Entering Irrigation Data Manually
Issue
We may be unable to enter a particular make and model of irrigation equipment as expediently as required, or the equipment may be unique or custom. In these cases, you may wish to enter the required data manually.
If you've modified equipment data and saved that equipment into a template, the changes will be overwritten with the official data from the manufacturer, so be careful.
Hoping to add equipment that isn't yet included in our software? See our instructions for specifying equipment that is not in the Land F/X database.
Solution
For most types of equipment, you can simply select the Custom option when adding it to a project from the Select Manufacturer dialog box. As long as the equipment does not have any performance data associated with it, this option will be available.
For equipment that has data requirements, you will be required to enter some data. The easiest way to do this is to add a similar type of equipment.
For this example, we'll add the Hunter I-40 to a project, and then edit the nozzles and data, as if to account for new/revised nozzle data that has not yet been implemented.
1. Add the equipment to the project (example: Hunter Turf Spray I-40) from the Irrigation Manager.
2. Export the project data to an external LFX file using our Backup feature, available from the Land F/X Projects dialog box.
3. Make a copy of the .lfx file, and change the file extension of the copy's filename from .lfx to .xml
4. Open the LFX file in Notepad, and open the XML file in Internet Explorer (note that Internet Explorer will give you a security warning, to which you want to click Yes to enable active content).
5. In both files, search for the equipment desired (in this case, "I-40").
In Internet Explorer, you can easily expand and contract nodes to become more familiar with the data layout.
Each record begins with <projdata> and ends with </projdata>
There is a record for each Nozzle or Size (so in this case, there are four projdata records for the I-40).
- data_code stores the Nozzle or Size
- data_name1 stores the Manufacturer and Model
- data_name2 stores the Description used when placing the item
- data_remarks stores the Schedule Description
- data_gpm stores the GPM
- data_psi stores the PSI
- data_radius stores the coverage radius
7. Using Notepad, edit the data as desired.
You can add or remove projdata records if necessary. Note that if you add a record, to be sure to edit the Nozzle/Size (data_code) to be unique.
8. When finished, save the file from Notepad.
Use the Restore feature, available in the Land F/X Projects dialog box, to import the data. Click Import, and import the revised LFX data.