Release Notes—FFS_Utilities2007B

 

Fixes:

1.                  Fixed: For FLEX FCS files, the “.SIN”  file extension causes lock-up (the all-capital extension is added by FLEX01D software for single acquisitions only, otherwise it is “.sin”).

 

2.                  Fixed: For FLEX FCS multi-file import, selecting the Nth file instead of the first in the series (“~0.sin”) results in substitution of the 0 through N files with N copies of the Nth file in the processed output.

 

3.                  Fixed: In the Intensity Binning Tab, the last time point in the binned output file is replaced with a zero.

 

4.                  Fixed: In the Intensity Binning Tab, the MTA output-text version does not do anything.

 

5.                  Fixed: In the FLEX FCS Processor Tab, it is possible to scroll past the last file with the file/trace selector button. Pressing “Process” under this condition corrupts the output file.

 

6.                  Fixed: The Mean Intensity display for both FCS Processing Tabs does not update until the files are “processed”.

 

 

Additions:

1.                  Added: Support for FLEX 8-bit raw data format produced by the FLEX01Photon.dll. Notes: 1) the timebase is fixed at 60MHz, 2) there is no overflow check, 3) if the first 2 bytes of this acquisition are 16 and either 40 or 60 (respectively) the file can be mistaken for a “regular” 16-bit raw data file (1 chance in 32768!), 3) “normal” 8-bit acquisitions (those done with 8-bit mode selected in the “Photons.exe” program) are not supported.

 

2.                  Added: Ability to cancel MTA conversions at overflow occurrences. The output will include photons only up to the overflow point.

 

3.                  Added: A 200ms delay before calculating Correlation Functions so the screen can refresh.

 

Known Issues:

 

1.                  For “normal” FLEX Raw data, calculation of cross-correlations (AxB or BxA) sometimes gives a distorted result. This appears to be a synchronization issue between the two channels inherent in the FLEX card, and is not due to this software. The FLEX 8-bit DLL raw data appears to work better in this regard.

 

2.                  If the software controls don’t seem to work anymore, this is probably normal. Either a calculation is running, or you are still in file selection mode (a software loop) in one of the tab windows—you need to press one of the red-highlighted buttons in the latter case to get out of the loop.

 

3.                  Overflow message with calculations on Raw Data. There are time limits for individual files in this version (214 seconds for Confocor Raw data files and either 107 or 71 seconds [mode-dependent] for FLEX Raw data files). MTA file times will “roll over” if not cancelled, and PCH’s will only include photons up to the overflow. Something else to improve upon in the next update!

 

4.                  There is no check for available hard disk space before writing files. Note that .mta files take up a fair amount of space (4 bytes/photon-channel for binary, 3 times more for text).