[ENH] relax ieeg channel name requirements of letters and numbers only

[sappelhoff]

related to the discussion in bids-standard/bids-examples#151

I also changed MUST to MAY regarding the specification of the reference channel, because this is not required.

[robertoostenveld]

+1

[choldgraf]

I'm +1 on this. Can anybody think of a case where we'd introduce problems by allowing symbols? I could see it as helpful in parsing names.

[robertoostenveld]

Please note that the channel names should also be stored in the EEG/iEEG/MEG data files. I suspect that EDF will not accept anything but 8-bit ASCII. Idem for CTF, FIF(?). Brainvision (in the vhdr file) might actually support non-ASCII encodings, but I don’t expect Brainproducts ever to have considered emoij vor channel names. So I think there should be some sort of restriction on the allowed characters. UTF-8 is probably too wide.

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On 18 Mar 2019, at 21:36, Chris Holdgraf ***@***.***> wrote: I'm +1 on this. Can anybody think of a case where we'd introduce problems by allowing symbols? I could see it as helpful in parsing names. — You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#182 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA234xM5PvcvDIVfb6CDHAvXkbhtun36ks5vX_jqgaJpZM4b6pK9>.

[sappelhoff]

Please note that the channel names should also be stored in the EEG/iEEG/MEG data files.

yes - valid point! However, I think that this becomes clear from the text in the spec - if you want to make it more clear, a new PR could be the way to go.

PS: For future reviews, it'd be nice if you (Chris and Robert) could use the Github review tool to "approve" instead of commenting "+1" ... just so that we can act according to our decision making rules

[dorahermes]

LGTM

[choldgraf]

IMO we can cross the bridge of emoji channel names when we come to it :-)

@sappelhoff I wanted to hear some feedback about potential downsides before officially "approving" it ;-) this LGTM though

[robertoostenveld]

I approve of the suggested changes.