Saving internally changed parameters

Support questions for Flow CSV Viewer and Editor.
Jihene
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2024 1:04 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Jihene »

Thank you very much for the quick response Gustaf! Indeed, when I put all the variables in the same group and disable sorting, I get the same order as in the csv file. So in the beginning, when I open the file, the variables are not by default in one group ? Actually, when I open the file the variables are scattered into different groups, some variables are grouped in the same group and others are scattered individually in other groups.
Waveworks
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Waveworks »

I see. In the Preferences dialog (File -> Preferences...) there are some settings to control the auto-grouping behaviour:
  • Under the General tab, if Save variable view settings with project is checked, group assignments are saved in the project file, which makes auto-grouping quite unpredictable, so you should probably uncheck this. Note that previously saved project files may still contain group assignments and they will still apply even if you uncheck this setting, so you may need to edit existing files and remove any <property key="variablesettings"> elements.
  • Under the Data Viewer tab, Auto distribute variables into groups on opening will apply an algorithm to place variables of different types and scales into different groups. This algorithm is fighting with the stored group assignments in a quite unpredictable manner, so you should probably set it to Never.
  • Also under the Data Viewer tab, Apply variable view settings to all open tabs copies group assignments between open tabs as soon as you move a variable manually in one open tab, so uncheck this too.
Despite disabling all these functions, there's still the storing of group assignments in the user configuration file, and unfortunately this can't be disabled. You can delete the assignments manually by editing the user.config file under your user directory, but they will start to build up again as soon as you start to move variables. I'm sorry about this confusing behaviour - as I mentioned in the beginning of the thread, this is a problematic part of the application, and I'm rewriting it for the next major version.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Gustaf
Jihene
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2024 1:04 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Jihene »

Thank you! Yes indeed, it helps. I can work on the flp file in order to change the order and the groupment of variables.

Best regards,
Jihene
Jihene
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2024 1:04 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Jihene »

Hello again,

Sorry, I still have another question concerning the type of the variables in Flow Viewer. In my csv file, the types of the variables are not mentioned, so does Flow Viewer detect automatically the type of each variable(float/int/string) ? I need to verify whether the types are correct or not and do they match the expected type for each variable.

Thank you in advance,

Best regards,
Jihene
Waveworks
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Waveworks »

Hello again,

Yes, Flow automatically detects the type of each variable - it simply chooses the smallest type that encompasses all values in the column, where bool < int < long < float < string. The type mainly affects how the variable can be used in formulas - for example, you can't call cos(x) if x is a string variable - and naturally, string variables are displayed differently than numeric ones.

Best regards,
Gustaf
Jihene
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2024 1:04 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Jihene »

Hello Gustaf,

I have a question about the type of the objects in Flow CSV Viewer. If I understood well, from your previous conversations, Flow CSV Viewer detects the type of each variable values from the values of the csv file (It takes the biggest type which covers all the values of the column in the csv file). However, it's not the case for me, sometimes there are columns that only contain integer values or float values (without quotes) and that are detected as string values. Can you explain to me what happens or how can I modify that please ?

Thank you in advance.
Waveworks
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2019 1:05 pm

Re: Saving internally changed parameters

Post by Waveworks »

Hello again,

That sounds like it could be a bug. Would you mind zipping and sending a CSV file with this problem to gustaf@waveworks (add .dk manually), and I'll have a look at it?

In the meantime, you can use a formula with a type conversion to obtain a numeric variable. For example, if you have a variable named value which has been loaded as a string but should be a float, you can convert it with the following formula:

value_f = float(value)

Sorry for the trouble - hope this helps for now!

Best regards,
Gustaf
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