Data input - Input Wizards

When using an input wizard to create an input file for one of the NewMDSX routines, simply follow the prompts for the necessary commands, and then enter the numerical data to be analysed into the spreadsheet displayed after clicking on Next.

The spreadsheet displayed will invite you to input a rectangular or lower-triangular data matrix, according to the options you have specified for the selected procedure.

Note that, for most procedures, you can optionally enter your own row and column labels in the spreadsheet to assist in reading the subsequent results. Labels should consist of text characters only, without punctuation.

You may click on Read from file to load values in the appropriate order from a free format plain text file, which may have been exported directly from another program or created by cutting and pasting from a file in another format. Alternatively, click on Edit to paste data direct from the Windows clipboard.

If the first line of data in a file, or on the clipboard, contains a series of variable labels,

for example:

    VAR1  VAR2 VAR3 VAR4 VAR5
     99.0   51.1  71.4   63.0   58.6
     51.1   99.0  75.8   52.7   52.7
     71.4   75.8  99.0   36.9   40.8
     63.0   52.7  36.9   99.0   32.3
     58.6   57.7  40.8   32.3   99.0

where a symmetric matrix of similarity values is headed by simple variable names, these will be inserted in the spreadsheet in the appropriate locations.  A lower-triangular matrix may similarly be headed by its corresponding variable names, with the same effect.

For the input of labelled configurations, the format is as follows:

     VAR1    -0.1358      0.2993     -0.7294 
     VAR2     0.2229     -0.6381      0.5729 
     VAR3     0.2679     -0.7446     -0.3938 
     VAR4    -1.1287      0.2396      0.2875 
     VAR5     0.7737      0.8437      0.2628 

These are the techniques to use to speed up importing and exporting data to and from NewMDSX. It is worth spending some time looking at them, in conjunction with the demonstration data provided with each routine, before attempting to enter your own data for analysis.

Use Reset to clear the spreadsheet in case of error.

Click on Continue to close the spreadsheet window and create the corresponding input file.

Note that it is also possible to use the main editor/interface to directly enter or modify input files.