Interoperability with other scientific software

Import of OriginLab projects

QtiPlot can import *.opj project files created with OriginLab versions ranging from 3.5 to 9.9.5 (Origin 2022b). QtiPlot can also import old version format files (*.ORG), individual workbooks (*.ogw files), matrices (*.ogg files) and graphs (*.ogg files).

The *.OPJU file format introduced in Origin 2018 is only supported on Windows, provided that an Origin version ranging between 2018 and 2023 is installed on your computer (even as an evaluation or demo version). In this case QtiPlot can use the COM interface installed by OriginLab in order to automatically convert the .opju files to the older .opj file format, which, afterwards, it tries to import.

Please beware that not all of OriginLab features are available in QtiPlot and that sometimes the formating of the data tables or of the plot windows might look different from the original projects.

Export QtiPlot projects to OriginLab

Starting with version 0.9.9.1 QtiPlot can also export individual project windows, projects folders or entire projects as Origin C files that can be compiled and executed by OriginLab. Again, since not all of OriginLab features are available in QtiPlot the data tables and especially the plot windows might look different when opened into OriginLab.

Saving QtiPlot projects to Origin C files is straightforward: open the File menu, select the Save Window as... or Save Project as... command and choose the file type Origin project (*.c) from the file dialog.

If you export projects containing 2D graph windows that display images or LaTeX equations QtiPlot will save all these images into a folder with the -images suffix appended to the base name of the exported Origin C file. Therefore if you send the .c file to someone else don't forget to also attach this folder.

There are a few preparatory steps that should be undertaken into OriginLab in order to easily open the C files generated by QtiPlot. First of all you should create a new menu using the OriginLab Custom Menu Organizer wizard from the Tools menu:

In the Custom Menu Organizer dialog you need to right click into the left panel in order to add a new menu, that was renamed to CustomImport in the example screenshot bellow:

Next you need to right click on this new menu and from the popup menu select the option Add Item:

Once the menu item is created you need to select it with the mouse. A new dialog page appears and you can customize it like in the following screenshot, where we changed the default name to Open QtiPlot and added a Status Bar Text:

In the LabTalk Script editor you must copy/paste the following code lines:

run.LoadOC(Originlab\\image_utils.c);
getfile *.c;
if (run.LoadOC(%A) == 0) importQtiPlot;

Once this is done click the Close button of the dialog and press the Yes button when asked to save the changes.

In order to be successfully compiled by OriginLab the C files generated by QtiPlot must be copied into the OriginC folder of your OriginLab installation directory, like shown in the screenshot bellow:

After the compilation process OriginLab will create a new folder having the base name of the imported C file.

Import of Excel files

QtiPlot can import data from spreadsheets stored in binary *.xls, *xlsx files as well as from *.xml Microsoft Excel files, using different methods. For more details see the Open Excel... command.

On Windows operating systems, if Microsoft Excel is installed on your computer, QtiPlot can also import the charts from Excel files or even embed Excel workbooks (New Excel command).

Export QtiPlot data to Excel

QtiPlot can export data from table and matrix windows as binary *.xls files.

Import

QtiPlot can import data from spreadsheets stored in binary *.ods files as well as from flat XML *.fods files (see Open ODF Spreadsheet... command).

Export

QtiPlot can export data from table and matrix windows as binary *.ods files if either LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice are installed on your computer.