The Tit Observer program helps with the observation of tits in a laboratory, it can be used to record and later on summarize observations.
To install the program just unzip it in the appropriate directory (e.g.
/home/user/tit-observer/ on UNIX systems or
C:\Program Files\Tit Observer on Windows).
The program can be removed again by removing the directory in which was installed.
To start the program execute the command
java -classpath /path/to/program tit.Observer where /path/to/program
is the directory in which the program was installed.
To make a new observation choose File → New observation, a new frame will appear which can be used to make a new observation.
Information about the observation can be filled in in the right panel. In oder to fill in a certain field, the checkbox next to the field has to be selected, only when the checkbox is selected the information will be saved. If you don't want to fill in a field, you can just deselect the check box and the information won't be saved.
To start the observation press the start button in the upper left corner of the screen.
After you have started the observation the buttons at the bottom of the frame will be enabled, with these you can record the bird's behaviour. When the `Keyboard input' is enabled (its icon is green) you can also use the keyboard to record the bird's behaviour (see the `Preferences' section for which keys can be used to record what behaviour), when the keyboard input is disabled (its icon is red) it can be enabled again by clicking on it.
When you click a button (or press a key) to record a behaviour, the recorded behaviour will appear in the table above the buttons.
When the observation is started a progress bar will apear in the upper right corner of the frame. This progress bar indicates the progress of the observation, when it is full the observation will stop automatically and a sound will be played to indicate that the observation has stopped.
The observation can also be stopped manually by clicking the `Stop' button in the upper left corner of the screen, normally this should not be done.
After the observation has been stopped, the buttons at the bottom of the screen will become disabled again.
After the observation has been stopped you can make corrections to it. Times can be corrected by clicking in the cell and typing the new time (in seconds). Behaviours can be corrected by clicking in the cell and typing the code or name of the correct behaviour, behaviours can be removed by selecting the rows you want to remove, right-clicking and selecting the `Remove selected behaviours' option in the popup menu, a new behaviour can be added by right-clicking and selecting the `Add behaviour' option in the popup menu, the program will then ask the time and kind of the behaviour and add it to the table after you have pressed `Ok'.
The observation can be saved by clicking the `Save' or `Save as' button, the program will then, if necessary, ask to enter a name for the file and then save the observation.
A summary can be saved by pressing the `Summarize' button and entering a filename for the summary file. Summaries can also be exported, this can be done by pressing the `Export …' button and entering a filename.
When autosave is enabled (see the `Preferences' section), you don't have to save
the observation, it will be saved automatically when you close the frame if the
attributes `Ring number', `Date' and `Sequence' are filled in, the name of the
file will then be <ring number>_<date>_<sequence>.xtit and it will be
saved in the autosave directory (see the `Preferences' section).
To edit an observation choose File → Edit observation, you will be asked to select the observation you want to edit and a frame will appear in which you can edit the observation. The editing of the observation works in the same way as editing a new observation, except that the observation won't be saved automatically when you close the window.
in order to edit or merge summaries, choose File → Edit & merge summaries, this will show a window to edit and merge summaries.
A summary can be loaded by pressing the `Load summary' button and selecting the summary you want to load. All the summarized intervals will then be displayed in the left panel. You can merge two or more summaries by again loading them by pressing the `Load summary' button.
Instead of adding a summary, you can also add an observation which will the be summarized. This can be done by pressing the `Load observation' button and selecting the observation you want to add.
You can edit a summary after you have loaded it, by selecting the interval you want to edit in the left panel. When you have selected an interval in the left panel, its data will apear in the right panel where you can edit it. You again have to select the check box to the left in order for an attribute to be save, and to deselect the checkbox in order for an attribute not to be saved.
You can remove a summry or interval from the list of merged summaries by selecting the summary or interval you want to remove and then pressing the `Remove from list' button.
You can save the merged summary by pressing the `Save' or `Save as' button at the top of the window.
The preferences window can be opened by choosing Preferences → Configure. Here you can change the program's settings like the duration of an observation, which keys correspond to which behaviour, …
Autosave allows you to set or unset the autosave property. When autosave is enabled (the `Autosave observations' checkbox is selected). New observations will be saved automatically saved in the directory indicated by `Directory:', this directory can be changed by clicking the browse button and selecting the new directory.
The `Date / time format' panel can be used to change the way dates and times are displayed. The way dates and times are displayed can be changed by selecting a new format in the drop down menu or by typing a valid Java date and time pattern in the input field.
The `Keyboard layout' panel can be used to change which keys are associated with which behaviour. There are two predefined layouts: AZERTY and QWERTY. When you choose the `Customized' option you can choose wich keys correspond to wich behaviour.
To change the length of an observation you just have to change the value in the text field to the aproprite time (in secons) you want an observation to last.
You can use the `Summary intervals' panel to determine what parts of the observation are summarized. To add an interval, click the add button and fill in the bounds of the new interval. To remove an interval, select the interval and click the remove button.
To display help, choose Help → User manual.