Efectos Visuales

To avoid a laborious and therefore error-prone manual input of the laboratorial data, ProLab Plus provides a function for automatic data transfer via CD or email (using appropriate secu-rity tools) between the participants and the organizer.

In order to prepare the data transfer, specific files can be created using the menu Database – Export – Laboratory files (for RingDat). These are then filled in by the participating laborato-ries with the help of a special program called RINGDAT3. The data set for each laboratory contains a FILENAME.LA2 file and a FILENAME.LAB file. The latter is an ASCII file with the columns sample name (SName) / test portion code (SCode), Measurand name (MName) and measurement unit. The columns containing the individual test results are added in the RingDat3 program. FILENAME.LA2 is a configuration file that contains information on the ring test, instructions and other parameters. The content of this file can be viewed in any text editor; changes should, however, be avoided.

Besides the laboratory files, the participants also need to receive the following files, which are located in the sub-directory RingDat3 in your current ProLab directory (the folder where ProLab is installed):

- RingDat3.EXE,

- RingDat_English.HTML

- translations\English.xml

As experience has showed that sending exe-files via email may cause problems, there is the

possibility for the ring test participants to download all three files from the quo data homep-age. Please contact us ([email protected]) to receive login data for the download.

In addition, ProLab Plus offers the possibility of creating individual laboratory files for each laboratory and to save these on different storage devices ( e.g. CD, pen drive). To do this, click on Copy labwise to storage device in the Create laboratory files (for RingDat) window. It is now possible to select a laboratory and the drive (storage device) you would like to copy the files to. Upon clicking copy or pressing F5, ProLab Plus saves the files FILENAME.LAB, FILENAME.LA2, RingDat3.EXE, and RingDat_Englisch.HTML to the selected drive (see 7.11.2.1).

Furthermore, we can supply a customized online input tool for participants, thus circumvent-ing the need to use Rcircumvent-ingDat for laboratory files.

The laboratory files are usually created lab-wise, though it is sometimes advantageous to create one single file for all laboratories. If the check box per laboratory has been marked, one set of data will be created for each laboratory. In this case FILENAME corresponds to LName. If the check box is not marked, only one set of data with the RName as FILENAME will be created. If the boxes per laboratory and Lab code are marked, additional files where the FILENAME corresponds to the lab code are created. While the lab-wise option is easier to fill out for the participants, the option for all laboratories simplifies the distribution of the empty files to the laboratories and the following import.

If the check box Export selected combinations only is marked, only those files are exported which correspond to the selected combinations of sample, measurand and laboratory (see also section 9). If laboratories should specify the date of analysis, please mark the corre-sponding check box. The number of measurement values needs to be specified in order to have sufficient fields available in the RingDat file. If it is required that a laboratory enter a value in each field, please mark All data are needed. If the field Addresses is checked, there will be an additional tab in RingDat, where every participant can see and edit his address in-formation. If changes have been made, they will be highlighted during the import (see 7.12.2) and can be incorporated into the Basic tables if desired.

When creating lab-wise files while the option Test portion code is enabled, a test portion code has to exist for each laboratory and each sample. If the test portion code is missing, the corresponding sample-measurand combination will not be displayed! When creating one file for all laboratories only the names of the measurands and the measurement units will be included in the file. The test portion code has to be added by the laboratory.

Figure 34: Database – Export – Laboratory files (for RingDat)

To transfer information about the analytical methods and sample preparations, please acti-vate the check box Analytical methods and sample preparations. In this case two additional tabs will be displayed. On the tab Select AM and SP the analytical and sample preparation methods to be made available in the program RINGDAT3 can be selected. If the list of avail-able analytical methods is long and unwieldy, but not all analytical methods are meaningful for any particular measurand, there is the possibility to deselect meaningless analytical methods on the tab Allocation of AM to measurands.

Figure 35: Database – Export – Laboratory files (for RingDat): Allocation of AM to measureands

A text box is available for entering information for the laboratories (General information for laboratories). RINGDAT3 will display the contents of this text box at the bottom of the Meas-ured values tab. Furthermore, in RingDat there is the possibility to print a protocol of the test results. It is possible to enter information for the laboratories to be displayed on these proto-cols as well. This information will be shown on the header on the left and/or on the right.

Make sure, the box Include general information in protocol is checked.

Before exporting, the order in which the combinations of samples and measurands are sort-ed in RingDat must be determinsort-ed: according to the samples first and then the measurands or vice versa.

Finally, via the Export button and the dialogue box which appears, all lab files can be saved in the folder you select.. The *.lab files can now be opened with RingDat3.exe and meas-urement values can be entered.

Figure 36: Lab file for laboratory L005 opened with RingDat3

Copy labwise to storage device

In this tab you can select a laboratory from the list on the left, a target drive (e.g. a pen drive) from the drop-down menu on the right and click on the Copy button.

When the pen drive is removed from the computer, the input field Target drive will be empty.

If Windows uses the same target drive letter again, as soon as a new pen drive is plugged in, the list in ProLab will show it again. If there are more than one pen drives plugged in, Win-dows will choose a different drive letter for each one.

ProLab will store the creation date of the files copied onto the pen drive for each laboratory.

That information can be seen via Database – Participating laboratoriess and data yet to be submitted as well.

On the sidebar there is a list of files to be copied onto the storage device. You can add your own files by clicking onto the list using the right mouse button.