TDM(S) File Having All Channels as "Noname" in DIAdem

Updated Mar 26, 2024

Reported In

Software

  • DIAdem

Issue Details

I have opened/imported a TDM(S) file into the data portal in my DIAdem but all the channels are named "Noname" and no data is present in them.


Solution

This error may have two different causes. For each of these causes a solution approach is presented below:

Approach 1: Remove wrongly linked TDM(S) DataPlugin:

In some cases, a custom TDM(S) DataPlugin may have been created with the Text DataPlugin Wizard. As a result, TDM(S) files are treated as regular text files resulting in the error from above.
To remove the wrong TDM(S) DataPlugin follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings, Extensions and click on DataPlugins



2. Select the TDM_DataPlugin or TDMS_DataPlugin and click on Remove DataPlugin



Afterwards, all TDM(S) files should be associated with the built-in DIAdem TDM(S) DataPlugin again. In case there was no additional TDM(S) DataPlugin, please continue with Approach 2.

Approach 2: Adding Folder as a search area

The NI Datafinder indexes only the .TDM(S) files present in the search area of the Navigator window. This indexing process requires both the .TDM(S) file and its corresponding .tdx file to be present in the same folder which is added as a search area. To understand the significance of these files refer to TDM file format.

Follow the below steps to add the folder containing the .TDM(S) and .tdx file to the search area :

1. Navigate to your folder under the Navigator window, right click on the folder and select Add Search Area.



2. Click OK in the following dialog boxes to complete the indexing process.






3. Once the folder has been indexed, it will be available in the navigator window with a blue icon.



4. Drag and drop the .TDM(S) file into the Data Portal to view the data.



Note: While copy pasting the .TDM(S) file, make sure that the corresponding .tdx is also copy pasted to the destination. In case the .tdx file is missing the .TDM(S) file will not be properly indexed which again lead to all channels being named "Noname". A orange coloured icon of .TDM(S) file indicates that it is correctly indexed, while a blue icon implies incorrectly indexed.

Additional Information

The TDM file format is the National Instruments file format for saving measurement data. The TDM file format saves the signals that the measurement hardware acquires the bulk data and the meta data the descriptive data, in separate files. Meta data could be the name and unit of a measurement channel and the name of the test engineer. The meta data is saved in the XML format (Extensible Markup Language) in a file with the .tdm extension. The bulk data are saved in a compact binary form in a file with the extension .tdx.