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Implementing Toolbar and Exporting Data in CSV format in Multimeter

The latest feature which was implemented in the  Pocket Science Lab Android app is the data exporting feature which was implemented in almost each and every sensor. Now in addition to sensors now the data saving functionality is also implemented in Multimeter and this blog is regarding how the data exporting functionality was implemented for multimeter.

For implementing the data exporting feature first the Toolbar was implemented in the PSLab Android App.

Implementing the Toolbar[1]

For implementing the firstly the front-end of multimeter was changed and the Toolbar was added to it.

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
  android:id="@+id/top_app_bar_layout"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

  <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
      android:id="@+id/multimeter_toolbar"
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
      android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
      app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay"
      app:title="Multimeter" />

The above xml codes shows the implementation of toolbar.

Figure (1): Showing the implementation of multimeter toolbar

  • Backend

For implementing the toolbar the onCreatemenu  was implemented for multimeter

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.multimeter_log_menu, menu);
this.menu = menu;
return true;
}

For the same a separate menu was created for multimeter

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item
android:id="@+id/record_pause_data"
android:icon="@drawable/record_icon"
android:title="@string/record_csv_data"
app:showAsAction="always" />
<item
android:id="@+id/delete_csv_data"
android:icon="@drawable/delete_icon"
android:title="@string/delete_csv_data"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
<item
android:id="@+id/record_csv_data"
android:icon="@drawable/menu_icon_save"
android:title="@string/save_csv_data"
app:showAsAction="never" />
<item
android:id="@+id/settings"
android:title="@string/nav_settings"
app:showAsAction="never" />
</menu>

Figure(2): Showing Toolbar of Multimeter

Thus through this the basic UI of the toolbar was implemented.

Implementing the Data Export Feature[2]

After implementing the toolbar for multimeter the multimeter the data exporting feature was implemented through the toolbar. The data export feature was implemented in such a manner that the user can start data recording by clicking on the record button after which the recording starts.

Figure(3):Showing snackbar after the data recording is started

and then when the user wants to end the experiment he may click on the pause button after which he gets an option either to export the data in csv format or either to delete the data.

Figure(4):Showing the menu bar for exporting data in csv

After clicking on the export data button the snacker appears which finally tells the user that the data is exported in this particular location (mentioned in the snackbar)

Figure(5):Showing the snackbar for showing location of the CSV folder

Further going to the csv folder we get the excel sheet in which the data is exported

Figure(6):Showing the excel sheet of data recorded

And this is how the data exporting feature was implemented in the PSLab android app. The users can use this functionality to perform experiments using multimeter in PSLab.

Resources

  1. Medium, Android Toolbar for AppCompatActivity:
    https://medium.com/@101/android-toolbar-for-appcompatactivity-671b1d10f354
  2. Code Project, Exporting data in CSV format:
    https://www.codeproject.com/questions/491823/read-fwritepluscsvplusinplusplusandroid

 

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