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Experiment design files

Introduction

Experiment design files provide a mechanism by which you can predefine an experiment and then create it with a single action. This can be useful if the person who will create the experiment is not the same person who will perform it. The 'creator' can specify all the details of the experiment within the Experiment design file, and the 'performer' then just has to load the design file and run the experiment.

Creating an Experiment design file

Experiment design files are just text files and can be created using any text editor, such as Notepad in Windows.

The file has a specific, although simple format: The first line must contain the text '[ANY-maze]' (without the quotation marks). Subsequent lines contain a series of settings, one per line, in any order. Each setting consists of a name followed by an equals sign, followed by a value. The names of the settings are not case sensitive, nor are the values. Some of the settings are required, but most are optional. For example:

[ANY-maze]

Protocol          = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze protocols\watermaze.szp

ExperimentTitle   = Water-maze test of drug X at three concentrations

ExperimentFile    = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze experiments\Test of Drug X.szd

AnimalList        = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze experiments\Test of Drug X - animals.csv

LockProtocolEdits = Y

The full list of Experiment design file settings is:

Below is an example of an Experiment design file which uses every setting:

[ANY-maze]

Protocol              = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze protocols\watermaze.szp

LockProtocolEdits     = Y

ExperimentTitle       = Water-maze test of drug X at three concentrations

ExperimentFile        = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze experiments\Test of Drug X.szd

AnimalList            = C:\Experiments\ANY-maze experiments\Test of Drug X - animals.csv

DisallowUndoLastTest  = N

AlwaysSaveTestResults = Y

BarcodeVerification   = Y

BarcodePrefix         = 2

BarcodeSuffix         = 3

Using an Experiment design file

To use an experiment design file, you just need to open the file in the same way as you'd normally open an experiment file; for example, you could select Open experiment on the File page, change the type of file on the file open window to 'Experiment design file' and then select the file. Alternatively, you could drag an Experiment design file into ANY-maze, or you could simply double click on an Experiment design file from within Windows. In all cases the Experiment design file will be opened.

When you open a design file ANY-maze will create an experiment based on the design file settings. If during this process something goes wrong, for example, the protocol file specified doesn't exist, or the Animal list contains an invalid entry, then a message will be displayed explaining what the problem is and no experiment will be created.

After successfully creating an experiment from the design file, ANY-maze will note that the design file has been used and will then prevent it from being used again. In other words, you can only create an experiment from a design file once. If you try to use it again, a message will be displayed stating this and detailing who used the design file and when.

See also:

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ANY-maze help topic T0057