Filename (Questionnaire Files)

QuickInfo

For item types that use files or programs from outside of MediaLab, the Question Wording/File Name field identifies the location of the external files or programs.

Value

Certain item types in questionnaire files use particular file formats in their Question Wording/ File Name field:

 

Item Type

Supported File Format

DirectRT

Any DirectRT .csv input file

Executable

Any .exe program

HTML

Any .htm or .html document

Image

Any .bmp, .jpg, or .gif image file

Inquisit  

Any Inquisit experiment file

Movie  

Any .avi, .mpg, or .mov video file

PowerPoint

Any Microsoft PowerPoint .pps file

Sound

Any .wav or .mp3 sound file

Word Doc

Any Microsoft Word .doc file

WordPerfect

Any WordPerfect .wpd file

Double-click on the File field to browse your hard drive and select files instead of having to type the name.  To be safe, you can always specify the complete file path (e.g., "c:\experiments\myexp\myimage.bmp"). If you specify a complete path, remember to make sure the path is the same if you load the experiment onto other computers or drives.

Advanced Hints

If the file is located in the same folder as your experiment file, then you can simply enter the name of the file (e.g., myimage.bmp). If the file is located in a subfolder that is located in the same folder as your experiment files, then you can enter the name of the subfolder followed by the name of the file (e.g., images\myimage.bmp). Otherwise, you need to specify the full path and name of the file you want to present (e.g., c:\mypictures\myimage.bmp). The advantage of placing the file in the experiment directory (or a subfolder) is that the experiment folder can then be moved to a different place and you won't have to worry about checking path names (e.g., c:\..., d:\..., etc.)

Do not place any parameter values in the File Name field. Any relevant parameters should go in the Parameter(s) field. Parameters should follow the filename only for files in the Backgrounds, Backsounds, and Backvideos fields.

If you specify a file name ending with .txt for a scale response or fill-in-the-blank item, the subject's response to the question will be written to that text file preceded by a ~. This is so that other programs you may want to run during the session have the option of reading and acting on this information. It was particularly intended for use with DirectRT so that responses provided by subjects could be used as stimuli in an embedded DirectRT session.