi-item string line, such as time, date, cursor readouts, Labels, Fields, Macro Variables, Averager Total Frames Counter, or Frequency Counter, Sound Level Meter, or Voltmeter readouts. You can also use the p formatting command to set specific columns for data. For example,

    Notes=Notes +n + Freq +p20 +t

will append a new line showing the Frequency Counter readout value followed by the local time starting at column 20. See String Variables and Expressions for details.


There are also special macro commands to copy the Notes contents to macro array buffers Buf0-Buf7. For example, Buf0="<Notes" copies a list of numerical values from Notes to Buf0, filling as many Buf0 elements as there are values.

Alternatively, Buf0="<NoteS" (note uppercase 'S') copies a string of characters from Notes into Buf0, one character per element, filling as many elements as there are characters.

There are also variants to copy from Notes that were saved as part of a .DQA file, either single-screen or a longer DDisk file, when that file is later opened for use. This is true even if the file is loaded into the Generator as an Arb or Play file, such that its Notes are not normally shown.

In addition, Buf0="<NotesR" performs a "Raw bulk" copy of everything in the Notes area, including control characters, stored contiguously at 8 per array element and accessible as String Storage elements. Likewise, Buf0="<NotesFR" performs the same copy from Notes on a loaded file. Conversely, Buf0="<uN" can be used to "upload" the array back to Notes. (But not to file Notes.)

All three of these commands can be followed by a digit from 0-3, such as Buf0="<NotesR1" or Buf0="<uN1". The digit designates one of 4 separate 256-element array blocks, each of which can hold the contents of an entire 2047-character Notes area. If no digit is given, block 0 is used.


MIDI Changes Script:

You can perform some Notes operations from a MIDI Changes Script:

BLmN="<Notes" copies a list of values from Notes to macro array BufN, one value per element.

BLmN="<NoteS" copies a Notes string to macro array BufN as 8-bit characters, one per element.

There is no MIDI script command to perform a "Raw bulk" copy, nor to upload back to Notes.


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