# The Sweep Formula Module¶

The Sweep Formula Module in MIES_Sweepformula.ipf is intended to be used from the SF tab in the BrowserSettingsPanel (BSP). It is useful for analyzing a range of sweeps using pre-defined functions. The backend parses a formula into a JSON logic like pattern which in turn is analyzed to return a wave for plotting.

## Preprocessing¶

The entered code in the notebook is preprocessed. The preprocessor removes comments before testing the code for the  vs  operator after which it is passed to the formula parser. Comments start with a # character and end at the end of the current line.

## Formula Parser¶

In order for a formula to get executed, it has to be analyzed. This assures that the correct order of calculations is used. The approach for solving this is using a token based state machine. We virtually insert one character at a time from left to right into the state machine. Usually, a character is collected into a buffer. At some special characters like a + sign, the state changes from collect to addition. If a state changes, a new evaluation group is created which is represented with a JSON object who’s (single) member is the operation. The member name is the operation and the value is an ordered array of the operands. To ensure that multiplication is executed before addition to get 1+2*3=7 and not 1+2*3=9 the states have a priority. Higher order states cause the operation order to switch. The old operation becomes part of the new operation. In this context, when the first array or function argument separator , is parsed on a level, it is treated as higher order operations because it creates a new array.

{
"+": [
1,
{
"*": [
2,
3
]
}
]
}


Arrays start with a square bracket [ and end with a ]. Subsequent array elements are separated by a ,. In a series of arrays like [1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6] the , after the ] is enforced by the parser. Arrays can be part of arrays. Since at its core very formula input is an array the series of arrays [1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6] is implicitly a 2-dimensional array: [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]. The same applies for simple inputs like 1, which is implicitly treated as 1-dimensional array: [1]. The input [[1]] instead is treated as 1x1 2-dimensional array. Arrays are special as also function arguments contain array elements. Therefore, an array can also simply be created by omitting the array brackets and only using element separators similar as in functions. The function max(1,2) is therefore treated the same as max([1,2]). Arrays can represent data and functions evaluate to arrays. Arrays can be of arbitrary size and can also be concatenated as in max(0,min(1,2),1).

{
"max": [
0,
{
"min": [
1,
2
]
},
1
]
}


A number can be entered as 1000, 1e3, or 10.0e2. It is always stored as a numeric value and not as string. The formula parser treats everything that is not parsable but matches alphanumeric characters (excluding operations) to a string as in a_string. White spaces are ignored throughout the formula which means that strings do not need to get enclosed by . In fact, a is an disallowed character.

[
1000,
"a_string"
]


A function is defined as a string that is directly followed by an opening parenthesis. The parenthesis token causes to force a collect state until all parentheses are closed.

Everything that is collected in a buffer is sent back to the function via recursive execution. The formula parser only handles elements inside one recursion call that are linearly combinable like 1*2+3*4. If same operations follow each other, they are concatenated into the same array level as for 1+2+3+4.

{
"+": [
1,
2,
3,
4
]
}

{
"+": [
{
"*": [
1,
2
]
},
{
"*": [
3,
4
]
}
]
}


The formula is sent to a preparser that checks for the correct amount of brackets and converts multi-character operations to their multi-character UTF-8 representations like to . It should be noted that an operation consists of one UTF-8 character. Functions on the other hand can consist of an arbitrary length of alphanumeric characters. The corresponding function for the above operation is range().

## Formula Executor¶

The formula executor receives a JSON id. It can only evaluate a specific structure of a formula which means for usual cases that it should start with an object that contains one operation. Operations are evaluated via recursive calls to the formula executor at different paths. This ensures that the formula is evaluated from the last element to the first element. The formula in the above example 1*2+3*4 is therefore treated as

{
"+": [
{
"*": [
1,
2
]
},
{
"*": [
3,
4
]
}
]
}


which evaluates to

{
"+": [
2,
12
]
}


and finally to [24]. The concept of representing everything as an array also leaves our final result as an one element array or in Igor Pro context, a one element wave. At the time of an evaluation, the maximum depth of an array is 3 dimensions as Igor Pro supports only 4 dimensions and one dimension is used for data alignment.

Note that text waves currently do not accept object evaluation. They are fixed 1-dimensional arrays. This also means that the JSON special chars “NaN” and “Inf” representations are not supported as they require mixed-type array inputs.

In the context of the formula executor, different operations and functions are defined. Some of them are MIES specific, some of them are wrappers to Igor Pro operations or functions, some borrowed from other languages and there are also the simple, trivial operations. This section should give a list of the available operations and give a look into how they are meant to be used

## Operations¶

The trivial operations are +, -, *, /. They are defined for all available dimensions and evaluate column based.

They can be used for evaluating

• scalars with 1d waves as in 1 + [1,2] = [2,3]

• 1d waves with 1d waves as in [1,2]+[3,4] = [4,6]

• 1d waves with 2d waves as in [1,2]+[[3,4],[5,6]] = [[1+3,2+5],[null+4,null+6]] = [[4,7],[null,null]]

• 2d waves with 2d waves as in [[1,2],[3,4]]+[[5,6],[7,8]] = [[6,8],[10,12]]

After evaluation of the operation, the wave is reduced to have the same amount of dimensions as the input array. The size in each dimension is expanded to match the maximum array. The expansion is filled with null to avoid undefined behavior. In the special case of adding a numeric value to an array, the numeric value is expanded to the full size and dimensions of the largest array. This means that in our first example, 1 is internally expanded to a size of 2 similar like executing 1 + [1,2] == [1,1] + [1,2].

## Statistical Functions¶

### min and max¶

min and max return the minimum and maximum of an array. For one dimension the result is trivial. In two dimensions they evaluate column based and return a row based array.

min([[1, 2],[3, 4]]) = [1, 2]

max(min([[1, 2],[3, 4]])) = [2]

min(2) == [2]

min() == [null]


The functions accept an arbitrary amount of elements. They are defined only for one and two dimensions.

### avg and mean¶

avg and mean calculate the average $$\frac{1}{n}\sum_i{x_i}$$ of a row if the wave is 1-dimensional. They evaluate column-based $$\frac{1}{n_i}\sum_i{x_{ij}}$$ if the wave has 2 dimensions.

avg(1, 2, 3) == [2]

avg([1, 2, 3],[4, 5, 6],[7, 8, 9]) == [2, 5, 8]


The function is defined only for one and two dimensions.

### root mean square¶

rms calculates the root mean square $$\sqrt{\frac{1}{n}\sum_i{x_i^2}}$$ of a row if the wave is 1-dimensional. It acts column based if the wave is 2-dimensional.

rms(1, 2, 3) == [2.160246899469287]

rms([1, 2, 3],[2, 3, 4],[3, 4, 5]) == [2.160246899469287, 3.109126351029605, 4.08248290463863]


### variance and stdev¶

variance and stdev behave similar as above.

variance(1, 2, 4) == [2.33333]

variance([1, 2, 4],[2, 3, 2],[4, 2, 1]) == [2.33333, 0.33333, 2.33333]

stdev(1, 2, 4) == [1.52753]

stdev([1, 2, 4],[2, 3, 2],[4, 2, 1]) == [1.52753, 0.57735, 1.52753]


## Igor Pro Wrappers¶

### area¶

Use area to calculate the area below a 1D array using trapezoidal integration. Does work on a per column-basis for 2D arrays. Does zeroing by default, pass 0 as second argument to turn zeroing off.

area([0, 1, 2, 3, 4], 0) == [8]

area([0, 1, 2, 3, 4], 1) == [4]


### derivative¶

Use derivative to differentiate along rows for 1- and 2-dimensional data. Central differences are used. The same amount of points as the input is returned.

derivative(1, 2, 4) == [1, 1.5, 2]

derivative([1, 2, 4],[2, 3, 2],[4, 2, 1]) == [1, 1, -2],[1.5, 0, -1.5],[2, -1, -1]


### integrate¶

Trapezoid integration similar to the IP area function with enabled end-point guessing. The function returns the same amount of points as the input waves. It is the counterpart to derivative but due to the end point problem it can potentially introduce follow-up flaws.

integrate(1, 2, 4) == [0, 1.5, 4.5]

integrate([1, 2, 4],[2, 3, 2],[4, 2, 1]) == [0, 0, 0],[1.5, 2.5, 3],[4.5, 5, 4.5]


### butterworth¶

The butterworth filter uses FilterIIR from Igor Pro and acts along rows. It strictly accepts four parameters as follows:

butterworth(data, lowPassCutoffInHz, highPassCutoffInHz, order)


The first parameter data is intended to be used with the data() function but can be an arbitrary numeric array. The parameters lowPassCutoffInHz and highPassCutoffInHz are divided by WAVEBUILDER_MIN_SAMPINT_HZ, that is 200.000 Hz. The maximum order is 100.

butterworth([0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1], 90E3, 100E3, 2) == [0, 0.863871, 0.235196, 0.692709, 0.359758, 0.60206, 0.425727, 0.554052]


### xvalues and time¶

The function xvalues or time are synonyms for the same function. The function returns a wave containing the scaling of the input data. It fills the scaling of the rows for all dimensions.

xvalues(10, 20, 30, 40, 50) == [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]

// The sweeps in this example were sampled at 250 kHz.
// For each data point in the sweep the time is returned.
time(data([0, 1000], channels(AD), sweeps())) == [0, 0.004, 0.008, 0.012, ...]


### setscale¶

setscale can add a wave scaling to an input wave. It accepts 1 to 5 parameters. The first parameter is always data. If no other parameter is present, the wave scaling will get cleared for the given dimension.

setscale(data[, dim[, dimOffset[, dimDelta[, unit]]]])


dimOffset and dimDelta default to 0 and 1, while the unit is empty by default.

xvalues(setscale([0, 1, 2, 3, 4], x, 0, 0.2, firkin)) == [0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8]


### channels¶

channels([str name]+) converts a named channel from string to numbers.

The function accepts an arbitrary amount of typical channel names like AD and DA with a combination of numbers AD1 or channel numbers alone like 2. When called without parameter all channel type / channel number are set by setting the returned value for type and number to NaN.

It returns a numeric array of [[channelType+], [channelNumber+]] that has the same row dimension as the input string array.

It is intended to be used with the select() function.

channels([AD0,AD1, DA0, DA1]) == [[0, 0, 1, 1], [0, 1, 0, 1]]

// Internally NaN is evaluated as joker for all channel types and all channel numbers
channels() == [[NaN], [NaN]]


### sweeps¶

sweeps()

return an 1d-array with the sweep numbers of all sweeps.

// For this example two sweeps were acquired
sweeps() == [0, 1]


### cursors¶

cursors([A-J]+) will return the x values of the named cursor(s) in the graph. The cursors operation takes any number of arguments. If no argument is given it defaults to cursors(A, B). When cursors is used as argument for range two arguments for cursors should be used to have a compatible output for range.

cursors(A,B) vs A,B

cursors() vs A,B // same as above

cursors(B,A,D,J,I,G,G) // returns a 7 element array with the x-values of the named cursors


### wave¶

Return the contents of the referenced wave. Useful for debugging and testing especially.

wave(root:mywave)


### text¶

Convert the given numeric output wave to a text wave. This can be used to force, for example, a category plot.

range(5) vs text(range(5))


### data¶

Although being listed near the end, the data() function is the core of the SweepFormula library. It returns sweep data from MIES.

data(array range[, array selectData])

data(string epochShortName[, array selectData])


The return format is a 3d array [sweepData][sweeps][channels] where the columns use a dimension label in the form SWEEP<X> where X is the sweep number, e.g. SWEEP0. The layers use dimension labels in the form <channelType><channelNumber>, e.g. AD0.

Through the select function it can be chosen for which sweeps and channels sweep data is returned. select also allows to choose either currently displayed sweeps or all existing sweeps as data source. When the optional select argument is omitted, select() is used as default that includes all displayed sweeps and channels.

The range can be either supplied explicitly using [100, 300] which would select 100 ms to 300 ms or by using cursors(). In case cursors() is used but there are no cursors on the graph, the full x-range is used.

A second way to give the range is as 3-dimensional array in the format [range][sweeps][channels]. In this format the row contains two elements as above. This allows to give a separate range per sweep and channel.

Instead of a numerical range also the short name of an epoch can be given. Then the range is determined from the epoch information of each sweep/channel data iterates through.

The function does not return errors for unmatched entries. If no entry was found data returns a single element wave with a NaN value.

When executed by the Formula Executor the data wave has the layout:

• ROWS: sweep data

• COLS: sweep number with dimension label sweepX where X is an integer

• LAYERS: channels with dimension label <channelnameX>, e.g. AD0.

// Shows the AD channels of all sweeps

// Shows epoch "E1" range of the AD channels of all sweeps

// Assuming two active AD channels: Shows two AD channels of sweeps 0 and 1 with
// range 10 - 20 ms for the first AD channel and 30 - 40 ms for the second AD channel
data([[[10, 10], [30, 30]], [[20, 20], [40, 40]]], select(channels(AD), [0, 1]))


### labnotebook¶

labnotebook(string key[, array selectData [, string entrySourceType]])


The labnotebook function returns the (case insensitive) key entry from the labnotebook for the selected channel and sweep combination(s). The optional entrySourceType can be one of the constants DataAcqModes for data acquisition modes as defined in ../MIES/MIES_Constants.ipf. If the entrySourceType is omitted it defaults to DATA_ACQUISITION_MODE.

When the optional select argument is omitted, select() is used as default that includes all displayed sweeps and channels.

The labnotebook() function has a similar data layout as the data() function. It returns the notebook entries as single elements where the rows count the sweeps and the columns the channels: [sweeps][channel].

max(
data(
cursors(AB)
sweeps()
)
)
vs
labnotebook(
"set cycle count",
DATA_ACQUISITION_MODE
)


The function searches for numeric entries in the labnotebook first and then for text entries. It returns NaN if no match was found. It adds dimension labels to the columns to indicate the channel names.

### findlevel¶

findlevel(data, level, [edge]) will return the x position of the found level or NaN if nothing could be found. The edge type is by default rising and falling (0), other options are rising (1) or falling (2).

findlevel([1, 2, 3], 1.5) == [0.5]


### apfrequency¶

apfrequency(data, [method, level]) will return the action potential frequency using the full (default or 0), instantaneous (1) or apcount (2) method. The default level is 0.

The calculation for these methods are done using the below formulas where $$l$$ denotes the number of found levels, $$t_{i}$$ the timepoint in seconds of the level and $$T$$ the total x range of the data in seconds.

$\begin{split}f_{\text{full}} &= \frac{l}{T} \\ f_{\text{instantaneous}} &= \frac{1}{\sum_{i = 0}^{i = l - 1} \left( t_{i + 1} - t_{i} \right)} \\ f_{\text{apcount}} &= l \\\end{split}$
apfrequency([10, 20, 30], 1, 15)


## Utility Functions¶

### select¶

The select function allows to choose a set of sweep data from a given list of sweeps and channels. It is intended to be used with functions like data, labnotebook, epochs and tp. A mode parameter allows to retrieve the set of sweeps from the displayed data or from all existing sweeps.

select(array channels, array sweeps[, string mode])


The function accepts two or three parameters. If the mode parameter is omitted then select defaults to displayed. To retrieve a correct array of channels the channels function should be used.

If a given channel/sweep combination does not exist it is omitted in the output.

The output is a N x 3 array where the columns are sweep number, channel type, channel number.

The order of the output is sweep -> channel type -> channel number. e.g. for two sweeps numbered 0, 1 that have channels AD0, AD1, DA6, DA7: {{0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1}, {0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1}, {0, 1, 6, 7, 0, 1, 6, 7}}.

select(channels(AD), sweeps(), all)


### range¶

The range function is borrowed from python. It expands values into a new array.

This function can also be used as an operation with the “…” operator which is the Unicode Character ‘HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS’ (U+2026).

range(start[, stop[, step]])

start…stop


The function generally accepts 1 to 3 arguments. The operation is intended to be used with two arguments.

range(1, 5, 0.7) == [1, 1.7, 2.4, 3.1, 3.8, 4.5]


### epochs¶

The epochs function returns information from epochs.

epochs(string name[, array selectData[, string type]])


The first argument is the name of the epoch.

The second argument is a selection of sweeps and channels where the epoch information is retrieved. It is intended to be specified through the select operation. When the optional second argument is omitted, select() is used as default that includes all displayed sweeps and channels.

type sets what information is returned. Valid types are: range, name, treelevel. If type is not specified then range is used as default.

range: The operation returns a 2xN wave with the start and end time of the epoch(s) in [ms] for all existing active channels. If only a single epoch is returned then the operation returns a 1D wave with two elements, as the range function. The order of returned ranges for the N dimension is: sweeps( channels ). If a sweep/channel combination does not have epoch information saved [NaN, NaN] is returned as range for this combination. If no matching epoch was found a zero sized wave is returned.

name: The full names of the epochs are returned in a 1D text wave. If a sweep/channel combination does not have epoch information saved an empty string is returned as name for this combination. If no matching epoch was found a zero sized wave is returned.

treelevel: The tree levels of the epochs are returned in a 1D wave. If a sweep/channel combination does not have epoch information saved NaN is returned as tree level for this combination. If no matching epoch was found a zero sized wave is returned.

// get stimset range (epoch ST) from all displayed sweeps and channels
epochs(ST)

// two sweeps acquired with two headstages set with PulseTrain_100Hz_DA_0 and PulseTrain_150Hz_DA_0 from _2017_09_01_192934-compressed.nwb
epochs(ST, select(channels(AD), sweeps()), range) == [[20, 1376.01], [20, 1342.67], [20, 1376.01], [20, 1342.67]]


### tp¶

The tp function returns analysis values for test pulses that are part of selected sweeps.

tp(variant type[, array selectData[, array ignoreTPs]])


type sets what test pulse analysis value is returned. The following types are supported:

base or 0: Returns the baseline level in pA or mV depending on the clamp mode.

inst or 1: Returns the instantaneous resistance values in MΩ.

ss or 2: Returns the steady state resistance values in MΩ.

The returned array is 1 x M x N, where M indexes the sweeps and N indexes the channels. Thus, sweep and channel information gets transferred as well. Values for non-existing sweeps and/or channels are set NaN. If a single sweep contains multiple test pulses then the data from the test pulse ranges is averaged.

The second argument is a selection of sweeps and channels where the test pulse information is retrieved. It is intended to be specified through the select operation. When the optional second argument is omitted, select() is used as default that includes all displayed sweeps and channels.

The optional argument ignoreTPs allows to ignore some of the found test-pulses. The indices are zero-based and identify the test-pulses by ascending starting time.

The test pulses in the sweep must have the same duration. Test pulses that are part of sweeps are identified through their respective epoch short name, that starts with “TP” or “U_TP”. If sweeps and channels can resolve existing single sweeps but none contain epochs for test pulses then a numeric single element wave is returned with the value NaN.

// Get steady state resistance from all displayed sweeps and channels
tp(ss)

// Get steady state resistance from all displayed sweeps and AD channels

// Get base line level from all displayed sweeps and DA1 channel
tp(static, select(channels(DA1), sweeps()))

// Get base line level from all displayed sweeps and channels ignoring test pulse 0 and 1
tp(static, select(), [0, 1])


### merge¶

merge reduces a 2-dimensional array to a 1-dimensional array similar to removing all inner square brackets:

merge([1, [2, 3], 4]) == [1, 2, 3, 4]


### log¶

log prints the first element of the current array to the command line but passes the wave as usual to the next operation. It is useful for debugging inside large formulas.

// outputs "1" to the history area
log(1, 10, 100) == [1, 10, 100]


Both, merge and log are defined in JSON logic.

### log10¶

Apply the decadic (base 10) logarithm to its input.

log10(1, 10, 100) == [0,1,2]


### store¶

Write entries into the textual results wave for documentation purposes and later querying. The second parameter which can be any numerical/textual array will be serialized and stored under the given name.

store("fancy feature", [10, 100])


adds the entry “Sweep Formula store [fancy feature]” with a serialized version of given array. The operation returns the second parameter unchanged.

## Plotting¶

When clicking the Display button in the SF tab the formula gets parsed, executed and the result plotted. Running the JSON object from the Formula Parser through the Formula Executor gives a resulting wave. The data from the rows is plotted as traces and the columns and layers are evaluated as an array of traces. Thus, a single plotted trace is created by the following input: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Two traces with 5 data points each are created by this input: [1, 3], [2, 4], [3, 5], [4, 6], [5, 7]. Whereas the input 0…10, 20…30 creates ten traces with two data points each, starting with the first trace X = 0, Y = 0; X = 1, Y = 20.

In typical use cases instead of explicitly writing static data in the formula the data operation is utilized that returns data in the correct array layout.

### Separate X-values¶

Sometimes it is useful to explicitly specify X values for a series of data values. Therefore, two formulas can be plotted against each other by using the vs operator.

0...10 vs range(10, 100, 10)


gives

Note that in this example there are 10 Y-values and only 9 X-values returned by the respective formula part. The resulting graph shows 9 data points and thus does not show data points where either an X or Y value for the X, Y value pair is missing.

The plotter supports the same X values for multiple traces:

[1, 3], [2, 4], [3, 5], [4, 6], [5, 7] vs 1...6


This example plots two traces with five data points each against equidistant X coordinates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The first trace is colored blue for demonstration. This also works for a constant X value and multiple traces. The same way separate X value series for traces can be set:

[1, 3], [2, 4], [3, 5], [4, 6], [5, 7] vs [1, 0], [2, 0.5], [3, 1], [4, 1.5], [5, 2]


The above example plots two traces with the first one Y series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; X series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the second Y series: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; X series: 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2. The first trace is colored blue for demonstration.

### Multiple graphs¶

Several graphs can generated with a single input by separating the formulas with and. The and must be on an own line.

0...10 vs range(10, 100, 10)
and
10...20 vs range(10, 100, 10)
and
20...30


The above code creates a panel with three separate graphs arranged vertically evenly spaced.

## Getting Quick Help¶

In the Sweep Formula notebook it is possible to get a quick help for operation and keywords like vs and and. Mark the operation in question with the mouse and hover over it, a tooltip appears that shows the help for this operation. Alternatively hold shift and right-click to jump to the Help tab that shows the help for the marked operation.