Ideas
parameter file help
Greetings All,
I would like better control of parameters in parameter file, please!
When I have a new machine and want to put parameter file on an old machine, the parameter file will overwrite everything.
There are a lot of calibrations and things like memory channels i don't want over written.
What next? I download a clone, then save this as a project with current values as default, then send project to old machine, the defaults will be placed in areas that do not have values (new parameters). ALMOST there. The problem is if we have changed default values in program to make machine better, they will not replace old machines values. So there is no great way of updating older machines and keeping some values protected. I would recommend the the parameter program have ability not to program certain parameter values like calibration and memory values, also have the ability to over write parameter values in older program where values have changed. And finally some way to compare variables easily. It isn't that easy at the moment. We need to compare a parameter file with a clone file. Then get out of program and on a machine to change them. I would like to change all the variables at my desk, blocking and forcing values too. This is not easy to explain to tech out in the field what exactly is going on with variable. If you could allow us to have access to the variable files in a non-binary way. a text output and text input, I could write this software quickly. Right now I have to cringe when I need to have techs go into iqango or iqanrun to fix multiple variables. It also can cause issues with flaky machine control. Thanks
Chuck
Customer support service by UserEcho
A few different ideas/requests here, I think it can be split in three parts:
Change settings during SW update
One existing method for sending an update that overwrite only specific values that you could use is possible with IQANscript.
You could make a script that has the Send project script action followed by a number of Set parameter actions.
I guess feasibility of this method depends on how many parameters you need to force a change on. Note that with existing functionality the new value will have to be entered in the script too, the application default isn't accessible.
Compare settings
We have a feature idea for improving settings compare, making it possible to directly compare two settings files.
(for anyone else reading, here is a post discussing the the need to use a clone in settings compare
View settings / Software / IQAN)
Edit settings
There is an (old) feature request for a settings editor, see:
Edit Settings File / Software / IQAN
The way I solve the problem of updating only some improved parameter settings on existing machines is by simply removing that parameter in IQANDesign and then adding the same parameter again. That particular parameter will then get a new parameter ID and therefore replace the old parameter when updating existing machines.
As long as you don't change the project ID this works and if you stick to the same version of IQAN the update is very quick.
It is time-consuming however to have to remove parameters this way, particularly if the software has multiple languages, and you always risk causing bugs when you delete and replace existing code that has been working.
I would much prefer if each parameter in IQANdesign kept its own references for when it was last updated (version and date) and that you could force a "refresh" of that particular parameter just with a click of a button in IQANdesign.
That way you could quickly and easily force parameter-updates when updating existing machines without having to mess with the code or with scripts and you could also easily track when each parameter value in an existing code was last updated.