Capturing Results from an Instrument in Workbook

Capturing data from an instrument to load results automatically into CCLAS is totally managed by custom script that is launched from a workbook menu, and therefore out of scope of this help documentation.

The workbook menu script referenced by the WORKLIST_CMD_MENU or WORKLIST_RCLICK_MENU application preferences are used to add menu options to drive data capture from instruments.

Loading results from an instrument file into an interactive workbook session can be set up to:

  • Ensure that the instrument capture script automatically advances the selected cells to next row in the same column after a result is captured, and if in the last row, the selection does not advance and the instrument capture stops.
  • Ensure that the instrument capture script does not change the selected cell when data is captured.
  • Change the selection in the workbook grid to the cell indicated by the given sample scheme analyte.
    • If the sample scheme analyte was not opened in workbook and is therefore not in the grid, the selection does not move.
    • If the sample scheme analyte is hidden (for example, is a sub-analyte) then either the selection does not move, or the selection disappears.
    • If the selected cell is not within the current view, the grid scrolls so that the cell is in view.
  • Set the final value, analysed date and analysed by user. This allows the result to have an analysed date and analysed by user different to the current system date-time and user.

Instrument Data File Names

The instrument widget, workbook and file instrument capture locate files with a case-insensitive file mask.

Managing System Latency when Uploading Results from a File

When dealing with a network file system, often there are network latency issues, such that, the operating system delays the size and modified time statistics updates. Therefore, during instrument file capture, to ensure a file is fully copied before is is processed for result upload, at the start of the read, the file size and file modification date is determined by the system, then the system sleeps for a period denoted by the FILE_CHECK_DURATION_IN_MILLISECONDS application preference and wakes up after that, upon which the file size and file modification date is redetermined by the system. If the two determinations do not match, the file is ignored and the system sleeps for another period then wakes for another determination, etc. When the two determinations match, then the entire file is uploaded and is ready for the read, so the capture process starts.

Managing Multiple Readings for One Result

The script referenced by the CALCULATE_FROM_READINGS application preference is used to receive or enter multiple readings from an instrument, select a sub-set of those readings, and then apply a calculation that can for example:

  • Determine the average of the selected readings and update the final value with the result
  • Deactivate particular readings
  • Perform some other action.