🧱 The Prompt List - articulateinstruments/AAA-DeepLabCut-Resources GitHub Wiki

The list of prompts can be changed with the Edit|Prompt List… dialogue.

On startup, the AAA demo project has sample prompt lists default, AAA demonstration and MoCHA.

When you create a new project you can choose whether to copy these lists into the new project. If you choose not to copy them, this will reduce the size of the project but you must then create your own list with at least one prompt.

The easiest way to create a list is to cut and paste a set of prompts that you have prepared in word or excel or found on the internet into the default list. Each recording can be prompted by text, an image, an audio or a video clip.

^{If you already have a list of prompts in a text file, simply select and copy the list from the text file using -C in your text editor and paste into the Prompt List Editor using -V}

To create a new list click the List menu item ‘New’, which sets up a Title and opens a new blank list.

‘Rename…’ allows the currently selected list to be renamed.

‘Delete’ allows the currently selected list to be deleted. This may save space especially if the list has audio, video or image prompts.

‘Convert old prompts to unicode’ allows prompt lists which were stored in special fonts in previous version of AAA to be converted to unicode. (This is explained more if you continue reading this page.)

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Promptlists are stored within the database but they can be exported or imported in csv format. The benefit of this format over cut and paste is that it records associated bitmaps and audio. Exporting the default promptlist exports the associated bitmaps as well as the csv file.

In the csv file

• Column 1 contains the prompt text
• Column 2 contains the name of any image bitmap
• Column 3 contains the name of any audio wav or video avi

Csv files will be shown in the bottom panels of the promptlist editor if they are present in the Prompts folder under the application folder. Any images, wav files or AVI files specified in a csv file must also be located in the Prompts folder.

Click the button to import the prompts and associated images and audio into the current project. An editor will appear. You can use the editor to change the name of the list and delete any media files you don not wish to import.

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To select an existing prompt for editing double-click or click on it and then click again.

To add a new prompt to the end of the list, click below the bottom entry or right-click and select add from the menu.

^{Lines can be multi-selected using click and drag, Shift-Click or Ctrl-Click. Use cut Ctrl-X and paste Ctrl-V options to move groups of prompts to different positions.}

Right-click for a menu of options.

• ‘Add’ – adds a new line to the bottom of the list
• ‘Delete’ – deletes the currently selected line or lines from the list
• ‘Move Up’ – moves the currently selected line up the list
• ‘Move Down’ – moves the currently selected line down the list
• ‘Copy’ – copies the selected lin or lines to the clipboard
• ‘Paste’ – pastes the conents of the clipboard above the currently selected line
• ‘Select All’ – select all lines
• ‘Duplicate’ – copies the selected line to the end of the list
• ‘Randomise’ – randomly re-orders the list

^{To randomise 5 reps of a list: Ctrl-A to select all prompts, then Ctrl-V five times to duplicate the prompts. Then right-click and select randomise.}

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An image can be associated with each prompt. First create the image using your favourite program (e.g. Paint, Boardmaker, Adobe Photoshop etc.). This can be a drawing or a photograph. Copy the image to the clipboard from within that program. Then, from the Prompt List Editor menu, select ‘Paste’.

Select ‘load...’ to browse for an image file. Only *.bmp files are currently accepted. It brings up a dialogue where the file can be selected and previewed.

Select ‘Copy’ to copy the image from the currently selected prompt. If the current prompt doesn’t have an image associated with it then this option will be disabled.

Select ‘None…’ to remove the image from the currently selected prompt. If the current prompt doesn’t have an image associated with it then this option will be disabled.

^{If you change a prompt that has an image or audio associated with it, the association will be lost (even if you make a simple change like adding a space or a comma). This is because the image is associated with the precise text. This also means that if the exact same text is placed in another Prompt List the picture will automatically be linked to it.}

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A prerecorded utterance or sound can be associated with each prompt. To associate a wav file with a prompt simply click on the line in the prompt list that contains the prompt you want to link audio to then use the audio menu to:

‘Load’ – to browse for a prerecorded audio file. It opens a dialogue. You can use any windows (wav) file as an audio prompt.

‘Play’ – to verify the audio associated with the selected prompt. Also can click button.

‘None…’ – remove the audio associated with prompt from the project.

‘Record’ – Record an audio prompt immediately using the microphone. You can also click the button.

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Read the instructions above for Audio prompts. Video prompts must be prepared in separate video editing software and be in *.avi format.

Select a prompt in the list and then use the ‘Video’ menu option to load the video and associate it with the recording.

^{If you change a prompt that has an image or audio associated with it, the association will be lost (even if you make a simple change like adding a space or a comma). This is because the image is associated with the precise text. This also means that if the exact same text is placed in another Prompt List the picture will automatically be linked to it.}

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Audio/video prompts default to playing before recording starts. Options are available in the Prompt Editor to start playing the audio or video prompt at the same instant that the audio recording starts. Alternatively, it can also be set to start with a delayed text/image prompt after the recording starts.

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For studies of anticipatory articulation and reaction times AAA can delay presentation of prompts until some time after recording starts.

Select Options|Settings from the main menu. Select the Utterances tab and the delayed prompt subtab.

1. Specify the wait time after recording starts and before the prompt text/image is displayed.
2. During the waiting time choose to present some text e.g. “Ready…” and/or an image
3. At the instant the prompt appears, specify an audio file to play. E.g. Play a beep.

If these options are blank they will be ignored.

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Since version 220, AAA has been able to read and display Unicode prompts. In previous versions it was necessary to use fonts or present pictures of prompt texts in languages unrepresented in the basic ASCII character set.