General

General

Create a DataPlugin to load, to register, or to search your own file formats in DIAdem or to index and to browse them with the DataFinder. A DataPlugin is based on a VBS script that reads data from a file and uses a special interface to provide the data to DIAdem.

Note  Visit the NI DataPlugin website to find existing DataPlugins you can download.

Description of the DataPlugin

DIAdem uses the USI (Universal Storage Interface) to access data files. USI reads file data with specific plugins generally developed by NI. Now you can create DataPlugins to integrate your own file formats. NI software developers no longer have to write plugins for you.

How DataPlugins Work

You create a DataPlugin as a script. This script must contain a procedure called ReadStore that has a File parameter. USI calls the ReadStore procedure when a user loads a file for which the DataPlugin was written. The File parameter references the file you want to load.

To create a DataPlugin, you must be familiar with the file structure. Therefore, you need a detailed description of the data format before you can program the DataPlugin.

In the ReadStore procedure, you specify how to interpret the file contents. The DataPlugin interface has functions that read the file in any order you want. You also can use the DataPlugin interface to create data model instances (Root, ChannelGroup and Channel), and to fill the instances with the data that has been read.

The script makes the information you read from the files available to USI. USI then forwards this information to DIAdem.