New version of EulumdatTools 0.9.4.v20110729 available

A new version of EulumdatTools 0.9.4.v20110729 was published today at http://www.fold1.com/eulumdattools/. We added the conversion of Type B photometry IES files to EULUMDAT to the existing conversion of Type C files. We also hardened the parser so more files with errors can be opened and displayed, so they can be corrected. We extended the hardcoded expiry date of this release to well in 2012.

Some background theory

The photometric intensity distribution in EULUMDAT files is similar to that a Type C IES file. The center of beam is straight down (or up) and there are vertical (IES: lateral) planes rotating around this central down axis. In each vertical (IES: lateral) plane there are a number of vertical angles. For more info see AGI32 website.

Trigonometric conversions

To determine the intensity at a pair of the C and γ angles, we need to interpolate at a corresponding pair of B and β angles. The corresponding B and β angles can be found using these formulas:

tan B = cos C * tan γ

sin β = sin C * sin γ

We added some extra logic to handle the determination of the right quadrant.

Interpolation used

Interpolation is done using standard lagrange over 3 planes and then over the 3 resulting points.

More info

See this book for more details.

Installation

For use in Eclipse you can use the standard Eclipse update site http://www.fold1.com/eulumdattools/. For stand alone RCP versions of EulumdatTools choose your platform:

• Windows XP 32
• Windows Vista & 7 WPF
• Linux GTK 32 bit
• Mac OSX 32 Cocoa bit
• Mac OSX 64 Cocoa bit

Importing files from a ZIP archive

Many manufacturers supply their EULUMDAT photometric data files as ZIP archives. We are going to show how we can import these files directly into our workspace. Eulumdat Tools allows you to import these files directly into the workspace, without first unzipping the archive. Step one is to create an example project in the work space using File/New.../Eulumdat Tools ProjectThen we create a new folder in the project using FIle/New.../Other.../General/Folder and call it eulumdat.
Then we select File/Import.../General/Archive File and press Next.
We browse to an Eulumdat zip we downloaded earlier and select it. We use ERCO data from here.
We can select and deselect individual files in the list before completing by pressing Finish.
Extraction from the ZIP file proceeds.
When new projects or fils are entered in the workspace, they are validated immediately using the current settings.
We can change the settings using Window/Preferences/Eulumdat Tools/Validation and switch off some tests.
Now we are left with a manageable set of warnings and errors and we can proceed to clean up the data.

More details on editing and using Quick Fixes will be covered in a next installment.