Sample recordings

September 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

User-facing file list: sampleData/README.md. This page is for packing, GitHub, and the installer.

What ships where

Recordings are not in git and not in the basic installer. Git tracks sampleData/README.md and looping WebP thumbs in sampleData/previews/. Recordings stay in a local / Dropbox sampleData/ folder (gitignored).

Piece	Role
GitHub Latest asset `jaer-sample-data.zip`	The zip users download
`sampleData/README.md`	What the files are (also inside the zip and the install tree)
`sampleData/previews/*.webp`	5 s / 240 px loops for the GitHub README table. Not in the zip.
`sampleData/SIZE.txt`	Zip and unpacked MiB; written by pack, not in git
Installer Welcome checkbox	Optional download; default off. Shows zip/unpacked size and a time estimate at 10 MB/s Wi-Fi. After files are copied, a Sample recordings screen can Skip (finish Setup) or Download. Cancel during the download skips only that step — jAER is already installed (Installation screen is a rollback barrier).
Help > Sample data	Download if recordings are missing: you choose the unpack folder (install `sampleData/` when writable, otherwise `jaerSampleData` in the home directory). Show jAER sample data folder and README if recordings are already present
Uninstaller	Deletes default `jaer/sampleData` (and `sampleData` when the install dir is the jAER tree). Warns that extra files you put there are removed too. Does not delete `~/jaerSampleData`. If files remain in the install folder after uninstall, that folder is opened.

Download URL:

https://github.com/SensorsINI/jaer/releases/latest/download/jaer-sample-data.zip

README in the browser on all platforms (local README.md is shown inside jAER only if GitHub is unreachable):

https://github.com/SensorsINI/jaer/tree/master/sampleData#readme

Unpack so files land in the folder you choose (zip root is the files, not a nested sampleData/ directory). The chooser defaults to sampleData/ next to dist/ / lib/ in a git checkout and jaer/sampleData in an installed copy. If that path is not writable (Windows Program Files), the default is jaerSampleData under the user home directory. jAER remembers the folder on the File menu recent-folders list.

Pack

Drop recordings into sampleData/ (gitignored).
After exporting a rendered MP4 or AVI of each recording (File → Export video), name it like the .aedat4 (same stem) and drop it in sampleData/preview-src/ (gitignored).
For the cloud release pipeline (release.yml): ant upload-sample-data-current (needs gh and recordings). That zips to currentInstallers/<VERSION.txt>/jaer-sample-data.zip and creates or updates GitHub Release sample-data-current (prerelease, never Latest). Assemble copies that zip onto each product/rc Release. Do this before tagging N.N.N-rc.N.
Mini-era attach onto an existing product Release (VERSION.txt or -Djaer.upload.tag=): ant upload-sample-data. Needs gh and that Release already created. Encodes WebP thumbs when ffmpeg and preview sources are present, then gh release upload (--clobber). Dry run: ant "-Djaer.upload.whatif=true" upload-sample-data. Skip WebP: ant "-Dskip.sampleData.previews=true" upload-sample-data. Force a new zip: ant "-Djaer.sampleData.force=true" upload-sample-data.

Do not ant "-Djaer.upload.tag=sample-data-current" upload-sample-data: that script looks for currentInstallers/sample-data-current/jaer-sample-data.zip, which pack never writes. Do not ant create-draft-release to make sample-data-current (that tags VERSION.txt).

Dry run for the durable Release (packs locally, skips gh): ant "-Djaer.upload.whatif=true" upload-sample-data-current. Check: gh release view sample-data-current. Never gh release edit sample-data-current --latest.

Standalone pieces (same as the upload pre-steps):

ant make-sample-data-previews
ant pack-sample-data

pack-sample-data (also run from ant macos-build-notarize / release-linux / install4j when recordings are present) writes the zip (store / no deflate; AEDAT-4 is already compressed) and SIZE.txt. Skips the zip if a name+size stamp still matches. Force: ant "-Djaer.sampleData.force=true" pack-sample-data, or scripts/pack-sample-data.ps1 -Force / bash scripts/pack-sample-data.sh --force.

The pack scripts refresh the Size column in the sampleData/README.md file table (matched by the backtick filename) and the That downloads about N MB line. Add new recordings as a row in that table; pack does not invent descriptions. Only *.aedat4 (and .aedat / .dat / .raw) are zipped; WebP previews and source MP4/AVI are skipped.

make-sample-data-previews looks for sources in sampleData/preview-src/, then sampleData/. Re-encode with --force on the scripts. Optional start times (seconds into the source) go in sampleData/previews/offsets.txt:

DVS128 DVS09 2006 mouse behavior over 3 days  60

Commit the .webp files so the GitHub README table shows them. They are not packed into jaer-sample-data.zip.

upload-installers does not attach the sample zip. Cloud pipeline: ant upload-sample-data-current before tagging. Mini-era product Release: ant upload-sample-data.

Installer checkbox sizes come from SIZE.txt at install4jc time (-Djaer.sampleDataZipMiB / jaer.sampleDataUnpackedMiB). SIZE.txt and README.md are install4j fileEntrys under jaer/sampleData.

In-app File → Open may still offer a download if the folder has no recordings (prefs AEViewer.sampleDataDownloadDeclined).

See README-releasing-tagging.md.