Clamp Notes and Logs


Notes

Notes Table – above is a snapshot of the Clamp Notes Table, created by selecting the Edit All button on the Clamp/File Tab. The Notes Table displays all of the numeric and string (text) note variables currently defined. If a variable is numeric, its value will appear in the NumValue column (middle); if it’s a string, its value will appear in the StrValue column (right). You can edit the values as if you were editing an Igor table. Values will be updated once you de-select the table. To create a new note variable, enter a new variable name in an empty row, followed by either a numeric or a string value. Header variables (see below) should begin with the prefix “H_”, while file variables should begin with the prefix “F_”. If you enter a name without a prefix, it will be defined as a file variable by default. To delete a note variable, delete the variable’s name from the table.

Header Notes – these variables pertain to your experiment as a whole and remain constant. They begin with the prefix “H_”. Three header string variables are defined by default: H_Name, H_Lab and H_Title. These strings can be edited in either the Notes Table or on the Clamp/File Tab.

File Notes – these variables pertain to individual files and are nulled after each recording. They begin with the prefix “F_”. For example, if you are measuring your access resistance and cell capacitance throughout your experiment, you can define variables F_Ra and F_Cm to hold these values. Before selecting Record, you would enter the values for F_Ra and F_Cm into the Notes Table. Five file string variables are defined by default: F_Folder (folder name), F_Stim(stim name), F_Tbgn (time begin) and F_Tend (time end). These strings are updated automatically by NeuroMatic and therefore do not appear in the Notes Table (but do appear in the Log Table and Notebook as described below).

Note – to make a general note, select the Note button next to the Record button, or use the keyboard shortcut ctrl+6. Your note will appear at the bottom of the Notes Table with the current time. The note will be a File Note beginning with prefix “F_Note”. Notes should be made before selecting Record so they can be saved to disk along with the acquired data.

Notes Folder – note variables are saved in the root:Packages:NeuroMatic:Notes folder. After selecting Record, a copy of this folder is placed in the current NeuroMatic data folder. Hence, note variables will be saved with each of your data files. A copy of the Notes Folder is also placed in the log directory which is then used in the generation of a Log Table or Notebook (see below).


Logs

Log Folder – this folder resides in the root:NMLogs folder and begins with the folder prefix name defined on the Clamp/File Tab. For example, the log folder might be named nm13Oct2017c0_log0. Within the log folder resides a copy of each Notes Folder created for each sequence recording. The Log Folder is saved automatically to an external file if auto save is checked on the Clamp/File Tab. You can open a log file from a disk like any other NeuroMatic data file (NeuroMatic/Data Folder/Open Data Files).

Log Table and Notebook – the log folder can be displayed as either a table, a notebook (text) or both using the popup control on the Clamp/File Tab.