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Recording experiments with LabTrove

To record an experiment using LabTrove it is likely that you will want to create a number of Entries and link them together, add links to external resources, upload data from the experiment, and add metadata to the Entries to make them easier to find later.

See the following sections for ways you can use your Entries to record experiments.

Editing a notebook entry and viewing revisions​

Editing posts​

You can only edit posts that you created. You can not delete Entries that you have published so if you have made a mistake you must edit the Entry to make this clear. Each time you edit a Entry you must provide a reason why you made the edit. To help you and other users to understand why you made that edit to the post you should provide a meaningful reason for the edit.

You can save a Entry as a draft if you expect to make more changes to it, and then choose to publish it when you are ready. You can delete a draft Entry if you decide not to keep it.

To edit the content, title, section, and metadata for the Entry:

  1. Locate the Entry or draft Entry that you want to edit. You can view your draft Entries by clicking Dashboard and viewing the Your Draft Posts section.
  2. Click the Edit Post link to view the Entry in edit mode.
  3. Make your changes to the Entry.
  4. Enter a reason for your changes in the Reason For Edit field.
  5. Click Save for later to save the changes in a draft, or click Publish to save and publish the changes to the Entry.

When you publish the Entry changes are displayed when anyone views the Entry. To see the previous versions of the Entry you must view the revisions.

Viewing revisions​

A revision is the current or any previous versions of a Entry that have been saved. When you view a list of revisions you can see the following information about the Entries:

  • Date and time the Entry was edited
  • The reason that the edit was made
  • The unique identifier for that revision

You can also view drafts of the Entry and any drafts that have been deleted (marked as Draft Withdrawn).

To view a previous version of a post:

  1. Locate the Entry that you want to view.
  2. Click the Revisions link in the This Post section to the right of the Entry. A list of revisions to the post are displayed with their revision number together with the date and time that they were last edited.
  3. Click on the title of the revision that you want to view.
  4. (Optional) If you are viewing a revision other than the most recent version of the Entry, you can return to the list of revisions or the most recent version of the Entry by following the instructions in the box displayed above the Entry.

Linking to other notebook entries​

Adding a link to an existing Entry​

You can link your Entry to other Entries in the Trove. They can help any readers of your notebook to find important related information. For example, it can be useful to link from an experiment to the reagents used and the results. You can choose to link to Entries within the same Notebook or a different Notebook.

To add a link to an existing Entry:

  1. Create a new Entry or edit a Entry.
  2. At the position in the Entry where you want to link to the existing Entry, click the Insert link to blog post button. The Link to a Post window is displayed.
  3. (Optional) If you want to link to a Entry from another Notebook, select the Notebook from the list of available Notebooks. If you have access to the Notebook the list of Entry titles is displayed.
  4. (Optional) You can find the Entries to link to by using the links under Archives, Sections, and other metadata headings. Click on the links to see Entries in each category.
  5. When you have found the Entry to which you want to link, click on the Entry title. A link to the Entry is added.
  6. Click Publish to save and publish your Entry. If you are editing a Entry you must enter a Reason for Edit before you can submit the Entry.

The title of the Entry you have linked to is shown in your saved Entry. A return link to your new Entry is added to the bottom of the linked Entry.

Viewing which Entries are linked​

If a Entry has other Entries that link to it, a chain icon, with a Linked Posts link, is displayed near to the title of the Entry. Click on the chain icon or Linked Posts link to view the list of Entry titles that link to the selected Entry.

Linking to external resources​

You can add links to external websites from your Entry.

There are two ways to link to an external website:

  • Type in the URL for the website directly, using one of the following formats: www.google.com or http://bbc.co.uk. A link to the URL will automatically be created in your Entry.

  • If you want to display text for the link rather than the URL for the website you can use the Link button. To use the Link button:

    1. Select the text that you want to display for the link within your Entry and click the Link button.
    2. Enter the URL for the website for which you are creating a link. You must include the full URL address for the website. For example, for Google you would enter the following URL in the URL field: http://www.google.com
    3. You can also choose where the web page is opened using Target and add some hover help for the link using Title. Click Insert to add the link into the Entry. The format of the added link will look similar to the following markup if you view it in HTML: <a href="http://www.google.com">Here is some text</a>.
    4. Edit the Here is some text part of the link markup to add the text that is displayed in the Entry when you submit it. For example if you use the following link markup, My Google Link is displayed as the link in the submitted Entry: <a href="http://www.google.com">My Google Link</a>.
    5. Click Submit to save your Entry. If you are editing a Entry you must enter a Reason for Edit before you can submit the Entry. The link is shown in your saved Entry.

Adding an image from a website​

You can add an image from a website to your Entry. Text does not wrap around an image, so position the image on a new line in your Entry. To add an image from a website in your Entry:

  1. Ensure your cursor is in the position within your Entry where you want to add the image and click the Insert/edit image button.
  2. Enter the full URL address for the image. For example, for Google's Milankovich Logo you would enter the following URL in the URL field: http://www.google.com/logos/milankovich10-hp.gif.
  3. Enter an Image Description and Title for the image.
  4. Click Appearance to change settings that affect how the image is displayed in the Entry including it's size and alignment.
  5. Click Insert to add the link to the image into the Entry. The format of the added link will look similar to the following markup: [img]http://www.google.com/logos/milankovich10-hp.gif[/img].
  6. Click Publish to save and publish your Entry. If you are editing a Entry you must enter a Reason for Edit before you can submit the Entry.

If the URL you entered is correct, the image is shown in your saved Entry.

You can also upload your own picture to your Notebook, see the 'Uploading data' section below for instructions to do this.

Uploading data​

Uploading files to the Notebook​

You can upload data files to your Notebook to enable others to view or download them. If the data files are in .png or .jpg format, the image can be displayed on the Entry and can be commented on separately. You can add links to your data files to the Entry with which the files are associated. This is helpful for enabling others to see that there is data associated with the Entry because with no links in the Entry you can only see the data files when the specific Entry is selected. Icons and links for the uploaded files are displayed in the Attached Files box beneath the Entry with which they have been associated.

warning

You can not delete a file once it has been uploaded to a Entry. Ensure you select the correct file before you upload it.

If you want to upload multiple files in one go, you can create a zip containing the files. If you change the Upload Type to Zip File when you upload the file, LabTrove will decompress the files and add each file individually to the Entry. If you set the Upload Type to Single Item, the zip file is not decompressed, and zip file itself is added to the Entry.

warning

Save any changes to your notebook entry before you add a data file otherwise those changes will be lost.

To add a data file to your Entry:

  1. Create and submit a new Entry or select an existing Entry.
  2. Click the Edit Post link beneath the Entry.
  3. In the Attached Files section, click Upload data.
  4. (Optional) Enter a title for your data file. This is useful for others who might want to download your file.
  5. Click Choose File to browse your file system for the data file.
  6. Select the file that you want to upload and click Choose.
  7. (Optional) Select the file type from the Type drop-down list. Leave the Type selected as Auto Detect to let LabTrove determine the file type.
  8. (Optional) If you are uploading a zip file and you want the files in the zip file to be added individually, change the Upload Type to Zip File.
  9. (Optional) If you want to provide a link to the data file in the text of the Entry
    1. Ensure your cursor is in the position within your Entry where you want to add the link to data file.
    2. Click the Add to text button next to the data file that you want to include in your Entry text.
  10. When you are ready to save your changes to the post, enter details about your changes in the Reason For Edit field.
  11. Click Submit to save the changes.

Linking to an existing data file from your post​

Once you have uploaded a file on to the Trove, anyone using the same Trove can link to it. Each uploaded file is assigned a unique numeric code, for example, 688. You can type the unique code in data markup to create a link to that data file within your Entry. For example, to create a link to a file with the unique code 688, you would type the following into your Entry at the appropriate location:

[data]688[/data]

When you submit your changes, your notebook Entry will contain a link to that file.

To find the unique code for a data file:

  1. Click on the data file to open the file in the browser.
  2. Record the value shown in the title bar for the new window.
  3. The unique code for the data file is the number part of the name of the html file. For example, if the title of the window is displayed as http://yourblog/data/files/27654.html, the unique code for the data file is 27654. You would therefore enter the following text in your Entry to create a link to that data file:
[data]27654[/data]

Changing the format of the data displayed in your Entry​

You can change the way that the links to data files are displayed in your post. You can change the size of the image or icon that is displayed for the data files. You can also choose to display the name or title of the data file instead of an icon or image.

To change the size of the icon or image for the data file:

  1. Choose the width and height that you want for the icon or image in pixels.
  2. Edit the data markup to include the size attribute. For example, to change the size of the icon for the data item 688 to 80 pixels by 40 pixels, enter the following text into your Entry: [data=size:80x40]688[/data]
  3. Enter a Reason for edit and Submit the changes to your Entry.

The size of the icon or image for the data file will be changed in your Entry.

To display only the title or name of the data file:

  1. Edit the data markup to include the text attribute. For example, to display only the title or name of the data item 688, enter the following text into your Entry: [data=text]688[/data].
  2. Enter a Reason for edit and Submit the changes to your Entry.

The icon or image for the data file is no longer displayed, and the title or name of the file is displayed in one of the following formats:

Data: DataFileName.extension
Data: DataFileTitle

Creating a sketch​

You can upload create a sketch to add to your Entry using a basic drawing editor. You cannot create a sketch in a new Entry. You must first create a new Entry, and then edit the Entry to create your sketch.

warning

You can not delete a sketch once it has been created in a Entry.

To create a sketch and add it to your Entry:

  1. Create and submit a new Entry or select an existing Entry.
  2. Click the Edit Post link beneath the Entry.
  3. In the Attached Files section, click Add sketch.
  4. Enter a title for your sketch.
  5. You can draw on the canvas to create your sketch.
  6. (Optional) Change the colour of the pen by selecting one of colour buttons beneath the canvas.
  7. (Optional) To delete any incorrect content click the Eraser button.
  8. Click Post Comment to create the sketch. Alternatively you can click Cancel Comment if you want to discard your changes.
  9. (Optional) If you want to provide a link to the sketch in the text of the Entry, Submit any changes, and then:
    1. Ensure your cursor is in the position within your Entry where you want to add the link to the sketch.
    2. Click the Add to text button next to the sketch that you want to include in your Entry text.
  10. When you are ready to save your changes to the post, enter details of your changes in the Reason For Edit field.
  11. Click Submit to save the changes.

Changing the format of the sketches displayed in your Entry​

You can change the way that the links to sketches are displayed in your post. You can change the size of the image that is displayed for the sketch. You can also choose to display only the title of the sketch instead of the image.

To change the size of the image for the sketch:

  1. Choose the width and height that you want for the image in pixels.
  2. Edit the data markup to include the size attribute. For example, to change the size of the icon for the sketch 27680 to 180 pixels by 140 pixels, enter the following text into your Entry: [data=size:180x140]27680[/data].
  3. Enter a Reason for edit and Submit the changes to your Entry.
  4. The size of the image for the sketch will be changed in your Entry.

To display only the title of the sketch:

  1. Edit the data markup to include the text attribute. For example, to display only the title for the sketch 27680, enter the following text into your Entry: [data=text]27680[/data].
  2. Enter a Reason for edit and Submit the changes to your Entry.

The image for the sketch is no longer displayed, and the title of the sketch is displayed in the format:

Data: SketchTitle

What to do next: