% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
% Please edit documentation in R/getPlateLayout.R
\name{getPlateLayout}
\alias{getPlateLayout}
\title{Find and create a master plate layout file}
\usage{
getPlateLayout(folder_path = getwd(), output_file = NULL)
}
\arguments{
\item{folder_path}{A string containing your main folder for your project or the plate layout files. Default = current working directory.}

\item{output_file}{A string for the path for your output master file.}
}
\value{
An .xlsx file saved to your current working directory with multiple tabs, one tab for each plate layout.
}
\description{
Join multiple a plate layout files into one master file with multiple tabs
}
\examples{
\donttest{
# Example 1: Create two example 96-well plates in-memory
create_plate <- function(plate_name) {
  rows <- LETTERS[1:8]
  cols <- 1:12
  df <- data.frame(plate = rows)
  for (col in cols) {
    df[[as.character(col)]] <- paste0(rows, col)
  }
  df$plate_id <- plate_name
  df
}

plate1 <- create_plate("Plate1")
plate2 <- create_plate("Plate2")

# Combine plates into a list to simulate getPlateLayout() output
master_layout <- list(
  path = tempfile(fileext = ".xlsx"),  # placeholder path
  data = list(Plate1 = plate1, Plate2 = plate2)
)

# The returned list contains:
# 1. path: the file path to the (simulated) master Excel file
# 2. data: a list of data.frames, one per plate
names(master_layout$data)  # View sheet names

# Example 2: Access individual plates directly
layout_files <- list(plate1, plate2)  # simulate individual Excel sheets

master_layout2 <- list(
  path = tempfile(fileext = ".xlsx"),  # placeholder path
  data = setNames(layout_files, c("Plate1", "Plate2"))
)

# View the resulting plate names
names(master_layout2$data)
}
}
\author{
Dionne Argyropoulos
}
