ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The Protocol page > The elements of a protocol > Testing > Procedures > Elements of a procedure

Elements of a procedure

There are a number of procedure 'building blocks' that can be used to create a procedure:

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Statements, which are the top-level items that control the flow of the procedure. They will be executed one after another as the procedure runs.

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Events, which represent the things happening in the apparatus as the test is run. These could be events due to animal movement (the animal enters a zone, the animal freezes, etc.) or I/O events (a lever was pressed, etc.), or other events such as the test ending. Note that these events are similar to the events in the old Events and Actions system; a basic set of events is listed automatically on the left-hand side of the procedure editor, and new events can be set up by clicking the

Create event button, which will allow you to create more complex events.

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Actions, which are used when the procedure needs to tell the ANY-maze software to actually do something – for example, end the test, or turn on an I/O device or adjust its settings. These are similar to the actions that were available in the old Events and Actions system, but allow more flexibility in the parameters that can be specified for these actions.

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Variables, which can be one of two types:

1. There are a number of Built-in variables that a procedure can retrieve from the ANY-maze software to determine the current state of the test - for example, the animal's current speed or its distance from a specific zone.

2. You can also define your own variables for use in the procedure – these are values that the procedure can use for whatever purpose it requires, for example, to maintain a count of the number of times the animal enters a zone. To create a variable for use within a procedure, click the Create variable button.

Each of these procedure elements has its own tabbed section in the procedure editor window, containing the items of that type that are available to procedures.

When the procedure editor is in 'Simple' mode, the Variables tab is not shown. You can switch the procedure editor between

Simple view and

Full view using the buttons on the ribbon bar.

ANY-maze help topic T0464