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When an App is registered on Brainlife, a config.json is automatically created based on the info the App creator enters via the BL GUI. There are four types of parameters:

...

Case of a numpy.nd.array

It is impossible to enter a np.nd.array in BL. So we register such parameter as a STRING and ask the user to enter floats separated by a comma: 10, 15, 20. In the config.json, such parameter will be written as:

...

In the Python file, we added:

...

{
"param_baseline": "0, None" 
}

To convert it into a tuple, in the Python file we added:

if isinstance(config['param_baseline'], str):
    param_baseline = list(map(str, config['param_baseline'].split(', ')))
    param_baseline = [None if i=='None' else i for i in param_baseline]
    param_baseline = [float(i) if isinstance(i, str) else i for i in param_baseline]
    config['param_baseline'] = tuple(param_baseline)

The first step is to convert it into a list and then convert the elements of the list into the right type. For tuple parameters in which their elements are the same type, there is

...

no need to compute the two list comprehensions:

if isinstance(config['param_tuple_floats'], str):
    config['param_tuple_floats'] = list(map(str, config['param_tuple_floats'].split(', ')))
    config['param_tuple_baselinefloats'] = tuple(config['param_baselinetuple_floats'])

Case of a list of integers/floats or strings

On Brainlife, when we enter a list, we have to use the type STRING and so the list is considered as a string, so they need to be converted.

...

{
param_picks_by_channel_types_or_names =: "[0, 2, 1]"
}

and a list of str:

{
list_of_strings: "[a, b, c]" 
}

So, we first need to convert it into a list and then convert the elements of the list into the right type.

...

if isinstance(picks, str) and picks.find("[") != -1 and picks is not None:
    picks = picks.replace('[', '')
    picks = picks.replace(']', '')
    picks = picks.replace("'", '')
    config['param_picks_by_channel_types_or_names'] = list(map(str, picks.split(', ')))

If you want to convert it into a list of floats or ints, just replace str in list(map(str, picks.split(', '))) by the type you want.

If the list is empty, the user must enter []. In the Python code it will be converted into an empty list:

if config['param_extended_proj'] == '[]':
    config['param_extended_proj'] = [] 

Cases when a parameter can be two types

When the App is run locally, this configuration is not an issue, but on Brainlife when you define the parameter, it must be either a STRING or NUMBER. So , a NUMBER, a BOOLEAN, or an ENUM.

Case when a parameter is either a str or a float/int

When a parameter can be both a str or a float/ int, we registered it as a STRING on BL, and then we convert it as into a float or int.

But we must be careful: we only want to convert a str into float/int when the App runs on BL. For instance the parameter param_filter_length can be “auto”, a str with the duration in s, or ms, or a int. So to be sure that the conversion into float happens only on Brainlife and only when the user does want to use a float:

if config['param_filter_length'] != "auto" and config['param_filter_length'].find("s") == -1:
    config['param_filter_length'] = int(config['param_filter_length'])

Case when a parameter is either a str or a bool

When a parameter can be both a str or a bool, we registered it as a STRING or ENUM on BL (either way, it is considered as a str), and then we convert it into a bool.

For instance the parameter param_proj can be “delayed”, or a bool. So, we registered it as an ENUM parameter and convert "True” and “False“ into a bool:

if config['param_proj'] == "True":
    config['param_proj'] = True
elif config['param_proj'] == "False":
    config['param_proj'] = False