DAQFactory currently provides three different ways of marking special events and values on your graph: axis annotations, line annotations, and bounds. Axis annotations appear as flags along the X axis and mark special events. They are typically used on time graphs. Line annotations can be set up to mark special events as well, but can also mark special values and is probably the most useful of the three. Line annotations can also be used on any axis. Bounds are shaded areas of the graph to mark upper and lower limits in your data. For example, you could use a lower bound to display your noise floor. Bounds only work when you have a single left axis or right axis, or an unstacked left-right axis combination.
Line Annotations:
Line annotations can be used to mark any value(s) on any axis. You can also use these to mark special events as well, but the expression format is a bit different. To create line annotations, open the Line Annotations sheet of the graphs property box. This contains the line annotations table. You can have as many different annotations as needed.
Expression: The result of the expression is used as the value along the desired axis for displaying the line. If the result is an array of values, a line will be drawn at each of the values. If you want to mark special events along a time X axis similar to axis annotations, you will need to add a GetTime() function to your expression (for example GetTime(data == 4)).
Text: The text that will be displayed along the line. If either the Expression or the text column are left empty, the row will be deleted. If you don't want to display any text, enter a single space in the text column.
Axis: Select the desired axis that this line will be displayed along. The axis must have at least one trace assigned to it. Line annotations assigned to the bottom axis are vertical lines, all others are horizontal.
Type: Select the type of line to display.
Color: Select the color to display the line and the text.
Axis Annotations:
Axis annotations appear as flags along the X axis to mark special events. They are designed for graphs displaying time along the X axis. The flags can have labels on them describing their purpose, and can be displayed in different colors. To create an axis annotation, open the Axis + Bound Annotations sheet of the graphs property box. The bulk of this sheet is taken up by the axis annotation table. Just like any other table in DAQFactory, use the Add and Delete buttons to add new rows and remove old ones. You can have as many different annotations as you need. Here is a description of the columns of the table:
Expression: The expression for an axis annotation is a little unusual. Anywhere the result of the expression is non-zero, the time of that point is flagged. For example, if your data looked like this {0,1,4,3,4,2} and you entered the expression data == 4, then a flag will be placed at the time of the 3rd and 5th data points (where the data equals 4).
Text: The text that will be displayed with the flag. If either the expression or the text column are left empty, the row will be deleted. If you don't want to display any text, enter a single space in the text column.
Color: The color of the flag and the text.
Bound Annotations:
Bound annotations display a shaded area along the top and / or bottom of the graph to denote areas such as noise floors or total dynamic range. These annotations can only be used if you have a single left or right axis, or you have a non-stacked left-right axis pair. To create a bound annotation, open the Axis + Bound Annotations sheet of the graphs property box. At the bottom, below the axis annotation table are the fields for creating bound annotations. Simply enter the desired text for whichever bounds you wish to display and the value to use. The lower bound will shade from the value down, and the upper bound will shade from the value up. To remove a bound annotation, simply erase the associated text. To display a bound annotation without any text, enter a single space in the text field.
