Main Menu Commands |
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The main menu commands are found at the top of the DirectRT program window. These are the general commands used for executing input files, opening input files for editing, viewing data files, and other general purposes. The descriptions contain links you can click to learn more about the topic. Files Open Input File Select and open an input file for editing. DirectRT will open the input file with your system's default application for editing .CSV files (e.g., Excel, Lotus, Quattro). To learn about input files, see Creating Input Files. Open Output File Open a data file for viewing. As with input files, DirectRT will open the data file with your system's default application for editing .CSV (e.g., Excel, Lotus, Quattro) files. To learn about DirectRT data files, see Overview of Data Output. New Input File Generally, it's recommended to copy a sample folder and modify the files when starting a new experiment. This is an alternative which allows you to create and open an input file for editing based on the "input template.csv" file located in the main DirectRT folder. DirectRT will open the template input file with your system's default application for editing .CSV files (e.g., Excel, Lotus, Quattro). To learn about input files, see Creating Input Files. Launch Explorer Launches the Windows Explorer for file exploration and handling. Select and Run Input File If you haven't executed the input file before, this choice allows you to search through the folders on your machine to find the desired input file. Locate the input file and then either double click on it, or select it and click "open." To learn about executing an input file, see Running an Input File. Run Last Input File Again This choice will execute the input file most recently run on the machine. The key sequence "Ctrl-R" will perform the same function. This command is handy when multiple participants are being run back-to-back using the same input file, or when you're developing and testing an input file. Run a Recent Input File DirectRT keeps track of the ten most recently run input files and displays them in the Files menu. Clicking on any one of them will re-run the selected input file (assuming it's where you left it). Clear Recent File List Clears the list of recent files. Clears the list only-doesn't have any impact on the files themselves. Exit DirectRT Ends the program Ends the program (an alternative is to just double-click on the black space). Edit Edit the default styles file located in the main program folder (styles.drt). To learn about styles, see About Styles and the Style Editor. Recent Style Files Choose from a list of recently edited Styles files. Clear Recent File List Clears the list of recent files. Selecting this option only clears the list and doesn't have any impact on the files themselves. Tools Test Refresh Rate Determine the refresh rate of your display. Show System Info Display hardware and software configurations of the current system. If you are experiencing display problems with DirectRT, this is a good place to start. Click on the Display tab and check the notes section. Are any problems noted here? See Trouble Shooting for more detail. Reduce Data Files We have created a program that reduces the individual DirectRT data files (and ANY other vertical data files) into a single, one row per subject data file for immediate analysis. The reduction program is extremely powerful, allowing options to block, recode and make new variables. The goal was to save users hours of time in getting many large data files into a single useful file. You can find it and accompanying files in a folder named Data Restructure (DirectRT) in the Utilities folder. Merge Data Files Utility program provided to help you merge data files collected from multiple subjects. This utility simply automates the process of appending multiple text files into a single file. After starting the data merge utility, you can find a quick tutorial for it from its Help menu. For direct access, the file merge utility is located here: …\DirectRT\FileMerge\filemerge.exe Voice Response Setup Utility program provided to setup and test your microphone for input with voice activated response times. For direct access, the SoundCheck utility is located here: …\DirectRT\SoundCheck\SoundCheck.exe. It is recommended you run this on each machine if doing VoiceRTs. TTL I/O Test Utility program provided to test the input/output routines used by DirectRT to communicate with the external world. This utility will let you send TTL signals to any port you like and will let you continuously monitor the value at any port. Since the code is identical to that used by DirectRT it's an easy way to make sure all is well with TTL operations. For direct access, the IOTest utility is located here: …\DirectRT\TTL\IOTest.exe Show Status Bar Sets the option to display or hide the status bar that appears at the bottom of the DirectRT window. In rare cases, this status bar may appear during sessions. If you find this happening on your machine, you can prevent it by hiding the status bar with this option. Overwrite Warning Sets the option to warn you if the data for a particular subject ID already exist. If unchecked, DirectRT will automatically overwrite old data sharing the same ID. Help Help Topics Opens this help file at the beginning DirectRT Samples Takes you directly to the Samples section of the Help file where the various sample files are described. This is handy for pulling up relevant samples when designing input files. About Displays the current version of DirectRT installed on your system. License Provides a way to enter a new license code. Useful if you are using a trial code and want to replace it with a purchased code before the trial expires. Key Codes Takes you directly to the key codes page in the help file. Status Bar Displays the most recently executed input file along with the subject and condition IDs that were used. Time and date are also displayed. |