Import
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The import area is displayed by selecting the Import tab and consists of three sub-areas:
Menu bar / Toolbar
Import sources
Imported Executions
The Report Analyzer allows the import from different data sources. For each data source type individual plugins are available. Depending on the version, the number of available plugins can vary. Additional plugins can be used for example to import data from CSV files or databases. The imported data is displayed in the Imported Executions area.
All available import plugins are listed here. Each Plugin appears as button and if necessary an additional button for specific settings. By clicking the button the Plugin dialogue is opened, which initiates the respective import process.
All test protocols imported by the plugin are displayed in the list of imported executions.
IRS XML Plugin
The IRS XML Import Plugin is a file-based import plugin that can load IRS test reports.
Note: The IRS report format is also the data model that Report Analyzer works with internally. Since the data does not need to be converted, the import process is usually faster than from foreign formats, also the generated data is smaller and supports compression methods if needed. Ask for the IRS Report Plugin!
The plugin supports the following files:
Uncompressed files in IRS format: *.xml, *.irp
Compressed files in IRS format: *.gz, *.irpz
Appended Reports (multiple executions within one test report)
In the import dialog the files to be imported are selected. A report can contain one or any number of executions. All executions contained in the report file will be imported automatically.
Procedure
Select the appropriate file filter (default: *.irp). The selected filter is automatically saved and will be kept until the next change.
Select the base path using the Browse button ... or select a path from the dropdown menu of recently selected paths. The Refresh button refreshes the file list in the left pane if necessary and lists all subfolders and files starting from the base path.
The files to be imported are selected via the checkboxes in front of the respective folder or file name. You can select complete folders incl. subfolders or single files
(optional) Configure Import Options to optimize RAM usage or add custom header information
click on Import to start the import process.
Import with search filter The dialog offers a search field, which can be used to search within file names. The previous selection of files is retained! When clicking on whole folders in search mode, however, only the displayed files are added or removed. This is e.g. very helpful to filter only successful (or only failed) tests already during import!
Import via Drag & Drop At the bottom of the dialog there is a "Drop Area". Drag files or folders to this area to add them automatically to the selection. Attention: Search terms or the current file filter will be ignored! If the selection is successful, the number of detected files will be updated. A list is not displayed.
Starting the import process By clicking on "Import" an attempt is made to load all selected files. During the import it is checked if the Execution ID of the report has already been loaded. In this case the file will be ignored. After the import process is finished, a summary is displayed:
After confirmation the dialog closes and the newly imported reports are listed.
Tip: The plugin can be opened and executed multiple times to import data from different sources
Import options
As of version 1.7, the reports to be imported can already be filtered or post-processed during the import. This allows an optimized use of memory by discarding information that is not needed for evaluation, such as info texts, additional results or "Done" steps. In addition, missing header attributes can now be added later during loading, allowing for better grouping in the evaluation. It is also possible to replace or correct existing header attributes.
Please note that the report must first be fully loaded before post-processing can take place. Therefore the import options always need some additional computing time!
Date If activated, test executions will be discarded that are not within the specified time period (the reports will still be loaded first!).
Content
Remove 'Additional Results': removes additional data added by "Additional Results" or a check mark at "Log" in TestStand. Such data is only visible in the report, but cannot be analyzed by the Report Analyzer. Removing it can cause a significant reduction in data size
Remove "Infotext": Removes the TestStand report text. Depending on the type of test, this can also save considerable space
Status. Here the test steps can be removed by status. If "Keep first error step" is selected, the first "Failed" or "Error" step is kept in any case. In this way, for example, an optimized error distribution can be analyzed, which only contains the "Failed" step that led to the test failure.
Header Missing header data can be added here to allow subsequent grouping. Existing header values can also be corrected here.
Settings With the checkmark "Save as default" the current settings will be used for future imports
IRS Test Report Structure For better understanding, the general data structure of an IRS report is shown here, as it is then processed by the Report Analyzer. However, the Report Analyzer only uses the "Execution" level and below after the import:
File
Report
Execution
Attribute (Meta Data)
Attribute
TestStep
TestStep
Attribute (Additional Results)
TestStep
Execution
Attribute (Meta Data)
Attribute
TestStep
...
...
Execution Properties An execution contains both defined property fields (Properties) and individually usable attributes. The predefined properties are supported in all tables. Since version 1.4.23 the grouping page can also be used to filter and group by attributes
Step Properties Additional attributes for steps are displayed in the Details window and in the report. However, they cannot be used for filtering or grouping.
NI TestStand Plugin
Until version 1.4.3, only reports in the native IRS XML format could be used. Therefore the IRS XML TestStand plugin had to be installed to generate this specific format. Even though it still offers advantages for the measurement data analysis due to its compactness, this format is no longer a mandatory requirement!
Starting with version 1.5, the new NI TestStand plugin offers the possibility to directly read the standard formats NI XML, ATML5 and ATML6 used by TestStand!
The used format is automatically recognized by the plugin and the corresponding import type (XML / ATML5 / ATML6) is selected. If the file type is known, it can be set explicitly in the plugin settings, which can slightly speed up the import process.
Otherwise the handling does not differ from the IRS XML plugin.
The Imported Executions window displays all the imported executions. The table contains meta information such as the test time, the serial number and the overall result.
Info: An Execution is a test run and contains all executed test steps. A report can contain several executions.
Viewing and grouping
Double-click on an execution to open it in the Report Viewer and view the report. Measurement filters already applied are also taken into account.
As already described in the section "Filtering", the executions can be filtered by properties. The set of all executions that match the filter criteria remains.
Executions can be grouped in this view as well. To do so, drag the column header into the grouping area. However, this grouping only serves the current display and has no influence on the later necessary grouping.
Menu bar
In the menu bar an import filter can be created, loaded and applied.
Select and delete unwanted executions
It is often useful (e.g. due to aborted tests or during the commissioning phase) to remove certain executions from the data set before the data is analyzed.
Press CTRL+A followed by DEL to remove all currently visible executions from memory. For example, a filter can be used to display all executions with status "Error" and "Terminated" and then remove them all at once.
Single or multiple Executions can be removed from the table by left clicking (+ CTRL key for multiple selection) and pressing the DEL key
Tip: After the cleanup is complete, all executions can be combined as a data set in a single file. The function "Save record as..." on the start page serves this purpose.
It is not possible to load the same execution multiple times. Already loaded executions are recognized by their unique ID and skipped. Note: When reloading, the existing execution is NOT changed. Steps removed by measurement filters will not come back in this case! To actually reload an execution, it must be removed from the list first!
Changes to the execution list lead to a recalculation of the results. However, already created groups remain as long as they contain at least 1 Execution. It is possible that deleting already created graphs will invalidate them if the measurements used no longer exist afterwards. Therefore groups should be created only after the import process is finished.
Export execution reports
To create an overall report for multiple test executions, select the desired rows and press "Export". A dialog will open with various options to show/hide specific content components. Configure the desired view and select the desired export format using the "Export" drop-down button:
The import process can be repeated as often as you like. Thus the data set can be composed of several sources. For example, it can be composed of files that are imported from different folders or drives. It is also possible to assemble the data set from different sources, e.g. a combination of files and database entries. Complex data sets from different sources can be exported and later reloaded with the function Save data set. This saves you from having to make another time-consuming data selection.
Existing data sets can be continuously extended by importing additional executions and can be used for a long-term evaluation, for example. After adding the new executions, the data set can be saved again.
To integrate a custom plugin into the software, it must be placed in the subfolder 'Plugins' in the installation directory. After a restart it will be recognized automatically.
When importing data into the Report Analyzer, all test steps of an execution are imported by default. During subsequent analysis, each imported test step is analyzed. Since the executions often contain considerably more steps than are of interest for the analysis, the executions can be reduced to the relevant test steps by so-called import filters.
The import filter is a list of measurement IDs. All steps whose measurement ID is found in the list are kept, the rest is discarded. The filter can be applied later to the loaded list above already during the loading process.
Tip: The Import Filter is a simple text file. If necessary, it can be edited with any text editor or Excel. One Measurement ID is defined per line.
Advantages:
The clarity is improved, irrelevant measurement steps are removed from the lists
The processing speed for a large number of executions is increased
Memory requirements are reduced (both in RAM and when saving data sets)
Downside:
Accidentally removed steps can only be retrieved by removing the execution from the list and then re-importing
The status of the execution is maintained. This can lead to inconsistent displays and interpretation problems, e.g. if the filter has removed all erroneous steps, but the overall result is still "Failed" or "Error".
A test step is always identified by its unique Measurement ID.
Create Import Filter
To create the import filter, select the Create Import-Filter button in the Import tab of the menu bar.
Note: The Create Import Filter dialog offers all known test steps. This assumes that data has already been imported
All available test steps are displayed on the left side of the window. By dragging and dropping, all test steps to be included in the filter are dragged to the right side of the window.
Using the input field, the list of test steps can be restricted to the search term entered:
After all test steps have been selected, the filter is saved by clicking the Export Filter button and the dialog can be closed.
Load import filter
The Open Import Filter button loads the import filter (but not yet applied). There are now two ways to use the filter:
Apply filter once
The previously loaded filter is applied by the Apply button. The program processes all previously imported executions and discards all test steps that are not listed in the import filter. Depending on the number of loaded executions this process can take some time. With this method the test executions are first loaded completely into memory and then the unneeded test steps are removed.
Apply filter during import
If the filter criteria are already known and the filter already exists, filtering can take place during the import process. For this purpose the button Active is selected before the import. Now the filter function is activated and when importing new executions the loaded filter is used. This filter method is recommended when importing large data sets where not all test steps are required but a large number of executions must be processed, e.g. for trend analysis. The working memory is already released during the import process.
Tip: With a double click on an Execution, the Report Viewer is opened. After applying the filter, only the test steps that were listed in the Import Filter are contained there.
Tip: The overall result of the Report is not changed. For example, if "Failed" test steps were removed from the report and only "Passed" steps are contained, the overall result will still be "Failed".
