Validator

Validate datasets against PRISM and BIDS standards.

Note

This page is under construction. For now, see Studio Overview for validator basics.

Running Validation

In PRISM Studio

1. Go to Validator in the navigation

2. Your project folder is pre-selected (if a project is loaded)

3. Or browse to select a different folder

4. Click Validate

Command Line

# Basic validation
python prism.py /path/to/project

# With auto-fix
python prism.py /path/to/project --fix

# JSON output
python prism.py /path/to/project --json-pretty

Understanding Results

Severity Levels

Icon	Level	Meaning	Action
❌	Error	Dataset is invalid	Must fix
⚠️	Warning	May cause issues	Should fix
💡	Suggestion	Best practice	Consider fixing

Result Categories

• Valid files: Files that pass all checks (shown in green)

• Issues: Problems that need attention

• Summary: Count of errors, warnings, suggestions

Common Error Codes

Code	Description	Solution
PRISM101	Missing sidecar JSON	Create a .json file with the same name
PRISM102	Invalid JSON syntax	Check for missing commas, brackets
PRISM201	Invalid filename	Rename to sub-XXX_task-YYY_modality.ext
PRISM202	Missing participant ID	Add sub-XXX prefix to filename
PRISM301	Missing required field	Add the field to your JSON sidecar
PRISM302	Invalid field value	Check the value against the schema

→ See Error Codes Reference for the complete list.

Auto-Fix

Some issues can be fixed automatically:

Fixable Issues

• Missing dataset_description.json → Creates default file

• Missing sidecar JSON → Creates from template

• Invalid line endings → Converts to Unix format

Using Auto-Fix

In Studio:

1. Click the Fix button next to fixable issues

2. Review proposed changes

3. Apply fixes

Command Line:

python prism.py /path/to/project --fix

BIDS Validation

PRISM can also run the standard BIDS validator:

In Studio

Toggle Include BIDS Validation before validating.

Command Line

python prism.py /path/to/project --bids

BIDS vs PRISM

Check	BIDS Validator	PRISM
MRI structure	✅	✅ (delegates)
MRI metadata	✅	✅ (delegates)
Survey files	❌	✅
Biometrics	❌	✅
Eyetracking	Partial	✅
Item descriptions	❌	✅

Validation Output Formats

JSON

python prism.py /path/to/project --json-pretty > results.json

SARIF (for CI/CD)

python prism.py /path/to/project --format sarif > results.sarif

Markdown

python prism.py /path/to/project --format markdown > results.md