Contents
- Index
- Previous
- Next
Importing Files
Import Generic Files
Spectrum files can be read and converted to corresponding types used by MSC Pro on the Spectrum Editor Import menu. There are two file types that can be imported, Generic text files with mass / intensity data, and NIST msp files. These are separate options on the Spectrum Editor Import menu. If you simply want to load a pre-existing file which is in the MSC Spectrum or NIST file format then you should use the standard File / Open selection from the Spectrum File menu. However, if you have mass - intensity values in an ASCII file of a different format, you may be able to import the data directly into the Spectrum Editor by using the Import Generic File option which can read several different file formats. The files must be in ASCII, and there should be no intervening data other than mass and intensity values in the body of the file.
There are two items on the Import menu, Strip Header and Peek which can be used to facilitate the importing of generic files. Strip Header will remove a defined number of header lines before reading data; Peek allows you to examine the file to determine whether header lines are present. See those two topics for more information. When you select Import File, the indicated file will be read into the editor. You can then edit it as necessary, and save it. The file does not have to be sorted in mass order before it is saved, since MSC will automatically sort the data as it is saved.
Reading and importing NIST MSP Files
NIST msp files may contain more than one spectrum and therefore the spectrum of interest needs to be identified when multiple spectra are present in the file. When a file is selected from a directory list of *.msp files in either Spectrum File / Open, or Spectrum Editor Import / MSP files, a new list of all of the spectra present in that file will be displayed. If only a single spectrum is present then only one item will be on the list. Double clicking on the selected spectrum will then load and display that selected spectrum.
If you want to save the data extracted from a msp file to a standard MSC Pro .asc file, first load the .msp file into the Spectrum window. The selected spectrum can then be saved normally as a .asc file within Spectrum.