bpc_ReadAbf

bpc_ReadAbf is an Igor Pro extension (XOP) that allows one to import pClamp ABF 1.x and 2.x binary files into Igor Pro.
bpc_ReadAbf is compatible with Igor Pro 32bit running on Windows 32bit or 64bit, it requires Igor Pro 5 or later.

Molecular Devices Corp, the company selling pClamp, provides a file support package (FSP) to aid software development. This FSP
is available for 32bit Windows only. I created a very simple XOP that basically wraps some of the functions provided by the FSP.

bpc_ReadAbf uses/needs ABFFIO.dll supplied by Axon Software/Molecular Devices Corp. If you want to try out bpc_ReadAbf,
please copy both 'ABFFIO.dll' and 'bpc_ReadAbf.xop' to your 'Igor Extensions' folder.
You may copy 'M_Abf.ipf' to your 'Igor Procedures' folder. 'M_Abf.ipf' extends Igor's "Data" menu by the entry
"Import ABf file". Feel free to adapt this procedure file so that it suits your needs.

Please note that it is recommended to copy 'ABFFIO.dll', 'bpc_ReadAbf.xop' and 'M_Abf.ipf' to the respective target folders located in the
Igor Pro User Files folder (which defaults to 'C:\Documents and Settings\%user%\My Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro 6 User Files' on Windows XP) of
each user and not to the Igor Pro application folder (i.e. 'C:\Program Files\...') itself.

I tested the import of a number of ABF data files and it worked fine. However, pClamp is a sophisticated package that supports many different acquisition modes.
If you experience that this XOP is not correctly importing your ABF data files, please contact the author (Holger Taschenberger, Dept. of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Goettingen, taschenberger at gmx dot net) and send a sample data file together with a description of how to reproduce the error.

Please remember:
bpc_ReadAbf works only with 32bit Igor running on 32bit or 64bit Windows. It does not and never will work with 64bit Igor or on a Mac.

Images:

Project Details

Current Project Release

bpc_ReadAbf IGOR.5.00.x-0.12

Release File: bpc_ReadAbf_012.zip
Version: IGOR.5.00.x-0.12
Version Date: Mon, 06/12/2017 - 01:48 am
Version Major: 0
Version Patch Level: 12
OS Compatibility: Windows
Release Notes: added the two functions 'bpc_AbfReadTimeTags' & 'bpc_AbfReadExternalTags' to read 'time tags' and 'external tags' respectively
from pClamp data files, they should be used like:

Make/D/O tag_wave=0
ret=bpc_AbfReadTimeTags("C:\\...\\data_file.abf",tag_wave)

bpc_AbfReadTimeTags returns 0 on error and 1 on success. (finding no tags in 'data_file.abf' is NOT an error condition)

on return, the length of the wave supplied as function parameter ('tag_wave' in the example above) indicates the number of tags read
the content of 'tag_wave' represents the timing values
View All Releases

Forum

Support

Gallery

Igor Pro 9

Learn More

Igor XOP Toolkit

Learn More

Igor NIDAQ Tools MX

Learn More