ASBA Wild & Leitz™ case file format

ASBA Wild & Leitz™ file structure...

The ASBA Wild & Leitz™ data format (*.RAW) is proprietary to the ASBA BEO and BEX tracking and analysis programs and to Track Analyzer for DOS version 5.x. Each file contains data of one or several trials. The files are in ASCII text and can be viewed and edited using a simple text editor such as Windows™ NotePad. The path is sampled at a spatial resolution of 256x256 pixels and a constant sampling interval of 0.24s. No event data can be stored in this format. Data of one trial consists of a trial note line, the number of samples in the trial (up to 2048), the xy data body, and an end of trial mark. Each line of the xy data body has 60 characters consisting of 10 data points represented by a three digit x and y coordinate:

10.8.94 MDD345 female **NW         Trial note line
   20                              Number of data points
17471747174189123440174189740194717474783041481047074910889
89123440117474787418974019473041481044107491088971747174712
74189740194718104717471747174147830474910889044891231401747
80174189740149123474747830414899471717410449108871747174107
$                                  End of trial mark

Wintrack looks for goal position information in the trial note lines and expects it to be coded as follows: **NW = Northwest, **NE = Northeast, **SE = Southeast, **SW = Southwest, **CT = center, **NO = no goal, **BAnn = Barnes maze hole number (nn ranging from 01 to 40).

Reading ASBA data...

The Open Case Document command recognizes ASBA case files automatically. Since they contain no information on the sampling interval used to record the data, Wintrack prompts for specification of a sampling interval. Wintrack automatically checks for goal position information in the imported trial note lines (see above) of ASBA case files. If an ASBA file lacks goal position information, Wintrack attempts to get the information from the currently active custom setup file, in which it looks for fields named Goal. Use the Arena Properties command to load an appropriate custom setup file before importing ASBA files whose trial notes do not provide goal position information. If no goal position information is available at all, Wintrack can still import the ASBA file. However, as soon as you attempt to process predefined variables from the Analyze Case Document command, you will be prompted to specify a custom setup file which can supplement the missing goal position information. Finally, ASBA case files contain no case properties information. Therefore, Wintrack automatically activates the Case Properties command after loading an ASBA case file so you can specify properties manually.

Writing ASBA data...

The Wintrack Save Case Document As command can save case data in ASBA format, so that it can be read by Track Analyzer for DOS 5.x and by the ASBA Wild & Leitz™ BEX program. However before doing so, Wintrack will resample the data to obtain a constant sampling frequency as required by the ASBA data format. Moreover, all case properties information will be lost if you save a case document in ASBA format. Goal position information is not exported to ASBA files.

Additional information...

• For an overview of Wintrack documents and files see Wintrack documents and files.
• For more information on case documents read Inside case documents.