Doing a lot of dragging and dropping when making data graphs in Simcenter Testlab (formerly called LMS Test.Lab)?
Use the Replace Data Origin feature and save a lot of mouse clicks!
Getting Started
Suppose data from two different runs Run 1 and Run 2 - are overlaid in a 2x2 layout display graph as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: A 2x2 comparison plot of Run 1 versus Run 2
Instead of comparing Run 1 and Run 2, it is desired to compare Run 3 to Run 2.
Using traditional mouse operations, all Run 1 data would have to be removed from the displays and multiple drag and drop operations would be performed to add Run 3 data to the displays. This would be a time consuming operation which can be done much faster using the Replace Data Origin option.
Replace Data Origin
To replace all the Run 1 data with Run 3 data in just one operation, click on the picture tab and select Replace Data Origin as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Select Replace Data Origin by clicking on the Layout tab
In the Replace Data Origin menu, select the following to swap Run 3 for Run 1 :
Source Data: Current Picture
Replace: Run, Analysis
Select Browse next to the line containing Run 1
Figure 3: In Replace Data Origin menu choose Current Picture , Run and select Browse
After selecting Browse , navigate to Run 3 and press OK . Press the OK button in the Replace Data Origin menu as well.
Figure 4: In Replace Data Origin menu, browse to Run 3 to replace Run 1
Behold! All Run 1 data has been swapped for Run 3 data as shown in Figure 5!
Figure 5: All Run 1 data replaced by Run 3 using Replace Data Origin
Multiple Displays
When selecting Source Data under the Replace Data Origin menu, there is another useful option All Pictures . This can be used to replace the data across all display layout pictures in the active section.
In Figure 6, there are three pictures containing data from Run 1 . Using All Pictures , Run 1 can be replaced in all three pictures at once.
Figure 6: Three Pictures in active section refer to Run 1 . Using 'All Pictures'' option, data in all displays can be replaced at one time.
To replace the Run 1 data in all three pictures of the active section, change Source Data to All Pictures from Current Picture as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Run data in all active pictures of the section can be replaced at once by selecting All Pictures under Source Data (top left)
This replaces all the data at once. This option is particularly useful when used in conjunction with Format Based Printing Knowledge base article. One can make multiple page reports easily, and update them with a just a few mouse clicks.
Another mouse click saving tip? Try knowledge base article: Simcenter Testlab: Eliminate Folder Clicking with List All Blocks!