AnyWave:Faq

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ) about AnyWave. If you don't have an answer to your question reading the Documentation, you may find useful information here.

What are the available versions?

The current available versions are:

  • Windows 64bit - Jun 2015
  • Mac OS X - Jun 2015
  • Linux amd64 Debian 7.0 - Jun 2015. The package is also compatible with Ubuntu 14.04 and earlier versions.

Click on the link below to download AnyWave for your platform:
Download AnyWave

Do not hesitate to report installation problems or other issues using our BUG TRACKER

How to install AnyWave?

Windows

After downloading the zip file, simply unzip it in a temporary folder and launch setup.exe

Mac OS X

The Mac OS X version of AnyWave supports Mac OS 10.5 to 10.10.

After downloading the zip file, unzip it to some place (Desktop for example) and double click on the mpkg file.

This will launch the installer and AnyWave.app will be placed in the /Applications folder.

Note that you can copy the Application and its companion folder Anywave_Plugins elsewhere on your computer.

Linux

AnyWave is available as a Debian package for the amd64 architecture.

The package should install as well on Ubuntu 64bit.

After downloading the .deb file, double-click on it or use the CLI interface to install the application.

After the package was successfully installed, you will be able to run AnyWave from a terminal by typing the command: anywave

Where to get the documentation?

The user guide is available here : http://meg.univ-amu.fr/AnyWave/AnyWave_UserGuide.pdf

See also the Wiki parts dedicated to developers: Developer's corner

Plug-ins

What is a plug-in?

AnyWave uses external modules called plug-ins, that are loaded at startup and extend the functionalities of the application.
Depending on the platform, plug-ins are files with different extensions.
On Windows systems plug-ins are .dll files where on Mac OS X systems the extension is .dylib. Linux version of AnyWave will use plugin with .so extension.

There are several types of plug-ins used by AnyWave:
- Reader plug-ins are responsible of reading data file formats.
- Writer plug-ins are responsible of writing data to a data file format.
- Signal processing plug-ins will run some processing on data and present or not the results in AnyWave.
- Display plug-ins are responsible of displaying specific data type. Typically, the results computed by signal processing plug-ins.

How to install a plug-in

When installing AnyWave some plug-ins are also installed, allowing to read file formats and allowing to do processing on data.
Those plug-ins are located in a Plugin folder:

  • On Windows and Linux systems the folder is called Plugins and is located in the AnyWave folder.
  • On Mac systems, the folder is called Anywave_Plugins and is installed in the /Applications folder.

Adding a plug-in is done by copying the plug-in file in that folder. However, that will required administrator privileges.

How to install user plug-ins

One other way to install plug-ins is to copy them into the user's home directory.

Indeed, AnyWave will create a AnyWave folder in the user's home directory:

  • On Windows that will be someting like: "My Documents\AnyWave" or "Documents\AnyWave".
  • On Linux it can be at /home/user/AnyWave
  • on Mac systems it will be located at /Users/user/AnyWave

This AnyWave folder will contain several other folders. The one usefull here is called Plugins.

Copy user plug-ins file in that directory and AnyWave will load them the next time the user launches it.

MATLAB plug-in

AnyWave offers the possibility to run signal processing plug-ins written with the MATLAB programming language.
There are two ways to run MATLAB code as plug-ins:

  • You may have a MATLAB Compiled plug-in which is embedded in a library file.
  • You may have a MATLAB scripted plug-in which is simply MATLAB code.

MATLAB Compiled Plugin

A MATLAB Compiled plugin is most likely a classic C++ plug-in.
It is a library file (.dll or .so or .dylib depending on the system used) which is a regular C++ plug-in embedding a shared library that was created by the MATLAB Compiler.

The MATLAB Compiler transforms MATLAB code into a shared library or a standalone executable file.
To use that kind of MATLAB code the MATLAB Compiler Runtime must be installed on the targeted computer.

AnyWave is able to run MATLAB Compiler code as long as it can detect a valid version of the MATLAB Compiler Runtime on the system.
This detection is made each time the user launches AnyWave.

We do not encourage providing MATLAB Compiled Code as it requires a specific version of the MCR to be installed on the computer.

It is much more easier to share plug-ins written in MALTAB code.

To run MATLAB Compiled plug-ins, please install the Compiler Runtime 2012b on your computer.


ATTENTION: the required version is 2012b as AnyWave was designed to use that specific version of the runtime.

Once the MATLAB Compiler Runtime is installed, AnyWave should detect it automatically (if the default installation parameters were used), and MATLAB Compiled Plug-ins will then be available.

Note: The MCR needs to be installed once and for all. You should not have two different versions of the MCR on the same computer. Please uninstall other versions than 2012b.

MATLAB Scripted Plugin

If you are a mighty MATLAB programmer and thus have MATLAB installed on your computer, you may use and develop a MATLAB Scripted plugin.
A MATLAB Scripted plugin is a MATLAB function that will be called by AnyWave.
It is possible to use a MATLAB Scripted plugin written by someone else just by installing it in AnyWave.

How to install a MATLAB Scripted Plugin

AnyWave provides a specific location where to put MATLAB Scripted plug-ins:
You may use the global plugin directory or the user's plugin directory. On both locations you will find a subfolder called MATLAB.
AnyWave will look for MATLAB Scripted plug-ins in the two locations. (AnyWave Application directory/Plugins/Matlab or /user's home/AnyWave/Plugins/Matlab)

A MATLAB Scripted plug-in is a simple folder containing files. If you want more details about MATLAB Scripted plug-ins, please refer to the How to write a MATLAB Scripted plug-in.

To summarize:
MATLAB Scripted plug-ins have to go in:Application dir/Plugins/Matlab or /user's home/AnyWave/Plugins/Matlab

Python plug-ins

AnyWave offers the possibility to write signal processing plug-in in Python.
Python 2.7 and all the scientific packages are included in AnyWave (starting with May 2014 versions).

A Python plug-in is very similar to a MATLAB Scripted Plug-in. The install procedure is the same except that you have to copy the plugin in a folder named Python:

Python plug-ins have to go in:AnyWave application/Plugins/Python/ or /user's home/AnyWave/Plugins/Python

File formats

AnyWave can read and/or write to different file formats depending on the available plug-ins.

For EEG data the following formats are supported for reading:

  • Neuroscan (.cnt)
  • Micromed (.trc)
  • Electrode Array (.eab)
  • EDF/BDF (.eeg)
  • Brainvision Analyser (.vhdr)
  • ADES (.ades) AnyWave simple format.

For MEG data the following formats are supported for reading:

  • 4DNI
  • CTF
  • ADES (.ades) AnyWave simple format.

It is also possible to export to the following formats:

  • Brainvision Analyser (.vhdr)
  • ADES (.ades) AnyWave simple format.

ADES format

This is a simple file format used mostly to exchange data between different software. This is NOT the official AnyWave format but just a media used for exchanging between software.

Here is a complete documentation of the ADES file format

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