This topic describes how to edit and manage existing assay designs. To create new designs, see this topic: Describe Assay Data Structure

• View All Assay Designs
• Manage Assay Design
• Edit Assay Design
• Copy Assay Design
• Export Assay Design
• Delete Assay Design
• Archive Assay Design

View All Assay Designs

The assays defined are all listed on the main menu under Assays. To see the list of assays as a grid, click the heading Assays.

You will see the Grid listing the name and description of each defined assay. The Active tab is shown by default; click the All tab to also see archived assay designs.

Manage Assay Design

Click the name of any assay from the main menu or grid to open the runs page for that assay. You will see the assay description, as well as a grid of runs.

To see details about the assay design, hover over the Details link.

Click Runs for the grid of runs and Results for the grid of result data.

From any page within the assay interface, you can click Import Data to import a new run.

Edit Assay Design

Click the name of any assay from the main menu or assay grid to open the runs page.

• To edit the design select Manage > Edit Assay Design.

• The panels for editing properties and fields in your assay will open.
• You can edit the Name if necessary, ensuring that it is unique. It is best to time such renaming for when there are unlikely to be other users importing data or viewing results, as they may encounter errors and need to refresh their browser to pick up the name change.
• Use the field editor to adjust as needed. Remember that if you delete any fields, all their data will be deleted as well.
• When finished making changes, click Save.

Copy Assay Design

To copy the design select Manage > Copy Assay Design. This can be a convenient way to make many similar assay designs or add a new variation without losing the previous design.

Export Assay Design

This option is only available when Sample Manager is used with a Premium Edition of LabKey Server.

To export the assay design as a XAR file, select Manage > Export Assay Design.

Learn more about exported assay designs in the LabKey Server documentation

Delete Assay Design

Click the name of any assay from the main menu or assay grid to open the runs page.

• To delete the design select Manage > Delete Assay Design.

• Note that when you delete a design, all runs of data associated with it will also be deleted. Deletion cannot be undone.
• Enter the Reason for Deleting if required or desired. It will be included in the audit log.
• Confirm in the popup to complete the deletion.

• Active: When this box is unchecked, the design is archived and hidden in certain views.

Archive Assay Design

Assay Designs can be hidden from certain views by unchecking the Active checkbox in the Assay Properties panel. Archived, or inactive, designs are not shown on the main menu or available for new data entry through Sample Manager, but existing data is retained for reference.

Using the archive option can be helpful when a design evolves over time. Making the older versions "inactive" will ensure that users only use the latest versions. An assay design may be reactivated at any time by returning to edit the design and checking the Active box again.

When viewing all assay data for a sample, both the active and archived assays will be shown if there is any data for that sample.

On the main Assays dashboard, you will be able to find inactive assays by switching to the All tab.

Related Topics

• Manage Assay Data
• Describe Assay Data Structure
• Import Assay Data
• Field Editor