Hi,
I wonder if there’s a way to send someone (a participant, ultimately) a project file (and accessory files if needed) and allow them to only run it - without looking under the hood and obviously without modifying.
In other words, is it possible to install only the “running” component of PsychoPy without the builder - or something like this.
Hope I’m clear, if not I’ll try again:)
I’ve been able to generate .exe files from the .py files using a library called auto-py-to-exe which utilizes functionality from pyinstaller. The files tend to be around 200mb. You put these files in an archive file and send it to the participant and they run it locally on their computer. Since the code is compiled they can not see your source code or edit it any way. You’ll need to send your stimuli and .csv files, though.
However, the whole process of generating an .exe is very tricky (you need to manipulate the actual PsychoPy library, for example). Also some changes need to be made to your experiment script as well. Not all Windows computers can run the .exe file and Mac computers can not even run an .exe at all.
Even if the .exe runs, some computers for some reason can not generate data and on rare occasions I’ve seen corrupt data files being generated.
It is also worth mentioning that I was asked to setup this same system (.py to .exe pipeline) I’ve made on my own computer for other labs in our institute as well however I was not able to replicate the same exact pipeline which allowed me to generate .exe files from .py files. So the reproducibility is also questionable. It requires a little bit of python proficiency and some knowledge of how to manipulate the default libraries to achieve something like this.
Thanks! Looks like quite a serious dig…
בתאריך יום א׳, 17 בינו׳ 2021, 22:22, מאת Tamer Gezici via PsychoPy <psychopy@discoursemail.com>:
If you’re not running it in the lab, why not just upload your experiment to Pavlovia and have people run the task in a bowser? Far easier for them and immeasurably easier for you than trying to distribute executable files yourself.
Thanks Michael, the obvious and right thing to do… Now I’ve another issue, which is that the experiment that works for me on my env, crushes on Pavlovia. Is there a possibility to get a log file or alike?
Try using the developer console. It is enabled using (CTRL+SHIFT+J) then check for errors.
Yep!