Special aspects of working with OpenLab ECM 3.x

Use data that was generated by ChemStation or EZChrom

In ECM 3.x, all results are stored in a zipped format (*.SSIZip).

If these results have been generated by ChemStation C.01.01 or higher, or EZChrom A.04.01 or higher, you can load the latest version of the data from its current storage location. Result sets are shown with a ZIP icon in the Data Selection view:

• Results generated by ChemStation are named *.SC.SSIZip (result sets) or *.D.SSIZip (single runs).

• Results generated by EZChrom are named *.ol.SSIZip (both result sets and single runs).

The original *.SSIZip result set remains unchanged.

When you load such results, the data is automatically converted to the OpenLab CDS file format. On saving the results, a new result set is created. It has the same name as the originally loaded result set, but a different extension. In the Data Selection view it is listed with the OpenLab CDS result set icon and without file extension. In ECM 3.x, the new result set is stored as *.rslt.ssizip file.

The automatic data conversion takes place only once. If you load the ECM 3.x results a second time, they will be loaded read-only. It is not possible to save them again as an OpenLab CDS file format.

See the following topics for details:

• Load or add data

• Data Selection Tree

• Load previous result set version

• Load previous single injection

• Load previous method version

• Search results for a keyword or a given period of time

• Import OpenLab data

• Export data as OpenLab archive to the local file system

Restrictions due to ECM 3.x storage model

OpenLab ECM 3.x provides a four-level data storage model with the structure of Location, Cabinet, Drawer, and Folder. The Location, Cabinet, Drawer, and Folder names comprise the path name of the storage location. Data is stored at Folder level only.

 

LCDF structure in OpenLab ECM

Due to this restriction, Data Analysis may behave slightly different when connected to ECM 3.x. See the following topics for details:

• Save a processing method

• Import default report templates

Versioning of newly acquired data

During acquisition, an empty placeholder SSIZip archive will be generated in ECM 3.x. This empty SSIZip archive is shown as version 1 in ECM.

When the acquisition is finished, the results are automatically uploaded to ECM. The SSIZip archive that contains the results is then shown as version 2 in ECM.

When loading specific result set versions from Data Analysis (see Load previous result set version), the initial, empty SSIZip version is not shown in the Version drop-down list. Therefore, the number of result set versions listed in Data Analysis is always one less than the number of versions shown in ECM 3.x.

Accessing older result set versions from ECM 3.x

In ECM 3.x, older versions of result sets may exist that have not yet been acquired with the OpenLab CDS system. You cannot load those result set versions directly from Data Analysis. To access such a version, you must prepare it in ECM: In the Revision History list, right-click the relevant version, and click Retrieve. Select another Results folder, and add the file there. The file will be added there with version 1. You can then load this file from Data Analysis.