Difference between revisions of "Preview data"

Latest revision as of 10:29, 3 July 2023

This is a tool used to graph signal values from MDF-files, preview Video and visualize GPS-data.

Quick usage guide

Here is a step by step guide walking you through a simple use case to get you started. For more detailed info on the different settings or function read the article below.

Select a "Source" (file or measurement) from the source list on the left hand side of the screen.
A list of signals will show up in the signal list on the right hand side of the screen. Select one or more.
Each selected signal will show up as a thumbnail at the bottom of the screen.
In order to inspect a signal more closely, double click or "drag and drop" the signal into the Master signal preview to plot it.
If there is any GPS data available, then that data will be visualized in the map.
If there is any video or audio data available, then a media controller is visible below the main plot. See Preview data#Integrated video and audio

Source List

The source list is a list of all source files that have been added to the signal preview. Here you chose which file you want to view signals from by clicking on it and when switching between sources they will try to keep selections as similar as possible. This means that if 2 sources share signals and you select and plot a shared signal in one source and then switch to the other the signal will stay selected and plotted.

At the bottom of the source list you can switch between showing the sources as their filenames or as their measurement dates.

Adding/removing source files without loosing setting and selections

At the bottom left of the screen you can press the button "Add more files" to add new files and remove current files without removing your settings or which signals are selected. By pressing this button the tasks panel will re-open but with a second list of files at the bottom which shows the selected files in the preview.

To add new files you search for the file you want to add and drag it from the top box to the bottom box where it will now appear.

To remove a file you drag it from the bottom box to the top box which makes the file disappear in the bottom box.

When you are done adding and removing files you press the button "Add Files to preview" at the right side of the screen to get back to the preview with the files from the bottom box.

Signal List

From left to right is the button to show/hide modules, apply signal selections and save signal selections

From the signal list you select which signals you want to view from the selected source. To help you find which signals you want to view there is a search bar at the top of the list. You can also at the bottom of the list select to see signals from a specific module.

Save signal selection

If you want to save a set of selected signals for suture use you start by selecting the signals you want to save and then pressing the "Save selection" button on the bottom of the signal list. This will open a small window where you first need to enter a name and then press "Save collection" to save your selected signals.

Apply saved signal selection

To apply a saved set of selected signals you will press the "Apply signals" button which opens a small window. Here you will see all saved sets and you can apply one by selecting the one you want to apply and click "Apply collection". Note that this will only select and not deselect signals so if you only want to have the signals in the set selected you first need to make sure that no signals are selected (which can be done with the "Unselect all signals" button).

Show/Hide module prefix

If you want to have the module name as a prefix to the signal name you can enable that by pressing the "Show modules button" and you can also disable it by pressing the "Hide modules" button. Note that this also affects the signal names in the dashboards signal preview.

Dashboard

In the Dashboard you find multiple tabs with different functions and purposes which you can read about below.

Signal preview

The Signal preview tab shows you a small preview of all selected signals in the signal list tab. By double clicking on or dragging a preview into the master preview you will plot the signal. Here you can also deselect (and in that way stop a signal from being plotted by pressing the "x" on the preview.

File information

Here you will find information about the selected source file.

Data export

Here you can export the data from the plotted signals as a text file. To do this select the signals you want to plot in the left most box, specify what interval you want data from, set a download description and then press "To text file".

Statistics

Here you find statistics like amount of data points, mean and global max about the plotted signals.

Plot Options

Here you can set how the Y-axes of the signals should behave. By default its set to "Fit to curve" meaning all signals will be fitted to the curve making the signals max value the highest point and the signals min value as the signals lowest point. The other option "Signal default" makes the vertical axis be scaled based on a signals predetermined minimum and maximum values which are embedded into the MDF file. Which makes it easier to compare the same signal from different measurements and possible shows the signal in a more appropriate scale.

Audio Playback

When plotting a signal with accompanying video and audio you can use this panel to control the audio being played.

Master Preview

Preview Modes

"Master signal preview" has four different preview modes which you can select from the bottom left corner of the "Master signal preview" window:

View only one plot
View a plot, and video side by side
View a plot and GPS data visualization side by side (this is the default view)

Integrated video and audio preview

Preview Data Window - Video

If video mode is selected then the preview tool will automatically detect if there is any video correlated to the currently selected file. If such video exists, a media controller chart will be visible below the main play. See screenshot "Preview Data Window - Video".

There are several ways of controlling the playback for the found media measurements. By default the playback starts from time = 0 when the user clicks the play icon in toolstrip below the media chart. If there is any media file at the current position (as in the example) the playback of the measurements is automatically started. One can also choose to start from a certain position by either clicking between the audio and video bars in the chart or by ctrl+left mouse click on the plot in the main chart.

When the playback is started, the red marker is moving in the two grids and the play button is replaced by the pause button. Simply click the pause button to pause the playback.

To stop and revert the playback to the start position, click the stop button. The left and right buttons to the right of the stop buttons are used to jump to the nearest media measurement on the timeline.

If both audio and video measurements exists (like in the example) one can choose to only play the video measurement by clicking the video measurement bar in the graph. This also applies to when there are multiple overlapping videos.

If there are multiple overlapping videos, on of the videos can be viewed in "picture in picture-mode". To enable this, click the three dots in the bottom right corner of the video and select "Picture in picture" in the sub menu appearing.

This can of course also be used for a single video as well.

Preview Data Window - GPS

Integrated GPS data visualization

By default the map will be set to display a plot, along side of a map. Once a signal is selected and pushed up into the mater signal preview any available GPS data will be visualized in the map, see Figure "Preview Data Window - GPS". If you click on the plot line a marker will be placed in the map which indicates where the car was at that point in time.

Right click context menu

When right clicking on the plot there appears a context menu where you can control settings of the plot which are described below. An important thing to note is that even when an element of the plot is hidden you can still change it even though you will not see the change until the element is revealed again.

Set title

These are the different elements of the plot the right click context menu can affect.

With the "Set filename/signalnames as title" button you can switch between having the signals names as the title of the plot or having the filename as the plot title.

Hide/show title

By pressing the "Hide/Show chart title" button you will either make the title disappear or reappear.

Hide/show Y-Axes titles

By pressing the "Hide/Show yaxis titles" button the titles on the all the yaxes will disappear or reappear.

Hide/Show Y-Axes

With the "Hide/Show YAxes" button you will make all the YAxes disappear or reappear (including the axis titles).

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-[[File:Preview data.png|thumb|400x400px|Figure x: The preview data window.|link=https://wiki.alkit.se/index.php/File:Preview_data.png]]This is a tool used to graph signal values from MDF-files.
+This is a tool used to graph signal values from MDF-files, preview Video and visualize GPS-data.
-== Example of usage ==
+== Quick usage guide ==
-One of the main functions is to view signals as graphs and see their route. To do so you need to select signal(s) from the file(s) you want. You select signals to the right where you see the list of signals. That list of signals is specific for the selected file. You can change which file you want signals from in the box "file viewer" on the left. Note that the files to the left are the files you had selected when clicking "Preview data". The selected signals can then be seen in the bottom under the tab "Signal preview" where you will see a quick preview of how their graph looks. By dragging the previewed signal(s) to the "Master signal preview" in the middle you can see a more extended version of the signal graph.
+Here is a step by step guide walking you through a simple use case to get you started. For more detailed info on the different settings or function read the article below.
-== Functionality ==
+#Select a "Source" (file or measurement) from the source list on the left hand side of the screen.
+#A list of signals will show up in the signal list on the right hand side of the screen. Select one or more.
+#Each selected signal will show up as a thumbnail at the bottom of the screen.
+#In order to inspect a signal more closely, double click or "drag and drop" the signal into the Master signal preview to plot it.
+#If there is any GPS data available, then that data will be visualized in the map.
+# If there is any video or audio data available, then a media controller is visible below the main plot. '''See [[Preview data#Integrated video and audio preview|Preview data#Integrated video and audio]]'''
-=== Preview modes ===
+== Source List ==
-"Master signal preview" has 3 preview modes that you can select in the bottom left corner of the "Master signal preview" area. The pre-selected view is with one graph on the left and a map on the right where the signals' routes will be shown. You can also select so that instead of a map it will show a second plot or so it only shows one plot.
+The source list is a list of all source files that have been added to the signal preview. Here you chose which file you want to view signals from by clicking on it and when switching between sources they will try to keep selections as similar as possible. This means that if 2 sources share signals and you select and plot a shared signal in one source and then switch to the other the signal will stay selected and plotted.
-=== Window size ===
+At the bottom of the source list you can switch between showing the sources as their filenames or as their measurement dates.
-If you want to have a bigger "Master signal preview" you can press the fullscreen button on the bottom right of the Master signal preview window, or you can manually hide other areas you do not wish to see by pressing the "H" on them. To show the areas again you can press the "S".
-=== Switching between plots ===
+=== Adding/removing source files without loosing setting and selections ===
-There are always two plots even though there might only be one shown. This means you can always use the button "Switch" to make the plots switch places. When there are two plots shown they switch positions but when there is only one plot shown the shown plot (the left one) will switch with the hidden plot (the right one). This can be useful when comparing signals.
+At the bottom left of the screen you can press the button "Add more files" to add new files and remove current files without removing your settings or which signals are selected. By pressing this button the tasks panel will re-open but with a second list of files at the bottom which shows the selected files in the preview.
-=== Zooming ===
+To add new files you search for the file you want to add and drag it from the top box to the bottom box where it will now appear.
-To zoom in on graphs you drag between two points(not necessarily data points) on the graf and it will zoom in between those two points.To zoom out you press "Reset zoom" for L or R depending on which plot you want to zoom out. Notice that "Zoom out (R)" is only clickable when you show two plots and that is because even if there always are two plots you can only zoom out and clear shown plots.
-=== Map ===
+To remove a file you drag it from the bottom box to the top box which makes the file disappear in the bottom box.
-When clicking on a point in the graph you will see where the car was for that given time value on the map. Note that this only works if such GPS data is available.
-=== '''Statistical data''' ===
+When you are done adding and removing files you press the button "Add Files to preview" at the right side of the screen to get back to the preview with the files from the bottom box.
-You can see statistics for the plots and their signal(s) at the bottom under the tab "Statistics". To the left you have a buttom for if you want to show the left or right plot. What being showed is  the plots signal and x/y min/max, mean value, standard devation, total amount of data samples and shown amount of data samples for each signal. Note that the plot can only show 500 samples for each signal and therefore need to hide samples for bigger signals. The plot will always try to have an as even as possible space between the samples and if its showing a signal with 502 signals it will show 251 as it will give the smoothest and most accurate view even if its not showing as many samples as it could.
-=== Export options ===
+==Signal List ==
-At the bottom you can also download a plot as a text file. Under the tab "Data export" you select which plot you want to download, select between which time values it should download data points, set a download description (optional) and then press "To text file" to make the file ready for download. The text file you download is supported in Excel.
+[[File:Signal list.png|thumb|From left to right is the button to show/hide modules, apply signal selections and save signal selections]]
+From the signal list you select which signals you want to view from the selected source. To help you find which signals you want to view there is a search bar at the top of the list. You can also at the bottom of the list select to see signals from a specific module.
-=== Saving signals ===
+=== Save signal selection===
-You can save the currently selected signals by pressing the signal symbol with a plus on it located on the bottom right of the "Signal List". This allows you to reload these signals in any source as long as that source contains signals with exactly matching names.
+If you want to save a set of selected signals for suture use you start by selecting the signals you want to save and then pressing the "Save selection" button on the bottom of the signal list. This will open a small window where you first need to enter a name and then press "Save collection" to save your selected signals.
-=== Quick selection mode ===
+===Apply saved signal selection ===
-See "new in 2.46".
+To apply a saved set of selected signals you will press the "Apply signals" button which opens a small window. Here you will see all saved sets and you can apply one by selecting the one you want to apply and click "Apply collection". Note that this will only select and not deselect signals so if you only want to have the signals in the set selected you first need to make sure that no signals are selected (which can be done with the "Unselect all signals" button).
-== New in 2.46 ==
+===Show/Hide module prefix===
-In 2.46 you have the option to use a separate selection mode. This selection mode is called "Quick mode", and it allows you preview the same set of signals from an array of files more easily. Here is how it works:
+If you want to have the module name as a prefix to the signal name you can enable that by pressing the "Show modules button" and you can also disable it by pressing the "Hide modules" button. Note that this also affects the signal names in the dashboards signal preview.
-# Select the files that you want to preview as usual and click "Preview data".
-# Beneath the source list you will find a checkbox that says "Quick selection mode". Click it.
+== Dashboard==
-# Select a file by clicking on a file in the source list.
+In the Dashboard you find multiple tabs with different functions and purposes which you can read about below.
-# Select any number of signals in the signal list.
-# If you want to add any of the signals into the master preview, then do so by dragging and dropping the thumbnails as usual.
+===Signal preview===
-# You can now swap between files by selecting any file you like from the source list. When you swap file the signals you selected previously will now be selected again in the new file.
+The Signal preview tab shows you a small preview of all selected signals in the signal list tab. By double clicking on or dragging a preview into the master preview you will plot the signal. Here you can also deselect (and in that way stop a signal from being plotted by pressing the "x" on the preview.
-'''Notice: This will only work if both files have signals with the exact same name. Any deviation in signal naming will cause the program to not be able to find the signal, thus skipping it and moving on to the next signal.'''
+===File information===
+Here you will find information about the selected source file.
+===Data export===
+Here you can export the data from the plotted signals as a text file. To do this select the signals you want to plot in the left most box, specify what interval you want data from, set a download description and then press "To text file".
+===Statistics===
+Here you find statistics like amount of data points, mean and global max about the plotted signals.
+===Plot Options===
+Here you can set how the Y-axes of the signals should behave. By default its set to "Fit to curve" meaning all signals will be fitted to the curve making the signals max value the highest point and the signals min value as the signals lowest point. The other option "Signal default" makes the vertical axis be scaled based on a signals predetermined minimum and maximum values which are embedded into the MDF file. Which makes it easier to compare the same signal from different measurements and possible shows the signal in a more appropriate scale.
+===Audio Playback ===
+When plotting a signal with accompanying video and audio you can use this panel to control the audio being played.
+==Master Preview==
+===Preview Modes===
+[[File:Plot button.png|left|frameless]]
+"Master signal preview" has four different preview modes which you can select from the bottom left corner of the "Master signal preview" window:
+# View only one plot
+#View a plot, and video side by side
+#View a plot and GPS data visualization side by side (this is the default view)
+====Integrated video and audio preview====
+[[File:Video-in-preview.png|thumb|400x400px| Preview Data Window - Video]]If video mode is selected then the preview tool will automatically detect if there is any video correlated to the currently selected file. If such video exists, a media controller chart will be visible below the main play. See screenshot "Preview Data Window - Video".
+There are several ways of controlling the playback for the found media measurements.  By default the playback starts from time = 0 when the user clicks the play icon in toolstrip below the media chart. If there is any media file at the current position (as in the example) the playback of the measurements is automatically started. One can also choose to start from a certain position by either clicking between the audio and video bars in the chart or by ctrl+left mouse click on the plot in the main chart.
+When the playback is started, the red marker is moving in the two grids and the play button is replaced by the pause button. Simply click the pause button to pause the playback.
+To stop and revert the playback to the start position, click the stop button. The left and right buttons to the right of the stop buttons are used to jump to the nearest media measurement on the timeline.
+If both audio and video measurements exists (like in the example) one can choose to only play the video measurement by clicking the video measurement bar in the graph. This also applies to when there are multiple overlapping videos.
+If there are multiple overlapping videos, on of the videos can be viewed in "picture in picture-mode". To enable this, click the three dots in the bottom right corner of the video and select "Picture in picture" in the sub menu appearing.
+This can of course also be used for a single video as well.[[File:Map-in-preview.png|thumb|Preview Data Window - GPS
+]]
+====Integrated GPS data visualization ====
+By default the map will be set to display a plot, along side of a map. Once a signal is selected and pushed up into the mater signal preview any available GPS data will be visualized in the map, see Figure "Preview Data Window - GPS". If you click on the plot line a marker will be placed in the map which indicates where the car was at that point in time.
+===Right click context menu===
+When right clicking on the plot there appears a context menu where you can control settings of the plot which are described below. An important thing to note is that even when an element of the plot is hidden you can still change it even though you will not see the change until the element is revealed again.
+==== Set title====
+[[File:Chart elements.png|thumb|These are the different elements of the plot the right click context menu can affect. ]]
+With the "Set filename/signalnames as title" button you can switch between having the signals names as the title of the plot or having the filename as the plot title.
+==== Hide/show title====
+By pressing the "Hide/Show chart title" button you will either make the title disappear or reappear.
+====Hide/show Y-Axes titles====
+By pressing the "Hide/Show yaxis titles" button the titles on the all the yaxes will disappear or reappear.
+====Hide/Show Y-Axes====
+With the "Hide/Show YAxes" button you will make all the YAxes disappear or reappear (including the axis titles).

Difference between revisions of "Preview data"

Latest revision as of 10:29, 3 July 2023

Contents

Quick usage guide

Source List

Adding/removing source files without loosing setting and selections