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Session metadata tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to generate the session metadata struct used by CellExplorer. Flow chart

  1. Define the basepath of the dataset to run. A valid dataset should consist of a binary raw data file and spike sorted data.
    basepath = '/your/data/path/basename/';
    cd(basepath)
    

    CellExplorer operates with one main path for a dataset: the basepath which defines the local path to the dataset. The session name, also referred to as basename, is assumed to be the same as the directory of the session. These fields are defined in the session.general struct. The raw data file should be located in the basepath.

  2. You can generate the session metadata struct using the session template script
    session = sessionTemplate(basepath);
    

    sessionTemplate will extract metadata from the content of basepath. Please go through the sessionTemplate script to understand the various components that are extracted. You can create your own template scripts from the original, adding any relevant metadata.

  3. Use the session gui for inspecting the metadata struct and for further manual entry.
    session = gui_session(session);
    

    Below is a screenshot of the metadata interface with metadata entered: Metadata interface

  4. You can validate the entered metadata by running the verification script:
    validateSessionStruct(session);
    

    This will show a table, with missing required fields highlighted in red, and unused optional fields in blue. The verification can also be run from the session GUI: