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The text file must be created outside of Partek^® Flow^® (you can use software such as Partek^® Genomics Suite^®, Microsoft^® Excel^® or any text editor). A valid text file is a tab-delimited text file that contains one sample per row and columns containing sample information. At least one column must have unique entries and will be suggested as Sample IDs. Additional columns may contain numeric or categorical attributes and (optional) filenames. Examples of text files are shown in Figures 3 and 6.

To select the text file, create a new project and in the blank Data Tab (no samples have been imported yet), click the Assign sample attributes from a file button (Figure 1). 

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In the text file, each filename to be associated with the sample must be separated by a tab. That means, if you are using a spreadsheet software to generate the text file, there is a maximum of one file per column. You also need to add headers such as file1, file2, etc., to define the columns. There is no limit on the number of columns on the text file. It is possible to have a different number of files associated with different samples.

 The filenames must show the proper extensions of data types compatible with Partek Flow (see Types of Data).

The actual files can be in the same directory as the text file or in a different directory. If the files are in a different directory, you must include the file paths (more information below).

It is possible to have a different number of files associated with different samples.

Text file and data are in the same directory

If the text files are in the same directory as the Data files, simply include the filenames in the text file as shown in Figure 6. You do not have to specify the file path.

 

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SubtitleText Text with attributes and filenames AnchorName Text with attributes and filenames

Similar to the previous section, the text file will be summarized as in Figure 7. If the file types are valid, Partek Flow will recognize the filenames and locate the files within the directory.  The Files column represent files to be imported.

 

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SubtitleText Selecting the attributes, Sample ID and filenames AnchorName Selecting the attributes, Sample ID and filenames

 

Click Import and the table will be created. After a few few seconds, you will notice that the server icon  will be animated (Figure 8). This means that the process of importing data files have started. Click the Queue dropdown and select View queued tasks... to see the queue of import tasks (Figure 9).

 

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SubtitleText Sample table created from a text file and data is queued for import AnchorName Sample table created from a text file and data is queued for import

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SubtitleText Task Queue showing files import tasks for each file AnchorName Task Queue showing files import tasks for each file

At this stage, you can also go to the Analyses Tab of the project and see that the data node has been created but the color is light blue, which indicates the import is not complete (Figure 10, left). Once all the files have been imported from the queue, the data node will appear darker (Figure 10, right).

 

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SubtitleText Analyses Tab showing data node during import (left) and once the import is completed (right) AnchorName Analyses Tab showing data node during import (left) and once the import is completed (right)

 

To view the files associated with the data, go to the Data Tab and click Show data files to expand the table. Figure 11 shows that 4 four files were successfully imported for each sample. You can add more or delete samples as described in the Adding samples section.

 

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SubtitleText Expanded sample table created from a text file with attributes and associated data files AnchorName Expanded sample table created from a text file with attributes and associated data files

 

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