Simply type in
$> relacs
to start RELACS. RELACS then tries to find the hardware drivers for the data-acquisition board and the attenuators. If all necessary drivers are found, RELACS immediately starts reading in data from the data-acquisition board. If at least one driver is missing or cannot be opened (maybe the device is switched off?) RELACS opens in idle mode.
If you want to force RELACS to start in the simulation mode use the "-3" option
$> relacs -3
(the "3" is in german pronounced almost like "dry" which stands for the simulation mode as the opposite of the "wet" mode for acquiring real data from a wet biological experiment).
relacs is a small shell script. Its main purpose is to set
the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the directories
where the RePros and other plugins are, so that RELACS can find them.
It is created from the file src/relacs.in whenever you configure RELACS.
For more options (logfile, debug mode, core dump support) and details, try
$> relacs --help
There are four main widgets (from left to right, top to bottom)
Filters and Detectors (Ctrl + 1)
PlotTrace (Ctrl + 2)
Control (Ctrl + 3)
RePros (Ctrl + 4)
With Ctrl + number as indicated the widgets can be enlarged. Press the key again to show all widgets.
The buttons at the bottom are the
Macros
This widget in the upper right shows the recorded voltage traces (solid lines) together with the detected events (all sorts of points). The vertical white lines mark the time of a stimulus output. The time axis is in milliseconds relative to the last stimulus. There are three display modes:
fixed: The time axis is fixed relative to the last stimulus. This mode can be activated by pressing Home / Pos1 or clicking the
button.
continuous: The time axis moves to the left and the most recent data is always shown to the very right. This mode can be activated by pressing End or clicking the
button.
wrapped: The time axis stays fixed while new data are displayed. Once the new data hit the right border of the plots the plots are cleared and data a re displayed starting from the left. This mode can be activated by pressing Insert.view: The time axis is fixed and will not be shifted by a new stimulus (as it is the case for the "fixed" mode). This mode can be activated by pressing PageUp, PageDown, Ctrl+PageUp, Ctrl+PageDown, Ctrl+Home, and Ctrl+End. Use these keys to shift the time axis to the left, to the right, to the first data, to the most recent data, to the beginning of the most recent stimulus, and to the most recent data, respectively.
In all modes, the - and + keys expand and shrink the visible time range, respectively.
Pressing v moves the traces in the plots vertically to the center, top, or bottom and V centers and zooms the y-range to make the current traces fully visible.
Clicking with the left mouse button on the axis zooms into the axis. Right clicking zooms out. Left clicking into the plot zooms both axis in. With the left mouse button pressed down you can also draw a zoom rectangle into the plot. Alt+Left zooms out (back into zoom stack) and Alt+Right resets the plot to its original axis ranges.
The left plot margins are aligned to nearby events (if enabled). This can be toggled by pressing Ctrl+T.
Visibility of each trace and the corresponding plot panel can be toggled by pressing 1, 2, ... according to the number of the trace (1 is the first, topmost trace).
The currently displayed traces can be printed by pressing Ctrl+P. This writes the data of the traces in addition with some meta data to the file traces.dat. The the script specified by printcommand in the settings is then executed.
The grid lines can be toggled by pressing Ctrl+T. This cycles through no grid lines, x-grid lines, y-grid lines, and x- and y-grid lines.
This widget in the upper left gives you access to the most important parameters of the filters and event detectors.
Press F to put the keyboard focus onto the active Filter widget. With Alt+RightArrow and Alt+LeftArrow the other Filter widgets can be activated.
You get a dialog for all parameters of each of the filters and event detectors from the Detectors/Filters menu. Clicking the buttons of the dialog does the following:
: Applies the new parameter values to the filter/detector and closes the dialog.
: Applies the new parameter values to the filter/detector without closing the dialog.
: Resets the input values to the last accepted values.
: Closes the dialog without accepting the input.
This widget in the lower right displays the currently running RePro. From the menu you can start () a RePro, set the options of a RePro (), view the display of a RePro (), load a new version of the RePro (), or read the RePro's documentation (). RePros displays messages in the status bar.
The Options menu item of both the and the menus and the macros buttons launches a dialog to edit parameter values of a RePro. Clicking the buttons of the dialog does the following:
: Applies the new parameter values to the RePro and closes the dialog.
: Applies the new parameter values to the RePro without closing the dialog. It is up to the implementation of the RePro whether it uses the new settings immediately. In any case the new settings take in effect on the next run of the RePro.
: Applies the new parameter values and immediately starts the RePro without closing the dialog.
: Resets the input values to their default values.
: Closes the dialog without accepting the input.
A RePro can be started from the RePros menu, or from a macro. Each RePro called by a macro gets specific parameter settings as specified in the macros configuration file (see Macros). The instance of a RePro for which the dialog was opened will get exactly the values that were entered by the dialog. The two check boxes at the bottom of the dialog determine how the new parameter settings are applied to other instances of the RePro. If none of the check boxes is set, then only the instance of the RePro for which the dialog was called will receive the new parameter settings. If the first check box is set ("Set values as default") then the new parameter settings are used as the default values for all instances of this RePro. If this RePro is started from the RePros menu it will have these values set. If it is started from a macro then the parameters defined in the macros configuration file will overwrite the default settings. If the second check box is set ("Changes overwrite macro options") then the parameter settings which differ from the initial settings will overwrite the parameter settings defined in the macros configuration file of all other instances of this RePro. For a RePro started from a macro think of all this as parameters with different priorities. The parameter settings are applied to the RePro in the folloowing order:
All parameter values are set to their default settings.
The parameters defined in the macros configuration file are read. These parameters are marked blue in the dialogs.
The parameters specified as overwrite-macro parameter (second check box) are read. These parameters are marked green in the dialogs.
If a dialog was opened for this instance of the RePro, all parameter values are set according to the dialog. Parameter values that differ from their default setting are marked red in the dialogs.
The optional Control widgets in the lower left display some general information about the ongoing recording or alllow you to control some hardware.
Press C to put the keyboard focus onto the active Control widget. With Alt+RightArrow and Alt+LeftArrow the other Control widgets can be activated.
Pressing one of the macro buttons or hitting the specified function or escape key initiates a macro. A macro is a sequence of RePros, shell scripts, message windows, and other macros . The macros can be specified in the macros configuration file (see Macros). This file can be edited and it can be reloaded during runtime by the Macros-Reload menu. Single RePros can be started, configured, viewed, or loaded from the Macros menu or by pressing Shift + the specified function key or escape key. A running RePro of a macro can be skipped by pressing Alt+S.
A recording is started by pressing Enter or Return, by selecting the File->Start Session menu, or by clicking on the corresponding button provided by a Control widget.
If a recording is started, then the background color of RELACS turns red, and the recorded traces and events are written into files. Stopping a recording first launches a dialog where some meta-data can be specified. After the recording is stoppped, none of the raw data is saved on disk anymore. At the very left of the status bar the elapsed time of the session in minutes is displayed. Further to the right the name of the directory where the data of the current session are stored is shown.
This dialog which is launched at the end of a recording gives you
the possibility to enter usefull meta data which are stored
together with the recorded data.
The dialog can be customized by simply editing the relacsplugins.cfg
config file.
This dialog can also be opened from the menu to enter some data in advance
(File->Session Info).
Clicking the buttons of the dialog does the following:
: Stop the recording and save all data.
: Stop the recording and erase all data of this recording.
: Resets the input values to their default values on RELACS startup.
: Closes the dialog without accepting the input and continue the recording.
- General
Enter, Return: Start/stop recording.
Ctrl+I: Meta-data dialog.
Alt+Q: Quit RELACS.
M: Mute audio output.
Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3, Ctrl+4: Show filters, traces, controls, or repros maximized.
Shift+Ctrl+M: Toggle maximize window.
Shift+Ctrl+F: Toggle full-screen mode.
Shift+Ctrl+O: Switch to online (data acquisition) mode.
Shift+Ctrl+S: Switch to simulation mode.
Shift+Ctrl+I: Stop all activity (idle mode).
- Macros
ESC: Start the fall-back macro immediately. You can continue within the interrupted macro by hitting R or N (see below). If RELACS does not have the key focus, ESC transfers the key focus to RELACS. In this situation press ESC a second time to start the fall-back macro. The keyfocus is, however, automatically returned to RELACS within 15 seconds.
F1-F12: Start a macro.
Shift+ESC: Open menu of fall-back macro.
Shift+F1-F12: Open macro menu.
Space: Kindly request the current RePro to finish. The more often Space is pressed, the more urgent is the request. When exactly the RePro finishes depends on its implementation. Usually, a RePro stops after the current stimulus is delivered and analyzed.
S: Skip current RePro (stop it immediately) and start the next RePro of the current macro.
B: ("Break") Interrupt current macro by starting the fall-back macro after the current RePro finished (as by pressing Space). You can continue within the interrupted macro by hitting R or N (see below).
R: ("Resume") Resume macro with the RePro where it was interrupted by either ESC or B.
N: ("Resume Next") Resume macro with the RePro following the one where the macro was interrupted by either ESC or B.
- RePros
Ctrl+O: If the current RePro is not the fall-back RePro of an explicitly marked fall-back macro then launch options dialog of the current RePro, otherwise launch options dialog of the previously run RePro.
Ctrl+V: View previously shown RePro
Ctrl+H: Show the help text of the currrently running RePro
Ctrl+S: Make a screenshot of the widget of the currrently running RePro
- Plots
+: Zoom in by dividing time axis by a factor two.
-: Zoom out by enlarging time axis by a factor two.
Home: Fixed mode, show traces from the last stimulus on (only if RELACS has the key focus, see ESC).
Ctrl+F: Fixed mode, show traces from the last stimulus on (independent of key focus).
End: Continuous mode, show always recent data to the very right of the plot window (only if RELACS has the key focus, see ESC).
Ctrl+C: Continuous mode, show always recent data to the very right of the plot window (independent of key focus).
Insert: Continuous mode, wrap the data through the plot window (only if RELACS has the key focus, see ESC).
Ctrl+T: Toggle trigger mode.
Ctrl+G: Toggle grid lines.
Ctrl+M: Manual settings are not overidden by RePro settings.
Ctrl+A: The RePro automatically sets a suitable range.
1, 2, ..9: Toggle plot of the corresponding trace number on or off (only if RELACS has the key focus, see ESC).
PageUp: Move plot window to the left.
PageDown: Move plot window to the right.
Ctrl+PageUp: Move plot window to the first data
Ctrl+PageDown: Move plot window to the most recent data.
Ctrl+Home: Move plot window to the most recent stimulus.
Ctrl+End: Move plot window to the most recent data.
Shift+PageUp: Move plot window to the left relative to the current stimulus.
Shift+PageDown: Move plot window to the right relative to the current stimulus.
V: Move the traces vertically in the plot panels to the center, top, or bottom (cycles by repeatedly pressing V.
Shift+V: Center and scale the traces vertically in the plot panels.
Alt+Left: Go back in zoom stack.
Alt+Right: Reset zoom stack.
Ctrl+P: Print the currenty visible traes. The data are saved to the file
traces.datand the shell command specified by printcommand in the settings is called to generate a plot from this file and print it.
- Filter/Detectors
A: Automatically adjusts thresholds etc. for all filters and detectors.
F: Put keyboard focus on active filter/detector widget.
Alt+RightArrow: Make the next filter/detector widget the active one (only if the keyboard focus is on the active filter/detector widget).
Alt+LeftArrow: Make the previous filter/detector widget the active one (only if the keyboard focus is on the active filter/detector widget).
- Controls
C: Put keyboard focus on active control widget.
Alt+RightArrow: Make the next control widget the active one (only if the keyboard focus is on the active control widget).
Alt+LeftArrow: Make the previous control widget the active one (only if the keyboard focus is on the active control widget).
A short description of the RELACS menu:
: Switch to online (data acquisition) mode.
: Switch to simulation mode.
: Stop all activity.
: Start a recording, i.e. recording data to disk, by executing the startsession macro (see Macros for details).
: Stop a recording.
: Show the dialog that is usually launched when stoppping a recording.
: Launch a dialog for configuring analog input.
: Launch a dialog with general RELACS settings.
: Write all configuration files with the current settings.
: Mute/unmute the audio monitor.
: Launch dialog for configuring the audio monitor.
: Quit RELACS.
: Show the dialog to edit options of the Model.
: Display help text for the Model.
: Show the dialog to edit options of the Control widget.
: Display help text for the Control widget.
: Make a screenshot of the control widget.
Simply a list of the used devices with some of their properties and current settings.
: Automatically adjusts thresholds etc. for all filters and detectors.
Then there is a list of each filter and detector. Each has the following submenu:
: Launch a dialog that allows you to set parameters of the filter/detector.
: Show the help text of the filter/detector (if available).
: Automatically adjusts thresholds etc..
: Make a screenshot of the widget of the filter.
: If the current RePro is not the fall-back RePro of an explicitly marked fall-back macro then launch options dialog of the current RePro, otherwise launch options dialog of the previously run RePro.
: View previously shown RePro.
: Show the help text of the currently running RePro.
: Make a screenshot of the widget of the currently running RePro.
Then there is list of all loaded RePros. Each has the following submenu:
: Run the RePro.
: Launch the options dialog.
: View the RePro.
: Reload the RePro.
: Show the help text.
: Make a screenshot of the widget of the RePro.
: Reload the current macro configuration file (see Macros).
: Load a macro configuration file selected from a file browser (see Macros).
: Switch to another macro configuration file.
: Skip current RePro (stop it immediately) and start the next RePro of the current macro.
: Interrupt current macro by starting the fall-back macro after the current RePro finished (as by pressing Space). You can continue within the interrupted macro by selecting or (see below).
: Resume macro with the RePro where it was interrupted by either ESC or B ().
: Resume macro with the RePro following the one where the macro was interrupted by either ESC or B ().
These general commands are followed by a list of available macros with the following submenu:
: Run the macro.
: Launch the dialog to set the macro's variables.
Then there is a list with the macros commands. A green circle indicates that the command is enabled (it will be executed from the macro), a command marked with a red circle is disabled and won't be executed from the macro. Each command has its own submenu:
: Start the macro with the selected command.
: Run only the selected command.
: Launch the options dialog for the selected RePro or macro (RePros and macros only).
: View the RePro (RePros only).
: Reload the RePro (RePros only).
: Show the help text of the RePro (RePros only).
: Disable the execution of this command.
: Enable the execution of this command.
: Toggle maximized display of the filter widgets.
: Toggle maximized display of the recorded traces.
: Toggle maximized display of the control widgets.
: Toggle maximized display of the RePro widgets.
: Toggle maximize RELACS window.
: Toggle fullscreen mode.
Traces: Various commands for customizing the PlotTrace widget. See Plots for details.
: Show this documentation.
: The RELACS version and the authors.