You must construct source Excel spreadsheets for FlexLogger projects in a specific way to use them with the Spreadsheet Importer.

FlexLogger expects project source spreadsheets to store data in specific sheet and column names. You can create a source spreadsheet using FlexLogger or the command line to ensure the spreadsheet contains the names FlexLogger expects. Once you create a source spreadsheet, you can remove any template sheets and columns you do not need for your project.
Note FlexLogger can only process source spreadsheets if the sheet names, column names, and values are in English.

Creating a Template Spreadsheet Using FlexLogger

You can create a template project spreadsheet from within FlexLogger.

  1. Navigate to File » Copy empty spreadsheet template.
  2. Specify the file path where you want to save the template spreadsheet.

Creating a FlexLogger Template Spreadsheet Using the Command Line

You can create a FlexLogger project spreadsheet without opening FlexLogger by using the command line.

  1. Open a command prompt, terminal, or PowerShell window.
  2. Enter cd "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\FlexLogger\" to navigate to your FlexLogger installation location.
  3. Run ./flexloggercli.exe createtemplate with the following arguments to create your spreadsheet.
    Table 9. Spreadsheet Template Creation Command Line Options
    Argument Description
    -f Specifies the file path you want to save the spreadsheet to.
    -n Specifies the spreadsheet name.
    -o Optional argument that overwrites any existing spreadsheets with the same name at your specified path.

For example, if you run the following command:

./flexloggercli.exe createtemplate -f "C:\Users\nitest\Documents\FlexLogger\ImporterProjects" -n "MyTemplate" -o

The Spreadsheet Importer creates a spreadsheet named MyTemplate.xlsx at C:\Users\nitest\Documents\FlexLogger\ImporterProjects\MyTemplate.xlsx.

Populating Your Spreadsheet with Data

Once you have created your template spreadsheet, you can populate it with the hardware information and the channel information relevant to your project.

Specifying Hardware in Your Spreadsheet

Use the Channel Mapping sheet to define channels and identify their hardware. Consult the following table for information on hardware channel properties.

Table 10. Channel Mapping Columns
Column Name Definition
Channel Name User-defined channel name.
Chassis Model Type of chassis, such as "NI PXIe-1083" or "NI cDAQ-9189".
Chassis Name Name of the chassis defined in MAX or Hardware Manager.
Chassis Serial Number (Optional) Chassis serial number.
Module Slot Number The chassis slot containing the module. For FieldDAQ devices, this value is the bank number the channel is on.
Module Model Type of module, such as "NI PXI-6289" or "NI 9205 (DSUB)".
Module Name Name of the module defined in MAX or Hardware Manager.
Physical Channel Name of the channel, such as "AI0" or "port0/line2".

The following table has examples of valid definitions for hardware channels. Define only the populated properties for each channel type to define hardware.

Table 11. Example Hardware Configurations
Channel Type Channel Name Chassis Model Chassis Name Module Slot Number Module Model Module Name Physical Channel
Chassis-defined channel Channel1 NI PXIe-1083 MyPXIChassis 2 NI PXI-6289 — port1/line2
Module-defined channel Channel2 — — — NI 9219 MyModule AI3
Onboard cDAQ chassis counter Channel3 NI cDAQ-9189 MyDAQChassis — — — CTR0
FieldDAQ channel Channel4 — — 1 NI FD-11614 MyFieldDAQ AI0

Determining Valid Values

Source spreadsheets created based on the provided template have data validation in all columns where only specific sets of values are valid.
  • Certain columns only accept values from a set list. These columns show acceptable values when you try to populate them. For example, the Coupling column only accepts AC or DC as valid values.
  • Certain columns must contain a numerical value.
  • The following columns require specific value formatting:
    • You must format values in the Data Rate column as Level (Hertz Value). For example, you can define your channel data rate as Medium (100) or Slow (5).
    • You must format values in the Signal Range and Hardware Range columns as either Automatic or Manual (Min; Max). For example, you can define a signal range as Manual (-10; 10).
    • You must format values in the Critical Range and Warning Range columns as (min; max). For example, you can define a critical range as (-20; 20).
Note In the Formula column, use only FlexLogger formatting: surround channel names with single quotation marks (for example, 'channelName'). If your formula starts with a channel name, begin it with two single quotation marks to keep formatting (for example, ''channelName' < 10).

Entering an invalid column value displays an error or warning in the Spreadsheet Importer output. The message explains how to fix the invalid configuration.

Example Spreadsheets

FlexLogger installs example spreadsheets, located at C:\Program Files\National Instruments\FlexLogger\Examples\Spreadsheet Importer. The following table lists the examples and their features.
Table 12. FlexLogger Spreadsheet Importer Examples
Example Name Description
ChannelConfigurationReference.xlsx Includes at least one configured channel for each measurement type, showing valid values and how to complete the source spreadsheet.
SimpleExample.xlsx Includes 12 configured channels and shows an example of how your source spreadsheet might look. This example doesn’t use some sheets and columns, so it removes them.