ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The I/O page > Working with the I/O page

Working with the I/O page

Introduction

The I/O page in ANY-maze is designed to let you do two things, configure the I/O devices connected to your computer and to test them. It's important to understand that this page is not actually used when performing an experiment, as the I/O functions are then all controlled through your protocol - rather it provides a place to get your I/O set up before you begin testing your animals.

Setting up the I/O devices you want to use with ANY-maze

ANY-maze works with a wide range of I/O devices and will, generally, detect them automatically when it starts-up - it will then begin using any that it finds. But what if you have a device connected to your computer which you don't want ANY-maze to use? And what about devices which ANY-maze doesn't detect automatically - devices which connect to a serial port, syringe pumps for example, can't be detected automatically - how will ANY-maze know they're there?

These issues are addressed using the I/O ports and devices set-up window shown in figure 1. Here you can specify which ports and devices ANY-maze should use and, in the case of serial ports, what devices are attached to them.

Figure 1. The I/O ports and devices set-up window used to specify what ports and devices ANY-maze should use.

The I/O ports and devices set-up window is accessed by clicking the Set up devices button shown in the ribbon bar when the I/O page is selected; the window is described in detail here.

Configuring individual devices

Most of the I/O devices supported by ANY-maze are, to some extent or other, configurable. For example, the ANY-maze TTL cable just includes two TTL ports, but should these ports be inputs or outputs? Well, this is something you can configure for yourself.

Figure 2. The ANY-maze TTL cable configuration window

Clearly, the configuration of the ANY-maze TTL cable is quite simple, but more complex devices, such as the ANY-maze interface (AMi), have many configuration options - for example, you each of the 16 AMi General purpose I/O ports can be configured to work in many different ways.

To actually configure a device, you should first select the device in the list on the left-side of the I/O page, and then click the Configure this device button in the ribbon bar. This will open the device's configuration window. Full details about each device's configuration options can be found in the relevant device's section of the I/O devices help.

In some cases, when you select a device on the I/O page, the ribbon bar may include a Configure all devices button. As the name implies, selecting this button will configure all of the selected type of devices to have identical configurations. This can be a real time saver when, for example, you have eight identical devices that you'll be using in your experiment.

Renaming devices

Many devices have rather technical names which make it difficult to remember which is which. However, by selecting a device in the list on the I/O page and then clicking the Rename this device button, you can change the name to something more meaningful. For example, you may have some Skinner boxes that contain levers and pellet dispensers which are connected to a device called 'AMi-1', Changing the device's name to 'Skinner box interface' would make it much clearer what this device is for.

Renumbering devices

ANY-maze automatically numbers I/O devices, so for example, if you have four OPAD cages connected to your computer they will be numbered 1 to 4. This is fine, but imagine what might happen if you have just set up eight OPAD cages in your lab: you've carefully arranged the cage on a bench so they're in a row and you then turn everything on; ANY-maze will recognise the cages and will number them 1 to 8, but, there's no guarantee it will number them in the same order as you've put them on the bench (indeed it's very unlikely), so you'll probably end up with them numbered something like 4,1,8,3,6,2,5,7. Of course this won't stop them from working, but it would be much better if you could renumber them to be in order.

In fact, you can usually change a device's number using its configuration window, but this means you'd have to renumber each device individually, instead you can use ANY-maze's renumber function. This function isn't available for all devices, but when a device supports it (OPAD does, for example) then you will see a button in the ribbon bar like the Renumber OPAD cages button. In the case of OPAD, Selecting this button opens the Renumber OPAD cages window which guides you through the process of quickly renumbering all your OPAD cages at once (essentially you just push a button on the front of each cage, the first cage whose button you press will be cage 1, the second one, cage 2, and so on). Other devices work in a similar way.

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ANY-maze help topic T0897