History log

• It can be used for documentation purposes, giving you the option of specifying exactly how your data has been created and modified.
• It is useful if you return to a project after some time and want to refresh your memory on how the data was created.
• If you have performed an analyses and want reproduce the analysis with another element (e.g. another set of sequences), you can check the history of the original analysis and find out all parameters to set.

The history log can thus be a valuable help in creating and maintaining your Laboratory book.

The following information is present in the history log

• Date and time for the operation
• The user who performed the operation.
• The elements that were selected for the operation (e.g. a number of sequences selected for making an alignment)
• List of parameters explaining the details of the operation – e.g. which algorithms were used and with which value-parameters
• Comments entered by the person performing the action, or a later user of the program.
• Source elements: If the operation involves other elements (e.g. an alignment used for a inferring a phylogenetic tree), they are also listed in the history log, including their own history. In this way, you will be able to track all actions back to its origin.

The history is kept intact when you work on elements generated in other workbenches from CLC bio. Example: An element created by one user in a CLC Protein Workbench running on Mac OS X retains its history when further developed by another user in a CLC Free Workbench, running on Windows XP.

An element can be saved including all source elements. This is especially valuable is you want to export an element and give to another user for further work. By exporting the element in this way, the other user gets access to the history, and in addition, access to the actual elements used in producing the result.