You can associate sample descriptions with flow data and associate sample columns with FCS keywords as described in this topic.
Create "Samples" Sample Type
The flow module uses a
sample type named "Samples". You cannot change this name, and must follow these steps to define its properties and fields in your folder before you can upload sample descriptions. Each folder container could have a different definition of the "Samples" sample type.
- From the flow dashboard, click either Upload Sample Descriptions or Upload Samples.
- If you don't see the link for "Upload Sample Descriptions", and instead see "Upload More Samples", the sample type is already defined and you can proceed to uploading.
- On the Create Sample Type page, you cannot change the Name; it must be "Samples" in the flow module.
- You need to provide a unique way to identify the samples of this type.
- If your sample data contains a Name column, it will be used as the unique identifier.
- If not, you can provide a Naming Pattern for uniquely identifying the samples. For example, if you have a "TubeName" column, you can tell the server to use it by making the name expression "${TubeName}" as shown here:
- Click the Fields section to open it.
- You have two options for defining fields for your samples:
- Infer fields from file: Drag and drop or select a file to use for inferring fields. Supported formats include: .csv, .tsv, .txt, .xls, and .xlsx.
- Manually define fields: Click and use the field editor to add new fields.
- Learn more about defining sample type fields in this topic: Create Sample Type.
- See an example using the following fields in this tutorial: Tutorial: Set Flow Background.
When finished, click
Save to create the sample type.
You will return to the main dashboard where you may notice in the
Flow Experiment Management panel, the link
Upload Sample Descriptions now reads
Upload More Samples.
Upload Sample Descriptions
- Once the "Samples" sample type is defined, clicking Upload Samples or Upload More Samples, will open the panel for importing your sample data.
- Click Download Template to download a template showing all the necessary columns for your sample type.
- You have two upload options:
- Either Copy/Paste data into the Data box shown by default, and select the appropriate Format: (TSV or CSV). The first row should contain column names.
- OR
- Click Upload file (.xlsx, .xls, .csv, .txt) to open the file selection panel, browse to your spreadsheet and open it.
- Import Options: The default behavior is to insert only new samples; ignore samples already defined. Check the box if you want to Update data for existing samples during import.
- For either option, choose whether to Import Lookups by Alternate Key.
Once you've uploaded the sample information, you need to associate the sample columns with the FCS file's keywords using the sample join fields.
- Click My Flow Tutorial (or other name of your folder) to return to the flow dashboard.
- Click Define sample description join fields and specify the join as:
Sample Property | FCS Property |
---|
"AssayId" | "EXPERIMENT NAME" |
"SampOrd" | "Sample Order" |
You will now see a new column in the
FCSFile table and can add it to your view:
- Click My Flow Tutorial (or other name of your folder).
- Click FCS Files in the Flow Summary on the right.
- Click the Name FACSData.
- Then select (Grid Views) > Customize Grid.
- You should now see the columns from the Sample table that you may add to your grid.
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