DM Script to import a 2D image in text (CSV) format - import-from-csv

Question

Using the built-in "Import Data..." functionality we can import a properly formatted text file (like CSV and/or tab-delimited) as an image. It is rather straight forward to write a script to do so. However, my scripting approach is not efficient - which requires me to loop through each raw (use the "StreamReadTextLine" function) so it takes a while to get a 512x512 image imported.
Is there a better way or an "undocumented" script function that I can tap in?

Answer 1

DigitalMicrograph offers an import functionality via the File/Import Data... menu entry, which will give you this dialog:
The functionality evoked by this dialog can also be accessed by script commands, with the command
BasicImage ImageImportTextData( String img_name, ScriptObject stream, Number data_type_enum, ScriptObject img_size, Boolean lines_are_rows, Boolean size_by_counting )
As with the dialog, one has to pre-specify a few things.
The data type of the image.
This is a number. You can find out which number belongs to which image data type by, f.e., creating an image outputting its data type:
image img := Realimage( "", 4, 100 )
Result("\n" + img.ImageGetDataType() )
The file stream object
This object describes where the data is stored. The F1 help-documention explains how one creates a file-stream from an existing file, but essentially you need to specify a path to the file, then open the file for reading (which gives you a handle), and then using the fileHandle to create the stream object.
string path = "C:\\test.txt"
number fRef = OpenFileForReading( path )
object fStream = NewStreamFromFileReference( fRef, 1 )
The image size object
This is a specific script object you need to allocate. It wraps image size information. In case of auto-detecting the size from the text, you don't need to specify the actual size, but you still need the object.
object imgSizeObj = Alloc("ImageData_ImageDataSize")
imgSizeObj.SetNumDimensions(2) // Not needed for counting!
imgSizeObj.SetDimensionSize(0,10) // Not used for counting
imgSizeObj.SetDimensionSize(1,10) // Not used for counting
Boolean checks
Like with the checkboxes in the UI, you spefic two conditions:
Lines are Rows
Get Size By Counting
Note, that the "counting" flag is only used if "Lines are Rows" is also true. Same as with the dialog.
The following script improrts a text file with couting:
image ImportTextByCounting( string path, number DataType )
{
number fRef = OpenFileForReading( path )
object fStream = NewStreamFromFileReference( fRef, 1 )
number bLinesAreRows = 1
number bSizeByCount = 1
bSizeByCount *= bLinesAreRows // Only valid together!
object imgSizeObj = Alloc("ImageData_ImageDataSize")
image img := ImageImportTextData( "Imag Name ", fStream, DataType, imgSizeObj, bLinesAreRows, bSizeByCount )
return img
}
string path = "C:\\test.txt"
number kREAL4_DATA = 2
image img := ImportTextByCounting( path, kREAL4_DATA )
img.ShowImage()