Knowledge Base

Manage Projects

Projects

A project contains the elements Project Setup, Coding Scheme, Independent Variables, Observations, Data Profiles, Episode Selections, and Analyses. These are visible in the Project Explorer and can be opened either from the menu or by clicking an element or item in the Project Explorer.

What Do You Want to Do?

• Create a new project
• Save a Project
• Rename a Project
• Save a Project as a template
• Open a Project
• Create a backup of a Project
• Restore a backup of a project

Create a New Project

You can create a project in two ways:

• A new blank project – This empty project contains no settings.
• A project from a template – This template project contains settings like a coding scheme and independent variables.

Create a New Blank Project

1. To open a new project, do one of the following:
   • In The Observer XT startup window, under Create a new project, click New blank project.
   • Choose File > New Project.
   • Press Ctrl+N.
2. Enter a name and click OK.

Create a New Project from a Template

See Save a Project as a Template for information about a project template.

1. Do one of the following:
   • In The Observer XT startup window, under Create a new project, click New project from template.
   • Choose File > New Experiment From Template.
2. Click the Select button to select a template project (*.otb) from the Template folder. See also Save a Project as a Template.
3. Enter a name and click OK.

Notes:

• The project is saved in a Project directory with the same name.
• A project file name cannot contain any of the following characters: \ / : ; * ? " < > |

Save a Project

Choose File > Save or press Ctrl+S.

Auto-Save

Use auto-save to temporarily save a project at regular intervals. Choose File > Preferences > Auto recovery. Select Save auto recovery and set the interval.

Auto Recovery saves data to a temporary file. Your data are only saved in the Project file when you actually choose File > Save Project. Media files or external data files are not saved to this temporary folder. When the program crashes, you get the choice to open the auto-saved project or to open The Observer XT. When you choose the latter option, you can open the manually saved project.

Rename a Project

Choose File > Save Project As and enter the new name.

Save a Project as a Template

A template is a copy of an existing project, but without the observations and analyses. Use it to create a similar project without having to create the Coding Scheme, Independent Variables and other settings again. A template contains project settings, coding scheme and independent variables but no data. You can use a template project to exchange coding schemes or to re-use devices in the project setup.

The templates (*.otb) replace the templates and read-only projects (*.otx and *.vpx) from previous versions of The Observer XT.

1. Choose File > Save Project as Template.
2. Enter a name.
3. Click the Save options button and, optionally, select:
   • Include Independent Variables – To include Independent Variables in the template.
   • Include hardware and software devices – To include the hardware and software from the Devices list in the template (see Control External Devices or Programs during a Live Observation in Set up your Project). This is useful, for example, if you use The Observer XT in an observation lab and want to create a new project but use the standard hardware and software setup of your lab.
   • Template information – To enter additional information about the template project.
4. Click OK twice to save the template project.

Open a Project

1. Choose File > Open Project or press Ctrl+O.
2. Browse to the folder where the project is stored.
3. Open the folder with the same name as the project.
4. Select the *.vop file and click Open.

Notes:

• See Restore a Backup of a Project to open a backup file (*.vpb).
• If you open a project created in a previous version of The Observer XT, it is automatically updated to an Observer 17 project. This then can no longer be read in the previous version. The Observer XT 17 automatically creates a backup (*.vpb) copy of the project in the Projects folder which can be opened in the previous version of The Observer XT.
• If your project includes Chinese, Japanese, or Cyrillic language characters: you can view these characters on a computer with an English language Windows system only when the correct language pack has been installed. If the project was created on an English language Windows system with the appropriate language pack installed, you can view it on a Chinese, Japanese, or Cyrillic language Windows computer. In all other cases the project opens but you cannot view these characters.
• Use Latin characters in the path names and file names, as otherwise The Observer XT cannot find the data.

Create a Backup of a Project

The aim is to create a copy of your project that can be stored as a backup, sent to a colleague, or to Technical Support in case of problems.

1. Choose File > Make Backup, or press Ctrl+B.
2. Select the following options as needed:
   • External data (selected by default) – To include the external (physiological) data files (*.pbi) in the backup file. If you do not select this option, the backup still contains the names of the files (*.pbi). You can copy those files manually to the project's External folder. If your project contains no physiological data, selecting or deselecting this option has no effect.
   • Import profiles – Select this option if you want to include the import profiles used to import the physiological data (*.eip) in the backup file.
3. Optionally, change the file name and file location.
4. Click Save.

Notes:

• The backup file contains a zipped copy of the entire Project folder and of the log file. It also contains Preferences, references to media files and external (physiological) data outside the Project folder.
• Media files are not stored in the backup file. Store a copy of the videos at a safe location as well.
• If you want to quickly copy observations, including references to media files and external data, export them as ODX. See Export Data to The Observer XT Data Files (*.odx).
• Store the backup file on a secure medium (CD, DVD, external hard disk or network drive), in a separate location.
• The Observer XT creates a backup automatically every tenth time you save a project.

Restore a Backup of a Project

To open a project from a backup file:

1. Choose File > Restore Backup, or press Ctrl+R.
2. Locate and select the backup file (*.vpb) and click Open. The Project directory and all associated files in the project are now restored.

Notes:

• If your backup file includes external data and import profiles (see the options in Create a Backup of a Project), these are copied to the External project folder and the Profiles folder respectively.
• If you chose not to include the external data, you can still recover them. Open the Independent Variables List and point the mouse to the cells in the External data columns. A tooltip informs you about the name of the imported file (*.pbi). Copy this file to the External project folder. See Project-level Folders for its location.