Specifying output data file location?
Liza Mccarron
Liza.Mccarron at uwe.ac.uk
Fri Jan 22 12:21:58 UTC 2010
OK , I have had an answer from PST support about this issue and I will be testing it as soon as I have time (students permitting!) but am posting it here in case it is useful to anyone in the meantime:
>From Cindy Carper on 1/21/2010 1:18:00 PM
Liza,
It is possible to change the location of where the EDAT2 files are saved so that they can be saved to a folder other than the one where the ES2 file and stimulus files are saved. The DataFile object within E-Prime generates a .txt file, known as the E-Recovery text file, during the running of an experiment. At the end of the experiment, this file is converted into an EDAT file for use within E-DataAid and E-Merge.
By default, these files are written to the same folder/directory as the experiment EBS file that is running. E-Prime 1.1 (and later) introduces the ability to redirect the default location for the E-Data files to be written.
Upon opening of the data file, E-Prime will look at the system E-DataPath environment variable. If it is specified, all EDAT files will be written to this location during the running of experiments. This setting overrides the default. All data files will be written to this location regardless of what folder they are run from. To restore to the default setting of writing the data file contents in the same directory as the running experiment EBS file, simply delete or clear the value of the E-DataPath environment variable.
How to specify the E-DataPath environment variable in Windows XP/Vista
Select the System applet from Control Panel.
Select the Advanced tab property page.
Click the "Environment Variables" button.
Create a E-DataPath environment variable and specify the drive letter and directory of the location where the data files should be written.
If E-DataPath is created under the user section, only experiments run while logged in as the current user will be affected.
If E-DataPath is created under the system section, all experiments run will be affected.
Consult with your Network Administrator upon choosing the system variable option.
Click OK to close and save.
-----Original Message-----
From: e-prime at googlegroups.com [mailto:e-prime at googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David McFarlane
Sent: 21 January 2010 21:08
To: e-prime at googlegroups.com; E-Prime
Subject: Re: Specifying output data file location?
Indeed, this has been discussed several times, which you can see if you run a search using terms like "data folder". Back in the days of
EP1 we could use something like Paul Groot's E-Kick tool to provide this functionality, but since EP2 now very unhelpfully bin.base64 encodes the .ebs2 files we can no longer do such things, and PST, once again unhelpfully, has not yet provided an alternative (yet again, see discussion thread at http://support.pstnet.com/forum/Topic696-12-2.aspx
).
As discussed below, the StartupInfo file facility promises the answer for EP2. This was announced at least as far back as Oct 2007 (see http://support.pstnet.com/forum/Topic609-6-1.aspx ), but no details have been forthcoming since then. I myself have a Web Support request about this very issue going back to Dec 2008, at which time Matt said that the StartupInfo file would "be available in an upcoming build" when a public editor became available (a "public editor"!? why not just use a plain old text file that we can view and edit as we like??), and that he would notify me when this happened. Over a year later, and I have not seen any such notice. Perhaps it's time for me to update my support request.
Once again PST shows its prediliction for breaking things that already work, and promising new things that they cannot deliver. IOW, PST has become the Microsoft of behavioral research.
-- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
At 1/20/2010 09:53 AM Wednesday, liwenna wrote:
>Hey Liza (and hoi Rinus)!
>
>The matter doesn't quite let me go... Do ask PST about it. I will guess
>that they will answer that this will be possible trough a new graphical
>interface that is yet (still) to be implemented and will allow users to
>modify external startup info properties (aka the startup info manager).
>I found mentions of this nifty device as way back as 2007.
>
>Some of the 'infrastructure' for this manager is allready in place
>though. In the end of any 2.0 script you should be able to find these
>lines:
>
>************
> ' Set the Filenames for the data files
> Dim strFilenameRecovery As String
> Dim strFilenameEDAT As String
>
> 'If the attribute DataFile.Filename.Override exists
> ' then use it for the .txt and .edat filenames
> If c.AttribExists("DataFile.Filename.Override") Then
>
> ' Set the default Data Filename
> strFilenameRecovery = CStr(c.GetAttrib
>("DataFile.Filename.Override")) & ".txt"
> strFilenameEDAT =
> CStr(c.GetAttrib("DataFile.Filename.Override")) & ".edat"
>
> Else
>
> ' Set the default Data Filename
> strFilenameRecovery =
> CStr(c.GetAttrib("Experiment")) & "-" & CStr
>(c.GetAttrib("Subject")) & "-" & CStr(c.GetAttrib("Session")) & ".txt"
> strFilenameEDAT = CStr(c.GetAttrib("Experiment")) &
>"-" & CStr
>(c.GetAttrib("Subject")) & "-" & CStr(c.GetAttrib("Session")) & ".edat"
>
> End If
>
>*************
>
>Now the solution seems simple: create an attribute attribute
>DataFile.Filename.Override et presto, the script will use that value
>for your edat filenames. Setting it DataFile.Filename.Override to
>foldername/restofthename should do the rest... but... the tricky thing
>is.... I can absolutely not find a way to create or declare
>DataFile.Filename.Override. I tried it in the startup-info, in inlines
>on the main proc and on subprocs, set it as an attribute in a list and
>tried to user-declare it... nothing. E-prime sees datafile as a
>function, doesn't like the dots in it etc etc .
>
>Maybe one of the more code knowledgeable people around here can come up
>with an idea??
>
>That all said....
>
>Why do you need to change the foldername of the edat file? What I
>usually do is place my estudio in the folder where I want to collect my
>edat files, create the e-run file and then create a shortcut to the
>erun-file and move this to a separate 'startmyexperiment'-folder.
>Wouldn't that work just as well for you Liza?
>
>Best,
>
>Anne-Wil
>
>
>On Jan 20, 1:29 pm, Liza Mccarron <Liza.Mccar... at uwe.ac.uk> wrote:
> > Thank you for the replies liwenna and Rinus...
> >
> > Rinus - The package solution is a good one - however I'm using
> EPrime standard and therefore don't have the Package File editor...
> :(.. Any other way I can create this file? I'm guessing not...
> >
> > Liwenna - I've looked at the various options under Experiment
> Object Properties (I assume this is what you meant?) but can't find
> anything obvious - just the log levels seems to relate to data file...
> >
> > I think I may ask PST support....
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Liza
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: e-prime at googlegroups.com [mailto:e-prime at googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Rinus
> > Sent: 20 January 2010 11:25
> > To: E-Prime
> > Subject: Re: Specifying output data file location?
> >
> > Hi Liza, well.. I think you can change the filename into
> something you want.. you might create and add a packagefile to do this..
> > first create your packagefile.. (with the packagefile editor)..
> > for instance, if you want time+date as part of your edat2
> filename, you might add the following to the "initpackages" tree (in
> your package, in the packagefile editor)
> >
> > c.DataFile.Filename = CStr(c.GetAttrib("Experiment")) & "-" & CStr
> > (c.GetAttrib("Subject")) &_
> > "-" & CStr(c.GetAttrib("Session")) & "_" & Format(Date,"ddmmyy") & "_"
> > & Format(c.GetAttrib("SessionTime"),"hhnn") & ".txt"
> >
> > then once you've created the package you have to add it to your
> experiment..
> >
> > 1. go in eprime 2.0 --> tools, options, tab: packages (this
> contains the path to the folder your package should be in, you can
> also add a
> > folder)
> > 2. start your exp, go in the structure view to Experiment
> <blabla> (int the top) 3. click on "packages" and add your package 4.
> now your files are written with date + time
> >
> > This explanation will self destruct in 5 seconds...
> >
> > 4 seconds...
> >
> > ...
> >
> > 3 seconds... (why are you still reading this.. get to a safe
> > distance)
> >
> > 2. seconds...
> >
> > 1.... secoooooond..
> > [you have too much time if you're actually still reading this,
> you should be creating your package..]
> >
> > Bye, Rinus
> >
> > On 19 jan, 13:06, liwenna <liwe... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Liza,
> >
> > > I am not around e-prime right now. But... according to PST-site
> > > changing the name and location of the .edat file should be a
> > > feature of 2.0. Can't find how to do it though. My guess would be
> > > that you need to change something in the menu under the purple
> > > e-prime logo at the top of your 'experiment tree'.
> >
> > > Did you check things there?
> >
> > > Best,
> >
> > > liw
> >
> > > On Jan 19, 12:34 pm, LizaM <liza.mccar... at uwe.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> > > > Hello,
> >
> > > > Is there any way I can specify the output location for my data
> > > > file from EPrime 2.0 to be somewhere other than the folder where
> > > > the experiment file is loacted? From searching this list I
> > > > realize that I can't change the file name that is output but
> > > > can't find any reference to location.
> >
> > > > Thanks
> >
> > > > Liza
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