copying and pasting a chromatogram (or uv from a pda system) is by far
the simplest and fastest method of exporting your data from millenium,
however this method simply gives you a screen shot of the chromatogram.
this means that the resolution of your graphic is not very good (it is
limited to your screen resolution, generally 72 dpi), and what you see
on the screen is exactly what you are going to get in your copied
graphic. the traces are generally pretty jagged and the graphic has the
same black background you see on the screen. In fact whatever you
select with your cursor is what ultimately gets copied to the clipboard,
which means that if you include the border or any text from the open
millenium window (or anything in the ms windows background for that
matter) then whatever you select will also be in the pasted graphic.
there are other options for exporting your data from millenium. they
are definitely more involved, but ultimately give you complete control
over how that data is presented and processed. essentially what you do
is have millenium export the x,y coordinates for your data as a text
file, import that data into another program (like excell or cricket
graph), and re-graph the data. this method gives you chromatograms that
are smooth, not jagged, are easily resized, and allows you to choose
your own color scheme, labels, axes, tick marks, error bars, whatever
you want. you have complete control over how your data is presented,
you aren't limited to what the screen shot gives you. it may seem
complicated and too difficult at first, but once it is all set up, you
are able to get your data very quickly and easily (and you don't have to
use a scanner).
to export chromatogram data you must first create an "Export Method" in
millenium, and then create a "Method Set" that calls your export method
(n.b., to export PDA UV data see the bottom of this post). the steps to
do this are detailed in the manual, and are essentially as follows:
To create the "Export Method":
(1) Select "New Export Method" from the "File" menu (or open the default
export method from the demo project)
(2) Set the disk path to the directory where you want the data saved
(e.g., "a:\" to save the data on a floppy) and the root name you want
the resulting text file to be called (it will have the extension:
".sp3")
(3) Choose "ASCII" as the format for the data
(4) Choose appropriate delimiters to indicate the start of a new column
and row (e.g., "," (a comma) for columns)
(5) Select the "Export results" box if you want the file to contain the
integration results table (this isn't necessary if all you want is the
chromatogram trace)
(6) Select "Export Raw Data" box and choose the apropriate options (set
these according to your particular needs). i generally choose the
following: "Export Time Column", "Export Sample ID", "Export Sample ID
Labels"
(7) Save and Close the export method
To create an "Export Method Set":
(1) Select "New Method Set" from the "File" menu
(2) Set your "Instrument Method" to whatever you want (this isn't really
used when you export).
(3) Set your "Default Processing Method" to the appropriate processing
method you want to use
or if using multiple channels/processing methods then use the "Channel
and Processing Method" table: Set the "Channel" column to whatever
channel(s) you want (i.e., 220 nm, or whatever your detector is set to)
or to extract the appropriate channel(s) if using the pda option, and
set the "Processing Method" column to the appropriate processing
method(s)
(4) Skip the "Report Method" and "3D Blank Subtraction" sections, unless
you need these
(5) Set the "Export Method" to the name of the export method you just
created (see above instructions)
(6) Save and Close the Method Set
To actually export the data:
(1) Go to the "Channels" view and select the "Injection" you want to
export
(2) Click the "Process and Report" button (or select "Process" from the
"Tools" menu)
(3) Under "Processing" choose the "Use Specified Method Set" option and
select the Method Set you just created (see instructions above)
(4) Turn off printing, unless you want the data printed as well
(5) Turn on "Export" and select the "Use acquisition/processing method
set export method" option (or specify the appropriate export method in
the window below)
(6) Click "OK"
at this point millenium will process your sample and export the data as
a text file named with the root name you specified in your export
method. once this is done, open excell (or whatever graphing program
you are using) and import the data into excell (choose "Open" from the
"file" menu and follow the instructions from the import wizard).
now all you need to do is graph the data.
(note re pda: as for exporting a UV spectra from a PDA detector, the
process is a bit more dificult. the bottom line is you have to write
macro in excell that will extract the data from the millenium database.
if you want to do this, you can contact waters and have them fax you
instructions (which is what i originally did), or you can write me
directly and i will e-mail you the macro i have, which includes use
instructions in the macro itself.)
hope this helps you.
mikey.
***** *****
Mike Songster btimfs@solidphase.com
Solid Phase Sciences work 1: www.solidphase.com
San Rafael, CA work 2: www.chem.umn.edu/orgs/ampepsoc