qviewparsR

qviewparsR is a pure-R parser for the binary .Q-View project file format used in chemiluminescent multiplex ELISA plate imaging and quantification. It extracts the embedded report and returns it as tidy tibbles.

No Java runtime, no H2 database driver, no system dependencies beyond a working R installation.

Installation

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("CTTIR/qviewparsR")

Quick start

library(qviewparsR)

qv <- read_qview("path/to/project.Q-View")
qv                                # compact summary
qv$analytes                       # spot_number, analyte, unit, lod, lloq, ...
qv$pixel_intensities              # long-format replicate readings
qv$plate_layout                   # one row per well

plot(qv, type = "plate_map")      # plate visualisation (needs ggplot2)
plot(qv, type = "intensity_heatmap")
plot(qv, type = "replicate_scatter")

# Export (pipe-friendly: each writer returns qv invisibly)
qv |>
  write_qview_xlsx("out.xlsx") |>
  write_qview_csv("out_csv/")  |>
  write_qview_rds("out.rds")

# Per-analyte mean / SD / CV per well-type group
summary(qv)

# Interactive front-end (upload, visualise, download)
qview_app()

What is a .Q-View file?

A .Q-View file is a single-file container that bundles an embedded H2 SQL database (Java, version 0.5/B) with binary LOB files holding the chemiluminescent plate images. The file is not a ZIP archive, XML, or CSV — it is a proprietary binary container with a plain-text manifest header followed by concatenated H2 segments.

Container layout

+-----------------------------------------+
| Bytes 0 - ~290:  text manifest header   |
|   - container version                   |
|   - declared file entries (size + name) |
+-----------------------------------------+
| Segment 1: main H2 SQL database         |
|   - 36 tables (see schema below)        |
|   - the rendered CSV report (CLOB)      |
+-----------------------------------------+
| Segment 2: LOB file 1 (image data)      |
+-----------------------------------------+
| Segment 3: LOB file 2 (more LOB data)   |
+-----------------------------------------+

Each H2 segment starts with a -- H2 0.5/B -- triplet marker. The database uses 2048-byte pages.

Embedded H2 schema (key tables)

qviewparsR recovers data through the embedded CSV report; the table diagram below documents the underlying schema for reference.

Group	Table	Purpose
Project / plate	PROJECT	Project metadata (creator, version, timezone)
	PLATE	Plate identifiers
	PLATEDEFINITION	Plate geometry (rows, columns, well diameter)
	PRODUCT	Product / lot identifiers, linked plate / plex definitions
Well & spot layout	WELL	Well coordinates (pixel + row/col)
	SPOT	Per-spot pixel intensity (raw + negative-subtracted), masking flags
	PLEXDEFINITION / PLEXSPOT	Spot layout per well
Analytes / standards	ANALYTE	Analyte names
	PRODUCTANALYTE	Spot number -> analyte mapping (key table)
	ANALYTESTANDARD / ANALYTESTANDARDANALYTE	Standard curve concentrations
Sample assignment	WELLGROUP	Sample IDs and type flags (standard / negative / sample / control)
	WELLGROUPWELL	Well-to-group mapping with dilution factors
Pixel-intensity cache	SPOTPIXELINTENSITY	Cached per-image spot intensity
	NEGATIVESPOTPIXELINTENSITY	Negative-spot intensity before subtraction
Curve fitting	CURVEFITOPTION	Regression model settings (4PL, 5PL, HDR, weighting)
	REGRESSIONSOLUTION	Fitted curve parameters
Image / camera	IMAGE / IMAGEDETAILS / CAMERA	Image and imager metadata
Report	REPORTCONFIGURATION	CSV report column flags
	REPORTHISTORY	The fully rendered CSV report (CLOB)
	REPORTINFO	Signatures and approval state

Naming convention

When Q-View imports a well-assignment template CSV it prefixes the identifiers internally:

Template value	Q-View internal name
Cal 1 … Cal N	ICal 1 … ICal N
Low	GLow
High	HHigh
FD24277364, all-digit IDs	NFD24277364, N1211498458

strip_qview_prefix() reverses this transformation, and read_qview(path, strip_prefix = TRUE) applies it across the whole returned object.

Output structure

read_qview() returns a list with class qview:

Slot	Description
metadata	Project, plate, image, imager, product, user, software version, template name, container version, file path, parse timestamp
manifest	One row per declared file entry inside the container
segments	Byte ranges of the three H2 segments
analytes	spot_number, analyte, unit, lod, lloq, uloq, assay_control_low/high
well_groups	well_group, sample_id, type flags (is_standard, is_negative, is_sample, is_control), well_type factor
pixel_intensities	Long-format per-well replicate readings
summary_statistics	Per-group average, std_dev, cv rows
concentrations	Long-format concentrations, or NULL if the report is qualitative
curve_fit	Per-analyte regression model
report_csv	Raw CSV report lines
plate_layout	One row per plate well with sample assignment + well type

Function reference

Category	Functions
Reader	read_qview()
Helpers	strip_qview_prefix(), well_label()
Optional	read_qview_template()
Methods	print.qview(), plot.qview()
Export	write_qview_xlsx(), write_qview_csv(), write_qview_rds()
Summary	summary.qview() (mean / SD / CV per analyte x well type)
Shiny app	qview_app()

Citation

If you use qviewparsR in academic work, please cite:

Heller R, Mannes M (2026). qviewparsR: Read .Q-View Multiplex ELISA Project Files. R package version 1.0.0. https://github.com/CTTIR/qviewparsR

BibTeX:

@Manual{qviewparsR,
  title  = {qviewparsR: Read .Q-View Multiplex ELISA Project Files},
  author = {Raban Heller and Marco Mannes},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {R package version 1.0.0},
  url    = {https://github.com/CTTIR/qviewparsR}
}

You can always retrieve the up-to-date entry directly from R:

citation("qviewparsR")

License

MIT (c) 2026 Raban Heller.