Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
3.9
EXTRACTION OF DATA USING LANDMARKS
AND LOOPING STRUCTURES
The reason so much emphasis has been placed on determining the vital parameters of a Worksheet
is because without being able to determine certain Worksheet characteristics, it is impossible to
extract information from a particular Worksheet. In order to do any meaningful analysis, it is
necessary to read information from a Worksheet and take action upon it, often using functions that
will be discussed at length in Chapter 4. Here, an example will be given regarding how to utilize
some of the previously discussed information in a practical example.
Figure 3.11 depicts a fictitious data file that might be generated by some sort of machine.
This data file contains labels that are denoted by being surrounded by brackets []. This file
contains four principal sections; they are: [Screen Title], [Samples], [RawData], and [Results].
The [Screen Title] area contains a single item in the row following it, which is the name of the
instrument the data was acquired on. The [Samples] area contains information about each sample
run. This includes the position (Row and Column) on the plate the sample was taken from, as
well as the molecular weight (MW) of the sample. The [RawData] section contains the raw data
acquired by this instrument for this run. In this file, 10 samples were run. Notice that, in the
[RawData] section, up to 14 measurements and a baseline may be acquired for each sample.
FIGURE 3.11
Sample Worksheet for extraction example.
