Documents and files

Proprietary Wintrack documents...

Like other Windows™ applications, Wintrack treats data as documents. It distinguishes three types of documents, all stored in a proprietary file format. When you open these documents, Wintrack displays them as document windows so you can view, manipulate and analyze the data they contain:

Case documents (file format .WTR)
Case documents contain two types of information: case data and case properties. Case data are the paths, events and goal position of all trials run with a particular animal. Paths are represented by a series of time stamped xy-coordinate pairs defining the animal's position. Events such as grooming or vocalizations can be recorded for each data point in a separate event channel. Case properties define the number, arrangement and zoom state of the trial views inside the case window.

Scrollsheets (file format .WTB)
Scrollsheets are scrollable tables that hold any combination of numbers or text. When filtering and analyzing case documents, you use them to display and store the results. You may also use scrollsheets to control certain operations of Wintrack: you can use them as parameter tables to feed parameters to a macro or to define the trial acquisition sequence for an experiment.

Surface documents (file format .WSF)
Surface documents consist of color coded rectangular tiles and are created in order to visualize the spatial distribution of a surface variable, a type of result you can obtain when analyzing case documents. Surface documents are commonly used to visualize spatial preferences during the probe trial of a Morris watermaze experiment.

Auxiliary files in text format (scripts)...

Some advanced features of Wintrack use auxiliary files. These are plain text (ASCII) files with a specific syntax. They cannot be opened as documents in Wintrack. Instead, you create and maintain them using Windows™ Notepad or any other word processor that can handle plain text files. Wintrack uses three types of auxiliary files:

Custom setup files
Wintrack needs to know about the type and size of the arena in which the data of your case documents was recorded. It also needs to know the position of quadrants, goal and reference annuli. Normally, you use the Arena Properties command to specify this information in a simple dialog. Custom setup files are a more advanced and flexible alternative. They contain statements which define the position, shape, graphical appearance and special properties of the arena itself and an any number of fields or objects inside it. For example, you need custom setup files to define symbols that represent events and to replace paths by timelines that represent the flow of time rather than the position of the animal. Custom setup files are loaded using the Arena Properties command.

Custom variable definition files
When analyzing case documents, the Analyze Case Document command provides a list of predefined variables you can choose from. As an advanced and much more flexible alternative, it can also process custom variable definition files which let you define your own custom variables. For example, events can only be analyzed using a custom variable definition file. You build a custom variable definition file using a set of basic statements which you can freely combine to provide Wintrack with step by step instructions how to analyze your data.

Macros
Most menu commands have an equivalent macro statement. Macros are collections of such command statements in combination with additional statements which display dialogs for user input or provide the user with instructions by displaying guide windows. Macros are executed using the Run Macro command.