# Useful things to know

Components pane

Use the Components pane to choose conditions, actions and other elements for your Start-Stop trial rule.

If you do not see the Components pane, click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and select Components.

To display the complete list of options, click the buttons next to More.

What you see in the Components pane depends on what EthoVision XT license you have on your computer.

Trial Control boxes

A Trial Control box has the following information:

▪A. Type of control (Rule Begin/End, Action, Condition, Operator, Reference). You cannot change this text.

▪B. Text describing the control. To change this text, click the Settings button and enter the text under Name, for example Drop one food item. You can also add a longer description under Comment (this is not shown).

Names of Trial Control boxes must be unique, unless you make a copy of an existing box. See Re-use trial control elements

▪C. Depending on the type of control, this text shows the option chosen, for example the command to be given, or the sub-rule that the box refers to.

Trial control boxes have different colors:

▪Light blue for the Start-Stop Trial rule, sub-rules and sub-rule References.

▪Olive green for conditions.

▪Light green for actions.

▪Grey for operators.

To zoom the Trial Control rule in and out

▪To enlarge the size of all trial control boxes up to their original size, click the Zoom in button (Ctrl+.).

▪To reduce the size of all trial control boxes, click the Zoom out button (Ctrl+,).

▪To make all trial control boxes visible on your screen, click the Fit all button (Ctrl+/).

tip Navigate ‘from left to right’ in the Trial Control window by using the scrollbar at the bottom. Use the Fit all button to make all trial control boxes visible.

To keep Trial Control boxes aligned

The Trial Control boxes automatically snap to a grid. This helps you keep the boxed aligned.

To show the grid, click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and select Show Grid.

To disable the grid alignment, click the Show/Hide button on the toolbar and deselect Snap to Grid.

Trial Control Settings become locked after acquisition

After you have acquired at least one trials, the Trial Control Settings used for that become locked. In the Experiment Explorer, locked settings are indicated by a lock symbol, and cannot be edited. To edit a locked Trial Control Settings profile, duplicate it and edit this copy. See Re-use trial control elements

To export a picture of the Trial Control Settings

1.Click the Export image button on the toolbar.

2.Select a location to save the image to, type in the File name or accept the default one and select an image type from the Save as type list, then click Save.

The complete Trial Control window is exported, irrespective of the zoom factor.