WebExp2 Experimenter's Manual - School of Informatics - University ...

6 Running a new experiment
This section describes how to set up a new experiment locally for testing. The basic procedures for starting the
server application and the client applet where outlined in section 3 about running the sample experiments.
To tell the server about your experiment, you must update the server configuration files. You must also write
a web page for your experiment, supplying an tag with suitable parameters.
6.1 Editing the server configuration files
You will need to edit the server configuration files to tell the server which experiments it should be administering.
There is one file describing the experimenters who use the server, and each experimenter has another
configuration file describing his or her experiments.
Currently you will have to restart the server if you want to add new experiments. In the future the system will
be adapted so new experimenters can be added while the server is running, and their experiments can also be
added or modified easily without restarting the server.
The format of these configuration files is straightforward — they are XML files and so start with the XML
declaration. The body of the file is merely the root element within which configuration information
for experiments or experimenters is described. Note that XML is described in more detail in section 4.2.1.
6.1.1 Configuring experimenters
Edit the data/experimenters.xml file to include a record describing yourself, as in figure 20. Each experimenter
needs a unique ID, and a name. The ID is used to create data directories, and to identify the experimenter when
the client requests an experiment. It should not contain spaces. Usernames serve well as experimenter IDs.
Figure 20: An experimenter configuration record.
default
Dr Default
6.1.2 Configuring experiments
Create an experiments.xml file in your experimenter’s directory (data/yourID/) to describe your experiments.
It may be easiest to just copy the file from the default directory and edit the contents.
For each experiment you want to add to the server, you must add an element to the configuration
file, similar to that in figure 21. Each experiment needs a unique ID, and a meaningful name. The ID is used to
create a data directory for the experiment, and to identify the experiment when the client makes a request.
6.1.3 Create a directory for your experiment
Ensure that a directory data/yourID/yourExperimentID exists, and place your experiment description file
yourExperimentID.xml within it. Subdirectories for results will be created automatically. A running record
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