Quick-Start

 1 - Insert Storage Card

Insert the desired storage device (i.e. SD card) into the Pocket PC.

 2 - Install the Software

Once you download the PsycLab Mobile installer application to your desktop PC, double-click its icon and it will automatically use ActiveSync to install PsycLab on your Pocket PC. You only need to run the installer program once. The PsycLab files will be copied to your PC and installed on the Pocket PC that is currently connected to your PC.

To install PsycLab on additional Pocket PCs, connect them one at a time to the desktop PC using a sync cable or cradle. Then open ActiveSync Application on your PC (if it's not already running). In ActiveSync, select the Tools Menu Add/Remove Programs menu option. A dialog will open. Check the box next to PsycLab Mobile, which is in the list, and click OK. This will install PsycLab on the Pocket PC currently connected to your desktop PC. Repeat these steps to install the software to additional systems.

Note that you will also need to download and install Version 2.0 of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework. You can click here to download .Net Compact Framework 2.0. Use the same steps as above for installing it on each Pocket PC. Note that you can install both PsycLab and the .NET Compact framework at the same time when the Pocket PC is connected.

 3 - Enter the License Key

There are two ways to enter the license key into PsycLab.

1. Select "License Info" from the Operate Form's  "Setup" menu.. Manually enter the four blocks of 4-characters into the four fields provided at the top of the form. Tap the "Save License" button.

2. A License file will be emailed to you when you purchase a license to PsycLab Mobile. Using the "Explore" button on ActiveSync on your desktop PC, copy the license file, which has a file name that corresponds to the Pocket PC's UUID, into the "PsycLab" folder, which is inside the Pocket PC's "Program Files" folder. Start PsycLab. Select "License Info" option from the "Setup" menu. Tap the "Load License" button. The license key will be automatically loaded from the license file and saved.

If the key is entered correctly, the Save and Load License buttons will disappear, the "License Level" field shown on the form will change from "Trial" to "Unlimited" and the boxes you entered the key into will disappear and the key will be displayed permanently.

With either of the two options above, once the license key is entered, you will not need to re-enter it again unless you uninstall PsycLab from the Axim and re-install it, or there is a major version upgrade which will require a new license key. (I send out minor revisions that can be installed and do not require the key to be re-entered)

 4 - Enter the Settings

1. Select "Settings" from the Operate Form's  "Setup" menu.

2. Enter a subject ID. The subject ID can be any text string you wish, up to 24 characters. It can contain numbers, letters, dashes, spaces, and periods. All other characters will be automatically removed.

3. Enter a Pass Code (you can leave the default value at 56789 if you wish). This pass code will need to be entered in the "Lock Form" which appears when you tap the "Lock" button on the main form. We suggest you use the same pass code for all your systems.

4. Select the storage card from the drop-down menu next to the line labeled "File Storage Location" (i.e. SD Card).

5. Select the Audio Quality from the drop-down menu on the line labeled "Audio". We suggest you select  "11.025 kHz, Mono, 8-bit", which is quite good, and produces reasonably small files. You can select higher-quality audio settings, but the file sizes will get larger as the quality is increased..

6. Note that when you select different storage locations and audio quality settings, the available storage space on the storage location and maximum total recording time is listed at the bottom of the screen. Double-check to make sure the available storage space is consistent with your storage card (SD or CF). Also note that, with low-quality audio settings and a large-capacity storage card, the total recording time can be many hours. In our  tests, We've found that it is possible to make multiple recordings (or one for that matter) where the total length is between 10 and 12 hours on a single battery charge. PsycLab won't let you make more recordings than will fit in the file storage location, but it won't keep you from running out of battery charge. So, always make sure that the system is fully charged and the storage card is empty before deploying it with a subject.

7. Tap the OK button at the top right corner of the Settings form to close it and save the settings.

 5 - Build the Queue

1. Pick the "Queue Builder" option from the Operate form's "Setup" menu.

2. The form opens and automatically sets the "Start Date" to the current date, and the "Start Time" to one minute from the time that the form was opened. Using the "Soft Input Panel" (tap the icon at the bottom of the form to open it), you can change the start date and time to any future date and time. Be sure to enter the date and time in the correct format, which is shown to the right of the entry box. The standard PsycLab date format is "Year", "Month", "Day". PsycLab also uses military time (24 hours instead of AM/PM) for time formats.

3. Enter the recording length, in seconds. The recording can be either an integer (no decimal) or decimal value. The recording length is the total time that the recording will span.

4. Enter the recording interval, in minutes. The recording interval can be either an integer (no decimal) or decimal value. This is the time between the start of one recording, and the start of the next.

5. Enter the number of recording cycles. This is the total number of recordings that you want to make during an experiment.

6. Set the blackout period. The blackout period is a block of time during the day during which the system will not schedule recordings to be made. The default for the system is to start the blackout period at hour 23 Minute 30 (11:30 PM), and prevent recordings from being scheduled for 1 hour and 15 minutes from the start of the blackout.

7. Tap the "Build Queue" button to create the Queue file. The system will create a directory (folder) on the selected file storage location (SD Card for example) that is named with the Subject ID, Date and Time. Inside the directory, it stores the "Queue File", which is a simple .csv file (comma-separated variable) that contains the schedule of recordings. This file can be copied to your PC and easily read using Excel. When the system begins a recording session, it uses the Queue File as the master schedule for making the recordings. On each start date and time, a recording will be made that is the length specified. After the recording is made, the system will store details confirming that the recording was made in the Queue file. After the recording sequence is completed, the Queue File can be copied to a PC for later reference when recordings are transcribed.

8. The "Load List" button is used for creating a fully-customized Queue File. I'll let you know how to use this later.

9. Notice that when you tap the "Build Queue" button, a dialog will pop up confirming that the Queue file was created and saved. If there were any problems during generation, the dialog will tell you what they were, and what was done to correct them. For example, if you enter a date in an invalid format, the system will notify you of this, and enter a default value. Also notice that at the top of the form, the date and time of the last recording in the Queue is displayed in red. This is useful if you are trying to set up a schedule that ends on a particular day, at an approximate time. For example, if you find you've entered too few, or too many recording cycles. You can enter a new value, tap "Build Queue" and adjust the final date and time. You don't need to re-enter the start date, time or other values, as the old directory and queue file will simply be over-written.

10. Tap the OK button at the top-right corner of the form to close it and return to the main application form (Operate Form).

 6 - Start the Queue

1. Simply tap the "Start Queue" button, and the system prepares the first recording cycle to begin. You will see a 10-second countdown in the "Status" portion of the form, at the end of which you will see the start date and time of the first recording displayed. The companion program PsycLab EAR (which is installed with PsycLab Mobile) will start at the designated time, and make the recording. It will schedule itself to start again at the next scheduled recording time.

2. If you deploy the system with a research subject, and you want to prevent the subject from interacting with the software, tap the "Lock" button at the top of the Operate form. This will display a simple screen that requires the Pass Code (entered in the Settings step) to be entered in order to unlock the system. Note that the Pocket PC's "hardware key" buttons located on the front and side of the device are prevented from operating once you tap the Lock button. They won't start working again until you perform a soft-reset on the system.

3. Once all the recordings in the Queue have been made, the recordings and Queue file can be transferred to a desktop PC using ActiveSync, or by copying the files from the storage card using a card reader.

 7 - Record V-Notes

1. The V-Note buttons on the Operate form work like a standard voice recorder, except that each recording's file name is stamped with Subject ID, date and time the "Rec" button is tapped. V-Note recordings are saved in the same directory as the Queue file. So, if you want to get a sample of your subjects voice, or have them answer a few questions before you start your experiment, just tap the "Rec" button, and have them speak.

2. When you're done recording, tap the "Stop" button, and the recording will end and saved automatically. Note that the recording can be as long as will fit in the storage location (i.e. SD Card), and that you have battery life to make. In other words, you could make a single V-Note recording that is as long as 10 to 12 hours using a standare 1,000 mA-hr battery!

3. The "Play" button will play the current V-Note recording.

4. If you want to play a V-Note recording that is different than the one that was just made, tap the "Pick" button to select a different one.