Multifile cannot read two columns ASCII files properly

[fcapitani]

Hi,

Multifile cannot read correctly spectra stored as two-columns (Wavenumber,Absorbance) ASCII files either comma, tab or space separated. It does not recognize the wavenumbers as features names.

Example:

However, this is correctly read when using the File widget with the Spectra ASCII option (automatic detection leads to the same result of Multifile).

Thanks! Francesco

[stuart-cls]

Thanks for the report Francesco, can confirm I see this too for Quasar 1.7. I created an example file based on your screenshot, attached (change extension from txt to dpt)

I don't yet understand the problem, since the layout appears identical to the test file "peach_juice.dpt"

test.txt

[stuart-cls]

Scratch that, I fat-fingered a comma in my hand-crafted test file. Now it's working. Can you upload a file that fails?

[fcapitani]

Thanks Stuart for the quick reply. Here's a file producing the behaviour:

NaCl_newcell_lamp_A1p5_240K.csv

Just to be clear, here's a screenshot, loading that file with Multifile and File, Quasar 1.7:

[stuart-cls]

Thanks for the example file, I see the issue now.

File readers are keyed off the extension of the file, and for .csv files the row-wise Orange Table format takes priority over the column-wise Spectra ASCII format.

To force the Spectra ASCII format in the Multifile widget, you need to select that file type in the OS file chooser:

Alternatively, you can change the file extension to .dpt or .xy which are unique to the Spectra ASCII reader.

Related: #522

[fcapitani]

Great it works. Thanks ! I used the selector in the File widget but somehow I didn't see it for the Multifile... sorry !

Since one can give whatever extension to a text file I didn't think about that, good to know that input files are first filtered through their extension.

Thanks again.

[stuart-cls]

Glad it's working, it's definitely an area that isn't obvious what the software is doing.