Open Ephys Data Format

A Record Engine plugin that saves data in the original Open Ephys format.

Installation

This plugin can be added via the Open Ephys GUI Plugin Installer. Before installing a new Record Engine, all Record Nodes must be removed from the signal chain. To access the Plugin Installer, press ctrl-P or ⌘P from inside the GUI. Once the installer is loaded, browse to the "Open Ephys Data Format" plugin and click "Install."

Usage

A complete description of the Open Ephys Data Format is available here.

Building from source

First, follow the instructions on this page to build the Open Ephys GUI.

Important: This plugin is intended for use with the latest version of the GUI (0.6.0 and higher). The GUI should be compiled from the main branch, rather than the former master branch.

Then, clone this repository into a directory at the same level as the plugin-GUI, e.g.:

Code
├── plugin-GUI
│   ├── Build
│   ├── Source
│   └── ...
├── OEPlugins
│   └── open-ephys-data-format
│       ├── Build
│       ├── Source
│       └── ...

Windows

Requirements: Visual Studio and CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 ..

Next, launch Visual Studio and open the OE_PLUGIN_open-ephys-data-format.sln file that was just created. Select the appropriate configuration (Debug/Release) and build the solution.

Selecting the INSTALL project and manually building it will copy the .dll and any other required files into the GUI's plugins directory. The next time you launch the GUI from Visual Studio, Open Ephys should appear as an data format option in the Record Node.

Linux

Requirements: CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" ..
cd Debug
make -j
make install

This will build the plugin and copy the .so file into the GUI's plugins directory. The next time you launch the compiled version of the GUI, Open Ephys should appear as an data format option in the Record Node.

macOS

Requirements: Xcode and CMake

From the Build directory, enter:

cmake -G "Xcode" ..

Next, launch Xcode and open the open-ephys-data-format.xcodeproj file that now lives in the “Build” directory.

Running the ALL_BUILD scheme will compile the plugin; running the INSTALL scheme will install the .bundle file to /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/open-ephys/plugins-api. Open Ephys should now appear as an data format option in the Record Node.

Attribution

This plugin and the Open Ephys data format specification were collaboratively developed by Josh Siegle, Aarón Cuevas López, and Pavel Kulik.