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Ami edited this page Sep 22, 2019 · 4 revisions

Every time you open or create a new project in Automagic, it looks by default in both selected data folder and results folder for new updates. If there is any new subject folders, or raw data in some subject folders, it adds them to the list of existing data for further preprocessing. If this new data has corresponding preprocessed data already (e.g. it comes from a previous project), it also adds the preprocessed data, provided that they have been preprocessed with exactly the same parameters as the current project. This feature is particularly useful for few use-cases such as:

  • Merging existing projects where you create a new project, in which data (both raw and/or preprocessed) are the aggregated data of the merged projects.
  • Adding new raw data (new subjects) to an existing project. Or possibly adding both raw data and their corresponding preprocessed results from a previous project, provided the configuration parameters used for preprocessing are identical in both projects.
  • Removing data from an existing project.
  • Reloading a previous project where the project_state.mat is for some reason lost, and the project can not be loaded to Automagic anymore.

Merging projects

To merge any number of existing projects without losing the individual projects, you can follow these steps:

  1. Create a new data folder using Finder (Mac), Explorer (Windows) or your Linux equivalent.
  2. Create a new results folder using Finder (Mac), Explorer (Windows) or your Linux equivalent.
  3. For all the studies that you want to merge: Copy the contents from their data and results folders to the data and results folder of the new project that you just created. Note: Each of your existing data folders contains a file named project_state.mat. Do not copy these files to your new data folder.
  4. In Automagic: Create a new project using the newly created data and data folders.

Note: It is obvious that you can also merge a specific project into another existing project, by simply copying the content of the first project into the data and results folder of the second project, the same that is explained above. Again, it is important that both projects have the same preprocessing parameters if you merge the results data.

Note: If you are merging projects with their preprocessed data, then it's important that all the merged projects, and the new project that you just create, have the same preprocessing parameters in the configuration window. This requirement is obviously not important if you merge only the raw data (which is the equivalent of simply creating a new project with more raw data)

Adding project data

If you would like to add some new data to your existing project:

  1. Add subject folders to your data folder using Finder (Mac), Explorer (Windows) or your Linux equivalent. You can equivalently add raw data to some specific subject folders.
  2. Refresh the Automagic GUI using one of these options:
    • Start or restart Automagic.
    • Navigate to the drop-down list labelled Select Project and load (or reload) the study containing new data by clicking on its name.
  3. The number of subjects and files in both the study panel and the pre-processing panel should now be updated.

Removing project data

  1. Delete subject folders (or raw files in a specific subject folder) from your data folder using Finder (Mac), Explorer (Windows) or your Linux equivalent.
  2. Refresh the Automagic GUI:
    • Navigate to the drop-down list labelled Select Project and load (or reload) the study containing new data by clicking on its name.
  3. The number of subjects and files in both the study panel and the pre-processing panel should now be updated.

Note: If you remove some raw data from a project, please remove their corresponding preprocessed data in the results folder as well. Although Automagic will automagically ignore the result data if you forget to remove it, it is still a good practice to avoid confusion.

Reloading a previous project

Reloading a previous project in Automagic can be done in two different ways, depending if you still have the project_state.mat or for some reason lost it.

Reloading using project_state.mat

In this case, we are assuming that you have a data folder where the raw data is stored according to Automagic directory hierarchy, and a results folder in the same manner. It is important the you still have the project_state.mat in the results folder. Then you could simply follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the drop-down list labelled Select Project.
  2. Select Load an existing project...
  3. A browser window will open. Navigate to the existing data folder.
  4. Select and open the file named project_state.mat
  5. Indicate the folder with the data

If you are curious about the project_state.mat, take a look here.

Reloading without project_state.mat

If for some reason you lost access to one of your projects, or lost its project_state.mat or simply can not reopen your project anymore, you can still reload the project.

For this,

  1. Please make sure that the data folder and results folder are both according to Automagic directory hierarchy. This must be the case if you have not manipulated the file hierarchy manually.
  2. Please make sure that there is no corrupted project_state.mat in your results folder.
  3. Now create a new project, where the data folder points to the folder where this data resides, and results folder points to the folder where results is stored. Make sure that all preprocessing parameters are identical to your previous project from which the processed data are derived, otherwise an error will occur during the project creation.
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