Release Notes

Oasis montaj 5.1.3

• How to upgrade
• Download the offline upgrade patches

Click on the following for further information:

• New in Oasis montaj 5.1.3
• GX Developer advances in Oasis montaj 5.1.3
• Bugs Fixed in Oasis montaj 5.1.3
• Release notes for previous versions

In response to suggestions from users an upgraded version of Geosoft’s Wholeplot Drillhole Plotting application is now available. This is the second phase of the Wholeplot upgrade. The following list provides an overview of some the new and upgraded features found in Oasis montaj 5.1.3.

QA/QC

• tests for collar, survey and assay data sets
• test on import and after import
• Collar data tests: Dummy East, North or RL; Duplicated locations; Reversed Easting/Northing; Dip out of range -90 to 90; Azimuth out of range -360 to 360; Dip sign discrepancy; Top of hole depth less than 0; Hole depth less than 0; Hole depth less than top of hole
• Dip-Azimuth survey tests: Dummy Depth; Depth less than hole top; Depth greater than hole bottom; Duplicated Depths; Out-of-sequence Depths; Dummy Dip or Azimuth; Dip out of range -90 to 90; Azimuth out of range -360 to 360; Dip sign discrepancy; Max curvature - degrees per meter
• From-To assay tests: Dummy From or To; From greater than To; From equals To; From or To less than hole top; From or To greater than hole bottom; Duplicated From-To intervals; Out-of-sequence intervals; Overlapping intervals; Missing intervals; Duplicated sample numbers

Masking/Selection Tools

• specify a mask channel to select individual intervals for plotting - integration with Chimera™
• update selection from plan or section maps using polygon selection tool
• update selection based on rock code
• update selection based on numeric range

Strip log maps

• up to 16 data/graph type selections in each plot
• single-step plotting of single holes, selected holes, all holes, range of holes
• fixed scale plotting to one or more pages, or scale to fit to a single page
• top or side legend

Compositing tool

• works with strip log plots
• calculate and annotate composite intervals on up to five data selections at once
• multiple undo
• optional output of intervals to a text file

Section Plots

• pre-set vertical extent option
• improved automatic scaling, and scaling set using interactive selection from a map
• user preference for east or west-facing N-S sections
• Data Plotting to plan, section (or strip log) maps
• posting comments with text-wrap feature
• plot bars and profiles with no fill, pattern fill or corresponding rock patterns
• Logos can now be specified for the legends in plan, section or strip log maps.

Prior to Oasis montaj 5.1.3, location information has always been stored in the "X" and "Y" channels. Many processes, including gridding, symbol plotting, etc., assume that "X" and "Y" channels exist, and will fail with an error message if they are not found in the current database. Whenever data was re-projected, or a warp applied, or a new set of coordinate channels was required, the original "X" and "Y" were backed up (usually to "__X" and "__Y" or similar), and then overwritten with the new values.

This system, though workable, had its drawbacks. For instance, many users would prefer "Easting" and "Northing" or "East" and "North" for the names of their locations. Also, when changing coordinates channels it could become difficult to remember where the original values resided in a database, and they might even become lost if multiple operations affecting the coordinate channels were performed. A second problem involved geochemists dealing with assay data sets. Often, these data sets involved numerous assay values for the various elements of the period table, including Yttrium, which, inconveniently, goes by the symbol "Y". To avoid overwriting locations stored in the coordinate "Y" channel, users were forced to rename the Yttrium channel to "Yt", which many, not surprisingly, objected to. Rather than attempt to get the world to accept a new version of the periodic table, we have introduced the concept of the "Current" X and Y channels into Oasis montaj 5.1.3.

Each database now remembers the two channels which are to considered as the "Current" X and Y channels. Any GX which looks for "X" or "Y" will now make use of these channels. By default the current X and Y are "X" and "Y", but the user, or a modified import function (such as now exists for Chimera and Wholeplot users in 5.1.3), can now denote other channels, such as "Easting" and "Northing" to be the current X and Y.

Now, if you select "Change X,Y coordinates..." in the "Coordinates" menu, instead of the GX creating backup copies of the existing X and Y, then copying the selected new coordinate channels into X and Y, the current X and Y channel settings for the database are simply renamed. No data is copied, no new channels are created, and no data need be backed up. From that point on, the newly specified channels will work with all existing GXs as if they were X and Y. Map-based cursor linking also works with the current X and Y channels.

To immediately identify to users which channels are currently being used as X and Y, small "x" and "y" icons have been added at the right side of the the channel title header cell in the database window. Those with existing databases will find that the "X" and "Y" channels have these indicators. If you select two other channels to be the current X and Y, the icons shift to them.

Users of Wholeplot and Chimera will find the first usage of the current X and Y channels. In Wholeplot in Om5.1.2, location information is now calculated and stored to the "DH_EAST", "DH_NORTH" and "DH_RL" channels, with the first two becoming the current X and Y channels for purposes of linking and plotting. (In fact "DH_RL" becomes the current "Z" channel and is also used in the linking). Users of Chimera will find that located data uses "East" and "North" instead of "X" and "Y".

Note: GX Developers should consult the GX Developer advances in Oasis montaj 5.1.3 for details on how to implement current X and Y channels in their GXs, and to see how it affects current GXs.

Prior to Oasis montaj 5.1.3, in order to load a number of channels of those not currently displayed, a user had to right click on the channel header row, select "List...", select a single item from the list of available channels, then repeat this process for each additional channel. The functionality of this tool has now been upgraded to accept standard Windows-style multiple selections. "OK" and "Cancel" buttons have been added when the selection process is complete. To select a single channel, just double-click it. To select a range, click on the first and drag the cursor to the last. To add or remove a single channel in an already selected range, hold down the "Ctrl" key and click on the item.

To delete multiple channels in one step, select "Delete multiple channels..." from the same channel menu. After selecting the items, you will be prompted with a "are you sure" message before the channels are deleted from the database.

A new preference has been added to the Oasis montaj settings... If "Specify Projection on Import" is set to "Yes", then after using any one of the standard imports to a new database the projection wizard GX is run to let the user set up the projection for the data.

In Oasis montaj 5.1.3, if you modify the colours for an image on a map using the colour image tool, the associated colour bar is automatically refreshed to match the new colour scheme. This is accomplished by calling the colour bar group's "Maker" to run the corresponding colour bar GX, so changes made with the map editor to the colour bar after its creation (e.g. moving, re-sizing) are lost.

New! Kimberlite Indicator and Diamond Database (KIDD) and Kimberlite Indicator Mineral Chemistry Database (KIMC) datasets now available for download from the Geosoft DAP server for Oasis montaj 5.1.3.

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GX Developer advances in Oasis montaj 5.1.3

For an overview of this subject, first read the explanation under "New in Oasis montaj 5.1.3: "Current" X and Y channels.

For the vast majority of cases, all existing GXs will work seamlessly with the new "Current" X and Y channels. Here is why:

Normally, the channel symbols for the coordinate channels are obtained using commands such as the following:

XCh = FindSymb_DB(Data, "X", DB_SYMB_CHAN);

YCh = FindSymb_DB(Data,"Y", DB_SYMB_CHAN);

The FindSymb_DB function has been modified so that if it asks for "X", it will get whichever channel is defined as the current X channel. In the same way the iExistSymb_DB function has been modified, so that if it asks for "X", it will return TRUE (1) if a current X channel exists. If the requested channel is not given as "X" or "Y" the FindSymb_DB and iExistSymb_DB work exactly as before.

Several new functions have been introduced to set a specific channel to be the current X or Y channel, or to get the current X and Y channels. The following examples demonstrate their use:

SetXYZChanSymb_DB(Data, DB_CHAN_X, "Easting");

SetXYZChanSymb_DB(Data, DB_CHAN_Y, "Northing");

and

XCh = GetXYZChanSymb_DB(Data, DB_CHAN_X);

YCh = GetXYZChanSymb_DB(Data, DB_CHAN_Y);

The last two now have the same effect as

XCh = FindSymb_DB(Data, "X", DB_SYMB_CHAN);

YCh = FindSymb_DB(Data,"Y", DB_SYMB_CHAN);

For those working with 3-dimensional data, the concept extends to the current "Z" channel, accessed using the DB_CHAN_Z identifier.

One twist remains, however. What if a user has a "new" database with "East" and "North" as the current X and Y channels, and "Y" for Yttrium data? You can no longer use FindSymb_DB(Data, "Y", DB_SYMB_CHAN) or iExistSymb_DB(Data, "Y", DB_SYMB_CHAN) to get the Yttrium ("Y") channel, because it gets the location "North" channel. To handle this situation, two new functions have been created:

FindChan_DB works exactly like the old FindSymb_DB; you get exactly what you ask for. In addition, iExistChan_DB works exactly like the old iExistSymb_DB (only just for channels). They are used as follows:

AssayCh = FindSymb_DB(Data, "Y");

if(iExistChan_DB(Data, "Y"))

Again, unless you are writing GXs for situations where the current X and Y channels are NOT "X" and "Y", and there also exist "X" and "Y" channels separate from these which you need access to, it is not necessary to use these new functions. On the other hand, for general use, they save a few characters of typing over the original FindSymb_DB and iExistSymb_DB for access to non-coordinate channels.

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Bugs Fixed in Oasis montaj 5.1.3

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