ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The Tests page > Running tests > Running a test > Controlling trials which are set to start automatically

Controlling trials which are set to start automatically

Introduction

Using the Automatic repetition of trials options for a stage, you can specify that trials should start either a certain period after the previous trial or at a certain time of day.

Making trials start at their programmed time

To make a trial start automatically at its programmed time you don't have to do anything. ANY-maze will simply start the trial for you.

When a trial is set to start automatically ANY-maze will show the time when the trial will begin, for example "The test will start at 9:00am". When the programmed start time is less than one hour away, the display will change to show a countdown to the test start, for example "The test will start in 23:47".

Note, ANY-maze will never automatically start a test whose programmed start time is in the past, for example, if the test should start 10 minutes after the start of the previous trial, but the previous trial lasts 20 minutes, then the next trial WILL NOT start automatically - you will need to start it manually by clicking the Start test button.

Preventing trials from starting at their programmed time

To prevent tests from starting at their programmed time you just need to click the little arrow next to the Start test button and un-check the option Automatically start tests at protocol specified times in the menu that appears.

To switch automatic starting back on, simply check the box.

Pausing the automatic start of a trial

Imagine a test is about to start at its programmed time but you want to pause the countdown for a while - perhaps because you want to wait for noise from another room to cease.

To achieve this, you could switch off the automatic start (see the previous section) and then switch it back on later, but if the test start time passes while the automatic start is off then the test won't start when you switch it back on (because ANY-maze never automatically starts a test whose programmed start time is in the past). Instead you can simply pause the countdown by clicking the Pause test button and then unpause it a while later by clicking the same button again. While paused the countdown stops and when unpaused it continues from where it left off, this does mean that the actual start time will change.

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ANY-maze help topic T0812