Exporting Sample Data

Overview

Sample data can be exported from p:IGI+ and Transform projects. This is used to either transfer data between projects or export it for use in other applications.

Version: 2.0+ (Sept 2021)

Usage: Project --> Export samples...

How to use in practice

The Export window provides a number of export options.

Selecting which properties to export

The first choice concerns what properties (columns) will be exported:

all properties with data in the project data - use this option to export all properties in the project which have data assigned to them. The order of the properties is based on the order the analyses and properties are shown in the system, for example on the geochemistry help page, without filtering. The .Any properties will not be exported when you select all properties with data - only the raw properties that contribute to them will be exported.
properties selected based on one or more pages - this is used where you want to control exactly which properties are exported, based on one or more pages. If this option is selected a new window will be shown allowing the user to select and order multiple pages from the list of available pages in the system, using drag and drop. If multiple pages are selected the pages will be joined together in the order listed. When an export is filtered by pages all of the properties present on the page will be exported in the units shown on the page, regardless of the presence of data. Key columns will not be exported. Properties that are duplicated across pages will only appear in their first instance, with subsequent occurrences being ignored.

The option to use pages to control what is exported can be very powerful. You can create page templates for the exact properties you want to export, and you will always get your data out in the same format. This could be used for example to create an export format for import to another process, e.g.a basin modelling tool. A visual indication of the pages selected will be provided on the export dialogue (hover over the page icon to see the list of pages chosen). The naming of the headers in the export file uses the IGI property model conventions.

Exporting .Any Properties

If you have selected to export properties based on a set of pages you have two options for how .Any properties are treated. The option "For .Any properties export only":

source properties means that export will expand out to the raw (measured) component properties. This is done as the .Any properties are really only intended for interpretative use, and do not actually contain values themselves.
the .Any values means that the .Any properties will not be expanded and the values of the .Any properties will be exported, without indication of their source. This allows you to output exactly what you see on the page (without the source information in brackets). This can be especially useful if you want to export any available TOC or vitrinite reflectance data for use in e.g. basin modelling.

Selecting which samples to export

The user can then select which samples (rows) to export. By default all rows will be exported.

To use this option press the Edit... button on the "Filter samples (rows) by sample set:" section. This will bring up a window for sample set selection. Multiple sample sets can be selected (e.g. Dynamic or Static sample sets). If multiple sample sets are selected they will be joined together using the 'or' connective (that is the set union will be taken), meaning any sample in either or both of the sample sets will be exported. When an export of all properties is filtered by sample set only properties with data in that sample set are exported (along with some key well properties).

You can select both a page and sample set from the appropriate filter links, allowing you complete control over what you export, and in what units, and what order.

Export options

When exporting, by default the exported text file will be placed in a zip file, together with a linking template that allows you to simply drag the zip file onto another p:IGI+ / Transform project to auto-import the file. This also helps to reduce the file size if you are exporting large volumes of data.

If you have selected to export the .Any property values, then the data will be written as an uncompressed text file (.txt) without a linking template since you cannot re-import .Any properties into p:IGI+.

In both cases the alternative option for export is to write to an Excel file directly (added in version 2.0). This will create an Excel file with the selected data on the first Sample Data sheet, and a summary of the export on the Export Summary sheet, which includes information on the project from which the export was made, who exported it and when.

By default export will open a windows explorer view onto the folder into which the export file has been written. If you don't want this to occur uncheck the "Open export directory when finished?" option.

The export dialogue will remain open by default, allow you to select to export a different subset of the data to another file easily.