Building Blocks of Good Documentation: LEGO meets eLabFTW

Overview The dataset provides a good illustration of how Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN) - here: eLabFTW (https://www.elabftw.net) - can be used as a documentation tool, using LEGO as an example. The dataset includes illustrated experiments and resources and clearly demonstrates what both of these types are, how they can be enriched with metadata, how they can be linked, and how all of this positively impacts the documentation. In the LEGO example inside this dataset, for instance, experiments link to all individual used LEGO bricks (resource), each of which have a unique LEGO ID and an external link for further information. All individual LEGO bricks (resource), in turn, are part of a specific LEGO box (resource), which also has a unique LEGO ID and an external website link. Furthermore the assembly (resource) links to both: all the used individual LEGO bricks (resource) and the LEGO box (resource) that was used to create this specific assembly. This illustrates the possibility of nested entries. The dataset includes example exports as a pdf for a quick overview of the structure and the whole eLabFTW showcase can be be imported in eLabFTW. Dataset The following table shows the 4 files inside this dataset and their content: File Content LEGO-showcase_eLab-v5.6.9.eln eLabFTW Export which can be imported in eLabFTW for whole showcase LEGO-showcase_Experiment-Quad.pdf example export of an experiment exported as a PDF, illustrating an own assembly of a LEGO quad LEGO-showcase_Recource-Box.pdf example export of the resource Box exported as a PDF, illustrating the LEGO-Box containing many LEGO-bricks LEGO-showcase_Resource-Tire.pdf example export of the resource Tire exported as a PDF, illustrating a single LEGO brick LEGO-showcase_eLab-v5.6.9.eln This chapter provides an overview of the file "LEGO-showcase_eLab-v5.6.9.eln" and its structure within eLabFTW. Export file was created by exporting the whole Team (which was set up only for this showcase) via command line (needs access to server on which eLabFTW is hosted on) (TEAM_ID = ID of the eLabFTW Team): bin/console export:eln -vv TEAM_ID eLabFTW Version: 5.6.9 Import The author recommends creating a separate Team dedicated solely to this showcase and carrying out the import there (do not forget switching to this Team before importing). However, it is just as feasible to carry out the import within an existing team. Use the import function in eLabFTW: click on own initials in top right corner which opens a dropdown click on "Import" which opens profile site click on "Import from file" which opens the explorer select the file "LEGO-showcase_eLab-v5.6.9.eln" in eLab choose following import settings: Select where the entries will be created: "Do not force type" Select a category: "Do not force a category" set Owner / read and write permissions as you wish click on "Import" (might take a few seconds) Note: eLabFTW did not export some parameters. To further improve the showcase, please carry out the following steps after importing the .eln file for the resource "Box_Middle-sized brick-box" (not the template): add booking parameters + add booking dates of this resource in the future of a showcase add storage information eLabFTW Structure The file "LEGO-showcase_eLab-v5.6.9.eln" contains the following entries: Experiments 1x Experiment Template (explained below) 3x Experiments Resources 3x Resource Templates (explained below) 15x Resources 8x Resource Categories Template Structure All Experiments and Resources were created using the corresponding templates, which are structured as follows: Experiment Template: "Exp_[Name of Experiment]_[YYYY-MM-DD]" Status: [Running; Success; Need to be redone, Fail] Main Text: "Experiment [Name of Experiment]" (table with following 4 columns) "Step" [Number of current step] "New Single-Brick" [Photo of needed Single-Brick for this step] "Additional info" [put all bricks in front of myself; flip + flip-symbol photo; photo of putting 2 Single-Bricks together for this step] "Assembly when step done" [photo of this Assembly step] Custom Fields: "assembly" (Resource Assembly): [link to resource Assembly this Assembly was based on] (type: resource) "partBox" (Part of which box): [link to resource Box this Assembly can be made with] (type: resource) Attached Files: [photos of every Assembly-step] Links: Resource Links: [links TO Assembly and Brick (created by filling in both custom fields)] Resource Template: "Single-Brick_[Name of Brick]" Resource Category: [Slope; Brick; Plate; Tile; Cone; Wheel] Tags: [red; dark-red; gray; light-gray; black] Main Text: [Photo of Brick] Custom Fields: "LEGO_ID" (Single-Bricks unique LEGO ID): [Lego ID] (type: Text; required) "Bricklink_URL" (URL for more information about this Single-Brick): [URL to Bricklink] (type: URL; required) "Bricklink_BrickID" (Single-Bricks unique BrickLink ID): [Bricklink ID] (type: Text; required) "Brick_inside_Box" (Choose Box in which the Single-Brick is part of): [eLabFTW Link to Resource] (type: resource; required) Attached Files: [Photo of Brick] Links: Experiment Links: [links FROM every Experiment this Single-Brick is part of] Resource Links: [links TO every Box this Single-Brick is part of; links FROM every Assembly / Box this Single-Brick is part of] Resource Template: "Box_[Name of Box]" Resource Category: [Box] Main Text: [Photo of Box] "Table of all Bricks in Box" (table with following 3 columns) "Single-Brick: Photo" [Photo of Single-Brick] "Single-Brick: Name (Link)" [Name of Single-Brick which links to resource of this Single-Brick] "Quantity in Box" [Number of a specific Single-Bricks inside this specific Box] Custom Fields: "LEGO_ID" (Box unique LEGO ID): [Lego ID] (type: Text; required) "Shop_URL" (LEGO URL for this Box): [URL to Box] (type: URL; required) Attached Files: [photos of: Box, Single-Bricks] Links: Experiment Links: [links FROM every Experiment this Box was part of] Resource Links: [links TO every resource Single-Brick that is part of this Box; links FROM every resource Assembly that this Box was used for; links FROM every resource Single-Brick that the resource Assembly has] Resource Template: "Assembly_[Name of Assembly]" Resource Category: [Assembly] Main Text: [Photo of final Assembly] "Table of all Bricks needed for Assembly" (table with following 3 columns) "Single-Brick: Photo" [Photo of Single-Brick] "Single-Brick: Name (Link)" [Name of Single-Brick which links to resource of this Single-Brick] "Quantity needed for Assembly" [Number of a specific Single-Bricks needed for this specific Assembly] "Assembly steps" (table with following 4 columns) "Step" [Number of current step] "New Single-Brick" [Photo of needed Single-Brick for this step] "Additional info" [put all bricks in front of myself; flip + flip-symbol photo; photo of putting 2 Single-Bricks together for this step] "Assembly when step done" [photo of this Assembly step] Custom Fields: "Manual" (Manual PDF): [link to Manual pdf] (type: URL) "partBox" (Part of which box): [link to resource Box this Assembly can be made with] (type: resource) Attached Files: [photos of: every Single-Brick needed for this Assembly, all new Single-Bricks needed for this Assembly-step, Assembly-step, box, additional info; Manual as pdf] Links: Experiment Links: [links FROM every Experiment which used this Assembly