About the Build text command NOVA Technical Note 14 1

NOVA Technical Note 14
About the Build text command
Case study: how can I use the Build text command in my procedure?
1 – Exporting data to ASCII
The Export ASCII data command can be added to any NOVA procedure to export
the data to an ASCII file. This provides a convenient way to automatically prepare
the measured data points for data analysis in another application. The use of the
Export ASCII data command has been illustrated in a previous technical note (see
Technical note #6). In this technical note, the use of another command, Build text,
will be detailed in combination with the Export ASCII data command.
2 – The Build text command
The Build text command is a very useful command which can be used to generate
a string using a user-defined format. The user can add free parameters in the
string which in turn can be linked to command parameters in the procedure. To
illustrate this case study, a .nox procedure is provided (NOVA technical note 14 –
Build text [NOVA 1.10].nox). Import this file using the Import procedure option
available in the File menu in NOVA (see Figure 1).
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Figure 1 – The procedure used in Technical note #14
This procedure performs a total of 9 cyclic voltammetry scans on the Autolab
dummy cell. The Repeat for multiple values command is used to change the Upper
vertex potential and the scan rate for each consecutive scan. When this procedure
is executed, the applied potential will change as shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2 – The potential profile used in the Technical note #14 procedure
2.1 – Using the Build text command
In this technical note, the initial procedure will be modified in order to export
every single cyclic voltammogram to a unique ASCII file. The name of the ASCII file
will be automatically generated during the measurement using the following
template:
TN#14 CV Upper Vertex X Scan rate Y.txt
Where the values X and Y will be automatically generated by the procedure.
In order to define the name of the file for this technical note, the command Build
text will be used. This command is located in the Control group of command (see
Figure 3).
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Figure 3 – The Build text command is located in the Control group of commands
Select the Build text command from the command browser and add it to the
procedure, at the end of the repeat loop (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 – The Build text added to the procedure
The Build text command has two parameters:
•
•
Format: this defines the template of the text string to be generated by the
command.
Text: this is the output text of the command.
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Edit the Format parameter of the Build text command by typing the following
string into the editor frame (see Figure 5):
C:\TN#14 CV Upper Vertex {0} Scan rate {1}.txt
Figure 5 – The string format to be generated by the Build text command is defined in the
Format parameter
Note
You can copy and paste the string from this document into the command
directly.
Press enter to validate the format of the string to be generated. The procedure
editor frame will be updated as shown in Figure 5, adding two free parameters,
{0} and {1} to the Build text command. These two parameters can be linked to
other procedure parameters in order to generate a variable text string, in which
the values of the parameters {0} and {1} of the Build text command will be
replaced by the values of the parameters they are linked to.
For the parameter {0} we want to use the values of the upper vertex potential.
Select the {0} parameter and while holding the CTRL key pressed, click the upper
vertex potential in the CV staircase command. Click the
button to link both
parameters (see Figure 6).
Figure 6 – Linking the values of the upper vertex potential to the Build text command
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For the parameter {1} we want to use the values of the scan rate. Select the {1}
parameter and while holding the CTRL key pressed, click the scan rate in the CV
staircase command. Click the
button to link both parameters (see Figure 7).
Figure 7 – Linking the values of the scan rate to the Build text command
The Build text string format is now properly defined. Select the Export ASCII data
command from the Data handling group of commands and add it to the
procedure editor, below the Build text command (see Figure 8).
Figure 8 – Adding the Export ASCII data command to the procedure
Note
An error symbol ( ) is displayed next to the Export ASCII data command
because no filename has been specified yet.
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Select the Text parameter of the Build text command and, while holding the CTRL
key, click the Filename parameter of the Export ASCII data command. Click the
button to link both parameters (see Figure 9).
Figure 9 – Linking the Text parameter of the Build text command to the Filename parameter
of the Export ASCII data command
Before the measurement can be started, the signals to be exported must be
defined. In this example, we are going to export the Potential applied and
WE(1).Current signals to the ASCII file. Select the Potential applied signal in the CV
staircase command and link it to the Column 1 parameter of the Export ASCII data
command. Repeat this for the WE(1).Current signal, which should be linked to the
Column 2 parameter (see Figure 10).
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Figure 10 – Linking the Potential applied and WE(1).Current signals to the Export ASCII data
command
2.2 – Running the experiment
Connect dummy cell (a) and press the start button to begin the measurement.
During a validation, a warning will be displayed (see Figure 11). Since no file is
specified when the measurement is started, this warning is normal and it can be
ignored. The filenames will be generated by the Build text command during the
experiment.
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Figure 11 – A warning is displayed during validation
The procedure will display the recorded current values on plot#1 and the potential
applied on plot#2. Both signals are plotted versus time (see Figure 12).
Figure 12 – The data recorded during the measurement on dummy cell (a)
At the end of the measurement, open the destination folder (in this technical note
it is the root folder of the C:\ drive). A total of nine ASCII files should be stored in
the folder using predefined name (see Figure 13):
TN#14 CV Upper Vertex X Scan rate Y.txt
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Figure 13 – The final exported ASCII files
3 – Conclusion
The Build text command is a very useful general purpose command. It provides the
means to create automatic strings for data exporting applications as illustrated in
this technical note. It can also be used in combination with a Message box or
Input box command in order to interact with the user and provide context
dependent information (see Figure 14).
Figure 14 – Using the Build text command in combination with the Message box command
can be useful to remind the user about the experimental conditions during long
measurement
Note
The example shown in Figure 14 can be obtained by linking the Text parameter
of the Build text command to the Message parameter of the Message box
command, as shown in Figure 15.
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Figure 15 – Linking the Build text to a Message box
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