What is the LabKey File Repository useful for?
Problem: File Management and Sharing
Researchers often manage large numbers of files with a wide range of sizes and formats. Some of these files are relatively small, such as spreadsheets containing a few lines of data; others are huge, such as large binary files. Some have a generic format, such as tab-separated data tables; while others have instrument-specific, proprietary formats.
Often these files are scattered across many different computers in a research team, making them difficult to locate, search over, and consolidate for analysis. Worse, researchers often share these files via email, which puts your data security at risk and can lead to further duplication and confusion.
Solution: LabKey File Repository
LabKey addresses these problems with a secure, web-accessible file repository, which serves both as a storage place for files, and as a launching point for importing data into the database (for integration with other data, querying, and analysis).
The file repository provides:
A location for storage, indexing and sharing of unstructured data files such as Word documents. The search indexer scans and pulls out words and phrases to enable finding files with specific content.
A launching point for structured data files such as Excel files or instrument-generated files with specific formatting that can be imported into the LabKey database for more advanced analysis. For example, you can select files in the repository, and import them into assay designs.
References:
“Tutorial: File Repository .” Tutorial: File Repository: Documentation, LabKey, www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=fileTutorial.