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ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The Protocol page > The elements of a protocol > Testing > Procedures > Writing a procedure using the procedure editor > Errors and warnings while writing a procedure > Warning: This event will never occur
Warning: This event will never occur
Description
This warning is displayed in the list of errors and warnings at the bottom of the procedure editor when a procedure contains one or more Events which, due to changes made to the experiment's protocol, will not fire during a test.
Details
Settings in an ANY-maze protocol may be changed at any time, either before, during or after tests have been run. If a procedure uses an event that depends on one of these settings, then the procedure will no longer work as expected. For example, if a procedure is waiting for the animal to become immobile, but the protocol is edited to turn off Immobility detection, the Animal becomes immobile event will never happen.
As part of its checking of a procedure (either when the procedure is checked for errors, or when you leave the procedure editor), ANY-maze will warn you about these events.
Reasons why events will not fire
The checking of a procedure will detect the following reasons why an event may not fire:
| | • | Auto-starting of tests is turned off in the protocol. This applies to the Test is waiting to start event. When tests are started automatically, clicking the  (Start test) button will put the test into a 'waiting to start' state, while ANY-maze waits for the experimenter to put the animal into the apparatus. When tests are started manually, however, clicking the  button will actually start the test immediately, and so the Test is waiting to start event will never occur. | |
| | • | Immobility detection is turned off in the protocol. The Animal becomes mobile and Animal becomes immobile events will only be triggered if the protocol is set up to detect immobility. | |
| | • | Freezing detection is turned off in the protocol. The Animal freezes and Animal unfreezes events will only be triggered if freezing detection is turned on in the protocol. | |
| | • | Immobility is turned off in the protocol, and no keys are defined to count as activity. ANY-maze only registers the animal as being 'active' if immobility detection is turned on, or a key has been set up to count as an activity. Only then can ANY-maze trigger the Animal becomes active and Animal becomes inactive events. | |
| | • | This item is not available in the current protocol mode. Several items in the protocol are only available for selected protocol modes. For example, the Video tracking mode does not include I/O, and so none of the I/O inputs or outputs will trigger any events (e.g. On/off input activated, Speaker starts playing, etc.). There may be other events that are not available, if the selected protocol mode is different to that used when the procedure was written. | |
| | • | Head tracking is not enabled in the protocol. Some events, for example Animal head position changes or Is animal oriented towards a zone, rely on ANY-maze tracking the animal's head and/or tail. If tracking the animal's head is turned off, these events will no longer occur. | |
| | • | The current protocol mode does not use video tracking. Events such as Animal centre position changes will not be triggered if the current protocol mode does not include video tracking. | |
| | • | The virtual switch is only available after the test has finished. Virtual switches can use measures that are only available at the end of a test, and not during the test itself - for example, the Relative animal length measure is only calculated when a test finishes. If a virtual switch relies on this measure, it cannot be used during the test itself, and so the event for this virtual switch being active will never occur while a procedure is running. | |
| | • | The zone is an investigation zone. Events for Animal enters zone and Animal exits zone are only valid for zones which are not set up as Investigation zones. If the zone specified is an investigation zone, then these events will never occur because ANY-maze does not detect entry to an investigation zone. | |
| | • | The zone is not an investigation zone. Events for Animal starts investigating zone and Animal stops investigating zone are only valid for zones which are have been set up as Investigation zones. If the zone specified is not an investigation zone, then these events will never occur. | |
| | • | The zone is a hidden zone. Events for the animal becoming oriented towards and away from a zone can only occur if ANY-maze knows where the zone is. Since hidden zones are (by definition) invisible, ANY-maze cannot determine orientation to or from a hidden zone. | |
For all of the above, ANY-maze will register a warning for the procedure, but the procedure will still run. It is up to you to determine whether the failure of the event to occur will cause you problems in your tests.
See also:
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ANY-maze help topic T0536
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