DMM for Windows FAQ
DMM for Windows has been replaced by DigiPro2.
The basic version of DigiPro2 is free to use, just as DMM was.
Question: Why did you replace DMM?
Answer: DMM was written in Microsoft VB6. Microsoft discontinued support for VB6 development tools some time ago, making bug fixes and further development nearly impossible. In addition, Microsoft warned that Windows 7 would not support for the VB6 runtime. In fact, they relented and included some minimal VB6 runtime support in Win7, but it is certain that DMM will stop running in some future update of Windows.
For that reason, we developed DigiPro2 to replace both DMM and the original DigiPro. Development took over a year, but it is written in C# and is guaranteed to run on future updates of Windows. We encourage everyone to migrate to DigiPro2 sooner rather than later.
Question: DMM won’t communicate with my DataMate II. Can you help?
Answer: Please take a look at the DataMate Communications FAQ.
Question: I have a survey listed under the wrong site and installation name. How can I move it to the correct site and installation.
Answer: DMM for Windows makes this easy. Here’s how:
- Select the misplaced survey.
- Click Edit Add to pop up the edit window.
- Choose the correct installation from the drop down list at the top of the edit window, and click OK. This makes a copy of the survey and places it under the correct installation.
- Finally, clean up the database. The original survey – the one you copied – is still there. Select it and click the delete button to remove it from the database.
After you do this, check the installation information stored in your Digitilt DataMate. Is it correct?
Question: I have several projects. I want to have a few inclinometer installations from each project listed in my DataMate. I also want the DataMate to have have one previous survey for each installation. How do I set this up?
Answer: Make a composite setup database. Here’s how:
To send installations and datasets (surveys) to the DataMate, you make a “setup” database. To make a setup database, simply save your project database as a setup database. DMM makes a copy of the database and then strips out any data, so all that remains is installation information. To add a previous survey to the setup database, view your project database and setup database side by side (Use the Ctrl-T Tile command) and click-drag-and-drop the needed surveys from the project database to the setup database. Just drop the survey anywhere in the white window. It will find its own way home. Now you can close the project database, but keep your setup database open.
Now, open another project database and tile it side by side with your setup database. You’ll be doing click-drag-and-drop operations again. Click-drag-and-drop surveys that you want in the DataMate. The surveys will bring installation information automatically. (Watch out: if you drag an installation, the installation will bring along all of its surveys. So drag a survey, not an installation).
Repeat this for any other installations that you need. Keep in mind that the DataMate has a 40 installation limit and limited space for datasets (surveys).
When the setup database holds the installations and surveys that you need, send the setup to the DataMate. This will cause the DataMate to delete everything that is in its memory and replace it with the contents of the setup database. So be sure that you have retrieved anything that you want from the DataMate before you send the setup.
Question: I want to delete an installation (or two) from the DataMate, but not everything in memory. How can I do that?
Answer: You can’t do exactly that, but here is a workaround that provides the same result.
- Choose “DataMate -> Retrieval All.”
- DMM retrieves data and displays a temporary database (“Data retrieved from DataMate”).
- Delete any unwanted data from the temporary database.
- Choose “DataMate ->Send Setup” to transfer the edited database to the DataMate.
- You’ll see a warning. Click OK to continue.
- Now the DataMate contains the edited database.
Question: I can’t transfer data from the DataMate to the PC. When I drag the surveys, everything looks right, but when I check the database, the data isn’t there. What’s going on?
Answer: Do it this way: CLICK, then drag and drop. First click on the survey to select it. You’ll see the color change. After the survey is selected, you can drag and drop it. Give it a try: CLICK, drag, and drop. It works.
Question: We’ll be adding lengths of casing to our inclinometer. How do we handle this in DMM?
Answer: There are two things to consider: (1) Depth control, and (2) building a composite initial survey.
Depth Control
Slope Indicator’s accuracy specifications assume that the probe can be positioned repeatably within 0.25 inch (6 mm) for each depth in your survey. To achieve this positioning accuracy, you carefully align the depth markers on the control cable with a consistent reference, such as the top of the casing or the cleats on the pulley assembly.
When you add casing, you must establish a new reference. The new reference should be consistent with your original reference, so that the probe will be placed at the same locations in the casing as before. Suppose your initial reading depths were 70, 68, 66 … feet, and then you add four feet of casing. Now the corresponding depths, as measured from the top with your control cable, are 74, 72, 70… feet. However, if you add 5 feet of casing, instead of four, the corresponding depths are 75, 73, 71, etc. This is a problem because the cable has 2-foot graduations. Thus, you should change your top reference, so that you can use cable depths of 75, 72, 50…
Composite Initial Survey
Displacements are calculated by subtracting the initial readings from current readings. Suppose your initial survey has data from 70 feet to 2 feet (35 readings). You may have recorded several surveys using these depths. Then you add casing, so your current survey runs from 74 feet to 2 feet (37 readings). Displacement calculations will fail at the top two depths because you have no initial readings for those depths. The solution is to build a composite initial survey that contains the initial readings of any new casing. Here is how we would build a composite initial survey for our example.
1. Our entail survey has 35 depths (70 feet to 2 feet).
2. Our current survey has 37 depths (74 feet to 2 feet). The two additional readings are at 2 and 4 feet. Select that survey, right click, and choose print from the pop-up menu. You’ll need the values from the top two depths in step 5.
3. Select the initial survey and click the Edit/Add button. The edit dialog pops up.
4. Renumber the existing depths, adding 4 feet to each depth. For example, change 2 to 6, 4 to 8, 6 to 10…and so on.
5. When you get to the bottom, you’ll see a blank line. Enter a depth of 2 and the readings for that depth (from the current survey – the one you printed). Then enter a depth of 4 and the readings for that depth. When you click OK, DMM resorts the data in depth order, so that the two lines of readings that you entered are at the top.
6. You’re done. There is no need to adjust the other surveys. Now you can graph the data in DigiPro. DigiPro always plots each survey from the same bottom depth. The new bottom depth is 74 feet, so all the surveys will be plotted from 74 feet. However, plots with only 35 readings will end at 6 feet, while the plot of the current survey will end at 2 feet. DigiPro will automatically change labels to elevations, if you find that more convenient. (Note that DMM always stores data in depths rather than elevations).
Question: Is it possible to delete datasets from the Datamate using DMM for Windows?
Answer: Yes. When you send a “setup” database to the DataMate, it erases all installations (site and installation) and all datasets in the datamate. Then it restores the installations.
You can make a setup database from your project database with “save as”. The save as setup command, strips datasets, leaving only installations. You can also add other installations from other databases to the setup database, if necessary.
Question: When I try to communicate with the DataMate, DMM for Windows displays an error message, such as “unable to open port” or “error opening port”. What’s wrong?
Answer: This is a hardware problem and is answered on the DataMate Q&A page.
Question: Error 13 Type Mismatch. When I try to retrieve data from the DataMate, I get an error message: something about Runtime error 13: type mismatch. Are there any solutions?
Answer: Please download the latest version of DMM. That will probably fix the problem.
Question: Error 3051 apears when I try to open a database. What’s wrong?
Answer: Check to see if the file is marked “Read-Only.” Using Windows Explorer, select the database, then click the right mouse button and choose Properties. You can find file attributes at the bottom of the properties dialog. Remove the checkmark from Read Only. You may have to click the box more than once. Now DMM and DigiPro can open the database.
Question: My surveys are incorrectly marked “English” but I have a metric system (or my surveys are incorrectly marked “metric” but I have an English system). What’s going on?
Answer: There are two ways this can happen. (1) You are accidentally telling the DataMate that you have a metric (or English) system, or (2) the installation information in the DataMate is incorrect.
Case 1: When you start a survey using the DataMate, you choose an installation and then you must step through the installation parameters by pressing the Enter key. If you press the down arrow by mistake, you’ll change the value of that parameter. For example, if you press the down arrow at the Units prompt, you’ll change the value from English to metric or vice versa. It seems logical that you could press the down arrow to scroll through the readings, but you can’t. Always press the Enter key to step through the parameters.
Case 2: You should check that installation information in the DataMate is correct. Switch on the DataMate. Choose Read to display the Read menu. Then choose Installations. Scroll through the list of installations and choose the one that is causing problems. Then step through the installation parameters until you see Units. Set this to English or metric, depending on the type of probe that you have. Press Enter to see the next parameter, Ins Constant. Set this to 20000 for English probes or 25000 to metric probes. Also, check your DMM database to see that probe type and instrument constant are set properly for that installation.
Fixing Incorrectly Recorded Data: If you recorded an English probe with a metric setting in the DataMate, or you recorded a metric probe with an English setting in the DataMate, your data values are not correct. There are three solutions.
1. In DMM, edit each value in the affected survey.
2. In DMM, edit the
Apply a sensitivity correction in DigiPro.
3. Change the Probe Constant for that You can edit each value in the survey and keep , you can or you can change the instrument constant for each affected survey so that computed deviations and displacements will be correct. Here are instructions:
- Open the project database, choose the appropriate installation.
- Choose the appropriate survey and click the Edit Add button.
- Change the value in the “probe constant” field as follows:
Probe Units | Accidental Setting for this Survey | Use this Probe Constant in DMM |
---|---|---|
English | Metric | 35000 (If your DMM does not accept this value, use the sensitivity correction in DigiPro) |
Metric | English | 14286 |
Probe Units | Accidental Setting for this Survey | Use this Sensitivity Correction in DigiPro |
---|---|---|
English | Metric | 1.75 |
Metric | English | 0.5714 |
Question: Most of my surveys are marked Full Set = “T.” But sometimes I see a survey that is marked “Full Set = F.” What is wrong?
Answer: The full set flag tells DigiPro how to process the data. A T value indicates a normal two-pass survey, in which each depth has a 0 reading and a 180 reading). The software then combines the two readings and divides by 2. An F value tells the software that there is only a 0 reading and therefore no combining or dividing takes place. If you end your normal two-pass survey by choosing “Done,” the flag is set to T. However, if you end your survey by pressing Esc, the flag is set to False, even though all the data are present.
Question: I’m trying to import GTilt files, but DMM shows an error message – something about a field cannot have a zero value.
Answer: Your G-Tilt file may be missing a sensor (probe) serial number.
G-Tilt marks the start of every survey with a *. Count six lines down from the *. You should see a serial number or at least some sort of text. Go through each of your G-Tilt files. Look for the * and count six lines down. Enter the sensor serial number in that 6th line (or just type 12345). Look for additional *s in the file and check that the sixth line after each one has a serial number. You can put any text tha fIf you have multiple surveys in the file, you’ll have to make multiple entries.
* —- marks the start of a survey
070685 —- survey date
1327 —- time hhmm
1400 —- not used by DMM
Top of clamp —- not used by DMM
31.2 —- not used by DMM
12345 —- sensor serial number. line must not be empty
DigiPro for Windows FAQ
Digipro for Windows has been replaced by DigiPro2.
DigiPro2 replaces both DigiPro1 and DMM.
Question: Why did you replace the original DigiPro for Windows?
Answer: DigiPro and DMM were written in Microsoft VB6. Microsoft discontinued support for VB6 development tools some time ago, making bug fixes and further development nearly impossible. In addition, Microsoft warned that Windows 7 would not support for the VB6 runtime. In fact, they relented and included some minimal VB6 runtime support in Win7, but it is certain that DigiPro and DMM will stop running in some future update of Windows.
For that reason, we developed DigiPro2 to replace both DMM and DigiPro. Development took over a year, but it is written in C# and is guaranteed to run on future updates of Windows. We encourage everyone to migrate to DigiPro2 sooner rather than later.
You can download a trial version of DigiPro2. It runs in advanced mode for 45 days, then it reverts to a basic version that you can continue to use.
Question: Where can I find help with DigiPro1 keys?
Answer: You’ll find help here: DigiPro1 installation and licensing.
Question: I want to include DigiPro graphs in my report. How can I export the graphs?
Answer: There is no direct way to export graphs. (Note: this is a built -in feature of DigiPro2).
With DigiPro1, you can print graphs to a software “image” printer. The image printer creates a graphic file, which can be emailed, placed in Word, etc.
We have good results with “Zan Image Printer.” It is inexpensive, very convenient to use, and widely available on the internet. We are using Zan to print the DigiPro graphs that we upload to Atlas, our web-based monitoring system.
You can also use a screen capture program, such as “HyperSnap” or “Snag It”. However, screen captures are low resolution, good enough for the computer monitor, but not good enough for printing.
Question: DigiPro1 consistently plots graphs with one extra depth. Why is that? For example, when I survey an installation that has 23 depths, DigiPro always plots 24 depths.
Answer: Think of a measuring tape. The tape starts at zero. You don’t record the zero, but it is the origin of your length measurements. Note that the plotted value for the extra depth is always zero.
If your inclinometer installation is 12m deep, and you take readings at half-meter intervals, you will take 23 readings. Your bottom reading is taken at 11.5 meters, but the origin of that interval is at 12 meters. When DigiPro draws the plot, it establishes a zero at 12 meters.
Question: DigiPro1 doesn’t plot displacements at the same depths that I recorded them. Why? I record readings at half-meter intervals: 11.5, 11, 10.5, 10.. and so on, but DigiPro plots at 11.75, 11.25, 10.75 and so on. Why does the program do this?
Answer: This is the result of “auto depth-adjustment. With auto-depth adjustment turned on, DigiPro1 correctly plot data points at the top (or bottom) of the measurement interval. Auto-depth is turned on by default.
Why is an adjustment provided? Depth marks on Digitilt control cable are measured from the middle of the inclinometer probe, but deviations and displacements are calculated for the top (or bottom) of an interval.
Metric example: The depth stored with the inclinometer reading is the cable depth of 20 meters, but the top of the interval is actually at 19.75 meters. With auto-depth adjust turned on, the plotted point will be placed correctly on the graph at 19.75 meters, rather than at the cable depth of 20 meters.
English example: The depth stored with the inclinometer reading is the cable depth of 60 feet, but the top of the interval is actually at 59 feet. With auto-depth adjust turned on, the plotted point will be placed on the graph at 59 feet, rather than at the cable depth of 60 feet.
Question: What is Depth Offset / Elevation Offset and how should I use it?
Answer: During a survey, the depth of the probe is controlled by aligning depth marks on the control cable to a reference, such as the top of the casing or the top of a pulley assembly. If you want depths on the plot to represent depths below ground surface, then you should enter an offset to adjust the reference to ground surface. That is the purpose of the offset field.
For Depth Offset, enter height of casing above ground level + height of pulley (1 ft or 0.3m)
Metric Example: Suppose the top of the casing is 0.5 meters above ground level. You use a pulley and index the cable to the top of the pulley (add 0.3m). Enter 0.8 m as the depth offset. Labels will show depth below ground surface. .
English Example: The top of the casing is 14 inches (1.17 ft.) above ground level. The pulley assembly adds 1 foot. Enter 2.17 feet for the depth offset. Labels will show depth below ground surface. .
For Elevation Offset, enter ground elevation + casing height + pulley height
Metric Example: Ground elevation is 200 meters above sea level. The top of the casing is 0.4 meters above ground level. The pulley assembly adds 0.3 meters. Enter 200.7 meters for the elevation offset. Labels will be referenced to ground elevation.
English Example: Ground elevation is 1200 feet above sea level.
The top of the casing is 1.5 feet above ground level. The pulley assembly adds 1 foot. Enter 1202.5 feet for the elevation offset. Labels will be referenced to ground elevation.
Question: How are data points calculated for the time displacement graph? Is the movement below the zone you are zooming in on taken into account or is it disregarded? Basically, is the bottom of your zone you are zooming in on now the zero point of reference for the graph?
Answer: The time displacement graph requires a single value for each zone. To do this, we first calculate cumulative displacement values for every depth. Then, for each zone, we subtract the value at the bottom depth of the zone from the value at the top depth of the zone. The sign is changed to accommodate top or bottom reference. So the zero point for the plotted value is the value at the bottom of the zone.
Question: How can I print the values used in a graph?
Answer: In DigiPro1, first plot your data. click on one of the plots to display the properties. Right click in the ‘Data Sets’ window, and select ‘Print plotted data’ from the popup menu. This will print the calculated data used to make the plot.
Question: Sometimes, when I apply an orientation correction, the graph suddenly shows a displacement. What’s going on?
Answer: There is a bug in the correction routine. The bug bites when the 0 and 180 values for a particular depth are exactly the same. For example, the bug will bite when the A0 value and the A180 value at 9.5 meters are both 14. The bug doesn’t bit often because usually the numbers have a different sign and a different value.
The workaround is simple. Use DMM to edit the data file. Change one of the values by 1 unit. For example, change 14 to 15. That makes the problem disappear and does not affect the accuracy of the data.
Question: What’s the difference between English and metric templates?
Answer: These templates control the way DigiPro1 processes your inclinometer readings. Use English templates if you have an English-unit inclinometer probe. Use metric templates if you have a metric unit probe. If you need “metric” output from your English-unit inclinometer system, make the conversion in the “Data Units” tab.
Question: How do I set paper size to A4?
Answer: Click on “file,” then “options and defaults,” then “page setup.” Choose A4 from the drop-down list. Then click OK. Now, just to ensure that the new default isn’t lost, click on “file” and choose “exit.” Click on “yes” to the “save DigiPro1 defaults” question. Now restart DigiPro1. All new reports will be started with A4 size.
Question: DigiPro1 doesn’t show all of my depths. Where did they go? My graphs don’t show the entire depth of the borehole. In fact, the boreholes are shorted by a factor of about 3.
Short Answer: You’ve probably used an English template to create a graph from metric data. Try using a metric template and see if the results are are better. If this doesn’t help, see the long answer below.
Long Answer: A “flag” is stored with each survey. The flag tells DigiPro1 that the survey is either English or Metric. Sometimes, especially with manually entered data, the English/metric information is missing. When this happens, DigiPro1 defaults to English units. To set the flag to metric, close the graph. The “installations and reports” dialog reappears. Right-click on the installation and choose “properties” from the pop-up menu. Change the radio button to “metric” and click OK.
Question: The bottom of the casing is blocked, so my recent surveys have fewer readings. DigiPro1 doesn’t plot them properly. Dirt fell into one of my inclinometer installations and now the probe won’t go down all the way. So my newer surveys don’t have the same number of readings as my older surveys. What can I do?
Answer: DigiPro1 assumes that the first reading in the survey is the bottom of the installation. As you point out, if your installation becomes shortened, DigiPro1 does not plot correctly. We might add a fix for this in future. For now, there is a work-around, as explained below. There are two cases to consider: (1) The casing is blocked by an inflow of sand or mud; and (2), the casing is closed off by movement of the ground.
Case 1: It is probably safe to assume that the bottom of the casing is still in stable ground. So you must edit previous datasets to remove the data for depths that can no longer be reached. For example, if the hole used to be 50 meters deep and now is only 45 meters deep, go into each previous dataset and delete depths and readings deeper than 45 meters. Use DMM to do this. Also, change the installation information in the DataMate (and DMM database) to show the new, shallower bottom depth.
Case 2: If the casing was closed by a shear movement, you cannot assume that the bottom is stable. You’ll have to do the same data manipulations as in case 1. Then when you go to take readings, get an optical survey of the top of the casing. When you process the data, sum from top (instead of from the bottom). Note that since your graphs will change, since your reference has changed. Also, keep in mind that since neither top nor bottom is stable, your data will be more difficult to interpret accurately.
Question: How do you make time-displacement graphs?
Answer: Select the installation, then click “New” and choose “Sample Time – Displacement Graph.” DigiPro1 then plots a graph for the A axis using a single zone. To specify the zones you want, click on the graph to call up the report properties dialog. Then click on the new “Zones” tab. You can specify up to five zones, choosing a start depth (shallower) and a stop depth (deeper) for each zone. You will probably want to click on the “Datasets” tab to select more datasets.
Question: I can’t see the yellow lines when I print. Is there a way to change colors?
Answer: Click on “File” – “Options and Defaults” – “Preferences.” You’ll see a band of 8 colors. Click on the color you want to change and choose a different color from the pop-up color dialog. The change takes effect when you close your report and open it up again. Later, when you quit DigiPro1, be sure to say “yes” to the prompt “Save DigiPro1 Defaults.”
Question: How do you specify the initial dataset?
Answer: Just right-click on the dataset that you want to mark as initial, choose “Mark as initial” from the pop-up menu, and click apply. All datasets earlier than the initial are then ignored.
Question: We’re adding casing to the top of our inclinometer installation. Can DigiPro1 handle this?
Answer: Yes, but you’ll have to do some minor editing in DMM. We give the instructions in the DMM Question and Answers.
Question: Error 3051 apears when I try to open a database. What’s wrong?
Answer: Check to see if the file is marked “Read-Only.” Using Windows Explorer, select the database, then click the right mouse button and choose Properties. You can find file attributes at the bottom of the properties dialog. Remove the checkmark from Read Only. You may have to click the box more than once. Now DMM and DigiPro1 can open the database.
Question: Error 11 appears when I try to create a graph. DigiPro1 used to work fine, but not now. What’s wrong?
Answer: Error 11 is caused by a problem in your data file, usually a missing instrument constant. Open your database with DMM. Click on an installation, then click the survey list tab. Check every survey has an instrument constant. The survey that is missing the constant is causing the problem. Use Edit/Add to enter the constant.