14 Gadgets

Gadgets provide a quick and easy way to perform exploratory analysis on plotted data. The concept is simple: While each Gadget has a specific purpose, each is built around applying a set of customizable analysis operations to a range of plotted data defined by a movable, resizable, region-of-interest (ROI) object.

You can drag to modify the ROI at any time, then change your analysis options and recalculate results by clicking the arrow button in the upper-right corner of the ROI and choosing one of the menu options. For general access to Gadget formatting and analysis options, choose Preferences at the bottom of the context menu. Use the Preferences Dialog Theme box to save a group of Gadget settings to a Theme file.

Multiple Gadgets are supported on a graph. You can distinguish ROIs by giving each a different color. Click on an ROI object to bring it forward. When an ROI is selected, you can use the TAB key to switch the ROI.

Grand image gadgets 2c.png

Origin 2016 introduced add-on tools called Apps. Since being introduced, many new exploratory and analysis-related tools have been added to OriginLab's File Exchange and more tools are being released all the time. Please visit the File Exchange to review available tools.

Origin Gadgets

The Gadgets main menu is available when a graph window is active. There are 14 gadgets available in Origin.

Gadgets are meant to be interactive. Any time you make an adjustment (to the region-of-interest, for example), you can generate new output to your results sheet by pressing "O" on the keyboard.

Cluster Gadget† View statistics on points inside/outside a rectangular or elliptical ROI. OriginPro Symbol.png
Differentiate Gadget Calculate and plot the nth-order derivative of selected data.
FFT Gadget View FFT spectrum of selected data.
Integration Gadget Calculate the area under a curve, or between two curves.
2D Integration Gadget Calculate the 2D integration for a contour or image graph created from matrix or XYZ worksheet data. OriginPro Symbol.png
Interpolate Gadget Perform linear, spline, b-spline or Akima spline interpolation of selected data.
Intersect Gadget Calculate the intersection points of two or more data plots.
Quick Fit Gadget Perform linear, polynomial, or nonlinear fitting of selected data.
Quick Peaks Gadget Locate peaks, and compute area and other peak properties.
Quick Sigmoidal Fit Gadget Perform Sigmoidal fit of selected data.
Rise Time Gadget Analyzes rise/fall time for the step-like signal. OriginPro Symbol.png
Statistics Gadget Compute and display simple descriptive statistics of selected data on the graph.
Vertical Cursor Gadget Read and tag X, Y coordinate values for data plots across multiple graphs that share the same X axis.

The Vertical Cursor Gadget now supports a horizontal layer arrangement. A Linked Cursor for Each Layer button is added to the dialog to place a cursor at the same X position for all layers.UG vertical cursor add linked cursor 1.png

Image/Contour Profile Analyze the image or contour from matrix data and generate profiles.
Curve Translate Gadget Drag a curve in the vertical or horizontal direction, adjusting source data in the process.
Note: To learn more about these gadgets, see:

Help: Origin: Origin Help > Gadgets

Help: Origin: Origin Help >Matrixbooks Matrixsheets and Matrix Objects > Viewing and Profiling Matrix Data

† When you use the Cluster gadget to graphically define a category (within an ROI), you can apply a differentiating color to points within the ROI.

Tutorial: Using the Integrate Gadget to Output Results to a Worksheet

  1. With a new workbook active, import the file Peaks on Exponential Baseline.dat located in the Samples\Spectroscopy subfolder under the Origin installation folder.
  2. Create a line plot of the data in column B.
  3. With the graph active, go to the main menu and click Gadgets: Integrate....
  4. In the dialog box that opens, click the Baseline tab and select Straight Line from the Mode drop-down list.
  5. Click the Output tab, and under the Output Quantities to node, select Append to Worksheet and clear the other check boxes.
  6. Expand the Quantities node, select None from the Dataset Identifier drop-down list and enable Beginning X and Ending X.
  7. Press OK to close the dialog box. The Region-of-Interest (ROI) rectangle object is added to the graph.
  8. Resize and move the ROI object to cover just the first peak in the data plot, then press the arrow button Right arrow menu button.png located at the top-right of the ROI and select New Output; or press "O" on your keyboard. This will write the parameters for the first peak to a worksheet.
  9. Drag and move the ROI to cover the second peak, and repeat the steps above to generate output for the second peak.
  10. Press the arrow button Right arrow menu button.png again and this time select Go to Report Worksheet. A worksheet with the integration results will open.

GSB Gadget Tutorial.png

Click the arrow button Right arrow menu button.png in the top right corner of the ROI and you can opt to output results for all curves in the current layer (New Output for all Curves (N)) or for all layers of the graph page (New Output for All Layers (L)) or press the corresponding N or L hotkey. This allows for batch analysis of multiple curves in a graph.

Topics for Further Reading