FCS EXPRESS: Displaying Keyword values as Filenames

Often, the name of a data file does not convey all the information you require to differentiate between other FCS files. When opening an data file in FCS Express, you can view the files by the specific header keywords that you want to display, which allows you to easily select the correct data file. The header keywords are stored in the file. For example, you could set up FCS Express to display the "sample ID" and "tube name" (which is used when acquiring data from a FACSDiVa machine), along with the actual filename, for each file within FCS Express. Then, after creating a plot, when you are prompted to select an file to be displayed in that plot, you will see in the Browse window the files displaying the information that you had previously setup. The image in Figure 1 displays the Browse window for opening a file, where FCS Express was setup to display the files by the aquisition date, number of events in the file, and the sample ID..
Figure 1



Setting up the Display for FCS data files

In the following example, we will configure FCS Express to display the FCS data files as:
Date, Time at beggining of aquistion, and Actual FCS filename
  1. Select Edit Preferences.
  2. You will then see the screen, shown in Figure 2. From the Data Loading options section, change the text to display in selection dialog option from Filename only to The text below.
                                                                    Figure 2

       3. In the text box area below The text below option, enter the keyword variables that you want displayed, separated by ",".

    • To display the total number of events in the file, enter <$Date>
    • To display the flow cytometer used to acquire the data, enter <$BTIM>
    • To display the FCS filename, enter <$FCSE_FileNameNoPath>
             The final text should read: <$Date>,<$BTIM>,<$FCSE_FileNameNoPath>

        4. Click OK to save your changes.


Now every time you open an FCS filename from within FCS Express, you will see the filenames listed by their Aquisition Date, time of aquisition, and FCS filename. NOTE: All the available keyword variable names, along with a description of what values they display, can be found when by viewing the FCS file header and clicking on All Keywords….