Inside case documents
Representation of data...
All data you collect for a particular animal is stored in a single case document which contains two types of information: case data and case properties.
Case data are the paths, events, notes, and goal positions of all trials run with the animal. Paths are represented by a series of time stamped xy-coordinate pairs. Wintrack does not require a constant sampling interval. When filtering data, points may be removed or inserted anywhere in the series. Events such as grooming or vocalizations can be recorded in Wintrack via the keyboard or be imported along with path data from suitable tracking systems. They are stored in a separate event channel. Trial notes are short commentaries which you can add when acquiring the trials. Finally, case documents contain goal position information for every individual trial. Wintrack treats the goal as a particular field inside the arena. Size, shape and possible positions of the goal are specified using the Arena Properties command and saved independently of case data in Wintrack's initialization file. The document's goal position information specifies only which of the possible positions has been selected for each individual trial. However, if you are using a custom setup file, the goal can also be defined entirely by that file, partly or completely overriding goal position information of the document. Depending on the data source, case documents may also contain supplemental data, such as object surface area (recorded by Noldus™ EthoVision) or altitude (imported from GPSMS1).
Case properties define the number, arrangement and zoom state of the trial views as they appear in the case window.
Case windows...
Case windows consist of tiled trial views each of which displays the path of one trial and the fields defined for that trial. You can use the arrow keys or scroll bars to scroll the trial views. The case properties determine how trial views are broken into lines and columns and how many rows and columns are displayed at a time. You can change this any time with the Case Properties command or using the Zoom Case Document command which lets you zoom in and out on single trials or ranges of trials. Moreover, using the Zoom Path command or mouse shortcuts, you can zoom in and out on the path and fields displayed in individual trial views. As you move the mouse over a trial view, the trial's note will be displayed in the program's status bar.
If you are an advanced user and specify the arena with a custom setup file, you may also design special symbols to represent events and create timeline views that represent the flow of time rather than the movements of the animal.
Commands to manipulate case document data...
The Open Case Document command opens case documents and imports several foreign data formats (ASBA Wild & Leitz™, HVS Image™, Text format, EYE, Imétronic™ Freezing, and Watermaze™ for Windows). Moreover, the Acquire EthoVision experiment command lets you convert Noldus™ EthoVision experiments into sets of Wintrack case documents and the Import GPSMS1 command lets you create case documents using logged GPS data. The New Case Document command lets you create new documents for which you then acquire event data using the Acquire Trial command. Saving of case documents and export to foreign formats (ASBA Wild & Leitz™ and Text format) is handled by the Save Case Document As command. The Print Case Document command allows you to print trial views on paper or to copy them to the Windows™ clipboard for transfer to other Windows™ applications. Finally, the Analyze Case Document and Filter Case Document commands are used to analyze and filter case data, respectively.
Certain commands allow you to apply the action to the entire document or only to a range of trials you have previously selected using the mouse.
Additional information...
- For an overview of Wintrack documents and files see the topic Wintrack documents and files.
