Writing results and embedding images into spreadsheet cells

[Andy Weller]

Dear all,

I have a macro that writes several results and info to a separate
Results.txt file. Effectively, it is:

dir = getDirectory("Choose Directory");
f = File.open(dir + "Results.txt"); // Open results file
.
out = fileName + "\t" + a + "\t" + b;
print(f, out + "\n");

What would be interesting is when I open Results.txt in a spreadsheet
package, the cells in the first column would have the images embedding
into them. I can then check out my results in relation to the images.

Do you know if this is possible? I know you can do hyperlinks, but I
would really like to 'see' the images alongside the measurements, in the
same window.

If it is, what would be the format of the "fileName" (or "image1.tif")
above (considering that Results.txt is stored in the same folder as the
images).

Thanks, Andy

[Justin McGrath]

It's possible to insert pictures into Excel, but I'm almost positive
it's not possible to put them into cells.  Instead they float over the
spreadsheet.  I don't know how you could insert the pictures into
Excel using ImageJ.

I use an SQL database and a php page to display my data alongside the
pictures, but it requires a couple of scripts to get things into the
database.  You could use the same setup, but if you don't really need
a database, then an easier way might be to have ImageJ output the
results in HTML and include the images via the img tag.  Since you can
write your own file directly in ImageJ, it should be fairly easy.

Justin

On Jan 18, 2008 7:03 AM, Andy Weller <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I have a macro that writes several results and info to a separate
> Results.txt file. Effectively, it is:
>
> dir = getDirectory("Choose Directory");
> f = File.open(dir + "Results.txt"); // Open results file
> .
> out = fileName + "\t" + a + "\t" + b;
> print(f, out + "\n");
>
> What would be interesting is when I open Results.txt in a spreadsheet
> package, the cells in the first column would have the images embedding
> into them. I can then check out my results in relation to the images.
>
> Do you know if this is possible? I know you can do hyperlinks, but I
> would really like to 'see' the images alongside the measurements, in the
> same window.
>
> If it is, what would be the format of the "fileName" (or "image1.tif")
> above (considering that Results.txt is stored in the same folder as the
> images).
>
> Thanks, Andy
>

[Andy Weller]

What we are after here is a means by which we can save all our data from
a macro (image and results) into some kind of format that makes it easy
to subsequently view.

At present we view our resultant images separately from the results,
which are viewed in a spreadsheet.

We would like to amalgamate these.  (My guess is that we should output
to a format recognisable by some database.)

Does anyone output their results/images into a database format of some
kind, allowing them to view all their data 'together'?

Is this possible?

Some help/pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Andy

Andy Weller wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I have a macro that writes several results and info to a separate
> Results.txt file. Effectively, it is:
>
> dir = getDirectory("Choose Directory");
> f = File.open(dir + "Results.txt"); // Open results file
> .
> out = fileName + "\t" + a + "\t" + b;
> print(f, out + "\n");
>
> What would be interesting is when I open Results.txt in a spreadsheet
> package, the cells in the first column would have the images embedding
> into them. I can then check out my results in relation to the images.
>
> Do you know if this is possible? I know you can do hyperlinks, but I
> would really like to 'see' the images alongside the measurements, in the
> same window.
>
> If it is, what would be the format of the "fileName" (or "image1.tif")
> above (considering that Results.txt is stored in the same folder as the
> images).
>
> Thanks, Andy

[Justin McGrath]

I responded to your previous e-mail, but I was a bit late.  I currently load
my results into a MySQL database (I use BASH scripts and SAS to compile data
from various files) and view the results with a PHP page using Apache.  It
looks like this http://www.life.uiuc.edu/ainsworth/images/screenshot.jpg

I need the complexity because I merge datasets from ImageJ and from other
sources, and it's somewhat of a hassle.  If you want to do this, I can
explain more, but since most of it isn't relevant to ImageJ, maybe direct
e-mail would be better.

However, if you just want the data from the results in ImageJ paired with
your images, it should be relatively easy to write a macro that writes an
HTML file which includes an <img> tag to your pics.  Then you can open it in
any web browser. The only problem I see is that there is no way to get a
list of the columns in the results table, so you would need to know
beforehand what columns you wanted.  It's probably not a big deal, since you
mostly likely know what columns you want.  This would also only really be
useful for viewing your data.  I don't think statistical programs will
import HTML.

Justin



On Jan 31, 2008 4:54 AM, Andy Weller <[hidden email]> wrote:

> What we are after here is a means by which we can save all our data from
> a macro (image and results) into some kind of format that makes it easy
> to subsequently view.
>
> At present we view our resultant images separately from the results,
> which are viewed in a spreadsheet.
>
> We would like to amalgamate these.  (My guess is that we should output
> to a format recognisable by some database.)
>
> Does anyone output their results/images into a database format of some
> kind, allowing them to view all their data 'together'?
>
> Is this possible?
>
> Some help/pointers would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Andy
>
> Andy Weller wrote:
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I have a macro that writes several results and info to a separate
> > Results.txt file. Effectively, it is:
> >
> > dir = getDirectory("Choose Directory");
> > f = File.open(dir + "Results.txt"); // Open results file
> > .
> > out = fileName + "\t" + a + "\t" + b;
> > print(f, out + "\n");
> >
> > What would be interesting is when I open Results.txt in a spreadsheet
> > package, the cells in the first column would have the images embedding
> > into them. I can then check out my results in relation to the images.
> >
> > Do you know if this is possible? I know you can do hyperlinks, but I
> > would really like to 'see' the images alongside the measurements, in the
> > same window.
> >
> > If it is, what would be the format of the "fileName" (or "image1.tif")
> > above (considering that Results.txt is stored in the same folder as the
> > images).
> >
> > Thanks, Andy
>

[Gluender]

Dear Andy,

not perfectly sure about the amount of data you want to store with
your images...

If the data is not too rich, then I should like to propose to store
it as Metadata with every image. To recover the data, either use the
corresponding IJ menu item or write a little macro to display it in a
IJ-Table or as an IJ-Graph.

This technique guarantees that the data remains with the image and
you recall it by opening the desired image. In the end you merely
need an application to manage your images and there are quite a lot
available, some even for free.

HTH,

Herbie

>What we are after here is a means by which we can save all our data
>from a macro (image and results) into some kind of format that makes
>it easy to subsequently view.
>
>At present we view our resultant images separately from the results,
>which are viewed in a spreadsheet.
>
>We would like to amalgamate these.  (My guess is that we should
>output to a format recognisable by some database.)
>
>Does anyone output their results/images into a database format of
>some kind, allowing them to view all their data 'together'?
>
>Is this possible?
>
>Some help/pointers would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks, Andy
>
>Andy Weller wrote:
>>Dear all,
>>
>>I have a macro that writes several results and info to a separate
>>Results.txt file. Effectively, it is:
>>
>>dir = getDirectory("Choose Directory");
>>f = File.open(dir + "Results.txt"); // Open results file
>>.
>>out = fileName + "\t" + a + "\t" + b;
>>print(f, out + "\n");
>>
>>What would be interesting is when I open Results.txt in a
>>spreadsheet package, the cells in the first column would have the
>>images embedding into them. I can then check out my results in
>>relation to the images.
>>
>>Do you know if this is possible? I know you can do hyperlinks, but
>>I would really like to 'see' the images alongside the measurements,
>>in the same window.
>>
>>If it is, what would be the format of the "fileName" (or
>>"image1.tif") above (considering that Results.txt is stored in the
>>same folder as the images).
>>

Thanks, Andy

[ajgeffen]

We also use the database route to display chemical composition results alongside corresponding images of fish otoliths. We have mostly used an Access database to collect the results files from excel sheets and the image files into a single record. I can send you more details separately

Audrey
__________________________________________
Audrey J. Geffen
Department of Biology/Institutt for biologi
University of Bergen/Universitetet i Bergen
Tel: [phone]/Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [hidden email]