How to open an Agilent OpenLab CDS 2 .dx file without OpenLab

OpenLab CDS 2 is Agilent's current chromatography data system. Instead of a .D folder, it stores each injection as a single .dx file. Outside OpenLab, most software cannot open it.

What is inside a .dx file

A .dx is a zip archive. Rename a copy to .zip and you can look inside:

• injection.acmd: an XML manifest with the run date, method, operator and a description of every signal.
• Files with long GUID names: .UV (full DAD spectra), .CH (single signals, such as one wavelength) and .IT (instrument traces such as pressure and temperature).

The binary signals use the same containers as ChemStation, with one difference: the spectra need an extra scale factor to come out in mAU. That is why simply unzipping is not enough.

In your browser

1. Open Nagura Lab and drop one or more .dx files on the page.
2. Signals get their real names from the manifest (for example DAD1A with its wavelength), not the GUIDs.
3. Overlay injections, explore the spectrum map, add a chromatogram at any wavelength, and export CSV or PNG.

The file is decoded on your computer and never uploaded. Instrument traces (pressure, temperature) are not shown yet.

In Python

import rainbow as rb

run = rb.read("injection.dx")
print([f.name for f in run.datafiles])      # e.g. ['DAD1I.UV', 'DAD1A.CH']
run.get_file("DAD1A.CH").export_csv("DAD1A.csv")

From OpenLab itself

If you have OpenLab CDS 2.4 or later, a signal can be exported as CSV from within the software; Agilent describes the steps in Export Chromatogram Signal as CSV.