Save to ASCII/LVM Express VI

LabView Acquire Signals Express VIs

Save to ASCII/LVM Express VI

Owning Palette: Load/Save Signals Express VIs

Installed With: LabVIEW SignalExpress

Saves a signal to an ASCII file or a text-based measurement file (.lvm). Because the .lvm file format is designed to never overwrite the initial header information, Save to ASCII/LVM only writes the header information to the .lvm file the first time you run. If you run again, Save to ASCII/LVM does not update the header information, only the subhead information.

Dialog Box Options

Dialog Box Options

ParameterDescription
Input SignalsDisplays the input signals.
SignalsContains the following options:
  • Add Input—Adds the signal you want to write to file.
  • Remove—Removes the highlighted input.
  • Inputs—Lists the signals to write to the ASCII file or the text-based measurement file (.lvm).
  • Input Data—Specifies the signal you want to save to the file.
File SettingsContains the following options:
  • Export file path—Specifies the location where you want to save the file. You can specify an absolute or relative path to the file. If you specify an absolute path, this step saves the path with the project. If you specify a relative path and you do not save the project, this step assumes the path is relative to the My Documents folder. If you specify a relative path and you save the project, the path is relative to the location where you save the project.
  • If file already exists—Specifies how LabVIEW SignalExpress saves data to an existing file. Contains the following options:
    • Overwrite—Replaces data in the existing file.
    • Overwrite once, then append to file—Overwrites the file once and then appends to information to the end of the existing file.
    • Overwrite and backup previous—Performs a backup of the file and replaces data in the existing file.
    • Append to file—Appends the data to the existing file.
    • Next available file name—Appends the next sequential number to the filename. For example, if test.lvm exists, LabVIEW SignalExpress saves the file as test1.lvm.
  • Export file type—Specifies in which file format to save the file. Options include text-based measurement file (.lvm) or Generic ASCII. The default is text-based measurement file (.lvm). If you select Generic ASCII, you also can save as .csv or .txt. A .lvm file format contains header information and signal data. An ASCII file format contains only signal data. Both file formats are ASCII. You can use the Load from LVM or Load from ASCII steps to load these files into LabVIEW SignalExpress.
  • LVM File Annotations—Contains the following options:
    • ID—Contains the following options:
      • Project—Displays the name of the project associated with this data set.
      • User—Displays the identity of the user who saved this data.
    • Notes—Specifies miscellaneous information associated with the channel you select.
    • UUT—Contains the following options:
      • UUT name or description—Specifies the name and/or description of the Unit Under Test (UUT).
      • Serial number—Specifies the serial number of the UUT.
      • Model number—Specifies the model number of the UUT.
    • Test—Specifies testing information to add to the header. Contains the following options:
      • Test name or description—Specifies the name and/or description of the test.
      • Series—Specifies the test series of this data.
      • Numbers—Specifies the numbers in the test series to which this data corresponds.
    • Waveform—Displays information about the waveform.
      • Waveform name—Specifies the name of the channel you select.
      • Waveform notes—Specifies miscellaneous information associated with the channel you select.
  • Delimiter—Specifies the delimiter to use to separate data. The default is Tab. This option appears only if you set Export file type to Generic ASCII (.txt).
  • Custom Delimiter—Specifies a file delimiter other than a tab or a comma. This option appears only if you set Export file type to Generic ASCII (.txt).
  • Include Signal Names—Includes the names of the signals in the ASCII file. This option appears only if you set Export file type to Generic ASCII (.txt).
  • X Value Columns—Contains the following options:
    • One column per channel—Creates a separate column for time data each channel generates. This option includes a column of values from the x-axis for every column of values from the y-axis.
    • One column only—Creates only one column for the time data the channels generate. This option includes only one column of values from the x-axis.
    • Empty time column—Creates an empty column for the time data each channel generates. This option does not include the data from the x-axis.
    This option appears only if you set Export file type to Generic ASCII (.txt).
  • Time Axis Preference—Contains the following options:
    • Absolute Time—Displays the time elapsed since 12:00 a.m., Friday, January 1, 1904, Universal Time.
    • Relative Time—Displays the time in milliseconds starting from 0.
    This option appears only if you set Export file type to Generic ASCII (.txt).