Figaro 5.1-3 release

In this version of Figaro the principal change is the use of a new data access library (FDA), but this made minor modifications to several applications necessary. The old libaries DSA and DTA are kept as part of the release, but are unused by Figaro itself.

With the new data access library, the principal data format is NDF. On the other hand, a number of foreign file formats can be used in addition to NDF itself. The old Figaro DST format is one such foreign format, others include FITS, IRAF, and GIF.

In order to use any foreign format, you must start up CONVERT in addition to Figaro. From the Unix shell:

   % figaro
   % convert

and from ICL:

   ICL> figaro
   ICL> convert

The data format is selected by the user on a per-file basis by specifying a file name extension:

   ICL> istat myfile

will try all known formats in order of priority, to choose a format explicitly:

   ICL> istat myfile.dst

Currently the extensions recognised, the formats addressed, and the priority list are:

   .sdf     NDF format
   .fit     FITS format (disk FITS, IBM byte order)
   .dst     DST format (also called Figaro format)
   .imh     IRAF format
   .hdr     GASP format
   .unf     unformatted binary files
   .dat     unf0 binary files
   .asc     ASCII files
   .txt     text files
   .gif     GIF images
   .tif     TIFF images
   .sdf.Z   compressed NDF files

In addition to foreign file formats, users can now use NDF sections of data sets. You can use a number of ways to specify a section as shown in this 7-D example:

   file(3:5,21.3:44.5,17,17.0,3:,,:99)

   (3:5,           1st axis: pixels 3 through 5
    21.3:44.5,     2nd axis: pixel centre values 21.3 through 44.5
    17,            3rd axis: pixel 17 only
    17.0,          4th axis: only the pixel with centre = 17.0
    3:,            5th axis: pixels 3 through end of NDF
    ,              6th axis: all pixels
    :99)           7th axis: pixels from start of NDF through to pixel 99

Apart from the availability of foreign file formats and NDF sections, there should be hardly any perceptible change for the user.

Users can abbreviate parameter names on the command line, e.g. instead of `istat image=myfile', `istat im=myfile' can be used. Name abbreviation can be turned on and off with `abbrev' and `noabbrev' respectively.

`exam' has been removed, use the Starlink utility `hdstrace' instead.

`figwww' has been removed, use 'showme sun86' instead.

Bug fixes in applications:

• `cdist' should now abort with an error message if the end of file is encountered before all information has been read.
• `echarc' has separate parameter `output' now for a copy of input with calibrated wavelengths.
• `echmask' now maps the mask data for write instead of update.
• `echmerge' when given two input files, will now actually map the first and second data, before it mapped the first data twice and ignored the second.
• `fet321' now calls dsa_close at the end. Before it called dsa_open a second time.
• `ffcross' now maps the cross correlation for write instead of update.
• `fft' will now simply replace the axis information according to the Fourier transform that is being applied. It will no longer save the old axis information. `bfft' will therefore simply delete all axis information and not restore the pre-fft information. Users can copy axis information from the pre-fft file to the post-bfft file, of course.
• `hcross' will no longer crash when the power 0.0**0.0 is calculated.
• `isplot' now constructs plot labels as `LABEL / UNITS', before it was the other way round.
• `wdfits' now has initial values for variables BLOCK and NOTERM.
• A possible infinite loop in `fitskeys' has been removed.

The source code of `echfind', `fet321', `figs322', `figs321', `icur', `gauss' no longer uses the problematic splitting of string constants by simply breaking the source code line. Proper string concatenation is now used. Minor bugs in fig_hdsdig and fig_pgend were fixed.

The release has been tidied with respect to differences between Unix and VMS versions. All that remains of the VMS version is the link options file `linkmono.opt'. `rdispo' and `wdipso' have been formally added. `table' has been formally added and `rspica' and `wspica' have been formally removed. Startup scripts exist only for C shell and Unix ICL, the test script exists only for ICL. The test script has been extended to cover a wider range of applications.

The move to the new data access library prompted:

• Changes to all interface files, where data sets now have type 'NDF' instead of 'LITERAL'. (One parameter was left at 'LITERAL' and had its global association removed.) All NDF-type parameters have access information in the interface file, telling whether the data set is input or output data.
• Use of NDF-type parameters to open data sets in `abline', `aperture', `growx', `growy', `growxy', `growxt', `growyt', `hist', `irflat'.
• Use of new routine `dsa_input_update' in `figinfo', `fitset', `growx', `growy', `growxy', `growxt', `growyt', `i2cmplx'.
• Changes to call sequence with respect to enquiring an axis range and mapping axis data in `alasout', `emlt', `ilist', `iplots', `isplot', `istat', `isubset', `lsplot', `elsplot', `msplot', `splot' `esplot'.
• Changes to call sequence with respect to mapping real part and deleting imaginary part in `cmplx2r', `cmplx2i', `cmplx2m'.
• Changes to call sequence with respect to mapping data and quality: `surfit' (not available for use due to NAG call).
• Mapping quality with the correct data type in `adjoin', `optextract'.
• Changes in bad-pixel handling in `abconv', `adjoin', `aperture', `iadd', `idiv', `imult', `isub', `icadd', `icdiv', `icmult', `icsub', `xcadd', `xcdiv', `xcmult', `xcsub', `ycadd', `ycdiv', `ycmult', `ycsub', `ipower', `irot90', `isubset', `rembad', `retype'.
• Changes to call sequence with respect to re-shaping data and axis in `figs422'.
• Use of new routine `dsa_map_complex' in `cmplx2r', `cmplx2i', `cmplx2m', `cmplxadd', `cmplxdiv', `cmplxmult', `cmplxadd', `cmplxconj', `cmplxfilt', `fft', `bfft', `i2cmplx', `r2cmplx'.
• Disuse of DTA error messages in `alasout', `cspike', `fet321', `figs424', `rcgs2'.
• Avoidance of DTA mapping routines in `irflat', `rcgs2'.
• Cosmetic changes to the DYNAMIC_MEMORY include file.
• Addition of routines `dsa_input_update', `dsa_named_input_update', and `dsa_map_complex' to the DSA library. These allow the modified appliclations to be linked against DSA/DTA.
• Removal of routines `fig_convchk' and `fig_dtaerr', which are related to the now unused DTA library.