Controls: DD/Open or File Menu >> Open Existing
Macro: Open

The DD / Open button appears in the main toolbar whenever Generator and Input are off, and can be toggled via the ALT+D accelerator key. Either is simply an alternative to Open Existing Data File in the File menu ( ALT+F, O). Toggling the button off closes the file, as an alternative to Close Data File in the File menu.

This option allows you to open any .DQA or .WAV file, whether single-screen or DDisk.

You can also open .DAT files, but since these contain raw data without headers Daqarta has no way to automatically know the format. In this case the .DAT File Format dialog appears and allows you to specify the details.

The Open dialog defaults to showing all valid Daqarta file types (.DQA, .WAV, and .DAT), but you can limit to a single type by using the Files of Type control at the bottom of the dialog. Alternatively, you can enter the full name, including extension, in the File Name control and Daqarta will open it. Wildcard characters may be used here, so you can enter *.* to see all file types, or *.BIN to see all files of type .BIN, for example.

No matter what extension the file actually has, Daqarta will first try to determine if the file holds valid .DQA or .WAV header information. If not, the file is assumed to be raw data and is handled as .DAT.

Daqarta can open files with 1, 2, or 4 channels. Files in standard .WAV format can contain 8-bit or 16-bit data. Files in .DAT format can contain 8, 12, or 16-bit data. Daqarta's own .DQA files are always 16-bit data except for averages, which are 64-bit data.

If a file contains more than 1024 samples per channel, Daqarta regards it as a DDisk file. The row of <<, <, >, >> file navigation buttons beneath the thin DDisk control dialog button will become enabled. Daqarta will show the first screen and allow you to move back and forth through the rest of the file using the navigation buttons or the DDisk Read accelerator keys. The display will be Paused, but if you unPause it the file will "play" on the screen as though it was live. (This will not produce output sound.)

If the file contains less than 1024 samples, Daqarta will show an error message noting this. The file will not be displayed.

After the file is opened, its data will be displayed in the current waveform, Spectrum, or Sgram mode. The file name will be shown on the title bar of the main Daqarta window. Additional information about the file may be found via the File Info option.

Macro Notes:

The Open macro has no effect if any File Open or Save As dialog is already active.

Open= without a name will pop up the File Open dialog showing all DQA, WAV, and DAT files, but with no default name.

Open="MyFile" will pop up the File Open dialog with the default name set to MyFile. (Note that quotes are needed around all filenames in macros.) If you accept this by hitting Enter or the Open button in that dialog, Daqarta will assume you want to open a file named MyFile.DQA and will fail if that file is not found.

Open="MyFile.WAV" will pop up the File Open dialog as above, but with the specified extension, and that is the file that Daqarta will open.

A.Open="MyFile" will open MyFile.DQA directly, without any File Open dialog. Note that if there was a file already open, it will be replaced with the specified file. You can also specify the extension as above. However, .DAT files will still pop up the .DAT File Format Dialog.

Open=">Field1" will use the contents of Field1 as the default file name, and A.Open=">Field1" will open a file with that name directly.

See also File Menu, .DAT File Format Dialog, Open Recent Data File, Opening Files In Other Directories, Copying, Moving, or Deleting Files

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