_metab_IO

Metabolon Excel ingestion and export helpers for building AnnData objects from metabolomics workbooks.

This module currently exposes one public function:

• metabolon_excel_2_adata_h5ad_csv

It is a high-level parser that:

• reads assay, sample-metadata, and chemical-annotation sheets from an Excel workbook,

• constructs an AnnData,

• adds multiple layers from additional sheets,

• optionally merges external obs and var metadata,

• optionally writes output datasets to .h5ad plus CSV bundles.

This page is based on the current implementation in _metab_IO.py. There do not appear to be direct _io regression tests for this function in this repo.

Full signature

def metabolon_excel_2_adata_h5ad_csv(
    metabolon_excel_file:  str | None = None,
    excel_sheet_for_assay_data: str = "Batch-norm Imputed Data",
    excel_sheet_for_obs_metadata: str = "Sample Meta Data",
    excel_sheet_for_var_metadata: str = "Chemical Annotation",
    index_col_for_var_metadata='CHEM_ID',
    excel_sheet_list_for_layers: list = ["Volume-normalized Data","Log Transformed Data", "Batch-normalized Data", "Batch-norm Imputed Data", "Peak Area Data"],
    output_dir: Path | None = None,
    save_h5ad: bool = True,
    output_filename: str | None ='dataset.metab',
    also_save_csvs: bool = True,
    logger: logging.Logger | None = None,
    ######## new parameters for mergeing external metadata to adata.obs can be added here ########
    merge_external_metadata: bool = False,
    save_plus_metadata_h5ad: bool = False,
    also_plus_metadata_save_csvs: bool = False,
    external_obs_metadata_2_merge_file: str | None = None,
    external_var_metadata_2_merge_file: str | None = None,
    merge_key_in_external_obs_metadata: str | None = None,
    merge_key_in_raw_obs_metadata: str | None = None,
    column_in_metadata_to_set_as_index: str | None = None,
    merge_key_in_external_var_metadata: str | None = None,
    merge_key_in_raw_var_metadata: str | None = None,
    columns_in_external_var_metadata_to_use: list | None = None,
    plus_metadata_file_name: str | None = 'dataset.plus_metadata',
) -> ad.AnnData:

Basic parsing workflow

import logging
from pathlib import Path

import adata_science_tools as adtl

logger = logging.getLogger("metab_io")

adata = adtl.metabolon_excel_2_adata_h5ad_csv(
    metabolon_excel_file="input/metabolon.xlsx",
    output_dir=Path("results"),
    output_filename="dataset.metab",
    logger=logger,
)

By default, the function reads these workbook sheets:

• assay data from Batch-norm Imputed Data

• observation metadata from Sample Meta Data

• variable metadata from Chemical Annotation

The default var index column is:

• CHEM_ID

Layer creation

The parser also tries to add layers from these sheet names by default:

• Volume-normalized Data

• Log Transformed Data

• Batch-normalized Data

• Batch-norm Imputed Data

• Peak Area Data

Layer keys are normalized by lowercasing and replacing spaces and hyphens with underscores.

Examples:

• Volume-normalized Data becomes volume_normalized_data

• Batch-norm Imputed Data becomes batch_norm_imputed_data

Important behavior:

• each layer sheet is aligned to the parsed obs and var indexes before assignment;

• if a layer sheet cannot be loaded or aligned, the function prints a skip message and continues.

Returned AnnData

The base parsed object uses:

• assay_data.values as adata.X

• the sample metadata sheet as adata.obs

• the chemical annotation sheet as adata.var

Additional behavior:

• the first column of the obs metadata sheet becomes the obs index;

• index_col_for_var_metadata becomes the var index;

• both indexes are cast to strings;

• assay columns are stripped of surrounding whitespace;

• an adata.obs["metab_data_table_order"] column is added with 1-based row order;

• object-typed obs columns are converted to strings.

Save behavior

The function name and parameters suggest separate control over .h5ad and CSV outputs, but the current implementation behaves more narrowly.

Current save path behavior

When save_h5ad=True, the function calls an internal _save_dataset(...) helper that writes:

• <output_dir>/<output_filename>.h5ad

• <output_dir>/<output_filename>.obs.csv

• <output_dir>/<output_filename>.var.csv

• <output_dir>/<output_filename>.X.csv

• one CSV for each layer

In other words:

• the current save path writes both .h5ad and CSV exports together;

• also_save_csvs is accepted by the public function, but it is not currently used to change save behavior.

The same pattern applies to the merged-metadata output path:

• save_plus_metadata_h5ad=True writes the plus-metadata .h5ad and CSV bundle;

• also_plus_metadata_save_csvs is currently accepted but not used to gate those CSV saves.

External metadata merge

Set merge_external_metadata=True to enable optional obs and var metadata merges.

Obs merge path

Obs metadata can be merged when all of these are provided:

• external_obs_metadata_2_merge_file

• merge_key_in_external_obs_metadata

• merge_key_in_raw_obs_metadata

Optional behavior:

• if column_in_metadata_to_set_as_index is provided, the merged obs table is reindexed to that column;

• object-typed obs columns are converted to strings after merge.

Var merge path

Var metadata can be merged when:

• external_var_metadata_2_merge_file is provided

• merge_key_in_external_var_metadata is provided

Optional behavior:

• columns_in_external_var_metadata_to_use limits the imported external var columns;

• duplicate external var keys are dropped by keeping the first occurrence;

• merged object-typed var columns are converted to strings.

Current implementation note:

• merge_key_in_raw_var_metadata is accepted in the public signature but is not currently used in the var-merge call.

Example with external metadata

adata = adtl.metabolon_excel_2_adata_h5ad_csv(
    metabolon_excel_file="input/metabolon.xlsx",
    output_dir=Path("results"),
    output_filename="dataset.metab",
    logger=logger,
    merge_external_metadata=True,
    external_obs_metadata_2_merge_file="input/obs_metadata.csv",
    merge_key_in_external_obs_metadata="sample_id",
    merge_key_in_raw_obs_metadata="SAMPLE_NAME",
    column_in_metadata_to_set_as_index="sample_id",
    external_var_metadata_2_merge_file="input/var_metadata.csv",
    merge_key_in_external_var_metadata="CHEM_ID",
    columns_in_external_var_metadata_to_use=["pathway", "super_pathway"],
    save_plus_metadata_h5ad=True,
    plus_metadata_file_name="dataset.plus_metadata",
)

Current implementation caveats

This function is useful, but the current implementation has a few practical constraints that the docs should make explicit.

Logger expectations

The save and merge-enabled paths call logger.info(...) directly without guarding for logger is None.

Practical guidance:

• pass a real Logger whenever you enable save_h5ad, save_plus_metadata_h5ad, or metadata-merge logging paths.

Output directory expectations

The current save paths join filenames under output_dir, so output_dir should be provided whenever saving is enabled.

Practical guidance:

• because save_h5ad=True is the current default, the safest explicit usage is to pass both output_dir and logger, or to disable saving when you only want the returned AnnData.

Metadata-merge branch dependency

The merge branch initializes the working adata inside the external-obs merge path.

Practical guidance:

• the safest merge workflow is to provide the obs-merge inputs when merge_external_metadata=True, especially if you also want var metadata merge.

No direct _io tests

There are no direct regression tests for this module in tests/, so this page documents the current code path and current caveats rather than a separately test-locked contract.

When to use this module

• Use this function when your source data is a Metabolon Excel workbook with the expected assay and metadata sheets.

• Use _IO.md for the generic dataset-save helpers shared across the rest of the package.

• Use _model_fit.md and _expectation_based_covar_correction.md once the parsed AnnData is ready for analysis.