Synopsis

Ecotect is a very useful application for performing a wide variety of building analysis functions. However, how can we use this data in other applications, such as Microsoft Word or Excel? This tutorial explains how to export analysis data from Ecotect in a wide variety of formats suitable for these applications, and other purposes as well.

Duration

You will need about 5 minutes to complete this tutorial.

Training and Accreditation

Successfully completing this tutorial fulfills one of the practical skills required for completing Level 1 of the Thermal Performance training module.

Resources Required

To complete this tutorial, generate a thermal analysis graph using the SimpleThermalModel.eco file located in the Examples folder of your Ecotect installation. The Heat Gain Loss Graph tutorial explains how to do this.

Tutorial

1. Each of the analysis tabs contains a text field that summaries the numerical data calculated by the analysis, which in turn is used to generate the graph shown above each tab.
   

   The text field for each of the analysis pages contains a numerical data summary.
2. 
   Right-click on the text field, and the following context menu appears, showing the various export options available :
   • Copy to Clipboard - this copies the text in the nominated format (see next), from where it can then be pasted Crtl+V into other applications, such as Microsoft Word.
   • There are four Format options for how the numerical data can be exported from Ecotect - Tab Separated,Space Separated,Comma Separated and Boxed Table. Choose the format option most appropriate for your needs (see next step for an explanation of the different formatting options).
   • Send to Excel... - this option exports the numerical data directly to Excel (if installed on your computer), and places each of the values into its own cell.
   • View as HTML table... - selecting this option takes you to the Summary tab of the Ecotect interface, and displays the numerical data as a HTML formatted table. If you right-click on this table, and then choose View Source, the HTML source code will be displayed in a new window, which can be copied and pasted into a webpage. Click back on the Analysis tab when you're done.
   • Save to file... - allows you to save the numerical data as a separate TXT file.
   • Tab Stops... - allows you to specify the tab spacing between each column for Tab Separated formatting
3. So what's the difference between the four formatting options, and when should one format be used over another? The following example compares them side by side :

This is an example of tab formatted text with a tab stop width of 36.

HOUR  	 HVAC	 FABRIC	 SOLAR	 VENT.	 INTERN	 ZONAL	
      	 (Wh)	   (Wh)	  (Wh)	  (Wh)	   (Wh)	  (Wh)	
------	-----	-------	------	------	-------	------	
00    	    0	   -349	     0	  -270	    780	   145

This is an example of tab formatted text with a tab stop width of 72.

HOUR  	     HVAC	 FABRIC	    SOLAR	 VENT.	    INTERN	 ZONAL	
     	     (Wh)	   (Wh)	     (Wh)	  (Wh)	      (Wh)	  (Wh)	
------	    -----	-------	   ------	------	   -------	------	
00    	        0	   -349	        0	  -270	       780	   145

Tab formatted text can be imported as cells into most spreadsheet programs, or can be converted into tables in most word processing applications.

This is an example of space formatted text.

HOUR    HVAC  FABRIC  SOLAR  VENT.  INTERN  ZONAL 
        (Wh)    (Wh)   (Wh)   (Wh)    (Wh)   (Wh) 
------ ----- ------- ------ ------ ------- ------ 
00         0    -349      0   -270     780    145

Space formatted text is ideally suited for exporting text into simple text-editing programs, such as Notepad.

This is an example of comma formatted text.

HOUR  , HVAC, FABRIC, SOLAR, VENT., INTERN, ZONAL,
      , (Wh),   (Wh),  (Wh),  (Wh),   (Wh),  (Wh),
------,-----,-------,------,------,-------,------,
00    ,    0,   -349,     0,  -270,    780,   145,

Comma formatted text (commonly referred to as comma separated values or CSV) can imported directly into cells into most spreadsheet applications, or can be converted into tables in most word processing applications.

This is an example of boxed formatted text.

+-------+------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-------+
|HOUR   | HVAC | FABRIC | SOLAR | VENT. | INTERN | ZONAL |
|       | (Wh) |   (Wh) |  (Wh) |  (Wh) |   (Wh) |  (Wh) |
+-------+------+--------+-------+-------+--------+-------+
|00     |    0 |   -349 |     0 |  -270 |    780 |   145 |

Boxed formatted text is ideally suited for exporting text into simple text-editing programs, such as Notepad.