ExperimentSession

class alfred3.experiment.ExperimentSession(session_id: str, config: Optional[alfred3.config.ExperimentConfig] = None, secrets: Optional[alfred3.config.ExperimentSecrets] = None, timeout: Optional[int] = None, **urlargs)

Bases: object

Coordinates all parts of an experiment session.

Parameters

• session_id – Unique session identifier

• config – Non-secret experiment configuration

• secrets – Secret experiment configuration, such as database credentials

• **urlargs – Keyword arguments from url parameters. Will be stored in the attribute urlargs for access in the experiment session.

Usually, there is no need to initialize an ExperimentSession manually. The Experiment object will take care of that for you.

You have access to this object in Page and Section hooks through their accessors Page.exp and Section.exp. It connects all parts of an experiment and allows you to access data from other pages and even other experiment sessions.

Note

Because the experiment session is newly created for every new subject, you can only access it in the class style of writing an alfred experiment by deriving new Page and/or Section classes and using their hooks to add elements.

See also

• howto_exp explains how to go about writing an experiment.

• howto_hooks explains how to use hooks.

• Experiment is used to construct the experiment

Changed in version 2.0: Many changes, including new methods and properties for improved usability. Name changed from “Experiment” to “ExperimentSession”.

Methods

abort	Aborts the experiment session.
append	Appends Sections or Pages to the experiment's root section.
append_plugin_data_query	Appends a query dictionary to the internal list of plugin data queries.
backward	Moves the experiment backward one page.
decrypt	Decrypts input and returns the decrypted object as str.
encrypt	Encrypts the input and returns the encrypted string.
finish	Closes all previous pages and saves data.
forward	Moves the experiment forward one page.
get_page_data	Get the data dictionary of a specific page.
get_section_data	Get the data dictionary for all pages in a specific section.
jump	Jumps to a specific page in the experiment.
post_message	Post a message for one-time display after the next move.
read_csv_todict	Iterates over the rows in a .csv file, yielding dictionaries.
read_csv_tolist	Iterates over the rows in a .csv file, yielding lists.
read_yaml_todict	Imports a .yaml file to a dict.
send_mail	Sends an email message using credentials defined in secrets.conf.
start	Starts the experiment.
subpath	Returns the full path of an experiment subdirectory.

Attributes

abort_functions	A list of functions that will be called upon aborting an experiment session.
aborted	Indicates, whether the experiment was aborted.
adata	Shortcut for accessing the additional data dictionary.
additional_data	The additional data dictionary.
admin_mode	Indicates whether the experiment runs in admin mode.
alfred_version	The alfred3 version used for the current experiment.
all_exp_data	List of all experiment datasets.
all_members	Dictionary of all sections and pages in the experiment.
all_pages	Dictionary of all pages in the experiment.
all_sections	Dictionary of all sections in the experiment.
all_unlinked_data	List of all unlinked datasets.
author	Returns the experiment author.
client_data	Dictionary of information about the client, such as:
condition	Experiment condition.
config	The experiment configuration.
content	The experiment's main content section, which holds all sections and pages added to the experiment.
current_page	The currently active page of the experiment.
db	Database object of the main mongo saving agent.
db_main	Document collection of the main mongo saving agent.
db_misc	Document collection for miscellaneous data.
db_unlinked	Document collection of the unlinked mongo saving agent.
exp_id	Experiment id
final_page	The experiment's final page.
finish_functions	A list of functions that will be called upon finishing an experiment session.
finished	Indicates, whether the experiment has finished orderly.
log	Alfred's logging interface.
metadata	A dict of information about the experiment.
move_history	A list, containing the movement history for the current session.
path	Path to the experiment directory
plugins	A modified dictionary of experiment plugins.
progress_bar	The experiment's progress bar.
root_section	The experiment's root section, organizing all other sections, including content.
secrets	The secret experiment configuration.
session	Experiment session.
session_data	Full dataset of the current experimental session.
session_expired	Indicates whether the session has expired.
session_id	Unique session identifier
session_status	Session status for the current experiment.
session_timeout	The session's timeout (in seconds).
start_time	Start time in seconds since epoch.
start_timestamp	A human-readable string, indicating the start time.
test_mode	Indicates whether the experiment runs in test mode.
title	Experiment title
tmp	A modified dictionary of temporary data.
type	Type of the experiment
urlargs	A dictionary of key-value pairs that the experiment might have received as url parameters.
values	Dictionary of input elements and their current values.
version	Experiment version