.. include:: ../global.rst

.. _usingShelf:

Using the Shelf for Multi-session testing, Counterbalancing and more online
============================================================================

*PsychoPy Version 2022.2 or later required*

*Note: this is a new feature and currently in beta mode. Currently you can interact with the shelf through code components only. If you have feedback on use cases please* `share them <https://discourse.psychopy.org/>`_ *!*

The `Shelf <https://psychopy.github.io/psychojs/module-data.Shelf.html>`_ is a flexible, multiuse tool to aid with online studies where information needs sharing between studies, either in real time or across sessions. Use cases for the shelf include:

* :ref:`Multi-session testing <multi_session_testing>`
* :ref:`Counterbalancing <counterbalanceShelf>`
* Multi-player games

Here we will walk through some of the use cases and how to implement them. At the moment, we must interact with the Shelf through :ref:`Code Components <code>`. In the longer term, once we better understand the ways in which scientists are using the Shelf, we hope to make this more accessible by making a :ref:`Builder <builder>` component.

Basic examples
------------------

You can access the Shelf in your `Pavlovia.org <https://pavlovia.org/>`_ account by selecting Dashboard > Shelf.

.. figure:: /images/shelf_access.png
    :name: shelfAccess
    :align: center
    :figclass: align-center

    How to access the Shelf from your pavlovia.org account. To begin with your Shelf will be empty. The value of each Record is a Json format, so be careful when formatting (that means use double quotations rather than single quotations!).

You can then add one or several "Records" to your Shelf. Each Record can be one of several variable types; Integer, Boolean, Text, List or Dictionary. The type of Record you create is up to you and will depend on the type of experiment you are trying to create. Each Record can be made available either to a single *Experiment* or to the *Designer*, meaning this Record is available to all of your experiments (for instance if you would like several experiments to interact with one another). Each Record can also be unlocked, meaning it can be interacted with and edited by your experiments, or locked, meaning it is frozen and not open to further edits. The way in which you choose to use Shelf is flexible and up to you! but we walk through some guidance to get started below.

Interacting with Integer Records
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_basic_integer/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_basic_Integer/>`_

Imagine the simple case of wanting to count how many participants have completed your task. You would make an Integer Record, which starts at 0 and assign the scope of the Record to the experiment of interest.

From within your experiment you can use several methods to interact with Integers including (though not limited to; see all methods `here <https://psychopy.github.io/psychojs/Shelf.html>`_):

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getIntegerValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setIntegerValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.addIntegerValue()`

We can therefore add a code component to our experiment, **make the code component type JS** and use :code:`psychoJS.shelf.addIntegerValue({key: ['participant_counter'], delta: 1})` where :code:`["participant_counter"]` corresponds to the key name of our Record, and 1 is the amount we wish to increment by. You might want to use this code snippet in the *Begin Experiment* tab if you want to increment your participant counter at the start of the experiment, or the *End Experiment* tab if you wish to increment at the end of the session. If we wanted to fetch the value we would use :code:`participantN = await psychoJS.shelf.getIntegerValue({key: ['participant_counter'], defaultValue: 0})` **Note that it is important to use** :code:`await` this is because these functions are known and JavaScript Promises, and we must wait for the Promise to be fulfilled until we have the value to display.

Interacting with Boolean Records
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_boolean_demo/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_Boolean_demo/>`_

Boolean Records are perhaps the easiest to interact with, by means that they only have two values (:code:`true` or :code:`false`, and therefore have a limited number of ways in which you interact with them. The most useful methods you may use when using Boolean Records are:

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getBooleanValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setBooleanValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.flipBooleanValue()`

Imagine you have an experiment that can be "opened" or "closed" by a host. You could add a Record called "session_open", ensure it is Boolean, and in your experiment make it such that the participant can sign in as a host (with the power to open/close the session) or as a participant (who, for now, passively watches the session opening or closing).

In our experiment we could get the session status and show it by adding a code component (ensure it's code type is JS) and using :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getBooleanValue(["session_open"])`. We can allow the host to open or close the session using a simple routine with a response component (in our demo we use a mouse) and in the End Routine tab using :code:`psychoJS.shelf.flipBooleanValue(["session_open"])`. In a separate routine (the one the participant views) we might repeatedly check what the value of the "session_open" record is so that we can use it to control somthing in our experiment, in our case, a picture of a door that opens/closes.


Interacting with Text Records
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_text_demo/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_text_demo/>`_

Reading and writing Text Records from the Shelf requires two main functions:

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getTextValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setTextValue()`

Quite simply - we use these to check the text currently on the shelf and fetch it respectively!

Interacting with List Records
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_list_demo/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_list_demo/>`_

Imagine you have an experiment where you wish for many players to interact with one another. To start with, you might want a list of players and you might want all players who are signed in to be able to see other players screen names. To achieve this, you would add  Record to your Shelf and set the type to List. When interacting with this Record from your experiment, the main functions of interest are:

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getListValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setListValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.appendListValue()`
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.popListValue()`

First imagine you want to allow the player to clear the list of preexisting players (in our demo we achieve this though a drop down). We would do that using :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setListValue({key: ["player_list"], value: []})`. Then imagine we want to add this players screen name to the existing list of screen names, that is achieved using :code:`psychoJS.shelf.appendListValue({key: ["player_list"], elements: expInfo["screen name"]})` finally, to fetch the screen names (and we may wish to do this periodically) we can ude :code:`players = await psychoJS.shelf.getListValue({key: ["player_list"], defaultValue:[]})` (remember, it is important to use :code:`await` in order to retrieve the value once the JS Promise has been fulfilled.

.. _multi_session_testing:

Interacting with Dictionary Records
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_dict_demo/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_dict_demo/>`_

The main functions of interest for use with a Dictionary Record are:

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.setDictionaryFieldValue()` - for *either* updating an existing Dictionary field *or* creating a new Dictionary field within the Dictionary Record.
* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.getDictionaryFieldValue()` - for fetching the value associated with a specific Dictionary field

When you create a Dictionary Record, that dictionary is blank. Imagine we want to populate this with two things, a list of player names and a list of completed sessions (note, we could actually achieve this same thing through two List Records, but for this example we will stick to a single Dictionary). In our demo when a participant joins, we want to check how many times they have joined previously, and increment that to consider this session.

First, we check, has this participant taken part at all? We can do that by checking the existing fieldnames in our Dictionary Record :code:`existing_participants = await psychoJS.shelf.getDictionaryFieldNames({key: ["session_tracker"]})` (where "session_tracker" is the name of our Dictionary Record). Then, we check if this participant ID (retrieved from the startup gui) exists in :code:`existing_participants`. If not, add this participant to the Dictionary, otherwise, increment the existing value associated with this participant::

    if(!existing_participants.includes(expInfo['participant'])){
        psychoJS.shelf.setDictionaryFieldValue({key: ["session_tracker"], fieldName: expInfo['participant'], fieldValue :1})
        }else{
            //increase the number of sessions completed by this participant
            session_number = await psychoJS.shelf.getDictionaryFieldValue({key: ["session_tracker"], fieldName:expInfo['participant'], defaultValue:'no sessions detected'})
            session_number = session_number + 1
            console.log('session_number2', session_number)
            psychoJS.shelf.setDictionaryFieldValue({key: ["session_tracker"], fieldName: expInfo['participant'], fieldValue :session_number})
        }

.. note::
    Remember to watch the capitalisation of functions when interacting with the shelf e.g. :code:`fieldName`  rather than :code:`fieldname` .

.. _counterbalanceShelf:

Counterbalancing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Demo link:** `here <https://run.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_counterbalance_demo/>`_

**Demo experiment files:** `here <https://gitlab.pavlovia.org/lpxrh6/shelf_counterbalance_demo/>`_

Counterbalancing can be a pain, but online it is even more painful! There are many more participants available in the pool and the researcher has less control over group assignment (compared with in the lab!). The Shelf now has handy helper functions to assist.

* :code:`psychoJS.shelf.counterbalanceSelect()`

To get started you must make a record with the type, Dictionary. It must also have the following fields:


.. figure:: /images/counterbalanceShelf1.png
    :name: shelfAccess
    :align: center
    :figclass: align-center

|
    Example set up for a Shelf Record used to assist with counterbalancing. The Key Components need to have a meaningful name and since this record is for counterbalancing the groups, "my_groups" is used here. There are two types of scopes: 1) DESIGNER - This shelf record can be used for all experiments; 2) EXPERIMENT - This shelf record can only be used for the selected experiment.
|
.. figure:: /images/counterbalanceCodeComponent1.png
    :name: shelfCodeComponent
    :align: center
    :figclass: align-center

**Note that the key within the code component uses the same name as the Key Component in the Shelf record.**

|   
In your experiment, you can then use :code:`counterbal = await psychoJS.shelf.counterBalanceSelect({key: ['my_groups']})` which will return a counterbalance object `counterbal` with two properties, :code:`counterbal.group` indicates the group selected for this participant and :code:`counterbal.finished` indicating if sampling has completed (i.e. all groups are full). If during testing you notice that some groups need "topping up" e.g. the data from one participant is unusable, you can always edit the Shelf directly to allow more participants in each group.

