LISTSHOW - Reports the positions stored in a positions list

Description:

This application reports positions contained in a catalogue. The catalogue should have the form of a positions list as produced, for instance, by applications LISTMAKE and CURSOR. By default all positions in the catalogue are reported, but a subset may be reported by specifying a range of position identifiers  (see Parameters FIRST, LAST, and STEP).

Positions may be reported in a range of co-ordinate Frames  dependent on the information stored in the supplied positions list (see Parameter FRAME). The selected positions are written to an output parameter (Parameter POSNS), and may also be written to an output positions list (see Parameter OUTCAT). The formatted screen output can be saved in a logfile (see Parameter LOGFILE). The formats used to report the axis values can be controlled using Parameter STYLE.

Graphics may also be drawn marking the selected positions (see Parameters PLOT and LABEL). The supplied positions are aligned with the picture specified by Parameter NAME. If possible, this alignment occurs within the co-ordinate Frame specified using Parameter FRAME. If this is not possible, alignment may occur in some other suitable Frame. A message is displayed indicating the Frame in which alignment occurred. If the supplied positions are aligned successfully with a picture, then the range of Frames in which the positions may be reported on the screen is extended to include all those associated with the picture.

Usage:

listshow incat [frame] [first] [last] [plot] [device]

Parameters:

CATFRAME = LITERAL (Read)

A string determining the co-ordinate Frame in which positions are to be stored in the output catalogue associated with Parameter OUTCAT. See Parameter FRAME for a description of the allowed values for this parameter. If a null (!) value is supplied, the positions will be stored the Frame used to specify positions within the input catalogue. [!]

CATEPOCH = _DOUBLE (Read)

The epoch at which the sky positions stored in the output catalogue were determined. It will only be accessed if an epoch value is needed to qualify the co-ordinate Frame specified by COLFRAME. If required, it should be given as a decimal-years value, with or without decimal places ("1996.8", for example). Such values are interpreted as a Besselian epoch if less than 1984.0 and as a Julian epoch otherwise.

CLOSE = _LOGICAL (Read)

This parameter is only accessed if Parameter PLOT is set to "Chain" or "Poly". If TRUE, polgons will be closed by joining the first position to the last position. [current value]

DESCRIBE = _LOGICAL (Read)

If TRUE, a detailed description of the co-ordinate Frame in which the positions will be reported is displayed before the positions. [current value]

DEVICE = DEVICE (Read)

The graphics workstation. Only accessed if Parameter PLOT indicates that graphics are required. [current graphics device]

EPOCH = _DOUBLE (Read)

If an IRAS90 Sky Co-ordinate System specification is supplied (using Parameter FRAME) for a celestial co-ordinate system, then an epoch value is needed to qualify it. This is the epoch at which the supplied sky positions were determined. It should be given as a decimal years value, with or without decimal places ("1996.8" for example). Such values are interpreted as a Besselian epoch if less than 1984.0 and as a Julian epoch otherwise.

FIRST = _INTEGER (Read)

The identifier for the first position to be displayed. Positions are only displayed which have identifiers in the range given by Parameters FIRST and LAST. If a null (!) value is supplied, the value used is the lowest identifier value in the positions list. [!]

FRAME = LITERAL (Read)

A string determining the co-ordinate Frame in which positions are to be reported. This application can report positions in any of the co-ordinate Frames stored with the positions list. The string supplied for FRAME can be one of the following.

• A domain name  such as SKY, AXIS, PIXEL.

• An integer value giving the index of the required Frame.

• An IRAS90 Sky Co-ordinate System (SCS) values such as "EQUAT(J2000)" (see SUN/163).

If a null value (!) is supplied, positions are reported in the co-ordinate Frame which was current when the positions list was created. The user is re-prompted if the specified Frame is not available within the positions list. The range of Frames available will include all those read from the supplied positions list. In addition, if a graphics device is opened (i.e. if Parameter PLOT is set to anything other than "None"), then all the Frames associated with the picture specified by Parameter NAME will also be available. [!]

GEODESIC = _LOGICAL (Read)

This parameter is only accessed if Parameter PLOT is set to "Chain" or "Poly". It specifies whether the curves drawn between positions should be stright lines, or should be geodesic curves. In many co-ordinate Frames geodesic curves will be simple straight lines. However, in others (such as the majority of celestial co-ordinate Frames) geodesic curves will be more complex curves tracing the shortest path between two positions in a non-linear projection. [FALSE]

INCAT = FILENAME (Read)

A catalogue containing a positions list such as produced by applications LISTMAKE, CURSOR.

JUST = LITERAL (Read)

A string specifying the justification to be used when displaying text strings at the supplied positions. This parameter is only accessed if Parameter PLOT is set to "Text". The supplied string should contain two characters; the first should be "B", "C", or "T", meaning bottom, centre, or top respectively. The second should be "L", "C", or "R", meaning left, centre, or right respectively. The text is displayed so that the supplied position is at the specified point within the displayed text string. [CC]

LABEL = _LOGICAL (Read)

If TRUE the positions are labelled on the graphics device specified by Parameter DEVICE. The offset of the centre of each label from the corresponding position is controlled using the NumLabGap(1)  and NumLabGap(2) plotting attributes, and the appearance of the labels is controlled using attributes Colour(NumLab), Size(NumLab), etc. These attributes may be specified using Parameter STYLE. The content of the label is determined by Parameter LABTYPE. [FALSE]

LABTYPE = LITERAL (Read)

Determines what sort of labels are drawn if the LABEL parameter is set TRUE. It can be either of the following.

• "ID" -- causes the integer identifier associated with each row to be used as the label for the row.

• "LABEL" -- causes the textual label associated with each row to be used as the label for the row. These strings are read from the "LABEL" column of the supplied catalogue.

If a null (!) value is supplied, a default of "LABEL" will be used if the input catalogue contains a "LABEL" column. Otherwise, a default of "ID" will be used. [!]

LAST = _INTEGER (Read)

The identifier for the last position to be displayed. Positions are only displayed which have identifiers in the range given by Parameters FIRST and LAST. If a null (!) value is supplied, the value used is the highest identifier value in the positions list. [!]

LOGFILE = FILENAME (Write)

The name of the text file in which the formatted co-ordinates of the selected positions may be stored. This is intended primarily for recording the screen output, and not for communicating positions to subsequent applications. A null string (!) means that no file is created. [!]

MARKER = _INTEGER (Read)

This parameter is only accessed if Parameter PLOT is set to "Chain" or "Mark". It specifies the type of marker with which each position should be marked, and should be given as an integer PGPLOT marker type. For instance, 0 gives a box, 1 gives a dot, 2 gives a cross, 3 gives an asterisk, 7 gives a triangle. The value must be larger than or equal to $-$31. [current value]

NAME = LITERAL (Read)

Determines the graphics database picture with which the supplied positions are to be aligned. Only accessed if Parameter PLOT indicates that some graphics are to be produced. A search is made for the most recent picture with the specified name (e.g. DATA, FRAME or KEY) within the current picture. If no such picture can be found, or if a null value is supplied, the current picture itself is used. The name BASE can also be supplied as a special case, which causes the BASE picture to be used even though it will not in general fall within the current picture. ["DATA"]

OUTCAT = FILENAME (Write)

The output catalogue in which to store the selected positions. If a null value is supplied, no output catalogue is produced. See Parameter COLFRAME. [!]

PLOT = LITERAL (Read)

The type of graphics to be used to mark the positions on the graphics device specified by Parameter DEVICE. The appearance of these graphics (colour, size, etc.) is controlled by the STYLE parameter. PLOT can take any of the following values.

• "None" -- No graphics are produced.

• "Mark" -- Each position is marked with a marker of type specified by Parameter MARKER.

• "Poly" -- Causes each position to be joined by a line to the previous position. These lines may be simple straight lines or geodesic curves (see Parameter GEODESIC). The polygons may optionally be closed by joining the last position to the first (see Parameter CLOSE).

• "Chain" -- This is a combination of "Mark" and "Poly". Each position is marked by a marker and joined by a line to the previous position. Parameters MARKER, GEODESIC and CLOSE are used to specify the markers and lines to use.

• "Box" -- A rectangular box with edges parallel to the edges of the graphics device is drawn between each pair of positions.

• "Vline" -- A vertical line is drawn through each position, extending the entire height of the selected picture.

• "Hline" -- A horizontal line is drawn through each position, extending the entire width of the selected picture.

• "Cross" -- A combination of "Vline" and "Hline".

• "STCS" -- Indicates that each position should be marked using the two-dimensional STC-S shape read from the catalogue column specified by parameter STCSCOL.

• "Text" -- A text string is used to mark each position. The string is drawn horizontally with the justification specified by Parameter JUST. The strings to use for each position are specified using Parameter STRINGS.

• "Blank" -- The graphics device is opened and the picture specified by Parameter NAME is found, but no actual graphics are drawn to mark the positions. This can be useful if you just want to transform the supplied positions into one of the co-ordinate Frames associated with the picture, without drawing anything (see Parameter FRAME).

Each position may also be separately labelled with its integer identifier value by giving a TRUE value for Parameter LABEL. ["None"!]

POSNS() = _DOUBLE (Write)

The unformatted co-ordinates of the positions selected by Parameters FIRST and LAST, in the co-ordinate Frame selected by FRAME. The axis values are stored as a one-dimensional vector. All the Axis-1 values for the selected positions are stored first, followed by the Axis-2 values, etc. The number of positions in the vector is written to the output Parameter NUMBER, and the number of axes per position is written to the output Parameter DIM. The axis values may not be in the same units as the formatted values shown on the screen. For instance, unformatted celestial co-ordinate values are stored in units of radians.

STEP = _INTEGER (Read)

The increment between position identifiers to be displayed. Specifying a value larger than 1 causes a subset of the position identifiers between FIRST and LAST to be displayed. [1]

STCSCOL = LITERAL (Read)

The name of a catalogue column containing an STC-S description of a two-dimensional spatial shape associated with each position. The STC-S format is an IVOA proposal for describing regions of space, time and spectral position. For further details, see the STC-S document on the IVOA web site (http://www.ivoa.net/Documents/). An STC-S description of a shape includes the co-ordinate system in which the shape is defined. This application assumes that all the STC-S shapes read from the specified column will be defined within the same co-ordinate system. The transformation from the STC-S co-ordinate system to the co-ordinate system of the displayed image is determined once from the first shape plotted, and then re-used for all later shapes. ["Shape"]

STRINGS = LITERAL (Read)

A group of text strings which are used to mark the supplied positions if Parameter PLOT is set to "Text". The first string in the group is used to mark the first position, the second string is used to mark the second position, etc. If more positions are given than there are strings in the group, then the extra positions will be marked with an integer value indicating the index within the list of supplied positions. (Note, these integers may be different from the identifiers in the supplied positions list). If a null value (!) is given for the parameter, then all positions will be marked with the integer indices, starting at 1.

A comma-separated list should be given in which each element is either a marker string, or the name of a text file preceded by an up-arrow character "$\wedge$". Such text files should contain further comma-separated lists which will be read and interpreted in the same manner. Note, strings within text files can be separated by new lines as well as commas.

STYLE = GROUP (Read)

A group of attribute settings describing the style to use when formatting the co-ordinate values displayed on the screen, and when drawing the graphics specified by Parameter PLOT.

A comma-separated list of strings should be given in which each string is either an attribute setting, or the name of a text file preceded by an up-arrow character "$\wedge$". Such text files should contain further comma-separated lists which will be read and interpreted in the same manner. Attribute settings are applied in the order in which they occur within the list, with later settings overriding any earlier settings given for the same attribute.

Each individual attribute setting should be of the form:

$<$name$>$=$<$value$>$

where $<$name$>$ is the name of a plotting attribute, and $<$value$>$ is the value to assign to the attribute. Default values will be used for any unspecified attributes. All attributes will be defaulted if a null value (!) is supplied. See Plotting Attributes for a description of the available attributes. Any unrecognised attributes are ignored (no error is reported).

In addition to the attributes which control the appearance of the graphics (Colour, Font, etc.), the following attributes may be set in order to control the appearance of the formatted axis values reported on the screen: Format, Digits, Symbol, Unit. These may be suffixed with an axis number (e.g. Digits(2)) to refer to the values displayed for a specific axis. [current value]

Results Parameters:

DIM = _INTEGER (Write)

The number of axes for each position written to output Parameter POSNS.

NUMBER = _INTEGER (Write)

The number of positions selected.

Examples:

listshow stars pixel

This displays the pixel co-ordinates of all the positions stored in the FITS binary catalogue stars.fit. They are all written to the output Parameter POSNS.

listshow star outcat=star-gal catframe=gal

This copies a position list from catalogue star to a new catalogue called star-gal. The positions are stored in galactic co-ordinates in the output catalogue.

listshow stars.fit equat(J2010) first=3 last=3

This extracts Position 3 from the catalogue stars.fit transforming it into FK5 equatorial RA/DEC co-ordinates (referenced to the J2010 equinox), if possible. The RA/DEC values (in radians) are written to the output Parameter POSNS.

listshow stars_2.txt style="digits(1)=5,digits(2)=7"

This lists the positions in the STL format catalogue contained in text file stars_2.txt in their original co-ordinate Frame. By default, five digits are used to format Axis-1 values, and seven to format Axis-2 values. These defaults are overridden if the attributes Format(1)  and/or Format(2) are assigned values in the description of the current Frame stored in the positions list.

listshow s.txt plot=marker marker=3 style="colour(marker)=red,size=2"

This marks the positions in s.txt on the currently selected graphics device using PGPLOT Marker 3 (an asterisk). The positions are aligned with the most recent DATA picture in the current picture. The markers are red and are twice the default size. The positions are likely not to be reported on the screen.

Notes:

• This application uses the conventions of the CURSA package (SUN/190) for determining the formats of input and output catalogues. If a file type of .fits is given, then the catalogue is assumed to be a FITS binary table. If a file type of .txt is given, then the catalogue is assumed to be stored in a text file in Small Text List (STL) format. If no file type is given, then .fit is assumed.

• The positions are not displayed on the screen when either the message filter environment variable MSG_FILTER is set to NORMAL and any graphics or labels are being plotted (see Parameters PLOT and LABEL); or when MSG_FILTER is set to QUIET and no graphics are produced. The creation of output parameters and files is unaffected by MSG_FILTER.

Related Applications

KAPPA: CURSOR, LISTMAKE; CURSA: XCATVIEW, CATSELECT.