Sample keys

A sample key (SmpKey) groups injections that are the same physical sample: a neat injection and its dilutions, or reinjections. It is not the acquisition key. The acquisition key chooses the method channels. The sample key chooses which one result is reported for the group.

How it is set

Each sample has a sample key and an optional manual sample key. The effective key is:

1. Manual sample key, when it is filled in.
2. Otherwise the sample key stored on the sample.
3. Otherwise the sample’s relative file path, so each file is its own key until you type a shared name.

Edit the key on the sample row. Samples that should be reported as one result must share the same effective key.

What it selects

Inside one key, for each analyte name, Quanto reports one result (the SuperCell):

• A sample marked rejected, a result marked rejected for the key, and a result that fails identity are never chosen automatically. Identity fails when a qualifier ratio misses the tolerance and Q is below the quant’s confirmation threshold (default 90). If every qualifier ratio passes, identity passes. No qualifiers means identity passes.
• A manual pin wins. Pinning clears the sample reject and that result’s reject.
• Otherwise the pick prefers a result that is not above the highest curve response, then the lowest dilution band (the power of ten of the dilution), then the lowest calculated final concentration, then the earliest acquisition time.

So the usual automatic report is the least dilute injection that is still on the curve and passed identity.

The sample key does not change limits, doses, or matrix. Those stay on the sample and on the limit group. Different injections in one key can have different dilutions and still share a key. They do not automatically share a limit group.

Per-key review, filter, and report

The navigator has a sample-key list. Q.SmpKeys in a report spills the distinct keys in batch order. Q.CurrentSmpKey is the key selected in that view. Q.KeyCompound reads the chosen result for a key and an analyte, not every injection. See Array functions and Report templates.

Defined reports can be written per sample key (the SmpKey report target) as Excel or PDF.

Rejecting a sample drops all of its results from the automatic pick. Rejecting one result drops that result only. Reject others and pin keeps one result and rejects the rest of that analyte in the key.

How it differs from the acquisition key

A batch can use one acquisition key and many sample keys, or several acquisition keys inside one sample key when the same sample was acquired on two methods. The reported cell is still one result per analyte name within the sample key, chosen with the rules above.