Introduction
Starting with IGB 6.3, IGB supports a simple scripting language that contains commands related to loading data from files and URLs.
Scripts can be run
- At startup, via a command-line option. See: Command Line Arguments
- From IGB links. See: Controlling IGB using IGB Links
- Using the File > Open command (provided the file name ends with .igb)
- By drag-and-drop, dragging the file into an open IGB window
Syntax
The script file has a simple, space-delimited syntax. Each command should occupy a separate line.
Commands
Specify a genome version
genome <version>
Specify a genome version (e.g., H_sapiens_Mar_2006). Any genome version or synonym that's accepted by IGB is accepted here.
Go to a region
goto <region>
Go to a region of a chromosome (e.g., "chr1:40000-60000"). Any format that's accepted by IGB is accepted here.
Add a new data set to IGB's list of active data sets.
load <file or URL>
Load the specified file (identified by full path) or URL into IGB. The data set will appear in the user's Data Management table upon completion.
Change the load mode for an active data set.
loadmode <NO_LOAD | REGION_IN_VIEW | CHROMOSOME | GENOME> <file or URL>
Change the load mode for the specified data set or file, identified by full path.
Load data from currently active data sets.
refresh
This is equivalent to clicking the Load Data button in IGB. This triggers loading of data from the active data sets available in IGB, as specified in the load command.
Making images
snapshot <filename>
snapshotwholeFrame <filename>
snapshotmainView <filename>
snapshotmainViewWithLabels <filename>
snapshotslicedViewWithLabels <filename>
Export the entire frame, main view, main view with labels, or sliced view, respectively, to a an image file.
The filename extension determines the format.
Supported formats are those supported by IGB Export function. The filename defaults to "<genome_version><timestamp>.png" if not specified.
Select genes.
select <geneids>
Selects the given gene IDs, which are passed in as a comma-separated list.
Wait (sleep) for commands to finish
sleep <milliseconds>
Sleep the application for x milliseconds.
IGB is mult-threaded, which means that the user may be able to operate IGB while data are being loaded. If your IGB script includes loading data from remote sites (e.g, RNASeq data from the IGBQuickLoad.org site) then you should include a sleep command to give IGB time to load the data.
Comments
Lines starting with the IGB script comment character '#' are ignored.
Example script
# select genome genome A_thaliana_Jun_2009 # go to a region in chr4 goto chr4 : 8,860,484 - 8,872,096 # load a file load http://igbquickload.org/quickload/A_thaliana_Jun_2009/cold_stress/cold_control.sm.bam # set load mode to region in view loadmode REGION_IN_VIEW http://igbquickload.org/quickload/A_thaliana_Jun_2009/cold_stress/cold_control.sm.bam # load the data refresh