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Table of Contents

  1. Screensaver Defeat
  2. Virtual Calipers
  3. XML/XSLT Documentation
  4. Tektronix CSV Merge
  5. Remotely Triggered Events
    1. XML-RPC à la Perl
    2. FlexTest Backup
  6. Calibration Record Keeping
  7. Wheatstone Bridge Calculator
  8. Annotate Graphics
  9. Remote Test Monitoring
    1. Download any test’s current status
    2. Tests report their own problems by email
  10. Editor for MTS RPC Time History Data Files
    1. Roadrunner CSV Rectifier
  11. Rule of Three Sequence
  12. Elastomer Data
    1. Static Deflection
    2. Dynamic Characterization

Perl/Tk GUI Scripts for Test Labs

  home: http://starling.us/tet  

by Ĝan Ŭesli Starling
copyright 2003 — 2013

Purpose: By profession I am a test engineer, not a full-time programmer. Yet in that capacity I sometimes find my currently available software tools either constraining or otherwise inadequate. These shortfalls I address myself...unpaid and on my own time. I am by no means alone in this.

Constraints: There aren’t any. This collection is a cumulative result, built atop the work of others, whose own Perl modules I obtained from  CPAN  free of any license or cost. Thus do I, in like spirit, enjoy to share my own modest contributions equally freely.

Organization: General purpose scripts are located nearer the top. Those of more limited scope (such as for automotive only) I have relocated further down. Refer the the table of contents at right.

OS Support: The scripts are intended for use on most any OS. I test them, however, only on Ubuntu and Win7. Some are older, having been tested on NetBSD and WinXP. For some I also provide a Win32 *.exe version.

Revisions: I do not bother at all with tracking formal relases, but only by revision date as noted below, near the head of each script, in its embedded documentation (Perl POD), and the Help—About pull-down menus if GUI-enabled.


Screensaver Defeat    ↑   → 

Moved to here:  starling.us/free 


Virtual Calipers     ←   ↑   → 

Moved to here:  starling.us/free 


XML/XSLT Documentation     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: General.
Description: Utilities for electronic documentation of reports.

    Link:     XML    Easy format viewable in any browser on any platform.
    Link:     XML    Spreadsheet avoidance trick.


Tektronix CSV Merge     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: General.
Description: Merging channels from Tektronix Digital Oscilloscope

Use this script to merge a pair of TEK0000*.CSV files and graph them.

    Link:     XML   


Remotely Triggered Events     ←   ↑   ↓   → 

Scope of Use: General, especially behind firewalls.
Description: An XML-RPC Server/Client pair with which you can trigger remote PCs to do almost anything.

  1. XML-RPC à la Perl    ↑   → 

    A suite of Perl scripts comprising an XML-RPC Client/Server pair and companion support files. Their presentation has ballooned well beyond the scope of this page to include many further uses. Please find the entire gus_xml-rpc_*.pl family of Perl scripts now on its own page here:   XML-RPC Client/Server Pair  

  2. FlexTest Backup     ←   ↑ 

    Scope of Use: Automotive, in conjunction with FlexTestGT (and similar) softwares by  MTS .
    Description: A companion script for the above XML-RPC Client/Server pair. Used for triggering sequential backup of multiple MTS FlexTest controllers (principally their config and calib directories).
    Stable: Last modified 2005-03-24, lines of code 121, comment lines 26.

        Info:     POD as HTML   
    Download:      Perl *.pl   


Calibration Record Keeping     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: General.
Description: A graphical user interface for creating formatted calibration records. Allows for any number of data runs, any number of points-per-run, various common units of measure, etc.
Stable: Last modified 2005-01-20, lines of code 1811, comment lines 415.

    Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1   
Examples:     ASCII *.txt   
Download:      Perl *.pl        Win32 *.exe   


Wheatstone Bridge Calculator     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: General.
Description: A graphical user interface for calculating the gain and output of a Wheatstone bridge while shunted by a calibration resistor.
Stable: Last modified 2005-01-21, lines of code 286, comment lines 45.

    Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1   
Download:      Perl *.pl        Win32 *.exe   


Annotate Graphics     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: General.
Description: A graphical utility to simplify annotating graphics. Helpful for identifying specimen photos from fatigue and durability testing.
Caveats: Requires the free library ImageMagick to also be installed. See POD.
Stable: Last modified 2004-03-11, lines of code 455, comment lines 112.

    Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1   
Examples:     Photo *.jpg   
Download:     ImageMagick        Perl *.pl    


Remote Test Monitoring     ←   ↑   ↓   → 

Scope of Use: Mainly automotive, particularly in conjunction with FlexTest MultiPurpose TestWare by  MTS . Light editing, however, would easily adapt them for general use.
Description: Securely tracks the progress of MTS MultiPurpose TestWare tests over the internet from any computer.

  1. Download any test’s current status    ↑   ↓   → 

    Your IT department likely already maintains in-house an FTP (File Transport Protocol) server. If not, then prevail upon them, for it is cheap and easy enough. Via FTP you can scope out your on-going tests from anywhere by day or by night.

    1. FTP Mirror

      Description: A Perl/Tk GUI utility to auto-upload a constantly-fresh FTP mirror of user-selected status and log files.
      Stable: Last modified 2004-03-03, lines of code 6229, comment lines 116.

          Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1       Screenshot 2   
      Download:      Perl *.pl    

    2. FTP Put

      Description: A non-GUI Perl script allowing any 3-rd party program to auto-upload its current status by FTP.
      Stable: Last modified 2004-03-03, lines of code 36, comment lines 15.

          Info:     POD as HTML   
      Download:      Perl *.pl        Win32 *.exe   

    3. FTP Get

      Description: Download-companion for the two utilities above.
      Stable: Last modified 2004-03-03, lines of code 217, comment lines 17.

          Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1   
      Download:      Perl *.pl    

  2. Tests report their own problems by email     ←   ↑ 

    Your IT department likely maintains in-house an SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server. If not, then prevail upon them, for it is cheap and easy enough. Via SMTP your on-going tests can automatically email for help at night and on weekends.

    Description: A graphical utility to for monitoring status files and emailing notices in event of error, warning, etc.
    Stable: Last modified 2004-03-15, lines of code 489, comment lines 64.

        Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1       Screenshot 2   
    Download:      Perl *.pl    


Editor for MTS RPC Time History Data Files     ←   ↑   ↓   → 

Scope of Use: Mainly automotive, particularly in conjunction with  MTS  and  nCode  softwares.
Description: A standalone editor for MTS RPC-III & RPC Pro time history data files. Employ it to extract, reorder, offset, taper, han filter, peak slice & expand etc. Easy to use with help balloons for every feature. Intuitive controlls resist accidental clipping of channels. Specialized hanning filter does not round off peaks. Editing choices are remembered from file to file during a session. Graphing outputs to PNG format. No license required!
Perpetual Beta: Last modified 2006-06-04, lines of code 6261, comment lines 1808. Updated frequently to add new features.
Dependencies: These external programs   ImageMagick   and the   GD Graphics Library   are required for graphing. See details in Perl POD via its button below.
Caveats: A very few features yet to add. Enough are already built in, however, that PaulstraCRC in Grand Rapids, MI, USA employs it routinely. Their Vehicle Laboratory uses it to convert the *.csv output from their Roadrunner ADC hardware to MTS RPC file format. Their Engineering Department uses it to batch pre-process RPC files for input to NCode analysis software. And their Validation Laboratory uses it to re-polarize, re-scale, and re-order channels for playback on their 3-axis FlexTest bedplates.
See Also: View RPC time history data as 3D models via   OpenDX   as an aid to editing decisions.

    Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1       Screenshot 2   
Examples:     Output *.png       Arbitrary Wave *.png       Block Cycle *.png   
Download:      Editor *.pl    

  1. Roadrunner CSV Rectifier    ↑ 

    Comma Separated Value (*.csv) files output by Pimento Software on Roadrunner data acquisition hardware are non-compliant with the IETF standard for CSV. Here is a Perl script to batch-rectify an entire directory of them.
    Download:      Perl *.pl    


Rule of Three Sequence     ←   ↑   → 

Scope of Use: Automotive, in conjunction with FlexTestGT (and similar) softwares by  MTS .
Description: A command line script for creating *.seq files for the Road Surface Output process of MTS MultiPurpose TestWare. A single, TAB- and line-delimited *.dat input text file generates up to 99 *.seq output files.
Stable: Last modified 2005-05-06, lines of code 140, comment lines 19.

    Info:     POD as HTML   
Examples:     Input *.dat       Output *.seq       Output *.dat   
Download:      Perl *.pl    


Elastomer Data     ←   ↑   ↓ 

Scope of Use: Automotive, in conjunction with elastomer testing under MutiPurpose TestWare by  MTS .
Description: Employ these utilities to extract and better represent all that mixed data buried inside your specimen.dat files. The pure ASCII output is simultaneously suitable both for spreadsheets and for word-processors. This is accomplished by taking the trouble to not only TAB-delimit the cells externally, but to internally SPACE-justify them as well.

  1. Static Deflection    ↑   → 

    Description: Reads in any MTS-default specimen.dat file. From amongst any other formats therein, the script will seek out only static deflection records. It then re-calculates all tests intelligently seeking the shallowest slope via hanned, average chords. It lastly reports loss-of-stiffness in percent as compared against a user-selected N-th test from the series. Easily user-configured for: span of chord in points, subtlety of hanning filter, which data to present, etc.
    Stable: Last modified 2004-03-30, lines of code 1046, comment lines 316.

        Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1       Screenshot 2   
    Examples:     Input *.dat       Output *.dat   
    Download:      Perl *.pl    

  2. Dynamic Characterization     ←   ↑ 

    Description: Reads in one or more MTS-default specimen.dat files. From amongst any other formats therein, the script will seek out only dynamic characterization records. From these it will then extract user-selected columns.
    Stable: Last modified 2004-03-03, lines of code 618, comment lines 136.

        Info:     POD as HTML       Screenshot 1       Screenshot 2   
    Examples:     Input *.dat       Output *.dat   
    Download:      Perl *.pl