Alternative MS Excel for Visualization and Calculation

[ZerMahlMeer]

Good evening,

I am looking for an alternative to MS Excel. My use case is:

1) Gather data using Labwindows CVI

2) store in .csv files

3) using Labwindows CVI to copy data from .csv files into .xls templates

- some data calculations is performed in CVI

- some equations are in the Excel file and get automatically calculated after pasting data

- existing graphs in the Excel templates display calculated data after copying

Since the amount of files grew over the years and data analysis is becoming more and more cumbersome, I am looking for an alternative enables

a) high visualization possibilities of data and flexibility of chaning that later

b) calculation within the tool (i don't want to have too many equations hidden in some C program)

c) integration into Labwindows CVI (I may change that..but not quite yet)

Does anyone has a recommendation?

Thanks!

[Dsun]

Have you tried LibreOffice?

[ZerMahlMeer]

Thanks for your answer! I was actually thinking about something that is not based on single files (as Excel or LibreOfifice). The whole idea of having a bunch of data in spreadsheets makes finding certain information just very ..tedious.

I saw NI Diadem and it looks kindof what I want? Anyone has experience with that? Would it be applicable for my application

[Dsun]

Ah, Diadem would definitely suit your needs.  It's really great for visualization of data.

You could check this video out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di6Q07rolA0

[ZerMahlMeer]

Thanks, that looks very nice!  What about data calculation? Would that work as well?

[DJColeslaw · Accepted solution]

Hi ZerMahlMeer,

DIAdem not only allows you to perform a multitude of analyses (very easily I might add) on your data it even provides the ability to automate data colleciton, analysis, and report generation through Visual Basic Script.  Another really nice feature of DIAdem is that it copies the data you import and saves it as .TDM files which prevents it from overwriting your original data.  If you did this, you could also scrap the .csv file generation and utilize the TDMS C API.  This allows you to log data much faster due to the binary structure of TDMS files and you can then open those files in Excel using the NI TDM Plugin for Excel (free for download) and will import natively into DIAdem.  

What you described sounds almost exactly what DIAdem is made for.  The only transitional pain point can be getting accustomed to writing VBS code if you are not familiar.  However, most things that you would want to reference in a script (for instance data channels) can simply be dragged from the DIAdem data portal to the script to generate the script code to access that element.  There is also a script recorder that allows you to perform design-time activities using configuration dialogs and automatically capture that activity in script so ramping up is also highly facilitated.

[ZerMahlMeer]

That sounds actually pretty good, thanks. I will take some basic NI training and do more investigation to see whether it actually fits my needs.

One issue I see right now (and I may be wrong with that) is traceability of formulas within the code. If someone else wants to understand how certain equations are connected, which variables go where etc, I found Excel very handy (if formulas are not stretched out over 3+ worksheets of course). But I'll see how that is handled in DIAdem.

🙂

[Dsun]

It should be pretty simple to find how the calculations on your data is performed!  Diadem splits your data into channels and you can use functions on these channels.  Should be pretty transparent how the data is being manipulated.