Enhancement: MCDS output.xml label carries additional information about the column data type

[elmbeech]

For downstream analysis, it would often be good to know what the actual data type from a column for the output matrix is.
In PhysiCell everything is outputted as float (double).

The suggestion is to have an additional tag dtype for data type, which specifies, if the column is supposed to be str (categorical), bool (categorical), int (numerical), float (numerical).
This could look somehow like below:

<simplified_data type="matlab" source="PhysiCell" data_version="2">
    <labels> 
        <label index="0" size="1" units="none", dtype="str">ID</label>
        <label index="1" size="3" units="microns", dtype="float">position</label>
        [...]
        <label index="5" size="1" units="none", dtype="str">cell_type</label>
        <label index="6" size="1" units="none", dtype="str">cycle_model</label>
        [...]
        <label index="21" size="1" units="none", dtype="int">number_of_nuclei</label>
        [...]
        <label index="27" size="1" units="none", dtype="bool">dead</label>
        [...]
    </labels>
    <filename>output00000064_cells.mat</filename>
</simplified_data>

Thnak you!

[elmbeech]

Currently these are the non float columns:

integer:

• number_of_nuclei
• maximum_number_of_attachments

boolean:

• contact_with_basement_membrane
• dead
• is_motile

string:

• ID
• cell_type
• cycle_model
• current_phase
• current_death_model
• chemotaxis_index