MagPy

A Python toolbox for controlling Magstim TMS stimulators via serial communication.

Installation

MagPy can be installed easily using the pip package manager:

pip install MagPy_TMS

Alternatively, you can download the contents of the magpy folder and copy them to your PATH or to the same directory as your python script.

Usage

Check the Wiki (https://github.com/nicolasmcnair/magpy/wiki) for details on how use MagPy. Please note that the serial cable must be plugged directly into the back of the Rapid² main unit, not into the back of UI.

Important Note: In versions prior to 1.2, all parameters must be supplied in their lowest unit of resolution. For BiStim² stimulators, this means that the interpulse interval should be supplied in ms if in normal mode, and tenths of a millisecond in high-resolution mode. For Rapid² stimulators, this means that frequency should be supplied in tenths of a Hz and duration in tenths of a second. From version 1.2 onwards, all units must be supplied in their base unit: ms for interpulse interval (regardless of mode), Hz for frequency, and seconds for duration. See the help description for each command for details about what unit it is expecting.

N.B. For Rapid² stimulators, the unlock code - only needed for software versions 9 and higher - should be supplied on its own (i.e., without the command character 'Q' or the CRC, but including hyphens). See the commented out command in the example below.

Example:

from magpy import magstim
from time import sleep

if __name__ == "__main__":
    myMagstim = magstim.Magstim(address='COM1')
    #myMagstim = magstim.Rapid(address='COM1', superRapid=1, unlockCode='xxxx-xxxxxxxx-xx')
    myMagstim.connect()
    errorCode,parameterInfo = myMagstim.getParameters()
    sleep(3) # This pause is needed if trying to arm soon after connecting,  as sometimes the maintain connection process seems to fail to spin up fast enough
    myMagstim.arm(delay=True)
    myMagstim.fire()
    myMagstim.disconnect()

Note: If connecting to a Magstim on a computer running macOS, the address of the serial port you use to create the Magstim object must be the /dev/cu.* address for the port and not the /dev/tty.* address. Using the tty address will create the object successfully, but will result in numerous communication issues with the device.

Version Summary

Previous versions of MagPy have been temporarily removed. If you require an older version, please contact me.

*May be compatible with 2, but has not been tested

Note: Magstim Software Version compatibility only concerns Rapid² stimulators; all versions should be compatible with 200² and BiStim² stimulators.

Recent Updates

Note: dates of fixes have been reordered to YY-MM-DD

22-03-30: Under Windows 10, the two additional processes that MagPy uses control the serial port and to regularly contact the Magstim unit seem to take longer than previously to spin up. Because of the dependency between them, this sometimes resulted in one (or both) of the processes crashing and remote control of the Magstim being lost. These two processes have now been merged to avoid this issue. In addition, _virtual.py has been removed from the respository as it was not working properly. I will re-upload it once I find time to fix it.

20-10-22: rTMSMode() will now check whether the stimulator is currently in rTMS mode before attempting to enable or disable. This will avoid overwriting the current settings on the unit if rTMS mode is already enabled

20-10-22: validateSequence() will now return the current Rapid parameters if receipt is True

20-10-20: Fixed an issue where the maximum allowed frequency was incorrectly calculated, and could prevent the frequency from being changed

20-10-19: Fixed an issue where checking for software version in units with version 9.0 would fail

20-10-16: MagPy will now use time.perf_counter as its timer function when run on Python 3.3+

20-10-14: Fixed an issue in how the subprocesses were stopped when disconnecting from the Magstim

20-10-07: Fixed an issue that could cause the Magstim to disarm immediately after arming

20-10-07: Fixed an issue where Magstim.disconnect() could hang due to the serialPortController crashing (thanks to a-hurst for this)

19-07-28: Fixed numerous bugs. Version 1.2 is now working properly

19-04-02: MagPy should now be able to be installed directly from github via pip

19-04-02: Fixed a bug in checking the class of the stimulator during setPower()

19-04-02: Fixed a bug when updating frequency after changing stimulator intensity for Rapid² machines

19-03-04: Fixed a bug when parsing the returned software version number from a Rapid²

19-03-04: Fixed error in poke() command for stimulators with software version 9+

19-02-22: Missing 'else' statement on line 1236 causing import failure

19-02-21: rapid.setChargeDelay() now returns the correct response from the Rapid for software versions 11+

19-02-15: Fixed bug in version 1.2.0b in which the rapid.fire() method accidentally called itself (causing a recursion) rather than calling the parent method

19-02-15: Fixed bug in versions 1.1.2 and 1.2.0b where checking the version of the Magstim would cause an exception

19-02-14: Fixed a potential bug where MagPy might lose remote control over the Magstim if left idle for too long while disarmed

19-02-14: Fixed bug in version 1.2.0b if an unlock code is supplied as a unicode string

19-02-11: Fixed bug with checking pyserial version (shouldn't have affected most people)

19-02-06: After identifying an error in the official documentation, the rapid.getChargeDelay and rapid.setChargeDelay methods should now be working with version 1.2.0b

19-01-30: Versions 1.2.0b and 1.1.2 should now be fully compatible with Python 3

29-01-19: Fixed bug with attempting to call a serial port property ("TypeError: 'int' object is not callable")