createTrackll-methods: createTrackll
In sheng-liu/smt: Single Molecule Tracking

Description Usage Arguments Details Examples

take in Diatrack (.txt or .mat), ImageJ (.csv), or SlimFast (.txt) input from a folder to output a list of track lists with the option to merge, mask, censor, record frames, and use multiple cores.

1	createTrackll(interact = F, folder, input = 0, merge = F, ab.track = F, mask = F, cores = 1, frameRecord = T)

`interact`	Open interactive menu to choose the desired folder by selecting any file in it and select input type (script will process all files of that type in this folder).
`folder`	Full path output file folder (if they are .txt, ensure that they are either all Diatrack or all SlimFast).
`input`	Input file type (Diatrack .txt file = 1; Diatrack .mat session file = 2; ImageJ .csv file = 3; SlimFast .txt file = 4).
`merge`	Indicate if the output list should be merged into one- output list is divided by file names otherwise.
`ab.track`	Use absolute coordinates for tracks.
`mask`	Indicate if image mask should be applied to screen tracks (Note: the mask file should have the same name as the Diatrack output txt file with a "_MASK.tif" ending. Users can use plotMask() and plotTrackOverlay() to see the mask and its effect on screening tracks).
`cores`	Number of cores used for parallel computation. This can be the cores on a workstation, or on a cluster. Tip: each core will be assigned to read in a file when paralleled.
`frameRecord`	Add a fourth column to the track list after the xyz-coordinates for the frame that coordinate point was found (especially helpful when linking frames). Highly recommended to leave on.

It is highly advised that the frame record option be left on to preserve the most information, especially when linking frames. If the frame record option is turned on for reading Diatrack .txt files (input = 1), take note that the frame record is artificially created as consecutive frames after the given start frame. Otherwise, all other data types naturally record the frames of every coordinate point.

The pre-censoring of single-frame tracks is dependent on the tracking software. For complete lossless track data, use Diatrack (.mat) session files. If the initial creation of the trackll does not have a frame record, future exports and imports of the trackll will only preserve the start frames.

If the cores are set to the maximum number of cores available on the system, the script may return a error after processing all the files. This error is due to the requirement of some systems to have one core open for system functions. This error will not affect the trackll output, but to avoid it, one can input one less than the maximum number of cores available.

The naming scheme for the list of track list is as follows:

Track List: [full name of input file]

Track: [Last five characters of the file name].[Start frame].[Length].[Track].[Index in overall list (will differ from Track # when merging)]

(Note: The last five characters of the file name, excluding the extension, cannot contain “.”)

#Basic function call with interactive menu (optimzing 2 cores)
trackll <- createTrackll(interact = T, cores = 2)

#Manual function call to process Diatrack session files (.mat)
trackll <- createTrackll("/DIRECTORYPATH/", input = 2, cores = 2)