{"id":23526,"library":"dclab","title":"dclab","description":"Library for real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC) data analysis. Provides data loading, filtering, and normalization for deformability cytometry datasets. Current version 0.71.8, requires Python >=3.9, <4. Released about every 3-6 months on PyPI.","status":"active","version":"0.71.8","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/ZELLMECHANIK-DRESDEN/dclab","tags":["deformability cytometry","rt-dc","bioimage","cell mechanics","hdf5"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install dclab","lang":"bash","label":"pip"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"numerical operations","package":"numpy","optional":false},{"reason":"signal processing and statistics","package":"scipy","optional":false},{"reason":"HDF5 file support for .tdms and .rtdc files","package":"h5py","optional":false}],"imports":[{"note":"RTDCBase is the base class for datasets; use for type checking.","symbol":"RTDCBase","correct":"from dclab.rtdc_dataset import RTDCBase"},{"note":"new_dataset is a top-level function; do not import from submodule.","wrong":"import dclab.dclab","symbol":"new_dataset","correct":"from dclab import new_dataset"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import dclab\nfrom dclab import new_dataset\n\nds = new_dataset('path/to/file.rtdc')\nprint(ds)\n# Access features:\narea_um = ds['area_um']\nprint('Area (um^2):', area_um[:5])","lang":"python","description":"Load an RT-DC dataset from a .rtdc file and print the first five area values."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Replace `from dclab.filter import ...` with `from dclab.features import ...`.","message":"In version 0.70.0, the `filter` module was restructured. `dclab.filter.xxx` is no longer available; use `dclab.features` and `dclab.features.xxx` instead.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=0.70.0"},{"fix":"Update Python environment to 3.10 or later.","message":"Python 3.9 support dropped in version 0.72.0 (upcoming). Currently requires Python >=3.9; future versions will require >=3.10.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=0.72.0"},{"fix":"Always wrap `new_dataset` in a try/except block to catch `ValueError` and `OSError`.","message":"`new_dataset` fails silently if the file format is unsupported. It will raise a `ValueError` only if the file cannot be parsed at all.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-05-01T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Run `pip install dclab` or `conda install -c conda-forge dclab`.","cause":"dclab not installed or virtual environment not activated.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'dclab'"},{"fix":"Ensure the file has the correct extension and is valid. Use `dclab.rtdc_dataset.RTDCFile` for low-level checks.","cause":"The file provided to `new_dataset` is not a valid .rtdc, .tdms, or .h5 file.","error":"ValueError: File format not recognized."}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}