Support for using event names as IDs in PL2 files

src/spikeinterface/extractors/neoextractors/neobaseextractor.py

@@ -665,14 +665,20 @@ def get_unit_spike_train(self, unit_id, start_frame, end_frame):
 class NeoBaseEventExtractor(_NeoBaseExtractor, BaseEvent):
     handle_event_frame_directly = False
 
-    def __init__(self, block_index=None, **neo_kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, block_index=None, use_names_as_ids: bool = False, **neo_kwargs):
         _NeoBaseExtractor.__init__(self, block_index, **neo_kwargs)
 
         # TODO load feature from neo array_annotations
 
         event_channels = self.neo_reader.header["event_channels"]
 
-        channel_ids = event_channels["id"]
+        if use_names_as_ids:
+            channel_ids = event_channels["name"]
+            assert (
+                event_channels.size == np.unique(channel_ids).size
+            ), "use_name_as_ids=True is not possible, channel names are not unique"
+        else:
+            channel_ids = event_channels["id"]
 
         BaseEvent.__init__(self, channel_ids, structured_dtype=_neo_event_dtype)
 
@@ -684,21 +690,23 @@ def __init__(self, block_index=None, **neo_kwargs):
             else:
                 t_start = self.neo_reader.get_signal_t_start(self.block_index, segment_index, stream_index=0)
 
-            event_segment = NeoEventSegment(self.neo_reader, self.block_index, segment_index, t_start)
+            event_segment = NeoEventSegment(self.neo_reader, self.block_index, segment_index, t_start, use_names_as_ids)
             self.add_event_segment(event_segment)
 
 
 class NeoEventSegment(BaseEventSegment):
-    def __init__(self, neo_reader, block_index, segment_index, t_start):
+    def __init__(self, neo_reader, block_index, segment_index, t_start, use_names_as_ids):
         BaseEventSegment.__init__(self)
         self.neo_reader = neo_reader
         self.segment_index = segment_index
         self.block_index = block_index
         self._t_start = t_start
         self._natural_ids = None
+        self.use_names_as_ids = use_names_as_ids
 
     def get_events(self, channel_id, start_time, end_time):
-        channel_index = list(self.neo_reader.header["event_channels"]["id"]).index(channel_id)
+        id_or_name = "name" if self.use_names_as_ids else "id"
+        channel_index = list(self.neo_reader.header["event_channels"][id_or_name]).index(channel_id)
 
         event_timestamps, event_duration, event_labels = self.neo_reader.get_event_timestamps(
             block_index=self.block_index, seg_index=self.segment_index, event_channel_index=channel_index

src/spikeinterface/extractors/neoextractors/plexon2.py

@@ -118,14 +118,20 @@ class Plexon2EventExtractor(NeoBaseEventExtractor):
     Parameters
     ----------
     folder_path : str
+        Path to the .pl2 file.
+    block_index : int, default: None
+        Block index to read from, by default None.
+    use_names_as_ids : bool, default: False
+        If True, use channel names as identifiers instead of channel IDs.
+        Channel names must be unique when this option is enabled.
 
     """
 
     NeoRawIOClass = "Plexon2RawIO"
 
-    def __init__(self, folder_path, block_index=None):
+    def __init__(self, folder_path, block_index=None, use_names_as_ids=False):
         neo_kwargs = self.map_to_neo_kwargs(folder_path)
-        NeoBaseEventExtractor.__init__(self, block_index=block_index, **neo_kwargs)
+        NeoBaseEventExtractor.__init__(self, block_index=block_index, use_names_as_ids=use_names_as_ids, **neo_kwargs)
 
     @classmethod
     def map_to_neo_kwargs(cls, folder_path):