Basic EPMA

[John Donovan]

Julie Chouinard who teaches our CAMCOR interns microanalysis using the microprobe, is most of the way through teaching this quarter's student interns. Much of her teaching is in a classroom having the students using PFE on their laptops, in WDS *and* EDS "simulation" mode, which is very effective for getting the students up to speed on the software without wasting a lot of time on the instrument:

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=837.0

This simulation mode uses the Penepma Monte Carlo physics package to simulate WDS and EDS spectra so it is pretty realistic. We've been improving this simulation mode for her classes and earlier this week she suggested to me making a "basic EPMA" window so the students can more quickly understand the work flow.

This "always on top" window feature is now implemented in the latest version of Probe for EPMA. Just update from the Help menu. To use this new feature simply start Probe for EPMA, open a new or existing run, and click the File | Basic EPMA menu as seen here:



This window will now pop up. The basic workflow is top to bottom. Clicking on each button will open up the usual PFE windows and dialogs along with a few menus in roughly the right order for a basic EPMA quantitative run. I think this new window makes it easier to get familiar with the main/basic  functionality of the software, without new users getting overwhelmed by all the expert features and options available in PFE:



Of course once someone is comfortable with the basics, all those cool PFE features will be available just as before.  I thank Julie Chouinard for suggesting this, and Julien Allaz for making some additional suggestions and Gareth Seward for proposing similar ideas along these lines in the past (but I couldn't of a neat way to implement it until now). I hope you all will provide more feedback as you use it.

Note that if you hover your mouse over each button it will pop up the usual "tool tip help", but also mention where this particular functionality is normally accessed. Of course clicking the little Help buttons takes you to the PFE Reference manual which explains things in some detail.

[John Donovan]

Julie Chouinard pointed out yesterday that we had only enabled the Basic EPMA menu when Probe for EPMA was connected to the instrument (or in simulation mode), and she thought it would be helpful to have the Basic EPMA menu also available even when off-line for data processing.

So we made a few changes that disables the "real time" buttons when not connected to the instrument, but still allows the plot wavescan, analysis and output buttons as seen here:



Use the Help | Update Probe for EPMA menu to get this latest update.

[Anette von der Handt]

Hello,

I am also teaching my class right now and this feature was received very, very well. So, thank you for implementing this and thanks to Julie for suggesting this!!

And I know I had my chance to say something and missed it but based on my own workflow, I would actually say that "Standard assignments" and "Analytical conditions" should be yellow too, "Adjust count times" should be the fifth instead of the third button of the first block and I would also add "Output Images" as an option at the end.

But otherwise, it is perfection 

[John Donovan]

And I know I had my chance to say something and missed it but based on my own workflow, I would actually say that "Standard assignments" and "Analytical conditions" should be yellow too, "Adjust count times" should be the fifth instead of the third button of the first block and I would also add "Output Images" as an option at the end.

We can do that!   

[John Donovan]

Hello,

I am also teaching my class right now and this feature was received very, very well. So, thank you for implementing this and thanks to Julie for suggesting this!!

And I know I had my chance to say something and missed it but based on my own workflow, I would actually say that "Standard assignments" and "Analytical conditions" should be yellow too, "Adjust count times" should be the fifth instead of the third button of the first block and I would also add "Output Images" as an option at the end.

But otherwise, it is perfection 

The latest version of Probe for EPMA now has an improved Basic EPMA window as suggested by Anette von der Handt:

[John Donovan]

And just to make it all more "symmetrical" we added an Imaging button to the "Basic EPMA" window:



Ready to update now.

[Anette von der Handt]

Beautiful!

[emma_fisi]

Can't wait to try this with my next batch of users! Thanks for creating it   

[John Donovan]

I just wanted to bump this post up front because it isn't something that everyone is aware of, but can really help new users when they are learning the Probe for EPMA workflow...

https://probesoftware.com/smf/index.php?topic=1267.msg8939#msg8939

[John Donovan]

We've improved the Basic EPMA window in Probe for EPMA by adding buttons that will connect users to short video tutorials on our Probe Software YouTube channel:



By hovering your mouse over these buttons you will get a short explanation of the video's topics.

You will notice that we don't yet have any buttons to the final four topics on analysis, display and output of quantitative results.  These last four buttons will be added in the next version of Probe for EPMA, probably after M&M later this month.

However, in the meantime Mike Matthews was kind enough to record these video tutorials over the weekend and they are now available on our YouTube channel in the Probe for EPMA Quantification playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CibKosKvX-7D61laPtMMttOFw1pKha0

Have you shown your new users this Basic EPMA window?  We think it makes training new users easier and with the YouTube tutorial videos it's now even easier! 

Besides, who reads manuals anymore?   

[John Donovan]

Just wanted to share the good news that we (thanks to Mike Matthews and Scott Boroughs!) have completed all the video tutorials for the Basic EPMA window in Probe for EPMA:



Remember, this "floating" window is available from the File menu in Probe for EPMA and provides an easy to navigate set of buttons, Help file links and now video tutorials for those learning the software.

Of course you can all these videos plus many more on our Probe Software YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@ProbeSoftware

If you have any suggestions for improving this feature please let us know...