How can I export the gate assignments for each event?
Cell-by-cell gate information can be exported for your data through the FCS Express Pipelines feature.
Please use the steps below to learn how to do this.
Step 1. Creating a pipeline
- Click the Tools tab > Transformations.
- Click the blue + button and select Pipeline.
- Rename the pipeline, if desired by clicking the T button.
- Under Gate Options, keep No Gate as the selection.
- Under Parameter Options, keep all parameters checkmarked.
Step 2: Add Gate Downsampling pipeline steps
- Click the blue + button on the right.
- Hover over the Downsampling category.
- Select Gate Downsampling.
- Rename the pipeline step using the gate name. Focus on just one gate in this pipeline step.
- Select Create new mask parameter(s).
- For the Downsampling mask name prefix, enter any desired label. This will be part of the column label in the csv.
- For Save as Classification Values, enter the Gate name.
- Next to Gate, select the gate of interest from the dropdown menu.
- The option to Save as a Classification Value will write Include or Exclude to determine whether an event is in that gate.
- The option to Save as a Numeric (Float) Value will write a number to determine whether a cell is included or excluded from a gate:
- 0 will be used if that event is excluded from that gate.
- 1 will be used if that event is included in that gate.
Step 3: Add one pipeline step for each gate
- Repeat Step 2 for every gate of interest.
- You'll end up with one pipeline step for each gate.
Step 4 (Optional): Apply the pipeline to a Data Grid
- Click the Insert tab > Data Grid
- Click on the blank space of the layout to place the Data Grid
- Drag and drop the Pipeline onto the Data Grid
- Within the Data Grid, scroll all the way to the right to view the new Gate Assignment columns
- Expand the column headers down to view the full column names.
- The data grid contains one row per event, in the order of acquisition. under a particular column, "Include" indicates that the event in that row is included in the Gate. For example, in the screenshot above, cell 1 is included in Gate 1, Gate 2 and Gate 4. Cell 1 is excluded from Gate 3 and Gate 5.
Step 5: Batch Exporting the gate assignments for each data file
- Click the Data tab > Save/Merge from Files
- Click Add > Add using Advanced Open Data Dialog
- Click on the Data List tab
- Highlight all of the data files
- Click OK
- Select Save as Individual Files
- For Output File Format, select Comma Separated Values Files (csv)
- For Output Directory, click the Yellow filefolder icon and select where to save the CSV files.
- For Output File Name, enter a prefix and include the asterisk (*) at the end.
- The Asterisk (*) represents the full original filename. This helps you keep track of which data file was exported.
- Under Save Options, select Save compensated/unmixed data using the matrix specified in 'File > Info > Layout Options'.
- For Save with transformtion, select the pipeline that you created. It is named Gate Downsampling in the example below.
- Click Save
- The export process could take several minutes for very large data files (like spectral data).
Step 5 (alternative): Export the gate assignments for just one data file
- Complete Step 4.
- Click on the Data Grid.
- Click the Data tab > Save from Plot.
- Click the yellow file folder icon.
- Select a location for saving the CSV file.
- Enter a name for the CSV file.
- For Save as type, select Comma Separated Values Files (*.csv) from the dropdown menu.
- Do not uncheck any of the parameters in the parameter list
- Click OK
Step 6: View the gate assignments
- Navigate to the location where the CSV files were exported.
- If batch exporting is done, you'll see one CSV file per data file.
- Open one of the CSV files in Excel.
- The Mask Downsampling columns appear in the right-most columns.
- A value of 1 means that the event is inside a given gate). A value of 0 means the event is outside a given gate.
- Please note that there will be separate columns if the gate information is exported as a classification value (Include/Exclude) and a number value (0/1).
- The events are listed from top to bottom in order of acquisition time.