A browser for connectivity data stored in the CoCoMac (COlation of COnnectivity of the MACaque monkey) (database developed by Rolf Kötter et al.
The browser requres a BoundaryMap to be specified, specifying a parcelation scheme against which data will be displayed. The map should also contain labels for all the regions, corresponding to the labels used in CoCoMac (Which correspond as closely as possible to the labels in the paper in which the map was first published).
The second field is the color table used to show the map and projections.
Only the first few elements of the color table are used, as follows:
0 - map color;
1 - map labels;
2 - ;
3 - grid for source laminae;
4 - grid for target laminae;
5,6,7,8 - projection densities of 1, 2, 3 and X respectively.
The coCoMacQuery is a separate query object which contains details of the current qery. This object can be used to retrieve XML files from the database server for special queries. For the most common applications, however, all the fields are set from the browser window.
The main operation mode of the browser is to fetch all projection data of a particular type and for a particular map, and present it to the user. Once a map has been loaded the fetch map data button will cause it to query the database twice: first for the bibliographic data of the map, including the full region names; and second for the projection data. The progress if these two queries is displayed at the bottom left corner of the browser. The summarize button displays a brief summary of the current dataset, including the region names, if known, and all projections which are present.
Onec the data has been loaded, as indicated by a message like "finished, total lines=...", the data can be dispalyed. Regions can be selected and unselected by clicking with the mouse. For each selected region, the afferents and or efferents can be shown according to the choices on the lefts. Projections between selected regions are always shown. The laminae option causes a grid of six layers to be drawn near the source of each projection arrow and another at the end. Of there is information in the database on the laminae which are connected by the projection this is indicated by filled sections of the grid (laminae from 1 to 6 correspond to the six boxes, starting at the bottom).
Projection densities and source/target laminae are indicated by color coding according to the key in the upper right. An empty box or absent projection arrow means there is no evidence about existence of an item. The value "0" indicates evidence that a projection does not exist, or that a particular lamina is not involved. The values "1", "2" and "3" indicate increasing projection density, and "X" indicates that the connection is present, but at an unknown density.
The "all" button is a quick way of selecting or unselecting all regions. Selecting all regins causes all data in the current set to be displayed.