Glossary¶

Terms you will meet in datalab and in this guide, in alphabetical order. The main documentation describes the underlying data model in full.

Access token: A secret link that lets anyone who has it view one item without logging in. Created from the item's Share dialog. It works until an administrator revokes it. See Sharing your work.
Account status: Whether your account can be used. Active accounts work normally. Unverified accounts are waiting for an administrator to approve them. Deactivated accounts can read but not change anything.
Administrator: A user with the admin role. Administrators manage users and groups and can see and edit every item on the instance. Usually the person who runs your instance.
API key: A secret string that lets a script act as you. Created under Account settings. See Authentication and API keys.
Beholder: A small program that runs on an instrument computer. It watches data folders and uploads new files to the matching items in datalab. See Syncing data from instruments.
Block: Short for data block.
Cell: A built-in item type for an assembled electrochemical cell. A cell records its positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte, which are usually other items.
Child: An item made from another item. If sample B was made from sample A, then B is a child of A. See also parent.
Collection: A named group of items, such as a project, a paper or a thesis chapter. An item can be in several collections. Being in a collection does not change the item. See Collections.
Constituent: Something that went into making a sample, with its quantity. Constituents are listed under Synthesis Information. A constituent that is an item in datalab becomes a parent of the sample.
Creator: A person who owns an item. Creators can edit and delete it. The person who creates an item is its first creator, and more can be added.
Data block: A panel on an item page that reads attached files and shows them as a plot or analysis. Each block type handles one technique, such as XRD or NMR. See Data blocks.
.eln file: A zip archive holding items, their files and a description of both. It follows a format shared by several electronic lab notebooks. It is how datalab exports data. See Exporting your data.
Equipment: A built-in item type for an instrument or other piece of hardware. See Equipment.
Graph View: The page, linked from the top menu, that shows how items are linked to each other.
Group: A set of users, usually a research group or project team. Items can be shared with a group so that its members can see them. Groups are set up by an administrator. See Permissions and groups.
Identifier prefix: A short name for an instance, such as grey. It forms the first part of every refcode on that instance. It is chosen by the administrator when the instance is set up.
Instance: One running copy of datalab, with its own web address, users and data. Your group's datalab is an instance. So is the public demo.
Inventory: The list of starting materials on an instance. Found under Inventory in the top menu. See The inventory.
Item: Any main record in datalab: a sample, cell, starting material or piece of equipment. Plugins can add more item types. Every item has an item ID and a refcode.
Item ID: The human-readable name you give an item when you create it, such as jb-042. It must be unique on your instance, and it cannot be changed later.
Item type: The kind of item: sample, cell, starting material or equipment. The type decides which fields the item has.
Location: Where an item is kept, such as "Glovebox 2". datalab suggests locations that have been used before.
Manager: A user with the manager role, such as a group leader. Managers can see and edit the items of the users they manage.
Parent: An item that another item was made from. Constituents are recorded as parents. See also child.
Part of: A link that says one item is a component of another. The electrodes and electrolyte of a cell are recorded as parts of the cell.
Plugin: A Python package that adds features to datalab, most often new data blocks. Plugins are installed by the administrator. See Extending datalab.
Public item: An item with no creators. Anyone who can log in to the instance can see it.
Refcode: The permanent identifier the server gives each item, such as grey:ABCDEF. It is the identifier prefix, a colon, and six capital letters. It never changes. Use it for links that must keep working, such as in a paper.
Relationship: A link between two items. The kinds are parent, child, part of, sibling, other, and membership of a collection. See Relationships and the item graph.
Sample: The most common item type. A sample is any material you made or measured.
Server share: A folder on another computer that an administrator has connected to datalab. You can copy files from it with Add files from server. Also called a remote filesystem.
Sibling: A link between two items that are related as equals, such as two samples from the same batch.
Starting material: A built-in item type for things you did not make yourself: chemicals, consumables and other supplies. Starting materials make up the inventory.
Status: Where an item is in its life: active, planned, completed, failed, disposed or other.
Super-user mode: An option for administrators. When switched on, they can read every item on the instance. It is shown as a warning banner at the top of the page.
Synthesis Information: The section of a sample page that records its constituents and the procedure used to make it.
Version history: The record of every saved state of an item. An earlier version can be viewed and restored.