Experiment Designer v0.6 Testing Guide

Manual testing checklist for the YAML v2 migration, plugin support, and new editor views.

Date: 2026-04-01 Test URL: http://localhost:8080/experiment_designer.html (or GitHub Pages) Start server: python3 -m http.server 8080

1. Fresh Experiment — Basic Functionality

1.1 Page loads without errors

Open the page in Chrome
Open DevTools Console (F12) — no JavaScript errors
Footer shows “Experiment Designer v0.6”
Left panel shows: Experiment, Arena, Rig Path, Structure, Phases, Plugins sections
[ ] Tab bar shows: VISUAL TABLE TIMELINE
Bottom timeline shows one condition block (condition_1, 5s)

1.2 Settings panel

Fill in Name, Author fields
Change Arena dropdown — summary updates below
Type a rig path in “Rig Path (V2)” field
Change Repetitions — summary updates in toolbar
Toggle Randomize checkbox — seed field appears/disappears

1.3 Phases

Enable Pretrial checkbox — PRE block appears on timeline, toggle turns green
Enable Intertrial — ITI blocks appear between conditions
Enable Posttrial — POST block appears at end
Click PRE block on timeline — Visual tab shows phase editor with command cards
Phase editor shows “Commands (2)” with allOff + wait 0.5s cards

1.4 Conditions

Click “+ Add Condition” — new condition appears on timeline
Click a condition on timeline — Visual editor shows “Condition N” with command cards
Click “Remove” button — condition removed (only if >1 condition)
Drag conditions on timeline to reorder

2. Plugin System

2.1 Enable plugins

Scroll down in left panel to “Plugins” section
Check “LED Backlight” — config card expands showing Serial Port field
Check “BIAS Camera” — config card expands showing Video Format + Frame Rate
Both checkboxes have green accent when enabled

Select a condition on timeline
Click the “+ Add Command…” dropdown at bottom of Visual editor
Verify dropdown shows:
- Controller: Trial Params, All On, All Off, Stop Display, Set Position X, Set Color Depth
- Wait
- Plugin: LED Backlight: Set IR LED Power, Set Red/Green/Blue LED Power, Turn On/Off LED, Visible Backlights Off
- Plugin: BIAS Camera: Start/Stop Recording, Start Preview, Stop Capture, Get Timestamp, Disconnect
Select “Get Timestamp” from Camera section — blue plugin card appears
Select “Wait” — gray wait card appears with duration field
Select “Set Red LED Power” from Backlight — blue plugin card appears

2.3 Plugin disable warning

With plugin commands added to a condition, uncheck the plugin checkbox
Confirm warning dialog appears about existing commands
Cancel — checkbox stays checked
Re-try and confirm — plugin unchecked, commands remain but plugin unavailable in dropdown

3. Command Card Editor (Visual Tab)

3.1 trialParams card

Green left border, “controller” badge, “trialParams” label
Edit Pattern field — timeline block updates with pattern name
Edit Duration — timeline block width changes, summary total updates
Change Mode to Closed-Loop — Frame Rate grays out, Gain activates
Change Mode back to Constant Rate — Frame Rate activates, Gain grays out
Edit Frame Rate, Gain, Start Frame fields

3.2 Plugin command cards

Blue left border, “plugin” badge
Shows “pluginName -> commandName” label
Commands with params show editable fields (e.g., power, panel_num, pattern)
Commands without params show just the header (e.g., getTimestamp, turnOnLED)

3.3 Wait cards

Gray left border, “wait” badge
Duration field editable

3.4 Delete commands

Each card (except when only 1 command) shows x delete button
Click x — command removed, editor re-renders with updated count

3.5 Add commands

”+ Add Command…” dropdown resets after selection
New command appears at bottom of card list

4. Table View

4.1 Switch to Table tab

Click TABLE tab — table renders with all sections
PRETRIAL section at top (if enabled)
CONDITION sections for each condition
INTERTRIAL sections between conditions (if enabled)
POSTTRIAL section at bottom (if enabled)

4.2 Section headers

Each section shows name + duration badge on right
Click header — section collapses/expands
ITI sections default to collapsed

4.3 Table columns

# (row number), Type (badge), Target, Command, Dur, Mode, FR, Pattern/Params, actions
Type badges: green “controller”, gray “wait”, blue “plugin”
Irrelevant cells show gray “—” dash
Plugin params display as “key: value, key: value” format

4.4 Row click

Click a row in a condition section — row highlights green
Bottom timeline highlights the corresponding condition

5. Multi-Lane Timeline View

5.1 Basic rendering

Click TIMELINE tab — shows placeholder if no selection
Click a condition on bottom timeline — SVG renders with lane diagram
Header shows “Condition N: condition_id”
Time axis with tick marks

5.2 Lane types

Controller lane (green label): trialParams shows as green bar spanning duration
Plugin lanes (blue labels): one lane per plugin used in this condition
Plugin events show as blue circle markers at correct time positions
Command labels appear next to markers
Waits row: gray bars showing each wait duration

5.3 Timing verification

For a condition with: getTimestamp, trialParams(10s), wait(3s), setRedLEDPower, wait(4s), setVisibleBacklightsOff, wait(3s):

Controller bar spans 0-10s
Camera getTimestamp dot at t=0
Backlight setRedLEDPower dot at t=3 (after first wait)
Backlight setVisibleBacklightsOff dot at t=7 (after second wait)
Wait bars: 3s, 4s, 3s

5.4 Selection sync

Click different conditions on bottom timeline — SVG updates to show that condition
Hover over SVG elements — native tooltips appear with command details

6. V2 YAML Export

6.1 Export structure

Click “Export YAML” button — downloads .yaml file
Open in text editor and verify:
- version: 2
- rig: "path/to/rig.yaml"
- plugins: section with enabled plugins
- experiment_structure: with repetitions + randomization
- pretrial: / intertrial: / posttrial: with include: and commands:[]
- block: conditions: with full command arrays per condition
- Plugin commands have type: "plugin", plugin_name:, command_name:, optional params:

6.2 Plugin config in export

Enabled plugins include matlab: class: field
Plugin config fields (port, frame_rate, etc.) appear under config:

7. V2 YAML Import

7.1 Import Lisa’s test file

Click “Import YAML”
Select tests/fixtures/v2_full_experiment_test.yaml
Verify:
- Name: “G4.1 Test Experiment using Bias and backlight”
- Author: “Reiser Lab”
- Rig path populated
- 9 conditions appear on timeline
- Pretrial, Intertrial, Posttrial all enabled
- LED Backlight and BIAS Camera plugins checked in left panel

7.2 Multi-command conditions preserved

Click condition 1 (sq_grating_30deg_gs2) in Visual tab
Should show 7 commands: plugin(getTimestamp), controller(trialParams), wait(3), plugin(setRedLEDPower), wait(4), plugin(setVisibleBacklightsOff), wait(3)
Pattern: pat01_sq_grating_30deg_gs2_G4.pat
setRedLEDPower shows params: power=5, panel_num=0, pattern=1010

7.3 Table view shows all commands

Switch to TABLE tab
PRETRIAL section: 8 commands including allOn, wait, allOff, backlight commands, camera startRecording
Each condition section shows full command list with correct params

7.4 Timeline view

Switch to TIMELINE tab, click condition 1
Controller bar 0-10s, camera dot at 0, backlight dots at 3s and 7s, three wait bars (3s, 4s, 3s)

8. Roundtrip Integrity

8.1 Import → Export → Reimport

Import v2_full_experiment_test.yaml
Export YAML
Reimport the exported file
Verify same number of conditions, same command counts, same plugin state

8.2 Automated test suites

# Web-side CI tests (130 checks)
node tests/test-protocol-roundtrip.js

# Generate test protocols for MATLAB
node tests/generate-roundtrip-protocol.js --outdir ../maDisplayTools/tests/web_generated_patterns

# MATLAB validation (35 checks, requires MATLAB)
cd ../maDisplayTools
matlab -r "addpath('tests'); validate_web_protocol_roundtrip('v2'); exit"

9. Files Changed This Session

New files

Modified files

maDisplayTools changes