Any easy way to copy the name of a wave?

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Thu, 08/31/2017 - 04:54 pm

Total Igor newbie here. Have used Mathematica a lot but really new to working with Igor Pro and trying to learn how to do some very basic stuff so please excuse me if this is a ridiculously stupid question: Is there an easy way to copy the name of an existing wave? I often have the situation where I have a table with a number of waves displayed in it, but then I want to create a new wave and then define its values by typing in the equation definition for the new wave in the Command Window in terms of the values of existing waves displayed in the table. The problem is that the wave names that I use are typically long, so I have to carefully type in long equations, which takes a long time. Is there any way to simply "grab" or copy an existing wave name right off the existing table? I can see the waves and wave names that I need to enter into the Command Window shown right there in the table, but there doesn't seem to be any way of actually copying the wave name. When I right-click on the wave name in a table, I get options like "Browse", "Rename", "Redimension", etc., but no simple, basic "Copy name" command.
The best that I can find to get the name directly from a table display is to use the context menu for Rename and then copy the name from the dialog that appears.

I agree ... Having an option to "Copy Wave Name" would be exceptionally handy as a context menu.

--
J. J. Weimer
Chemistry / Chemical & Materials Engineering, UAH

August 31, 2017 at 06:33 pm - Permalink

There is no way to do exactly what you want though I can see the utility of it and will add it to our wish list.

Here is a workaround:

Right-click the column and choose "Browse <wave name>" to display the wave in the Data Browser.

If you want just the wave name as opposed to the full data folder path, click the wave name in the Data Browser, let it go into name edit mode, copy the name, and press escape to exit name edit mode or press Cmd-W (Macintosh) or Ctrl-W (Windows) to close the Data Browser.

If you want the full Data Folder path, right-click the wave icon in the Data Browser and choose Copy Full Path.

For getting just the wave name, you could also select "Rename <wave name>". Copy the wave name and press escape to dismiss the Rename dialog.

August 31, 2017 at 06:56 pm - Permalink

Sammy_W wrote:
Total Igor newbie here. Have used Mathematica a lot but really new to working with Igor Pro and trying to learn how to do some very basic stuff so please excuse me if this is a ridiculously stupid question: Is there an easy way to copy the name of an existing wave? I often have the situation where I have a table with a number of waves displayed in it, but then I want to create a new wave and then define its values by typing in the equation definition for the new wave in the Command Window in terms of the values of existing waves displayed in the table. The problem is that the wave names that I use are typically long, so I have to carefully type in long equations, which takes a long time. Is there any way to simply "grab" or copy an existing wave name right off the existing table? I can see the waves and wave names that I need to enter into the Command Window shown right there in the table, but there doesn't seem to be any way of actually copying the wave name. When I right-click on the wave name in a table, I get options like "Browse", "Rename", "Redimension", etc., but no simple, basic "Copy name" command.



When waves are appended or comprise a new table, the operation should output to the command window (unless specified to not do so explicitly). By selecting the name of the wave (a,b,c in the example below) in the command window and pressing enter will copy the selection to the command window's prompt at the cursor. Maybe this is helpful?

edit: one additional note: by double clicking a wave name in the command window the wave name (any literal for that matter) is selected. So the workflow is:
- double click on a wave name in the command window
- press enter to copy to command window prompt

•make/o/n=100 a = gnoise(10)
•make/o/n=100 b = gnoise(10)
•Edit a,b
•make/o/n=100 c = gnoise(10)
•AppendToTable c


best,
_sk

September 1, 2017 at 12:19 am - Permalink

Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions. Much appreciated. I'll try them out.

September 1, 2017 at 02:08 pm - Permalink

hmm ... if you only want to copy the name of your wave you can actually:
- double click on it in the command window and then copy it (right click and copy, or ctrl-c or cmd-c);
- or open the "Data Browser", slowly double click on the wave of which you want to copy the name and then copy it (copy full path object, or ctrl-c or cmd-c)

I hope this helps
eric

September 4, 2017 at 07:10 am - Permalink