About ezPlate.exe

Features of the ezPlate Plate Reader

1.   Read plate reader results directly to computer and save data to MS Excel format.

2.    Support different plate reader, such as Bio-tek instruments Microplate Autoreader, Molecular Devices UV Max Kinetic microplate reader.

3.    No installation required. Just download ezPlate.zip  from EasyNote.org and unzip the files to a directory of you like. Click on the executable file, ezPlate.exe. The help file, ezPlatehowto.html, need to be in the same directory as ezPlate.exe.

System Requirement:

1.    Microsoft Windows.

2.    Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 installed. To check if you have .NET framework 4.0 installed, click on "Start" > "Settings" > "Control Panel" > "Add or Remove Programs" > Looking for "Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. If you don't have .NET Framework 4.0 installed, you can download it from Microsoft windows update site or from here

How to use ezPlate to acquire results to computer.

Download ezPlate.zip . Extract the files from the zip into a directory on your computer. Make sure following files are present in the folder: license.txt, ezPlate.exe, commconfig.txt, README.txt, ezPlatehowto.html.

Locate the serial port (or RS232 port) on the plate reader. Connect the instrument to your computer with a serial cable (Fig 2). The serial port on instrument site is usually 25 pin, and the serial port (or com port) on computer side is usually 9 pin. Some newer computers may not come with com ports. In this case you will need to use a serial port–to–USB converter. If you not sure which one to get, you can order it via easynote.org website.

Fig 1. serial port–to–USB converter.

Fig 2. Common DB25 (male) to DB 9 (Female) serial cable

Most of the instruments send the analytical results directly to printer port by default. You will need to tell the instrument to send the analytical results to RS232 port (or serial port). Consult your instrument manual (if you have any) for how to send results to serial port for your instrument. Also consult your instrument's manual to find out the parameters for the serial port settings such, Baud rate, parity, data bits, stop bit etc. You will need these parameters in your commconfig.txt file. If you really cannot find these parameters, you may use the parameters that ezPlate will suggest you.

Edit commconfig.txt file to your best knowledge about the com port (serial port) settings. You may use the default value for most of the settings except com port name and baud rate. If you don't know the com port name, then just try to run the ezPlate.exe. The program will try to automatically detect any valid port on your computer and will suggest you to use the valid port.

If the program failed to start, most likely you don't have asp.net framework 4.0 installed on your computer.

After you start the ezPlate program, it will tell you if there is no valid serial port found in your computer. In this case you likely will need to buy a serial-to-USB converter. You may contact easynote.org to get help.

If everything is right, after press the read button (or send data to serial port) on your instrument you should see the plate reader's results being displayed on the program's result windows like the screen shot below.

Before you get a full version license for the software, it will run in demo mode. You can read the results, but you cannot save the results for further process in your computer. You will need to get a license to enable the program's copy / paste and save results function, To get the software license, you will need to have the computer connected to internet, then click on “Help > Get software license” menu. This will connect your browser to easynote.org website automatically. Enter your name and email and follow the on screen instruction to obtain a valid license for the software.