code: def expMenu(groups,folder):
      
      ### GENERATE THE MENU DATA BASED ON EXPERIMENT FILE
      orphans = sorted(list(groups.keys()))
      menu=[]
      if os.path.exists(folder+'/experiment.txt'):
          with open(folder+'/experiment.txt') as f:
              raw=f.read()
      else:
          raw=""
      for line in raw.split("\n"):
          item={}
          if len(line)==0:
              continue
          if line.startswith("~"):
              line=line[1:].split(" ",2)
              item["ID"]=line[0]
              item["symbol"]=''
              if len(line)>1:
                  item["color"]=line[1]
              else:
                  item["color"]="white"
              if len(line)>2 and len(line[2]):
                  item["comment"]=line[2]
                  if item["comment"][0]=="*":
                      item["symbol"]='*'
              else:
                  item["comment"]=''
              if item["ID"] in orphans:
                  orphans.remove(item["ID"])
          elif line.startswith("###"):
              line=line[3:].strip().split(" ",1)
              item["title"]=line[0]
              item["comment"]=''
              if len(line)>1:
                  if line[1].startswith("- "):
                      line[1]=line[1][2:]
                  item["comment"]=line[1]
          else:
              item["unknown"]=line
          menu.append(item)
      menu.append({"title":"orphans","comment":""})
      for ophan in orphans:
          menu.append({"orphan":ophan,"ID":ophan,"color":'',"symbol":'',"comment":''})
      return menu
docs: read experiment.txt and return a dict with [firstOfNewExp, color, star, comments].