PicoScope 7 Software
Available on Windows, Mac and Linux
Reading measurements from different views fails
Reading measurements from different views fails
Hi All,
as a newbi to PicoScope I found an issue while trying to read measurements from different views in PicoScope6. Unfortunately, I could not find anything related in this forum and hope for some support.
We are am using a new 3406D MSO (half year old), PicoScope6 rev 6.14.10.4759 running under Win10.
For an automated test system we need to readout a number of measurements using the command line interface. After a fresh start of the PicoScope6 software and using one scope view, everything works fine:
picoscope /a Measurements.csv?
C,Low Pulse Width,29,6 ns,27,09 ns,36,09 ns,30 ns,4,218 ns,4,BetweenRulers,
D,Frequency,4,263 MHz,3,479 MHz,4,931 MHz,4,145 MHz,614,2 kHz,4,WholeTrace,
D,Frequency,65,69 MHz,65,69 MHz,70,85 MHz,68,08 MHz,2,293 MHz,4,BetweenRulers,
...
After adding a new view (Spectrum), defining some measurements there and manually setting the focus to this view, I get the following:
picoscope /a Measurements.csv?
0ms: Measurements.csv?
NONE
As I thought it might be something with the focus inside the app, I clicked with the mouse into the previous scope view (where the measurements did work before), but I get the same NONE results. And even after removing the spectrum view (only the previously working scope view is on the screen) I get a NONE!
To make the measurements readout work again I need to close and re-start the PicoScope6 software.
While readout fails, measurements are working/updated in the PicoScope window and for each view. So visually I cannot find anything wrong. And all this applies and is reproducible both for real picoscope hardware and the demo device.
There seems to be an additional issue with regional settings:
1. regardless of the "Pref - Measurement System" setting, CSV output is unchanged and we have a comma as field seperator as well as a decimal comma. (we use a German regional setting in Win10).
As I have seen several threats on this topic: Isn't there a chance to add an user entry option for this data field separator? Or at least always use ";" regardless of the language?
2. Measurements have been defined using a German language setting in the PicoScope6 software. After changing the setting to English, screen output is ok, but we have a strange language mix-up in measurements results:
...
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,1 ,1 ,1 ,1 ,0 ,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,0 ,0 ,0 ,0 ,0 ,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Maximum,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,0 V,1,WholeTrace,
C,Minimum,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,0 V,1,WholeTrace,
C,Maximum,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,0 V,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Minimum,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,0 V,1,BetweenRulers,
C,AC RMS,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,0 V,-1,WholeTrace,
C,AC RMS,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,0 V,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,DC Average,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,0 V,-1,WholeTrace,
...
As we are relating to the measurement name during data evaluation and in documentation, this mix-up is making things difficult.
Do I miss something in my settings or procedure?
What is the standard procedure to read out measurements from different views by using the command line interface?
How to change focus to the view I want to use by using the comand line interface?
How to correct this language mix-up in measurements results?
By the way: is there an easy way to copy-n-paste a set of measurements into the table of measurements in the PicoScope software? (we use more than 20 measurements for each channel, and it takes a lot of time to manually type in each and every detail by hand)
Thank you for your support!
Best Regards
Gotthard
as a newbi to PicoScope I found an issue while trying to read measurements from different views in PicoScope6. Unfortunately, I could not find anything related in this forum and hope for some support.
We are am using a new 3406D MSO (half year old), PicoScope6 rev 6.14.10.4759 running under Win10.
For an automated test system we need to readout a number of measurements using the command line interface. After a fresh start of the PicoScope6 software and using one scope view, everything works fine:
picoscope /a Measurements.csv?
C,Low Pulse Width,29,6 ns,27,09 ns,36,09 ns,30 ns,4,218 ns,4,BetweenRulers,
D,Frequency,4,263 MHz,3,479 MHz,4,931 MHz,4,145 MHz,614,2 kHz,4,WholeTrace,
D,Frequency,65,69 MHz,65,69 MHz,70,85 MHz,68,08 MHz,2,293 MHz,4,BetweenRulers,
...
After adding a new view (Spectrum), defining some measurements there and manually setting the focus to this view, I get the following:
picoscope /a Measurements.csv?
0ms: Measurements.csv?
NONE
As I thought it might be something with the focus inside the app, I clicked with the mouse into the previous scope view (where the measurements did work before), but I get the same NONE results. And even after removing the spectrum view (only the previously working scope view is on the screen) I get a NONE!
To make the measurements readout work again I need to close and re-start the PicoScope6 software.
While readout fails, measurements are working/updated in the PicoScope window and for each view. So visually I cannot find anything wrong. And all this applies and is reproducible both for real picoscope hardware and the demo device.
There seems to be an additional issue with regional settings:
1. regardless of the "Pref - Measurement System" setting, CSV output is unchanged and we have a comma as field seperator as well as a decimal comma. (we use a German regional setting in Win10).
As I have seen several threats on this topic: Isn't there a chance to add an user entry option for this data field separator? Or at least always use ";" regardless of the language?
2. Measurements have been defined using a German language setting in the PicoScope6 software. After changing the setting to English, screen output is ok, but we have a strange language mix-up in measurements results:
...
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,1 ,1 ,1 ,1 ,0 ,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,0 ,0 ,0 ,0 ,0 ,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Maximum,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,802,5 mV,0 V,1,WholeTrace,
C,Minimum,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,-803,1 mV,0 V,1,WholeTrace,
C,Maximum,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,455,5 mV,0 V,1,BetweenRulers,
C,Minimum,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,-333,1 mV,0 V,1,BetweenRulers,
C,AC RMS,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,460,2 mV,0 V,-1,WholeTrace,
C,AC RMS,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,130,4 mV,0 V,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,DC Average,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,-7,394 mV,0 V,-1,WholeTrace,
...
As we are relating to the measurement name during data evaluation and in documentation, this mix-up is making things difficult.
Do I miss something in my settings or procedure?
What is the standard procedure to read out measurements from different views by using the command line interface?
How to change focus to the view I want to use by using the comand line interface?
How to correct this language mix-up in measurements results?
By the way: is there an easy way to copy-n-paste a set of measurements into the table of measurements in the PicoScope software? (we use more than 20 measurements for each channel, and it takes a lot of time to manually type in each and every detail by hand)
Thank you for your support!
Best Regards
Gotthard
Re: Reading measurements from different views fails
Hi Gotthard,
Automation was never intended as a complete solution for customer use, it was originally a CLI added for testing purposes of our PicoScopes. So, unfortunately, customers have the wrong expectations about them, i.e. that they are a fully implemented feature. The reality is that there is very little documentation for them, aside from the command line help listing, and there are many features of our software that are not supported by them. A good way to find out what you can do is to (a) list all commands (which in case you haven't already done is - picoscope.com /a ?), or (b) use our Macro Editor to attempt to record the functions that you select/modify in the GUI of PicoScope 6. The Command Listing and/or Macro Editor will display the equivalent CLI implementation, if it exists. A quick look at running a measurement command in a second View shows that we have none for switching the focus to another view. If you look at the attached Gif file you will see that the only way to switch the focus is to open a new view (which automatically switches the focus to the new view).
So, it may be possible to flip backwards and forwards between 2 views by using combinations of saving, adding, closing and resetting/restoring, views. However, the only other alternative that I can think of would be to create your own application using our SDK (software Development Kit - see here: https://www.picotech.com/library/oscilloscopes/picoscope-software-development-kit-sdk) and example code (see here: https://github.com/picotech), that way you could use a parameter file for your measurement entry.
Regarding the German Language settings, could you explain exactly what you are expecting to see?
Regards,
Gerry
Automation was never intended as a complete solution for customer use, it was originally a CLI added for testing purposes of our PicoScopes. So, unfortunately, customers have the wrong expectations about them, i.e. that they are a fully implemented feature. The reality is that there is very little documentation for them, aside from the command line help listing, and there are many features of our software that are not supported by them. A good way to find out what you can do is to (a) list all commands (which in case you haven't already done is - picoscope.com /a ?), or (b) use our Macro Editor to attempt to record the functions that you select/modify in the GUI of PicoScope 6. The Command Listing and/or Macro Editor will display the equivalent CLI implementation, if it exists. A quick look at running a measurement command in a second View shows that we have none for switching the focus to another view. If you look at the attached Gif file you will see that the only way to switch the focus is to open a new view (which automatically switches the focus to the new view).
So, it may be possible to flip backwards and forwards between 2 views by using combinations of saving, adding, closing and resetting/restoring, views. However, the only other alternative that I can think of would be to create your own application using our SDK (software Development Kit - see here: https://www.picotech.com/library/oscilloscopes/picoscope-software-development-kit-sdk) and example code (see here: https://github.com/picotech), that way you could use a parameter file for your measurement entry.
Regarding the German Language settings, could you explain exactly what you are expecting to see?
Regards,
Gerry
Gerry
Technical Specialist
Technical Specialist
Re: Reading measurements from different views fails
Hi Gerry,
thank you for your reply and explanations.
Yes, I know help and macro recorder, and I have used it at length, and a lot of trial-and-error, to come the results I have at the moment.
We will see how to deal with this situation, and maybe finaly we will use SDK - we went for CLI as it looked to be easier to use and quicker to come to first results. But you are right, my expectations differed from what is possible. From my point of view it would be really helpfull to state somewhere in the documentation (at a prominent position) that the /a feature in CLI is NOT a fully featured way for device control and setup, but being included for production testing purposes, only. (but maybe I missed it)
In terms of languge: my expectation is that measurement output names are not mixed between languages, some following Win10 setting (German), some PicoScope's language setting (English).
Best would be to have a complete English labeled output. So instead of having one english labeled line, and two german names:
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
the english language names - as one can read in the table of measurements in the PicoScope window - should be used for the complete Measurements data output:
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C, Falling Edge Count,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C, Rising Edge Count,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
Regarding my other question (data separator in CSV): when do you expect the testing (from Martyn's one year old reply in https://www.picotech.com/support/topic14379.html) to be finished?
Thank you again for your quick response!
Best Regards
Gotthard
thank you for your reply and explanations.
Yes, I know help and macro recorder, and I have used it at length, and a lot of trial-and-error, to come the results I have at the moment.
We will see how to deal with this situation, and maybe finaly we will use SDK - we went for CLI as it looked to be easier to use and quicker to come to first results. But you are right, my expectations differed from what is possible. From my point of view it would be really helpfull to state somewhere in the documentation (at a prominent position) that the /a feature in CLI is NOT a fully featured way for device control and setup, but being included for production testing purposes, only. (but maybe I missed it)
In terms of languge: my expectation is that measurement output names are not mixed between languages, some following Win10 setting (German), some PicoScope's language setting (English).
Best would be to have a complete English labeled output. So instead of having one english labeled line, and two german names:
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C,Anzahl abfallende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C,Anzahl ansteigende Flanken,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
the english language names - as one can read in the table of measurements in the PicoScope window - should be used for the complete Measurements data output:
C,Rise Time [80/20%],---,---,---,---,-1,BetweenRulers,
C, Falling Edge Count,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
C, Rising Edge Count,2 ,2 ,2 ,2 ,0 ,1,WholeTrace,
Regarding my other question (data separator in CSV): when do you expect the testing (from Martyn's one year old reply in https://www.picotech.com/support/topic14379.html) to be finished?
Thank you again for your quick response!
Best Regards
Gotthard
Re: Reading measurements from different views fails
HI Gotthard,
Sorry I meant to get back to this, but got distracted.
You make a valid point regarding mentioning the short-comings of the CLI in the documentation where it is mentioned, which I will pass on to the relevant team in Pico.
Regarding data separators in created CSV files, we have a new main version of software to be released in the near future, so our focus is on getting that out on our launch-date. So, hopefully, this won't be an issue, but if it is we can look at making the necessary corrections then.
Regards,
Gerry
Sorry I meant to get back to this, but got distracted.
You make a valid point regarding mentioning the short-comings of the CLI in the documentation where it is mentioned, which I will pass on to the relevant team in Pico.
Regarding data separators in created CSV files, we have a new main version of software to be released in the near future, so our focus is on getting that out on our launch-date. So, hopefully, this won't be an issue, but if it is we can look at making the necessary corrections then.
Regards,
Gerry
Gerry
Technical Specialist
Technical Specialist