Updated: 24-Oct-2005 14:15

The File Menu

 Mr Kick Home

Many items in this menu will look familiar to anyone who are used to Windows. A short description emphasizing Mr. Kick specialties is available below:

Note:

When loading a file (via Open, Open & Change or Load Settings) all settings are changed to the settings contained in that file!

You may consider to save settings before loading.

  1. New
  2. Open
  3. Open Special
  4. Contents
  5. Subject Info
  6. Save,
  7. Save Special
  8. Excel:
  9. Export:
  10. Load and Save Settings
  11. Printing
  12. Exit

New

This item allows you to -

  • Clear (delete) unsaved data. When data have been acquired, but you do not want to save them: Choose New, which will display a confirmation box - click Delete to delete data, or Cancel to cancel the operation.
  • Change folder: When there are no unsaved data, New will allow you to change data folder.
  • Switch to acquire mode: If Mr. Kick is in analysis mode, it will switch to acquire mode.

Open

Open a file for review and analysis. Choose a raw data file from the file dialog. Press OK and Mr. Kick will load the file: Read all sweeps in the file, apply preprocessing and calculate the average(s).

Mr. Kick will switch to analysis mode, which allows you to view and analyze individual sweeps - raw or preprocessed, or the average of each class.

Open Special

Open & Change

This has the same functionality as Open plus the ability to change preprocessing settings like filtering and rectification. Channel label, gain / sensitivity and SI Unit may also be updated, but will only take effect if changes are saved to file: Choose the OK + Save button. Also the Y-analysis, classification of data and subject information are only updated if you choose to save to file.

When saving to file you may change Y-analysis settings. If classification was originally set to Analysis of Sweep related settings may be changed as well.

Note: When applying Open & Change the original per sweep save time is overwritten and replaced with the save time during the file update operation!

Open & Append

Allows you to open a saved file and a append more sweeps. You must continue data acquisition with exactly the same settings as in the original file.

Contents

Displays an overview of all sweeps contained in the present file. The file must be opened in advance.

Subject Info

Free text for Subject Information, etc... Included in files made with version 1.71 and higher.

No personal information should be entered here. Beware of legal restrictions on how to handle information!

Save

When data have been acquired you can save them to a file. The filename is free of choice. If a number (three digits by default) is included at the end of the filename Mr. Kick will automatically increment that number every time it saves. Also the folder is free of choice.

Save Special

Save Average As

The class average(s) may be saved to file via this option (only the raw data file can be opened in Mr. Kick).

Mr. Kick does not automatically update the average file if changes are made to the raw data file.

Split into Classes

Splits the present file into separate files for each class contained in the original file.

Excel

Note:

Excel will be running and accessible to the user along with Mr. Kick. But no user action in Excel is recognized by Mr. Kick, i.e. any action in Excel like deleting sheets, closing workbooks etc. may corrupt the connection between the two programs.

If this happens you may have to close Excel, restart Mr. Kick and restart Excel from within Mr. Kick.

Mr. Kick offers a direct way to save analysis results into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Excel must be installed on the computer. The items in the Excel sub menu form the necessary tools to control Excel from within Mr. Kick and manage the connection between the two programs.

Start

Opens a connection to Excel. Excel will start up, if not already running, and an empty workbook will be available with headers in the top row.

You can now use the XL button next to the analysis selector at each graph in the display panel to save analysis results to Excel.
Each XL button is associated with a keyboard short-cut: For the first graph (upper, left) it is F1, second graph F2, etc.

New Book

Mr. Kick can access one workbook at a time. Choose this item to save the active workbook and open a new one.

New Sheet

Mr. Kick can access one worksheet at a time. Choose this item to add a blank sheet to the actual workbook. The new sheet will have headers in the top row and be connected to Mr. Kick, ready to receive analysis results.

Save Book

Saves the active workbook. If not saved earlier you'll have the opportunity to choose a file name for it.

Close Book

Closes the active workbook, saves it first.

Quit

Saves the active workbook (only the one connected to Mr. Kick - not any other changes the user may have made!) and quits Excel. If you leave Mr. Kick without quitting Excel (recommended) all connections between the two programs will be closed, but Excel will be left running.

Template

Allows you to choose an Excel file as template for new Excel books. The template may contain formatting as well as further automatic analysis, etc.. If you place a file called Template.Xls in your configuration directory, then this file will be used by default.

Export

This sub menu contains entries to a variety of export facilities - to ASCII or directly into Excel.

Single Trace

The Single Trace export facility allows you to save the main trace from any one graph in the display panel to an ASCII file. This may be used for analysis of data in other programs, but it is primarily intended for use with the file playback analog output plug-in.

First make sure the right data is displayed in a display panel graph, note the name of the graph (1st, 2nd, ..). You may also set the markers to frame the data you want. Then choose Single Trace from the File - Export menu. Choose the proper graph and whether to export the full trace or only the portion between markers. Press Next to choose a file name and save it. Any valid file name will do; the extension FPB is recommended.

The file format is plain ASCII (tab delimited text): Data is organized in one column, the first four rows form a header, all following rows contain samples.

Sweep, Raw / Procesd; Actual / All Averages

The following options export data directly into Excel:

  • Sweep, Raw: Export actual sweep, raw data.
  • Sweep, Procsd: Export actual sweep, pre-processed data.
  • Actual Average: Export the mean (average) of the class displayed.
  • All Averages: Export the mean of averages in all classes.

Excel must be installed on the computer, but it needs not be started in advance (these features are independant of the above analysis export).

Load and Save Settings

At any time (except during acquisition) settings may be saved to a configuration file. In this way a complete setup for a given experiment may be saved and later reloaded into Mr. Kick.

You can load settings from a configuration file or a data file - the only difference between the two file types is that a configuration file does not contain any data. When loading, all actual settings are switched to the ones contained in the loaded file without further notice! - Two exceptions:

  • When the analog output offset differs you'll be asked whether to change the level or not. In case you choose to change, this will happen immediately - and external equipment controlled by the analog output will show its step response!
  • When the data folder differs from the one actually in use, you'll be asked whether to use the one contained in the loaded file - choose Select Current Dir - or continue to use the same - choose Cancel.

Printing

These are the standard Windows printing features: Choose which printer and what layout to use under Printer Setup, then choose Print Display to print the full display panel.

Exit

This is one of the ways to leave Mr. Kick. If any data are not saved you'll be asked whether to save or delete them. To cancel choose Save, then Cancel.
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