Write an Entity Description

This tutorial shows how to write an EntityDescription.

• Step 1: Create a class
• Step 2: Add properties

Step 1: Create a class

An EntityDescription is simply a MATLAB class that subclasses from symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.ExperimentDescription, symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.SourceDescription, or symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.EpochGroupDescription.

Create a new class in your personal Symphony package by navigating to the package in MATLAB's Current Folder, right-clicking on the "+sources" directory, and selecting New File > Class.

Name the class file "Demo.m" and open it in the MATLAB Editor.

classdef Demo
    %DEMO Summary of this class goes here
    %   Detailed explanation goes here

    properties
    end

    methods
    end

end

Remove the comments and properties block and edit the classdef line to subclass from the symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.SourceDescription class.

classdef Demo < symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.SourceDescription

    methods
    end

end

Add a constructor method with no input arguments.

classdef Demo < symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.SourceDescription

    methods

        function obj = Demo()

        end

    end

end

You now have an empty SourceDescription.

Step 2: Add properties

The metadata of an EntityDescription is described by properties.

Add a property named "id" with an initial value of "" to the description by adding a line calling the addProperty() method.

function obj = Demo()
    obj.addProperty('id', '');
end

Add a property named "sex" with an initial value of "" to the description by adding another line calling the addProperty() method.

function obj = Demo()
    obj.addProperty('id', '');
    obj.addProperty('sex', '');
end

The "Demo" source description now has two properties.

classdef Demo < symphonyui.core.persistent.descriptions.SourceDescription

    methods

        function obj = Demo()
            obj.addProperty('id', '');
            obj.addProperty('sex', '');
        end

    end

end

Create a new file in Symphony and add a source using the "Demo" description to view and edit the properties.