What's New in FlexPro 7
FlexPro 7 is the most extensive update since FlexPro was introduced
over ten years ago. The following sections explain how switching to FlexPro
7 can benefit you.
New User Interface
The FlexPro user interface has been completely redesigned. Instead of
cascading windows, FlexPro now uses an easy to view structure of docked
windows and a tabbed document window workspace.
You can also automatically show or hide windows to take full advantage
of your screen space. FlexPro also supports dual-monitor systems so that
you can move Explorer windows, for instance, from the main monitor's
desktop to your second monitor.
The Properties window is a brand
new feature in FlexPro 7. This window clearly displays the properties
of the currently selected objects in a list. You can then directly edit
these objects without opening dialogue boxes. An especially powerful feature
is the ability to work with several objects at once. For instance, the
Properties window allows you to assign a physical unit to several data
sets in a single step.
The new interface is compatible
with Microsoft Office 2003 and can be customised in the same way using
drag-&-drop. You can even create your own icons for toolbar buttons.
The interface includes a complete automation object model. If you work
with FlexPro Professional, you can also automate all modifications using
VBA.
Use of FPScript Throughout
Automation was added in FlexPro 6.
This technology allows you to access all objects and their properties
using a variety of external programming languages or the built-in VBA
language. In FlexPro 7, the FPScript analysis programming language can
now use this Automation technology. In addition to allowing access to
data from other data sets and formulae, FPScript now allows you to access
any attributes from a variety of objects, such as comments and physical
units of data sets or the total number of curves in a diagram.
The capabilities that this access
provides allow you to be more productive by replacing the placeholders
such as "%(Comments)" or "%(Unit)" from previous FlexPro
versions with embedded FPScript expressions. You can use the embedded
FPScript in any text box, such as in axis or legend labels. Since FPScript
can be used throughout the program and can access any information you
need, you can visualise any information anywhere.
But that’s not all. Embedded
FPScript expressions have replaced all data references, such as a reference
in a curve to a data set providing data for this curve. Embedded expressions
now offer you two distinct advantages: First, they save you the time of
using a number of formulae to assist in tasks such as displaying a signal
as a curve normalized to 100%. Second, FlexPro can now better reflect
the current selection when creating new presentation or analysis objects.
You can, for instance, display a rectangular section from a data matrix
or an area between the cursors of a signal composed of two data sets without
any difficulty using an embedded FPScript expression, whereas before this
was not possible with a FlexPro 6 data reference. The result is that in
the diagram you will see exactly what you selected.
Improved Presentation
FlexPro 7 includes polar diagrams. Any 2D diagram can now be transformed
into a polar graph using FlexPro 7. This means that all diagram types
are available in polar representation. For scaling polar axis systems,
special formatters for angles in degrees or radians as well as fractions
of Pi are available. FlexPro’s new pie charts also use special
polar diagrams.
FlexPro can now automatically arrange axis and curve labels to prevent
overlapping.
Support has been improved for multi-page diagrams and tables. You can
now create these with the wizard that uses the cursors and adds labels
or other drawings to any page.
The Diagram Wizard has been improved.
You can now select different data normalisations, such as decibel or percent.
Large data sets are now displayed in the preview as decimated instead
of not being displayed at all, as was the case in FlexPro 6.
FPScript Enhanced
FPScript has been enhanced considerably. As previously described, read-only
access to all object properties is available using the Automation object
model.
Calendar time and time span are now
directly supported by FPScript as new data types. You can now use the
new “list” data structure to return multiple results using
a single formula; for instance, you can return the model parameters or
covariance matrix of a curve. Often, it is not easy to separate these
types of calculations into several formulae.
When accessing other data or
formulae, you can now use relative paths such as "..\Data\DataSet1".
Sub-networks allow you to better isolate formulae and presentation objects
in a database.
The new Append statement increases efficiency when concatenating data
sets.
The FPScript Index operator now also accepts negative index values,
which then count starting from the end of the data series; for instance, "Series[-1]" extracts
the last value from a data series.
The FPScript Dim statement can now be combined with an assignment, as
in "Dim s=0".
Running FPScript code can now be aborted at any time, even while a built-in
function is being executed.
New Analysis Features
Many mathematical functions such as Sin or Exp were expanded to include
complex numbers for the argument. The Convolution and Correlation functions
are now FFT-based and thus offer much higher performance. In addition
to a generic filter function for any FIR or IIR filters, you can now
use additional functions for delta compression, for generating noise
as well as for FFT-based resampling and trend removal. A function for
inverting matrices and statistical functions for calculating ranges and
variance have been added. All built-in functions now always perform internal
calculations using double precision floating point values—even
if the input was only single precision.
The new surface interpolation analysis
object replaces the 2D spline interpolation from FlexPro 6 and offers
you additional 2D splines and natural neighbour surfaces for grid data
and scatter data (XYZ). The Signal Smoothing analysis object now also
offers you flexible minimum, maximum and median options. With the Signal
analysis object, you can now also generate noisy signals with Gaussian
or equally-distributed noise as well as swept sine (chirp) signals.
With the new Non-Linear Curve Fitting
analysis object, you can fit a non-linear mathematical model to a given
data set. The procedure returns the optimised model parameters as well
as a variety of statistical results. You can choose from a variety of
pre-defined models. Alternatively, you can define your own models as FPScript
code. Non-linear curve fitting is also built into the Analysis Wizard.
Improvements to Analysis Options
- Acoustics
For octave and sound level analysis, you can directly enter
a previously determined calibration value as a scalar value.
- Order Tracking
Phase signals now have improved support. You can now
enter the number of samples per revolution directly.
The number of impulses per revolution can also be specified directly
when analysing impulse signals.
- Spectral Analysis
Two new windows called Sine and Flattop as well
as additional spectral types for third octave and octave analyses are
now available.
- Statistics
Functions for calculating correlation and covariance matrices
have been added. The Grubbs-Beck and F tests are now more precise,
and ANOVA can now return the result as a list as opposed to a data
series.
Higher Performance
The performance of the FlexPro database and the FlexPro run-time environment
has been improved considerably. The most current caching and overlay technologies
have improved storage efficiency and have reduced the number of temporary
files. You can specify the memory threshold for an individual data set
as well as for the entire database to ensure efficient operation of your
system.
Better Documenation
FlexPro's online documentation has been completely revised and expanded
considerably. The documentation for analyses used now meets the demands
of scientists far better. All algorithms are described in detail. References
to scientific literature and a variety of examples are included.
What's
Next
This page can only give you a preliminary glimpse into the variety of
enhancements available in FlexPro 7. The best way you can learn about
FlexPro 7 is to download
and try out the 30-day evaluation version. You can find more detailed
information on all of the changes in FlexPro 7 by reading “What’s
New in FlexPro 7” in the online help. |
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