Convert old .json files

As openhdemg evolves and introduces new features, migrating to the latest version becomes essential for leveraging optimized functions and improved capabilities. However, it is not always possible to implement new or optimized functionalities without altering the utilized data structure.

When the data structure is changed, the users of previous versions of openhdemg will not be able to access the newer functionalities with the files they saved in the older data structure. To overcome this limitation, we created the convert_json_output class which facilitates a seamless transition by converting older .json files to the format compatible with the latest openhdemg version.

This tutorial guides you through the process, ensuring a smooth upgrade while maintaining data integrity.

Why should you convert your files to the newer openhdemg versions?

• Optimized Functionality: Newer openhdemg versions come with optimized functions, enhancing performance and providing a more efficient user experience.
• Compatibility: Ensure your data remains compatible with the latest features and improvements introduced in openhdemg.

From 0.1.0-b2 to 0.1.0-b3

The openhdemg version 0.1.0-beta.3 introduced noticeable changes and improvements, particularly regarding the speed of saving and loading of .json files. Furthermore, these files are efficiently compressed, so that they occupy less space in your storage. However, to achieve this goal, it was necessary to optimise the default data structure used by openhdemg and, as a consequence, the newer openhdemg version is not compatible with the files saved from previous openhdemg versions.

In this section of the tutorial we explain how to easily convert the files you saved from openhdemg version 0.1.0-beta.2 to make them compatible with openhdemg version 0.1.0-beta.3.

The class necessary to perform this conversion is stored in the conversions module inside the compatibility subpackage and can be imported as

# Import the necessary libraries
from openhdemg.compatibility import convert_json_output

With this class, we can select different methods for converting our files.

Let's start from the easiest one. Indeed, we can convert one file (or perform a batch conversion of multiple files) with a simple graphical user interface (GUI). If you want to convert one file, select the desired file, if you want to convert more files, select more of them.

# Import the necessary libraries
from openhdemg.compatibility import convert_json_output

# Convert file/s appending "converted" to the name of the converted file.
convert_json_output(gui=True, append_name="converted")

Alternatively, you can perform the tasks without GUI. In the following example you will convert all the files in a folder and save them in the same location with a different name.

# Import the necessary libraries
from openhdemg.compatibility import convert_json_output

# Specify the path to the folder where the original files are and where the
# converted ones should be.
old = "C:/Users/.../test conversions/"
new = "C:/Users/.../test conversions/"

# Convert them
convert_json_output(
    old=old,
    new=new,
    append_name="converted",
    gui=False,
)

For more options, please refer to the documentation of the convert_json_output class.

More questions?

We hope that this tutorial was useful. If you need any additional information, do not hesitate to read the answers or ask a question in the openhdemg discussion section. If you are not familiar with GitHub discussions, please read this post. This will allow the openhdemg community to answer your questions.