Technical data

26 Understanding Your Agilent ChemStation
1 Agilent ChemStation Features
About the ChemStation Software
The ChemStation includes commands and functions to support the dynamic
data exchange (DDE) standard of the Microsoft Windows platform as both a
DDE client and a DDE server. The command set includes commands to
establish and terminate connections, transfer information in both directions
and execute remote functions.
Customization
The ChemStation can be customized using the powerful command set. These
commands may be grouped to execute automatically a specific function; such a
group is called a macro. Users writing macros may define their own variables,
build in conditional or looping constructs, perform physical I/O including file
handling and user interaction, nest their macros and schedule and exchange
data with other MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows applications.
For more information on customization, see the Macro Programming Guide
which is available as online help.
Automation
The ChemStation can execute multimethod sequences.
The sequence parameter set may be defined to use automatically generated
files or sequentially numbered files with a user-defined prefix of up to fifteen
characters. The user may select to run full analyses or data reprocessing only
sequences and can also select one of a series of technique specific shutdown
commands or a user-defined shutdown macro that runs when the sequence
terminates either by error or after all the analyses are completed.
The sequence table, or list of analyses to run, is built in a spreadsheet-like user
interface that allows users to specify vial numbers and sample names, analysis
methods, sample quantification parameters including sample amount, a
multiplier and dilution factor, calibration specification, data exchange
parameter LIMSID and the number of repeat injections. Depending of the
configured instruments and modules, more fields will accessible, e.g. if an
Agilent 1100/1200 LC system includes a fraction collector, the “Fract. Start”
column will appear in the sequence table. The appearance of the sequence