Configuration Files

Tag Monitor can save the configuration shown in the Configuration tab to a file and open it later. Use this to apply one set of schedule and sensor settings to a batch of tags without re-entering it for each one, and to keep a record of how the tags in an experiment were configured.

Saving and Opening

File ▸ Save Configuration… asks for a file, offering the one the configuration came from, and writes it. File ▸ Open Configuration… opens a file, and File ▸ Open Recent lists the last ten files opened or saved. These are also on the Configuration tab's popup menu, under File. No tag needs to be attached.

Opening a file makes it the configuration being edited, for the tag type the file names. Nothing reaches a tag until you start one, so you can open a file, adjust a date, attach a tag of that type, and start it.

A file does not have to list every setting:

• A setting the file leaves out takes the tag type's default value, so a file can hold just the settings you care about, for example only act_thresh_g.
• A setting the file states is used, including a zero.
• A file that does not name a tag type (tag_type) is opened for a tag type you choose; the attached tag's type is offered first.
• Settings a tag type does not have are ignored, including the defaults Tag Monitor writes into a saved file for settings that type lacks.

File Format

The file is the Config message from proto/tagdata.proto, written as protobuf JSON. Three choices in how Tag Monitor writes it are worth knowing:

• Field names are the proto field names, not lowerCamelCase.
• Default-valued fields are written out rather than omitted, so a saved file shows the whole configuration, including the parts you left alone.
• The output is indented, so it is readable and diffable.

Every section of the Configuration tab has a corresponding section in the file.

Times are Unix epochs — seconds since 1 January 1970, UTC. A tool such as Epoch Converter will turn one back into a date if you are reading a file by hand.

Fields

The authoritative definition is Config in proto/tagdata.proto; this is a summary of what the top level holds.

Field	Meaning
tag_type	Which tag family the configuration is for: BITTAG, BITTAG_LE, PRESTAG, BITTAGNG, BITPRESTAG, COMPASSTAG, IMUTAG, UIUCTAG
active_interval	start_epoch and end_epoch for the logging window
hibernate	Zero or more intervals inside the active window during which the tag sleeps
period	Period for synchronous tags
start_delay	Delay before logging starts, in minutes
bittag_log	BitTag log format: BITTAG_BITPERSEC, BITTAG_BITSPERMIN, BITTAG_BITSPERFOURMIN, BITTAG_BITSPERFIVEMIN
adxl362	ADXL362/367 accelerometer settings
lsm6	LSM6DSV accelerometer and gyroscope settings

A field that does not apply to the selected tag type is still written, holding its default value.

Example

A classic BitTag configured to log bits per five minutes across two days, with two hibernation windows:

{
  "tag_type": "BITTAG",
  "active_interval": {
    "start_epoch": 1606230000,
    "end_epoch": 1606406400
  },
  "hibernate": [
    {
      "start_epoch": 1606233600,
      "end_epoch": 1606237200
    },
    {
      "start_epoch": 1606244400,
      "end_epoch": 1606248000
    }
  ],
  "bittag_log": "BITTAG_BITSPERFIVEMIN",
  "adxl362": {
    "range": "R4G",
    "freq": "S50",
    "filter": "AAquarter",
    "act_thresh_g": 0.35,
    "inact_thresh_g": 0.35,
    "inactive_sec": 0.5
  }
}

A file written by Tag Monitor is longer than this, because it includes the default-valued fields that this example leaves out. Both forms open.