From fitsbits-request  Tue Jun  7 00:34:06 1994
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	["652" "Wed" " 1" "June" "1994" "13:43:07" "GMT" "james f. burnell" "jfbn at cbnewsl.cb.att.com" "<Cqq0ry.7vC at cbnewsl.cb.att.com>" "18" "A Shareware Windows image processor" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060113:43:07" "A Shareware Windows image processor" (number " " mark "     james f. burnell  Jun  1   18/652   " thread-indent "\"A Shareware Windows image processor\"\n") nil]
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From: jfbn at cbnewsl.cb.att.com (james.f.burnell)
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To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: A Shareware Windows image processor
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 13:43:07 GMT


Fellow astroimagers:

I am writing an astronomical image processing program for Windows
dealing with images obtained from CCD cameras, including Richard Berry's
cookbook 211 and 245 cameras, and I intend to distribute the program
as shareware. I would like to be able to read and write files in FITS
format (among others). I am currently having trouble with some files
and would like to get hold of a precise description of FITS format. Please,
could someone help me find an appropriate source of information. I am
especially interested in the graphics file format.

Posted for Konstantin Evdovkimov by:

Jim Burnell
AT&T Bell Labs
jfb at zeppo.att.com


From fitsbits-request  Tue Jun  7 05:47:31 1994
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X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["252" "Mon" " 6" "June" "1994" "15:17:51" "GMT" "Timothy Kimball" "kimball at stsci.edu" "<1994Jun6.151751.23275 at stsci.edu>" "8" "cfitsio status variable" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060615:17:51" "cfitsio status variable" (number " " mark "     Timothy Kimball   Jun  6    8/252   " thread-indent "\"cfitsio status variable\"\n") nil]
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From: kimball at stsci.edu (Timothy Kimball)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: cfitsio status variable
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 15:17:51 GMT

I'm using cfitsio.  It looks like the status variable doesn't get
changed if an error doesn't occur, meaning that it should be cleared
before each cfitsio call.  Is that correct or am I missing something?

Tim Kimball
kimball at stsci.edu
(410) 338-4417


From fitsbits-request  Tue Jun  7 17:19:19 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["2268" "Tue" " 7" "June" "1994" "17:19:09" "-0400" "William Pence" "pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<199406072119.RAA01942 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "53" "Latest releases of FITSIO and FTOOLS software" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060721:19:09" "Latest releases of FITSIO and FTOOLS software" (number " " mark "     William Pence     Jun  7   53/2268  " thread-indent "\"Latest releases of FITSIO and FTOOLS software\"\n") nil]
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Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Cc: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov
Subject: Latest releases of FITSIO and FTOOLS software
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 17:19:09 -0400

This is an update announcment about the FITSIO, CFITSIO, and FTOOLS
software that is available via anonymous ftp from the HEASARC (High
Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center) on the
legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov machine.  If you would like to be put on a mail
list for future release announcements, please send an e-mail message to
pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

FITSIO is a library of Fortran subroutines for reading and writing
FITS format files.  The latest version number of FITSIO is 3.4.15;
anyone using earlier versions should consider upgrading (especially
if using versions earlier than 3.4) since there have been a number of
significant improvements in the newer releases.  FITSIO is located
in the /software/fitsio directory on the legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov
anonymous ftp account.

CFITSIO is a set of C wrappers that make it easier to call FITSIO
from C programs.  CFITSIO version 1.01 is available in the
/software/fitsio/cfitsio directory.

FTOOLS is a large package of executable programs for manipulating and
analyzing data files in FITS format.  The FTOOLS programs may be built
either as stand-alone executables or as a package of tasks under IRAF.
The latest 2.9 version of FTOOLS (released in May 1994) is available in
the software/ftools/release directory.  The following documentation
files about FTOOLS (in postscript format) are available in that
directory:

	Develop.v2.9.ps.Z		Developer's Guide to FTOOLS
	Install.v2.9.ps.Z		Installation Guide for FTOOLS
	Miniusers.v2.9.ps.Z		User's Guide for FTOOLS
	Users.v2.9.ps.Z			User's Guide for FTOOLS w/ help pages
	Xselect_Users_Guide_099.ps.Z	User's Guide for XSELECT

The FTOOLS software is in ftools.all.v2.9.tar.Z (a compressed 
TAR file)

The FTOOLS programs can currently be built on the following platforms:
 
	DECstations with Ultrix Operating System
	SPARCstations with SUNOS Operating System
	ALPHA Workstations with OSF/1 version 1.2
	ALPHA Workstations with OpenVMS
	VAXs with VMS
	MODCOMP with REAL/IX Operating System

*NOTE:	Solaris is not supported at this time
	OSF/1 version 1.3 not supported
	OSF/1 version 2.0 requires patch for cfe from DEC

-------------------------------------------------------------------


From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun  8 00:57:30 1994
Status: RO
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	["986" "Mon" " 6" "June" "1994" "18:06:25" "GMT" "Dave Vesper" "vesper at enif.astro.indiana.edu" "<CqzMAq.31t at usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>" "18" "Re: cfitsio status variable" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060618:06:25" "cfitsio status variable" (number " " mark "     Dave Vesper       Jun  6   18/986   " thread-indent "\"Re: cfitsio status variable\"\n") "<1994Jun6.151751.23275 at stsci.edu>"]
	nil)
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References:  <1994Jun6.151751.23275 at stsci.edu>
From: vesper at enif.astro.indiana.edu (Dave Vesper)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: cfitsio status variable
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 18:06:25 GMT

In article <1994Jun6.151751.23275 at stsci.edu>, kimball at stsci.edu (Timothy Kimball) writes:
> I'm using cfitsio.  It looks like the status variable doesn't get
> changed if an error doesn't occur, meaning that it should be cleared
> before each cfitsio call.  Is that correct or am I missing something?
> 
> Tim Kimball
> kimball at stsci.edu
> (410) 338-4417
If any FITSIO subroutine is input a non-zero status, the routine will 
return without changing any variables or performing any function. The intent 
is that if you have several calls to FITSIO subroutines in a row, you don't 
have to check for an error after each call. Instead, you can check the status after all the calls, without fear that an early error will cause problems with 
later FITSIO calls. So if you want to procede after an error, you do need to 
reset the status variable. Instead of clearing it before each call, I'd clear
it after resolving (or noting) the condition that caused the non-zero status. 

					Dave


From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun  8 02:37:35 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["297" "Tue" " 7" "June" "1994" "13:06:41" "-0400" "Peter White" "white at eol.ists.ca" "<1994Jun7.170641.6344 at newshub.ists.ca>" "11" "ST6 to Fits" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060717:06:41" "ST6 to Fits" (number " " mark "     Peter White       Jun  7   11/297   " thread-indent "\"ST6 to Fits\"\n") nil]
	nil)
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From: white at eol.ists.ca (Peter White)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: ST6 to Fits
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 13:06:41 -0400



Hello all,

  We have a ST6-CCD Camera for use in our observatory. We would like to
find (if it exists) a stand alone program for an IBM system, which would
convert an ST6 image to FITS format, so that it could be used with IRAF.
Does anyone know of (or have access to) such software?

Thanks,


From fitsbits-request  Sat Jun 11 05:14:16 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["863" "" "10" "June" "1994" "08:14:13" "GMT" "Guy Rixon" "gtr at mail.ast.cam.ac.uk" "<2t97cl$bjr at lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>" "17" "Re: hierarchical keywords" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994061008:14:13" "hierarchical keywords" (number " " mark "     Guy Rixon         Jun 10   17/863   " thread-indent "\"Re: hierarchical keywords\"\n") "<9JUN199409163817 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>"]
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Organization: Royal Greenwich Observatory
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References: <thompson.771103121 at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov> <9JUN199409163817 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>
From: gtr at mail.ast.cam.ac.uk (Guy Rixon)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: hierarchical keywords
Date: 10 Jun 1994 08:14:13 GMT

Unless you are preparing FITS files for a specific audience, all of whom 
use customized FITS readers, hierarchical FITS is best avoided: it causes more problems
than it solves.

A variant of hierarchical keywords has been used at the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes
for many years now, and over that time RGO and ING have had a steady stream of complaints
that "your FITS headers are unreadable".  The problem is that most readers lose the
hierarchical keywords when copying FITS to some other format.  We tried to get round this
by distributing specialized readers (some INT FITS tapes have the FORTRAN source for the
FITS reader encoded in the header of the first file!), but the community wasn't satisfied
with this.

Hierarchical FITS will become extinct at ING sometime over the next two to three years.  I
recommend that you stay clear of it.

Guy Rixon


From fitsbits-request  Sat Jun 11 09:25:36 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["213" "" " 8" "June" "1994" "19:18:41" "GMT" "William Thompson" "thompson at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<thompson.771103121 at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "6" "hierarchical keywords" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060819:18:41" "hierarchical keywords" (number " " mark "     William Thompson  Jun  8    6/213   " thread-indent "\"hierarchical keywords\"\n") nil]
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From: thompson at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: hierarchical keywords
Date: 8 Jun 94 19:18:41 GMT

A colleague of mine just showed me something that referred to a proposal for
hierarchical keywords in FITS files.  What is the status of that idea, and
where can I find a formal description of it?

Bill Thompson


From fitsbits-request  Sat Jun 11 16:22:12 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["1200" "" " 9" "June" "1994" "09:16" "EDT" "BARRY M. SCHLESINGER" "bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<9JUN199409163817 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "23" "Re: hierarchical keywords" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994060913:16:00" "hierarchical keywords" (number " " mark "     BARRY M. SCHLESIN Jun  9   23/1200  " thread-indent "\"Re: hierarchical keywords\"\n") "<thompson.771103121 at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov>"]
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References: <thompson.771103121 at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov>
From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (BARRY M. SCHLESINGER)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: hierarchical keywords
Date: 9 Jun 1994 09:16 EDT

In article <thompson.771103121 at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov>, thompson at serts.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson) writes...
>A colleague of mine just showed me something that referred to a proposal for
>hierarchical keywords in FITS files.  What is the status of that idea, and
>where can I find a formal description of it?
> 

	A discussion of the controversy about hierarchical keywords
can be found in the NOST FITS User's Guide, available electronically
by ftp from nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, directory fits, or in printed form
by request from nost at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov. 
	The controversy is over where the subordinate keywords should
be.  In one proposal, they begin in column 11 or later, following one
or more hierarchy names.  In the other, the hierarchy markers are on
separate lines, and all keywords begin in column 1.  Some installations
have implemented a version of the same line proposal, using the
HISTORY keywords as the top keyword of the hierarchy.  FITS readers
that do not support this convention will simply treat the entire line
as a comment, and no more should be expected of a general FITS reader.
There is an example in the User's Guide. 

				Barry Schlesinger
				NOST FITS Support Office


From fitsbits-request  Tue Jun 14 07:21:32 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["982" "Fri" "10" "June" "1994" "22:37:25" "GMT" "Timothy Kimball" "kimball at stsci.edu" "<1994Jun10.223725.4513 at stsci.edu>" "16" "Re: cfitsio status variable" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994061022:37:25" "cfitsio status variable" (number " " mark "     Timothy Kimball   Jun 10   16/982   " thread-indent "\"Re: cfitsio status variable\"\n") "<CqzMAq.31t at usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>"]
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References: <CqzMAq.31t at usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>
From: kimball at stsci.edu (Timothy Kimball)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: cfitsio status variable
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 1994 22:37:25 GMT

Dave Vesper (vesper at enif.astro.indiana.edu) wrote:
: If any FITSIO subroutine is input a non-zero status, the routine will 
: return without changing any variables or performing any function. The intent 
: is that if you have several calls to FITSIO subroutines in a row, you don't 
: have to check for an error after each call. Instead, you can check the status after all the calls, without fear that an early error will cause problems with 
: later FITSIO calls. So if you want to procede after an error, you do need to 
: reset the status variable. Instead of clearing it before each call, I'd clear
: it after resolving (or noting) the condition that caused the non-zero status. 

Hmmm...runs contrary to the philosophy about having enough rope to hang
yourself, doesn't it?  Not that I would ever try to read from a file that
wasn;t successfully opened, but I was expecting that the library would
leave the error checking to me, and not try to take on the job itself.

-- tdk


From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun 15 10:18:23 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["2139" "Wed" "15" "June" "1994" "16:18:08" "+0200" "Preben Grosbol" "pgrosbol at ns2.hq.eso.org" "<9406151418.AA15553 at ns2.hq.eso.org>" "51" "BINTABLE, IMAGE and Blocking proposals accepted!" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994061514:18:08" "BINTABLE, IMAGE and Blocking proposals accepted!" (number " " mark "     Preben Grosbol    Jun 15   51/2139  " thread-indent "\"BINTABLE, IMAGE and Blocking proposals accepted!\"\n") nil]
	nil)
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Message-Id: <9406151418.AA15553 at ns2.hq.eso.org>
From: "Preben Grosbol <pgrosbol at ns2.hq.eso.org>" <pgrosbol at ns2.hq.eso.org>
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: BINTABLE, IMAGE and Blocking proposals accepted!
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 16:18:08 +0200

 The IAU FITS Working Group has reviewed and tested proposals for a
BINTABLE Extension, an IMAGE Extension and Blocking rules after they
were recommended by the three local FITS Committees.  A number of
minor corrections and clarifications were made as a result of this
review cycle.

 The final votes on the revised text of these proposals were made with
deadlines of May 6 and June 10. The results were:

   Blocking rules    :  14 yes, 0 no, 0 abstention     of 16 members,
   IMAGE extension   :  14 yes, 0 no, 0 abstention     of 16 members,
   BINTABLE extension:  13 yes, 0 no, 2 abstention     of 16 members.

 The voting rules of the IAU FITS Working Group require that at least
3/4 of the members votes YES and none voted against for a proposal to
be accepted in the first vote. Thus, all three proposals have been
accepted as standards by the IAU FITS Working Group.

 The final text of the proposals can be obtained through the FITS
archive (anonymous ftp) at fits.cv.nrao.edu in the subdirectory
'fits/documents/standards' with the file names:

          147107 Jun 13 19:34 bintable3.ps
           39389 Jun 13 19:34 bintable3.tex
            2126 May 11 00:41 blocking94.txt
           94980 Jun  4  1992 image.ps
           12973 Mar 12  1992 image.tex

Copies of these files are also available in the anonymous ftp account
at ftphost.hq.eso.org in compressed format under the same directory.
Note that the IMAGE Extension has been published in J.D.Ponz,
R.W.Thompson and J.R.Munoz (1994): A&A Suppl. 105, pp.53-55.

The following two issues should be noted:
  1) BINTABLE Extension
      The acceptance of the BINTABLE extension as a standard refers
      only to the main part of the document (i.e. excluding the
      appendices).  The conversions discusses in these appendices
      still have to be discussed before a final proposal is made.

  2) IMAGE Extension
      The following clarification was added in the review:
        'Only PCOUNT=0/GCOUNT=1 is allowed (as specified in Table 1).
         Section 3.1.5 and 3.1.6 shall be interpreted in this sense.'


Best regards,

Preben Grosbol
Chairman, IAU FITS WG


From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun 22 06:22:45 1994
Status: RO
X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil]
	["1705" "" "22" "June" "1994" "10:10:10" "GMT" "David Robinson" "drtr at mail.ast.cam.ac.uk" "<2u92m2$oro at lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>" "37" "Re: FITS to GIF" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062210:10:10" "FITS to GIF" (number " " mark "     David Robinson    Jun 22   37/1705  " thread-indent "\"Re: FITS to GIF\"\n") "<21JUN199414460167 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>"]
	nil)
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Message-Id: <2u92m2$oro at lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
Organization: Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge
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References: <2u384f$3ne at darkstar.UCSC.EDU> <a337ard-200694125448 at pubmac04.amc.uva.nl> <21JUN199414460167 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>
From: drtr at mail.ast.cam.ac.uk (David Robinson)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: FITS to GIF
Date: 22 Jun 1994 10:10:10 GMT

In article <21JUN199414460167 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (BARRY M. SCHLESINGER) writes:
>In article <a337ard-200694125448 at pubmac04.amc.uva.nl>, a337ard at horus.sara.nl (ard jonker) writes...
>>In article <2u384f$3ne at darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, amartel at darkstar.ucsc.edu (Le
>>Charognard) wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>>    Is there a way to convert a FITS image to GIF format ? I think I
>>> saw something on this in this newsgroup not too long ago. Thanks.
>>MIRA does read FITS, NIH-IMage can read FITS (if you tell it how: import,
>>swap bytes,x- and y size, and the header size to skip.
>>MIRA= Macintosh program to analyse astronomical images. Shareware or PD,
>>I'm not sure.
>
>N. B.  Many of these programs can process only a subset of FITS data 
>arrays.  Not all can handle NAXIS !=2 or IEEE-754 floating point 
>data.  See the FITS basics and information posting on sci.astro.fits 
>for a start.

I have produced some patches to add fits support to the xv-3.00a image
display program. It allows you to convert to/from GIF, PM, PBM, X11 bitmap,
Sun Rasterfile, BMP, PostScript, IRIS, JPEG and TIFF.

It can handle IEE-754 floating point data on all host machines (including
Vaxes and 64-bit architectures) and supports NAXIS=2 or 3. The only signifcant
non-portability assumption is the use of the ASCII character set.

The patches can be ftp'd from
ftp-hst.ast.cam.ac.uk:/pub/software/xv-patches/FITS-v2.tar.Z

N.B. xv is only shareware for personal use. One day I might get round to
contributing these to the netpbm release.

 David Robinson. (drtr at mail.ast.cam.ac.uk)

[Cross posted to sci.astro.fits for the benefit of the fits folk. Followups
 to sci.image.processing only, please]


From fitsbits-request  Thu Jun 23 04:23:09 1994
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	["349" "Thu" "23" "June" "1994" "08:00:44" "GMT" "Gerd Oxe'" "boxege at ciba-geigy.ch" "<1994Jun23.080044.11531 at ciba-geigy.ch>" "11" "FITS IO routines in C?" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062308:00:44" "FITS IO routines in C?" (number " " mark "     Gerd Oxe'         Jun 23   11/349   " thread-indent "\"FITS IO routines in C?\"\n") nil]
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From: Gerd Oxe' <boxege at ciba-geigy.ch>
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Subject: FITS IO routines in C?
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 08:00:44 GMT

Anybody knows of a C package for FITS I/O and manipulation? 
Not the fitsio package from HEASARC, since this relies on
a FORTRAN library. I mean a complete set of C (source)
routines for porting onto an OS-9 machine.
BTW, I also have PBMplus, but am not satisfied with it,
only few possibilities for image arithmetics.

Thanks for any help,

Gerd.


From dwells  Thu Jun 23 10:27:01 1994
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	["233" "Thu" "23" "June" "1994" "08:18:56" "-0500" "CHAGANTI at ssl.msfc.nasa.gov" "CHAGANTI at ssl.msfc.nasa.gov" "<9406231426.AA04312 at fits.cv.nrao.edu>" "10" "RE: FITS IO routines in C?" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062313:18:56" "FITS IO routines in C?" (number " " mark "     CHAGANTI at ssl.msfc Jun 23   10/233   " thread-indent "\"RE: FITS IO routines in C?\"\n") nil]
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From: CHAGANTI at ssl.msfc.nasa.gov
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits
Subject: RE: FITS IO routines in C?
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 8:18:56 -0500 (CDT)

[following message was sent to "fitsbits-request" by mistake -Don]
------- start of forwarded message (RFC 934) -------
..
Please forward the replies you receive.

Thanks
kris chaganti
chaganti at ssl.msfc.nasa.gov
------- end -------


From fitsbits-request  Sat Jun 25 22:20:15 1994
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	["10" "Fri" "24" "June" "1994" "01:46:53" "GMT" "Daniel Engelbrecht" "Daniel_Engelbrecht at petnet.in-berlin.de" "<000EFC1D.fc at petnet.in-berlin.de>" "2" "Re: A Shareware Windows image processor" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062401:46:53" "A Shareware Windows image processor" (number " " mark "     Daniel Engelbrech Jun 24    2/10    " thread-indent "\"Re: A Shareware Windows image processor\"\n") nil]
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From: Daniel_Engelbrecht at petnet.in-berlin.de (Daniel Engelbrecht)
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Subject: Re: A Shareware Windows image processor
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 94 01:46:53 GMT

dfdfdfdf


From fitsbits-request  Sun Jun 26 08:48:17 1994
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	["2341" "" "23" "June" "1994" "18:20:05" "GMT" "Malcolm Currie" "mjc at adam3.bnsc.rl.ac.uk" "<2ucjol$jv3 at unixfe.rl.ac.uk>" "41" "Classes for extensions" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062318:20:05" "Classes for extensions" (number " " mark "     Malcolm Currie    Jun 23   41/2341  " thread-indent "\"Classes for extensions\"\n") nil]
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From: mjc at adam3.bnsc.rl.ac.uk (Malcolm Currie)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Classes for extensions
Date: 23 Jun 1994 18:20:05 GMT

Knowing what to do with an arbitrary FITS extension presented to a
general FITS reader is becoming a problem as expected.  Various
proposals to distinguish different classes of dataset were discussed
last year.  Were there any conclusions to the debate?  It looked as if
the EXTCLASS and EXTTYPE proposal was dropped in favour of HDUCLASn.

The HDUCLASn, EXTCLASS, and EXTTYPE keywords could certainly help
decide which local format is best suited to the data, provided we
adopt some conventions, or at least document and circulate the values
we give to these keywords.  Are there any FITS writers outside of the
OGIP which are using these keywords?  If so, please could we (Barry!)
compile lists of their values and store them in the NOST anonymous-ftp
directories.  Are there already conventional HDUCLASn values for
n-dimensional variance and quality arrays (associated with a primary
data array)?

The discussion last year also revealed that different institutions
were using keywords such as EXTNAME in different ways.  Just to add to
the list, I'm using EXTNAME to record the name of the structure object
within the original Starlink hierarchical file.  Coupled with EXTLEVEL
I can preserve the hierarchical structure.  This usage seemed natural
for a source file in hierarchical form.  Indeed the paper (Grosb\ol et
al. Astron. Astrophys Suppl. Ser. 73, 359) where these keywords are
introduced suggests this usage.  Names like the example
"N1234.field2.starlist" might just be a compound file name for UNIX
but would cause grief on say VMS; for a hierarchical file these would
specify the path to an object within the file.  At the moment there
may be duplicate EXTNAME values, but not in the same structure, as I
just supply the component name and not the full path.  However, I
could soon change it to the full path name.  Either of these naming
schemes could cause problems to readers that use EXTNAME as the output
filename.  Any opinions as to which is preferable?  Perhaps these
`flat' readers should be modified to check that the file does not
exist, and if it does take appropriate action (such as prompting the
user, having a generation-number convention).  I'd be reluctant to
lose the functionality of EXTNAME as originally planned because some
readers have made unwarranted assumptions.

Malcolm Currie
Starlink Project


From fitsbits-request  Mon Jun 27 22:07:23 1994
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	["255" "" "27" "June" "1994" "12:44:04" "-0400" "steves1825 at aol.com" "steves1825 at aol.com" "<2umvkk$knf at search01.news.aol.com>" "7" "Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062716:44:04" "FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods" (number " " mark "     steves1825 at aol.co Jun 27    7/255   " thread-indent "\"Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods\"\n") "<gaponoff-030594220328 at 198.137.231.206>"]
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From: steves1825 at aol.com (SteveS1825)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods
Date: 27 Jun 1994 12:44:04 -0400

Tim DeBenedictis has also ported the UNIX VISTA program to the
Macintosh, calling it MAIA, and is designed to do astrometric,
photometric and other specialized work with FITS images. It is $20
shareware, and available on AOL, and hopefully elsewhere.
 



From fitsbits-request  Tue Jun 28 11:15:24 1994
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	["1938" "Tue" "28" "June" "1994" "11:15:17" "-0400" "William Pence" "pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<199406281515.LAA03517 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "44" "Re: Classes for extensions" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062815:15:17" "Classes for extensions" (number " " mark "     William Pence     Jun 28   44/1938  " thread-indent "\"Re: Classes for extensions\"\n") nil]
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Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Cc: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Classes for extensions
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 11:15:17 -0400

Malcolm Currie wrote (26 June):

> The HDUCLASn, EXTCLASS, and EXTTYPE keywords could certainly help
> decide which local format is best suited to the data, provided we
> adopt some conventions, or at least document and circulate the values
> we give to these keywords.  Are there any FITS writers outside of the
> OGIP which are using these keywords?  If so, please could we (Barry!)
> compile lists of their values and store them in the NOST anonymous-ftp
> directories.  Are there already conventional HDUCLASn values for
> n-dimensional variance and quality arrays (associated with a primary
> data array)?
> 

The local OGIP FITS Working group has drafted a list of recommended
HDUCLASn keyword values to document the types of FITS files we 
deal with in high energy astrophysics.  This, as well as the other
OGIP FITS recommendations, are available on-line via Mosaic or
anonymous ftp.  For Mosaic users, the OGIP FITS Working Group
home page is located at:
  
    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/0/docs/heasarc/ofwg/ofwg_intro.html

>From there, one can get the text of the OGIP recommendations, minutes
of the OFWG meetings, and sample FITS files.

Alternatively, the text of the OFWG recommendations can be obtained via
anonymous ftp from legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in the /fits_info/ofwg_recomm
directory.  The general description of the HDUCLASn keyword scheme is
described in the file r8.txt, and example values of the HDUCLASn
keywords used in the OGIP FITS files are described in the file
hduclas.list.

The OGIP has not had to deal with n-dimensional variance and quality
arrays, so we have not defined HDUCLASn keywords specificly for these
types of data, but no doubt our present scheme could be extended to
enclude them.  One possibility would be to use HDUCLAS1 = 'IMAGE' and
HDUCLAS2 = 'VARIANCE' or HDUCLAS2 = 'QUALITY_FLAG' for these 2 types of
arrays.


 Bill Pence
 Office of Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP)
 NASA/GSFC


From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun 29 01:26:06 1994
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	["475" "" "28" "June" "1994" "08:33" "EDT" "BARRY M. SCHLESINGER" "bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov" "<28JUN199408331456 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>" "14" "Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062812:33:00" "FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods" (number " " mark "     BARRY M. SCHLESIN Jun 28   14/475   " thread-indent "\"Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods\"\n") "<2umvkk$knf at search01.news.aol.com>"]
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From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (BARRY M. SCHLESINGER)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: FITS on Mac via NIH Image Mods
Date: 28 Jun 1994 08:33 EDT

In article <2umvkk$knf at search01.news.aol.com>, steves1825 at aol.com (SteveS1825) writes...
>Tim DeBenedictis has also ported the UNIX VISTA program to the
>Macintosh, calling it MAIA, and is designed to do astrometric,
>photometric and other specialized work with FITS images. It is $20
>shareware, and available on AOL, and hopefully elsewhere.
> 
> 
Does it have limits on the values of NAXIS and BITPIX it will accept?

				Barry Schlesinger
				NOST FITS Support Office




From fitsbits-request  Wed Jun 29 03:54:12 1994
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	["1549" "" "28" "June" "1994" "17:03:30" "GMT" "Malcolm Currie" "mjc at adam3.bnsc.rl.ac.uk" "<2upl52$27l7 at unixfe.rl.ac.uk>" "28" "Re: cfitsio status variable" "^From:" nil nil "6" "1994062817:03:30" "cfitsio status variable" (number " " mark "     Malcolm Currie    Jun 28   28/1549  " thread-indent "\"Re: cfitsio status variable\"\n") "<1994Jun10.223725.4513 at stsci.edu>"]
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Reply-To: cur at star.rl.ac.uk
From: mjc at adam3.bnsc.rl.ac.uk (Malcolm Currie)
Sender: fitsbits-request at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
To: fitsbits at fits.CV.NRAO.EDU
Subject: Re: cfitsio status variable
Date: 28 Jun 1994 17:03:30 GMT

In article <1994Jun10.223725.4513 at stsci.edu>, kimball at stsci.edu (Timothy Kimball) writes:
|>From: kimball at stsci.edu (Timothy Kimball)
|>Subject: Re: cfitsio status variable
|>Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
|>
|>Dave Vesper (vesper at enif.astro.indiana.edu) wrote:
|>: If any FITSIO subroutine is input a non-zero status, the routine will 
|>: return without changing any variables or performing any function. The intent 
|>: is that if you have several calls to FITSIO subroutines in a row, you don't 
|>: have to check for an error after each call. Instead, you can check the status after all the calls, without fear that an early error will cause problems with 
|>: later FITSIO calls. So if you want to procede after an error, you do need to 
|>: reset the status variable. Instead of clearing it before each call, I'd clear
|>: it after resolving (or noting) the condition that caused the non-zero status. 
|>
|>Hmmm...runs contrary to the philosophy about having enough rope to hang
|>yourself, doesn't it?  Not that I would ever try to read from a file that
|>wasn;t successfully opened, but I was expecting that the library would
|>leave the error checking to me, and not try to take on the job itself.

We've been using this design in Starlink for many years.  It makes
applications quicker to write and easier to follow.  The subroutine
that detects an error makes an error report and sets a bad status.
Thus programmers don't need to make lots of error reports and checks
at higher levels.

Malcolm Currie
Starlink Project


