Assigning Signals to Instruments

To display the actual measure data of a signal, the signal must be assigned to an instrument. For more information, see To add a measure file.

You can perform the following actions:

• To assign signals with the same name from another file
• To assign signals to a new instrument
• To assign signals to multiple instruments
• To assign signals to an existing instrument
• To move or copy signals from one instrument to another instrument
• To replace a signal
• Assigning Signals to Instruments

To quickly assign signals to an existing oscilloscope, the selection wheel can be used. For more information, see To assign signals using the selection wheel.

To assign signals to a new instrument

To see how you can select the relevant signals and assign them to the desired instrument, watch our video Selecting Signals.

1. In the Variable Explorer, press the Ctrl or Shift key and mark all signals that you want to use for analysis.

2. Drag and drop the selected signals to an empty area of the layer or onto the layer tab in the currently active configuration. It is not possible to drag signals to another configuration.

   The context menu of the layer opens containing an item for each available instrument type.

3. Select the instrument type that you want to create.

   On the layer, the new instrument is displayed in the foreground and highlighted. In the Configuration Manager, the name of this instrument is displayed in bold.

   In the Variable Explorer, you can identify all signals that are assigned to an instrument in the Used column. For more information, see To filter used/unused signals.

To assign signals with the same name from another file

1. In the Configuration Manager, select one or more oscilloscopes and open the context menu. Alternatively right-click a layer or the configuration node.

2. In the context menu, select Select file for comparison.

3. In the File Explorer,

   1. Select one or more files

   2. In the context menu, select Use as File(s) for Comparison

4. Signals from the new files will be added to the target oscilloscopes. For each existing signal the respective signal from the new files is added, but only once per target instrument. If a signal is missing in the new file, a placeholder in the 'no-match' state will be created.
   Currently, the functionality is limited to oscilloscopes.

To assign signals to multiple instruments

1. In the Variable Explorer, press the Ctrl or Shift key and mark all signals that you want to use for analysis.

2. Right-click and select Add Signals to Instruments.

   A dialog appears.

3. In the dialog, select the layers and the instruments where you want to add the signals and confirm with OK.

4. The signals are added to the default positions for the signal types in each of the selected instruments.

To assign signals to an existing instrument

1. In the Variable Explorer, press the Ctrl or Shift key and mark all signals that you want to use for analysis.

2. Using the mouse:

   1. Drag and drop the selected signals to an existing instrument in the configuration or to the respective entry in the Configuration Manager.

3. Using the keyboard:

   • In the instrument, press the Insert key.

     A pop-up appears.

   • Type at least one letter of the signal name.

     A list of signals appears.

     The next time the pop-up appears, it displays the previously selected signal name in a marked state.

   • To move to the desired signal, use the Arrow Up or Arrow Down key.

   • To add a single signal to the instrument, press Enter.

     or

     To add several signals to the instrument, press the Space key and continue to select or search.

To move or copy signals from one instrument to another instrument

1. In the instrument from where you want to move or copy the signals, select the signals.

2. Do one of the following:
   • To move the signals, drag the selected signals and drop them onto another instrument.
   • To copy the signals press the Ctrl key first before dropping the selected signals onto another instrument.

   The same operations are also supported in the Configuration Manager.

   If you drag signals to an instrument of the same instrument type, all settings that you have already defined for a signal in the first instrument persist.

   In case the target instrument is located on another layer, use the layer tabs to navigate to the desired layer.

   To create a new instrument, drag and drop the selected signals onto an empty space of the layer or onto the layer tab.

   When you move or copy a signal, MDA checks whether the target instrument supports the current data representation. If this is not the case, the physical data representation is used instead. For more information about data representation in the oscilloscope, see To change the data representation of a signal, and in the table, see To change the data representation of a signal.

To replace a signal

If you need to replace a signal by another signal, for example to resolve a 'no-match' status, or to replace all signals with the same name in one step, do the following:

1. In the instrument or Configuration Manager, right-click the signal that you want to replace.

2. In the context menu, select Replace Signal.

   A dialog appears.

3. In the drop-down menu Replace Signal, select which signal you want to replace:

   • this signal/ECU/Device combination

   • all signals with the given name

4. In the drop-down menu, select where you want to replace the signal:

   • in an instrument (just in the currently active instrument from which you triggered the Replace Signal operation)

   • All instruments and calculations (which includes all instruments and input signals for calculated signals)

5. In the search box, enter the signal name that you want to use for the replacement.

6. Click the signal name or press the Enter key.

   The result of the signal replacement is shown in the status bar.

   The signal properties are maintained in all instruments and in the calculated signal.