WinDaq™ Direct Waveform Browser Manual

Welcome to the WinDaq Direct Waveform Browser. This application allows you to load, view, and mathematically analyze massive data acquisition files directly in your web browser without installing any software. All data processing happens securely and locally on your own machine.

1. Loading Data Files

You can load files into the browser in two ways:

Drag and Drop: Drag a supported data file from your computer and drop it anywhere over the gray channel display area.
File Browser: Click the Choose File button in the top-left corner of the toolbar.
Auto-Load via URL: You can automatically open a file by adding ?open=filename.wdq to the URL.

Supported File Types: .wdq, .wdh, .whc, .wdc, Graphtec .gbd, and standard text .csv / .txt formats.

CSV & Text File Guidelines

The browser includes a smart parser for tabular text data. To ensure successful loading, your file must meet these criteria:

Header Row: The file must contain a header row. If the first column is named "Time" or "Date", timestamps will be read directly. If missing, timestamps are synthetically derived.
Units & Annotations: You can embed measurement units and channel names by placing them in parentheses within the header row or in a `# Configuration:` metadata line (e.g., CH1 (+/- 500mV, mV)).
Gap Markers: The parser natively supports continuous gaps. If it detects a comment like # --- Resumed at 2026-05-14T13:27:31Z ---, it will automatically resynchronize the timeline and add it to the Event Marker dropdown.

2. Navigating the Waveform

Zooming: Use the Zoom In slider. Moving it to the right zooms in to see individual data points (circles explicitly appear when points are visually separated by more than 5 pixels on your screen).
Panning: Drag the Timeline Scroll slider (located below the chart) left or right to move manually through time.
Swipe / Wipe Auto-Scroll: Quickly wipe your finger (or click-and-drag your mouse) left or right across the chart to trigger auto-playback. Wiping left plays the waveform forward, and wiping right plays it backward. Wiping multiple times in the same direction accelerates the playback speed. Tap anywhere on the chart to stop instantly.
Keyboard Auto-Scroll: Press Alt + Right Arrow or Alt + Left Arrow on your keyboard to smoothly auto-play the file.
Scrubbing (Push-to-Activate): To view exact values, click and hold your mouse button down over the chart, then drag horizontally to actively scan readouts across data points.

3. Channel Management & Statistics

By default, all recorded analog channels are displayed.

Toggle Visibility: Click the checkbox next to a channel's name to hide or show it.
Run Statistics: Click directly on the underlined Channel Name (e.g., CH1). This opens a live statistics panel displaying metrics like Area (Integral), RMS, Standard Deviation, and Trend Slope for the data currently visible on your screen.
Export Stats: Click the blue Copy button on the statistics window to instantly copy a tab-delimited summary perfectly formatted for pasting into Excel.

4. Display Modes & Y-Axis Scaling

The browser offers two distinct ways to display your data: Standard (Overlaid) and Separate Waveforms (Oscilloscope Mode).

Standard Mode (Overlaid)

Manual Scaling: Enter your desired minimum and maximum values in the Y-Axis Scale inputs and click Apply. All traces share this global scale.
Return to Auto: Click the Auto button to force the Y-Axis to perfectly hug the highest and lowest data points currently on your screen.

Separate Waveforms (Oscilloscope Mode)

Check the Separate Waveforms box to split the chart into isolated horizontal bands, separated by light gray dividers. WinDaq files will automatically scale to their hardware ADC limits.

Bank Size & Navigation: Because a screen can get cluttered, you can limit the display to 8, 4, or 2 Channels at a time using the dropdown. Use the Prev/Next Bank buttons to instantly page through large channel counts.
Mouse Wheel Scaling: Hover your mouse over any specific channel's band and scroll your mouse wheel to independently zoom that specific channel's Y-Axis limits.
Vertical Panning: Click and drag your mouse vertically inside a band to pan the Y-offset of that specific waveform up or down.

5. Event Markers

If your data file contains embedded event markers, time gaps, or comments, the Event Marker dropdown will activate. Selecting an event will instantly jump your timeline and drop the cursor precisely on the event marker.

6. Data Extraction, Time Markers, FFT & XY Plots

Image Extraction: Right-click anywhere on the waveform chart and select Copy Image to Clipboard to copy a clean `.png` screenshot of the view.
Time Markers: Press the F4 key (or right-click the chart / use the mobile toolbar) to Set a Time Marker. This drops a vertical green dashed line at your cursor position. You can press F4 again to Update or Remove the marker.
Export Data: Once a Time Marker is set, right-click the chart (or use the mobile toolbar) to extract all the raw data between the green marker and your current cursor position. You can choose to:
- Copy to Clipboard: Instantly copy as tab-delimited text.
- Download as CSV: Save as a standard comma-separated file.
- Download as Excel: Save as a native .xlsx spreadsheet.
- Download as SQL: Save as a structured database insertion script.
Note: When downloading, you will be prompted to enter a custom filename. If you leave out the file extension, the system will append it automatically.
Live FFT: Click the FFT button in the top toolbar to reveal a draggable Base-10 Logarithmic Fast Fourier Transform window.
Live XY Plot: Click the XY button to open a draggable XY scatter plot. It automatically graphs the first visible channel against the second visible channel.

7. Calculated Math Channels (DSP)

You can create a custom, real-time calculated channel (displayed as a solid black line) by entering an equation in the Math (CHx) input box. You can also specify a custom unit label using the small Unit text box next to it. Click Apply to generate the waveform.

Time-Domain Variable Syntax:

CH1 or CH1(T) evaluates the channel at the current time step.
CH1(T-X) looks backward in time by 'X' scans.

Example (Derivative): CH1(T) - CH1(T-1)

Moving Average Syntax:

AVG(CHx, N) creates a rolling average over the last 'N' data points.

Example (100-Point Smoothing): AVG(CH1, 100)

Scientific Math Functions: You can also use standard JavaScript Math operations (case-sensitive). You do not need to type "Math.", just use the function name directly:

abs(x) - Absolute value
sqrt(x) - Square root
sin(x) - Sine (radians)
cos(x) - Cosine (radians)
tan(x) - Tangent (radians)
log(x) - Natural logarithm (ln)
log10(x) - Base-10 logarithm
exp(x) - E^x
pow(x, y) - x to the power of y
round(x) - Round to nearest integer
ceil(x) - Round up
floor(x) - Round down
PI - Constant π (~3.14159)
E - Constant Euler's number (~2.718)

Complex Combination Example: AVG(abs(CH1(T) - CH2(T)), 10) * sqrt(CH3)