PlotID

PlotID is a toolkit that labels your plots and figures and copies all associated data (research data, plotting script, user-functions and a copy of the figure) to the desired location.
This version of PlotID is build for MATLAB.
PlotID provides two core functions TagPlot and Publish which are described in detail below.

Feel free to give feedback and feature requests or to take part in the development process.

• Quick User Guide
• PlotID.TagPlot()
  • CreateID()
  • friendlyID()
• PlotID.Publish()
  • createFileCopy ()
  • createLinkedHDF ()
  • fileCompare()
  • removePltIdFiles()
• How to use the .config file
  • Define an export path
  • Store custom options for Publish
  • Working with multiple (project dependend) config files
• Aknowledgements
• Known Issues
• FAQs

Quick User Guide

Requirements: MATLAB R2021a or newer

First use:

1. Put your PlotID folder in you userpath on Windows this is C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\MATLAB.
   When using a diffrent folder, make sure the folder is on your search path.

2. Run Initialisation.m and follow the command line instructions.
   The ProjectID is your custom project number, it well be the prefix of the ID created by PlotID (e.g. JL-001). Save your config file.

Intended use:
PlotID works in two Steps:

1. Tag the plot [figs, IDs] = PlotId.TagPlot(figs, options)

2. Publish the plot and the associated data PlotID.Publish(DataPaths,scriptPath, figure, options)

scriptPath contains either the path to the script, this can be provided with the simple call of scriptPath = [mfilename('fullpath'),'.m'] or the script or function name that is used for creating your plot.
DataPaths contains the path(s) to the research data, for multiple files you can use a cell array (We recommend using absolute paths). It is also possible to pass an arbitrary number of variables as struct.
figure is the figure that should be published.

Please take also a look on the examples provided in the Example folder.

PlotID.TagPlot()

[figs, IDs] = TagPlot(figs, options) TagPlot adds IDs to figures The ID is placed visual on the figure window and as Tag (property of the figure) TagPlot can tag multiple figures at once. If a single Plot is tagged, IDs is a char, otherwise it is a cell array of chars .

CreateID()

function [ID] = CreateID(method)
CreateID Creates an identifier (char). It creates an (sometimes unique) identifier based on the selected method, if no method is selected method 1 will be the default method.

1. UNIX Time in seconds as HEX
   This is used by default due to its simplicity and it is human readable.
2. random UUID from Java 128 bit.
   Static factory to retrieve a type 4 (pseudo randomly generated) UUID. The UUID is generated using a cryptographically strong pseudo random number generator.

friendlyID()

[IDf,PrjID, Str] = friendlyID(ID)
FriendlyID Changes the Hex Number to a human friendly datetime and dateStr. IDf returns the ID as DateTime Object, PrjID returns the ProjectID, Str returns the timestamp as String.
This only works with ID method 1.

PlotID.Publish()

Publish(DataPaths,scriptPath, figure, options)
Publishes saves plot, data and measuring script Location sets the storage location. 'local' sets the storage location to the current folder (an export folder will be created), 'manual' opens an explorer window, where you can choose the desired folder. If you define a export path in the config file, this will used per default (exportPath).

Two Methods are implemented 'individual' stores the data for each plot while 'centralized' uses a data folder and uses reference links to the original data (hdf5 only). ParentFolder is the folder name where the exported data is stored if a path is used, PlotId will use this path a storagePath.

createFileCopy ()

[] = createFileCopy(filePaths,folderName,storPath,ID,type)
Creates a copy of the files (can be used for multiple paths in a cell array). folderName is the name of the exporting folder

createLinkedHDF ()

[status] = createLinkedHDF5(SourceFile,TargetPath,ID)
createLinkedHDF5 creates a HDF file that references the Sourcefile. TargetPath is the storage location, ID the foldername, Status returns true if the function was successfull.

fileCompare()

[status, id] = fileCompare(filename,fileList)
fileCompare checks if file1 is (binary) identical to a file in filelist, it returns a sttus and the id of the identical file. The function uses the windows system function fc or the unix function diff (not tested).

removePltIdFiles()

[fListClean] = removePltIdFiles(fList)
removePltIdFiles removes functions that are part of PlotID out of flist.

How to use the .config file

The config file is a JSON-File. The config file stores user data and options of PlotID. It will be created when you use PlotID for the first time. Follow the Instructions to create the file. Note: for basic usage no manual changes on the config file are required. \

Note: If you mess up your config-file simply delete it, PlotID will create a new one the next time you use it.

Define an export path

If you define an export path in the config.json this path is used as location for the exported data.

Store custom options for Publish

add custom publish options to the config file
you can define your custom options for publish in the config file. Important: They will always have priority against Name-Value pairs!

configFileName = 'config.json';
configObj = PlotID.config(configFileName);

This method adds the default config to your config file

configObj.addPublishOptions('default');

You can change the options in the json file, but be carefull no argumentValidation will be done on options from the config file!

Working with multiple (project dependend) config files

customConfigFileName = 'configP1.json';
configObj = PlotID.config(customConfigFileName);
configObj.addPublishOptions('default');

 [figs, IDs] = PlotID.TagPlot(figs, 'ConfigFileName','configP1.json');
 Publish(DataPaths,scriptPath, 'ConfigFileName','configP1.json')

Aknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Federal Government and the Heads of Government of the Länder, as well as the Joint Science Conference (GWK), for their funding and support within the framework of the NFDI4Ing consortium. Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) - project number 442146713.

Known Issues

Closed figure will cause error Please do not cloase the figure, MATLAB deletes the object if you do so.

FAQs