Igor experiments compatibility
Igor 9 introduced new panel scaling method which is more convenient than "hack" used by Irena & Nika in Igor 5 - 8. Unluckily, this creates compatibility issue when experiments saved in Igor 9 are opened in Igor 8 (and prior) while some scaled panels are left opened. During Igor experiment load, during panel recreation, user gets error about unknown flag in recreation macro. Experiment recreation is aborted and user is left with partially loaded experiment which is difficult to use. Nothing bad happened, this is easy to fix All data are there, just macros are not loaded and will not load without user action. At the same time, commands to load (Load Irena SAS macros, Load Nika, or Load Indra, etc.) are not in Macros menu. When this happens, follow these steps:
- Open DataBrowser (Igor menu "Data") and make sure the checkbox "Strings" is checked
- Locate and delete following strings: root:Packages:USAXSItem1Str,root:Packages:SASItem1Str,root:Packages:Nika12DSASItem1Str
- Open Irena, Nika, or Indra (as you need) from the Macros menu now. Commands should be there after deleting these strings.
I have Igor 6.37 and "old" Irena/Nika, are Igor experiments from current version compatible with my old Igor and Irena/Nika versions?
Files from Igor 8 & 9 and current version of Irena/Nika can be opened in Igor 6.37 and used there - IF you are NOT using long names. Igor 8 introduced ability to name folders and waves/strings/variable with more than 32 characters (original Igor 1 - 7.07 limit). Now they can be 256 characters long. Igor experiments with these long names cannot be read by older versions of Igor Pro. Note, that there is switch in current version of Irena which user has to check to use long names, so by default this should be off and you should have no problems.
If the experiment would have newer panels opened, you may see some weird behavior and usability issues. I try to protect against presence of old panel versions, but protecting user against newer ones is not possible. But if you close all Irena/Nika panels (or remove whole Irena/Nika) before saving the file, and assuming the experiment is not using long names, it should open without complaints in Igor 6.37.
Also note, that some tools added new capabilities. If you would use, e.g., upgraded Size distribution tool, which added Power law background and stored result, this result would not be meaningful on old Size distribution version which has only flat background. It would not recover correct way and it could be bit of a mess. I am not sure if regular user hits this issue routinely, but this could be an issue.
Note, that Igor 9 is faster and better handles high resolution displays and Windows 10. UPGRADE