Astroart Forum

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:14**

Hello, the first service pack for Astroart 6 is available today.
As usual, it contains both new features and bug fixes.

Version 6.0 SP1 - December 15, 2016
-----------------------------
* New feature. Copy and Paste stars to Excel/Calc spreadsheets.
* New feature. Edit approximate center plate (CTRL+SHIFT+O).
* New feature. Optional camera control 6.2 (beta).
* Improved. Preprocessing remembers the last used folder.
* Improved. Statistics calculates the pixel scale and rotation angle.
* Bug fix. USNO B1 star names were not displayed in the atlas.
* Bug fix. Hotpixel filter didn't work in demosaic when binning is 2x2.
* Bug fix. Rectangle selection was not visible in Profile window.

About the new features:

Copy and Paste stars to spreadsheets. Open the Stars Window, right click for the context menu, then click Copy to Clipboard. In your spreadsheet (Excel or LibreOffice Calc), click on a cell, then Paste. A table will be filled with the stars data.
This can be very useful if you are using Excel sheets for photometry.

Edit approximate center plate. This function allows to quickly set the approximate FITS keywords ("RA" and "DEC") for those (rare) images which miss them, getting the coordinates from the object name. These keys are always automatically written if your are connected to a telescope. Having those keys is useful because planetarium software can link to them (the AA Star Atlas too). Obviusly if your images are plate-solved you don't need them.
Press CTRL+SHIFT+O then write the name of object, or its approx. coordinates.

Camera control 6.2 beta. This is an optional camera interface which is installed in the plug-in menu. Next year it will become the standard interface for AA6. It also contains the new Script Window with many new features, see the demo scripts. I will post more details tomorrow.

Statistics. If your image is astrometrically calibrated ("plate-solved") then the window now calculates the precise pixel scale (arcseconds per pixel) and the rotation angle, relative to the equatorial axes.

Clear skies,
Fabio.
http://www.msb-astroart.com

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:15**

About the new script engine and script window:

Arrays/Lists are fully supported, for example:

Dim a = {1, 99, "Hello", 42}

Dim b(4)

c = {2, 100, "Goodbye", 44, True}

The function Image.Align aligns two images, correcting rotation if needed. This could be used before Image.BlinkAlign to compare two images with different rotation. Also included are Image.Rotate(angle) and the function Image.Rotation. On non-calibrated images, the function Image.EstimateRaDec returns the approximate center plate, as explained in the previous message.

The new script window has syntax highlighting, a customizable "library" for your own scripts and several new demos. Take a look at them all.

Later I will write about the new camera control options.
Fabio.

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:16**

About camera control

There are options to display the focus/guide window with a given palette, to flip/rotate
every downloaded images and to annotate saturated stars, using two thresholds:

As a test, set 20000 / 30000 ADU and download an image with the camera simulator. All stars
brighter than 20000 will be annotated in yellow, above 30000 in red.

This is useful for photometry, using values like 50K / 60K.

Camera control in background is now available for the primary camera (not enabled by
default because it may not work with older cameras). This allows to download an image while
the guide camera continues to download images and send pulses.

The telescope window and the filter wheel window have been improved too. It's now possible
to GOTO to a given asteroid (remember to update the MPCOrb.dat and CometEls.txt). RA and
DEC of the given object are displayed in realtime.

About spectroscopy, the guide window in "slit mode" allows to set the reference to half pixel coordinates, just CTRL + click on the border buttons.

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:17**

Hi Fabio, thanks for the service pack! Should all my existing scripts be 100% compatible with the new script engine or might it be advisable to test first?

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:17**

How many features, thanks a lot Fabio! I'm just using the camera control 6.2 beta and a script for a spectroscopic session.

Very useful the half-pixel positioning of the guide star. This lets you locate the target in the slit with a greater precision.

It's all working perfectly!

Paolo

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:18**

Thank you!

@Iver: about the script engine, all the scripts will work without change, but the new engine is more strict about bugs. For example in the old engine this example would compile without problems:

Code: Select all

test1()
test2()

sub test1
  for a = 1 to 10
     print a
end sub   'missing Next!!

sub test2
  if 1 = 1 then
     print "true!"
     print "true!"
end sub   'missing End If!!

The new engine will correctly report the two bugs before execution.

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:18**

Hallo Fabio,

thanks for the very interesting new functions coming with SP1. I am just testing the new script environment included in "Camera control 6.2 (beta)" converting my script for full automated telescope and imaging process. I have a few minor remarks related to the beta status:

1) "Gosub" keyword is no more allowed and you get an unknown label error message. A simple issue solved using only the subroutine name when you have to call it.
2) Saving or appending the script output window produces an unformatted and unreadable txt file
3) Clear screen (CLS) keyword is not working in the script output window ( <CLS> is displayed)

On the other hand the autoscroll function is really great when debugging a new script and the fully resizable script window is much better than the previous one.

IMO it will be useful to have an error-line-goto function in order to speed-up the script debugging process. I am going to test further all the new functions.

Emilio

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:19**

Thank you,
I confirm the CLS bug. It will be corrected in a few days. If you like to receive development builds please write me by email.

I apologize for Output.. functions: in the previous version a final extra "carriage return" was always added, now it's not, and unfortunetely it cannot be changed. This is not a problem for Output.Save, but for Output.Append the new text will continue on the same line. So, an implicit carriage return must be added, for example:

Code: Select all

Print "Hello"
Print 4; 2
Print "World"
Print ' final carriage return
Output.Save("C:\Temp\test.txt")
Output.Append("C:\Temp\test.txt")

I cannot find any problem with Gosub and labels, may you test again? Here is an example:

Code: Select all

Gosub test1
Gosub 300
End

test1: Print "test1"
Return

300 Print "test2"
Return

About debugging, may you explain then"error-line-goto function"? Would you find useful a classic "variable watch" window?

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:20**

Hi Fabio,

thanks for your answer. I try to explain the gosub error.

The following is part of the code somewhere in my script calling subroutines:

'
if func=3 then
cls
gosub deltaExp ' filters delta exposure <<<<<<<<<< line 140
gosub AutFocus ' autofocus
endif
'
and in the last part of the script I have all the subroutines and "deltaExp" is there :

'
Sub deltaExp
if fil=1 then
cameraSec=sec*exp1
cameraSec_solve=sec_solve*exp1
cameraSec_focuser=sec_focus*exp1
endif
if fil=2 then
cameraSec=sec*exp2
cameraSec_solve=sec_solve*exp2
cameraSec_focuser=sec_focus*exp2
endif
if fil=3 then
cameraSec=sec*exp3
cameraSec_solve=sec_solve*exp3
cameraSec_focuser=sec_focus*exp3
endif
if fil=4 then
cameraSec=sec*exp4
cameraSec_solve=sec_solve*exp4
cameraSec_focuser=sec_focus*exp4
endif
if fil=5 then
cameraSec=sec*exp5
cameraSec_solve=sec_solve*exp5
cameraSec_focuser=sec_focus*exp5
endif
endsub
'
Running the script in Camera control 6.2 I get the following "Unknown label deltaExp - line 140" (140 is the line including the command "gosub deltaExp").
If I cancel "gosub" i get the same error message for the following gosub call in line 141 and so on. If I cancel all the "gosub" the script works as usual (not mentioning CLS and other minor problems for the txt LOG file).
My script is 845 lines long, any problem for that?
Emilio

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:21**

Hi Emilio,
correct, it the subroutine is a real "Sub - End sub" block then "Gosub" must not be placed when the subroutine is called, in most Basic dialects. It was accepted by the previous script engine as a "side effect".

So, remove every Gosub before subroutine calls, this will work on both versions of the script engine.

Gosub must be followed only by a label or a line number, not a procedure name. For example:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/librar ... 51648.aspx

http://www.vb6.us/tutorials/goto-and-go ... al-basic-6

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:21**

About the script length: the current engine has no limits. The previous one was limited to approx 10000 lines.

Posted: **08 Dec 2018, 16:21**

gosub removed, now it works. Thanks Fabio.

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