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Inquisit Desktop 3 .exp & .dat "file not found" error (same files run/open seamlessly using Inquisit 4 Trial)

tcd — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 07:31:23 GMT

Hello,

I'd appreciate any help or guidance people might have in getting this issue resolved!

I have an experiment that was programmed in Inquisit Desktop 3 (circa Spring 2016). The nature of our experiment means that we have a copy of the experiment script for each participant (inefficient yes, but greatly helps me ensure that nothing gets lost/overwritten, since each participant has unique image stimuli). Our lab subsequently updated to Inquisit Desktop 5 [without me noticing, apparently] and the experiment files ran seamlessly in Inquisit 5. We did not update the file types (they are still .exp & .dat per Inquisit 3).

Due to lab schedule constraints, I recently moved this study to another lab room that did not have InQuisit installed. We were in a hurry to get the study launched + running, so I simply downloaded trial versions of InQuisit Desktop 4 and once again, the experiment files ran perfectly. However, our lab has an unlimited license for Inquisit Desktop 3 (and the trial versions of 4 are expired/expiring), so I downloaded Inquisit Desktop 3 from http://www.millisecond.com/download/archives.aspx.

On the first computer, I installed Inquisit 3 before uninstalling Inquisit 4 and found that Inquisit 4 could open the file, but I received an error message ("file not found"; see images below) when attempting to open files with Inquisit 3. Upon uninstalling Inquisit 4 and resetting the 'file open' defaults, I still received the same "file not found" error message. So, on the second computer I uninstalled Inquisit 4 prior to installing Inquisit 3 to see if that would make a difference. I was still unable to open the .exp & .dat files using Inquisit 3. I then tried copying experiment scripts that hadn't been run in Inquisit 4 to the computer to see if that would make a difference. It did not. [The file path is correct; I also tried renaming the folder so it didn't have hyphens and that did not help either.]

So I seem to be stuck with Inquisit 3 being unable to open these files (both from Windows Explorer and via File --> Open within Inquisit).

Does anyone have any thoughts or intuitions of what might be occurring (and how to fix it)? I'd greatly appreciate suggestions. We have participants scheduled to run at 10 AM tomorrow and all the trial licenses will have expired by then.

Thank you!

Best regards,
Tara.

P. S. Does Inquisit 3 require the installation of anything not bundled with it? [That wouldn't already be installed with via Inquisit 4?]

Error Messages:
Er

RE: Inquisit Desktop 3 .exp & .dat "file not found" error (same files run/open seamlessly using Inquisit 4 Trial)

Dave — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 07:31:23 GMT

[quote]

[b]tcd - Tuesday, March 28, 2017[/b]

Hi Dave,

Thank you! There shouldn't be anything unusual about that file path (and it shouldn't contain any atypical characters), but your suggested fix did work. Relocating the files to the desktop enabled Inquisit 3 to find them. It isn't an ideal long-term solution for us, given that our lab data management protocol prohibits storing files on the computer desktop, but it will definitely allow us to continue running participants, so thank you!

All/Forum -- I'm still hoping to find a solution that would allow us to store the file nested in a folder in Documents if anyone has recommendations, but we are back up and running! (And will be collecting data less than 9 hours from now.)

Thanks again,
Tara.

[/quote]

> There shouldn't be anything unusual about that file path (and it shouldn't contain any atypical characters)

What is the actual, full file path under which the files resided originally? The question mark in the error message strongly suggests that there is *something* in the path name that throws things off.

RE: Inquisit Desktop 3 .exp & .dat "file not found" error (same files run/open seamlessly using Inquisit 4 Trial)

tcd — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 22:16:05 GMT

RE: Inquisit Desktop 3 .exp & .dat "file not found" error (same files run/open seamlessly using Inquisit 4 Trial)

Dave — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 14:24:17 GMT

[quote]

[b]tcd - Tuesday, March 28, 2017[/b]

[/quote]

Your screenshots show a question mark (?) in the path. This should not exist, since Windows does not allow for folder or file names to contain that character. This is the likely reason Inquisit cannot locate the file. It's also possible that the folder name contains some other Unicode character Inquisit 3 cannot deal with (Inquisit 3 is not a Unicode application, Inquisit 4 and above are)[1], or that the files aren't actually located where Inquisit 3 thinks they are (it's hard to tell from the screenshots, but it looks like you are using a Windows "library" location, which can a virtual collection of many different physical location). Try moving the files to some other location on the computer, preferably some short / simple path, such as C:\users\yourusername\desktopt\study\ and opening them from there.

[1] i.e., the question mark that shows up in the path contained in the error message may not actually be a question mark, but some other character. The question mark is a non-Unicode application's way of saying "I don't know what that character is and cannot deal with it."