Preserve order of recording extractor custom properties in add_electrodes()

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Upcoming
 
+### Improvements
+
+* In `add_electrodes()` custom properties are added to the electrodes table in the order they are set in the recording extractor. [PR #793](https://github.com/catalystneuro/neuroconv/issues/793)
+
 # v0.4.8 (March 20, 2024)
 
 ### Bug fixes

src/neuroconv/tools/spikeinterface/spikeinterface.py

@@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ def add_electrodes(recording: BaseRecording, nwbfile: pynwb.NWBFile, metadata: d
     schema_properties = required_schema_properties | optional_schema_properties
 
     electrode_table_previous_properties = set(nwbfile.electrodes.colnames) if nwbfile.electrodes else set()
+    order_of_properties = list(data_to_add.keys())
     extracted_properties = set(data_to_add)
     properties_to_add_by_rows = required_schema_properties | electrode_table_previous_properties
     properties_to_add_by_columns = extracted_properties - properties_to_add_by_rows
@@ -387,7 +388,9 @@ def add_electrodes(recording: BaseRecording, nwbfile: pynwb.NWBFile, metadata: d
     indexes_for_default_values = electrodes_df.index.difference(indexes_for_new_data).values
 
     # Add properties as columns
-    for property in properties_to_add_by_columns - {"channel_name"}:
+    unordered_properties_to_add_by_columns = properties_to_add_by_columns - {"channel_name"}
+    ordered_properties_to_add_by_columns = sorted(unordered_properties_to_add_by_columns, key=order_of_properties.index)
+    for property in ordered_properties_to_add_by_columns:
         cols_args = data_to_add[property]
         data = cols_args["data"]
         if np.issubdtype(data.dtype, np.integer):

tests/test_ecephys/test_tools_spikeinterface.py

@@ -881,6 +881,32 @@ def test_property_metadata_mismatch(self):
         expected_property_2_values = ["", "", "value_1", "value_2", "value_3", "value_4"]
         self.assertListEqual(actual_property_2_values, expected_property_2_values)
 
+    def test_custom_property_order(self):
+        """
+        Test that custom properties are be added to the electrodes table in the order they are set.
+        """
+        self.recording_1.set_property(key="custom_property_x", values=[0.1] * self.num_channels)
+        self.recording_1.set_property(key="custom_property_y", values=[0.2] * self.num_channels)
+        self.recording_1.set_property(key="custom_property_z", values=[0.3] * self.num_channels)
+        self.recording_1.set_property(key="custom_property_1", values=["value_1"] * self.num_channels)
+
+        add_electrodes(recording=self.recording_1, nwbfile=self.nwbfile)
+
+        expected_columns_in_order = [
+            "location",
+            "group",
+            "group_name",
+            "channel_name",
+            "custom_property_x",
+            "custom_property_y",
+            "custom_property_z",
+            "custom_property_1",
+            "rel_x",
+            "rel_y",
+        ]
+        electrodes_columns = list(self.nwbfile.electrodes.colnames)
+        self.assertListEqual(expected_columns_in_order, electrodes_columns)
+
 
 class TestAddUnitsTable(TestCase):
     @classmethod