|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
ANN: New Version of Deepsky Software (DAS)
I wanted to let people know that I have released a new version of my Deepsky
software http://www.deepsky2003.net Previously called Deepsky 2003, the new version builds on previous versions and now is called Deepsky Astronomy Software or DAS. DAS now includes a completely redesigned logbook and many other enhancements like improved searching capabilities, determining when an object is best observed during the year, a SQL EZ query tool, observing plan manager, and much more. A complete list of new features, enhancements, and fixes are at the end of this message. There are many upgrade options for existing users of any version of my software. So visit my website today and see what the new DAS is all about. For a quick look at all the new screens, go he http://www.deepsky2002.net/screen/pages/Chart8.htm Thanks Steve Deepsky Release Notes May 26, 2004 SUPPORT For technical assistance with Deepsky, please either email me a note or call me on the phone during the evening (after 6pm CST). Steven S Tuma http://www.deepsky2003.net New Logbook Features (Totally Redesigned) NEW: Added new fields to the logbook 1) observation # that you can control 2) Weather Conditions 3) Urban Flag - ie. under light polluted skies 4) Power - Magnification used to see the object 5) Session Start Date and time 6) Session Stop Date and time 7) Session Name - ie. Star Party 8) StarHop / Goto flag - for star hopping or using computerized scopes 9) Other ID - that you want to associate with this observation 10) CCD Bias Frame (Y/N) field 11) 10 user defined fields. You can use them however you want. NEW: Consolidated logbook spreadsheet screen and logbook entry onto the main screen making the whole logbook easier to use. NEW: You can specify which columns you want to appear on the logbook. There are now nearly 50 columns that you can specify. NEW: Added other ID as a searchable field using the logbook advanced search button. NEW: There is a Freeze columns option on the logbook spreadsheet that freezes columns to the left of the cell. NEW: The logbook entry screen is completely redesigned. All information is now entered on one screen. In addition, information on the observed object like RA, Dec, Type, Constellation, magnitude, and size are shown on the logbook entry screen for reference. NEW: Session notes have been consolidated into the main log entry screen. Session information is now stored with each observation. You are able to specify a start and end date for the observing session along with assigning a name to the observing session. NEW: There is now a Weather Conditions section in the logbook that lets you store the weather, seeing, transparency, and other notes related to the weather. NEW: THe EZ Log update screens now let you enter additional information. NEW: You now have the ability to restore backed up logbooks. You would use this if you had to reinstall Deepsky. NEW: When opening an observing plan, the tab the plan is opened on will now automatically be renamed to the plan name. Other New Features NEW: (AWESOME) The search screen on the main spreadsheet hasn't changed much over the years, but now it has been completely redesigned. It is now much easier to find what you are looking for. Besides adding a common name lookup feature, you can specify multiple criteria and save the criteria set for later use. I think you will like this new feature! NEW: Deepsky can now display Uranometria 2000 chart #'s in the spreadsheet NEW: SQL EZ Query Tool (For users who know SQL) has been added to the Database pulldown menu. It is simple and fast to use and maintains a history of all your SQL statements you enter so that you can use them again without retyping them. You can even search through this list saving you the time to retype the SQL statement. NEW: Added the LOCATE OBJECT IN TELESCOPE to the main toolbar. This makes it easier for people not using a mouse to select it. NEW: There is a RESTORE LOGBOOK option on the Logbook pulldown menu that will allow you to restore a backed up logbook. NEW: Added new observing plans that users have shared NEW: Updated how Deepsky flags an object as observed on the spreadsheet. A problem in the past was that if you observed an object in the NGC 2000 catalog, it wouldnt get flagged as observed in other catalogs like the SAC71 catalog. This happened because the logbook stores objects observed by object id and catalog. Now, Deepsky by default will show it observed in both catalogs on the spreadsheet. An option was added to MISC preferences that lets you put it back the old way. NEW: Find Date of Highest Altitude During Darkness. You can now right click an object in the spreadsheet and select this option to find the date the object will be highest in the sky for your location. Information displayed will include altitude, azimuth, date, time, altitude of the moon, and the moon phase. NEW: Observing Plan Manager lets you see a list of all your plans in a spreadsheet format. You can rename or delete them and also quickly open them. NEW: You can now sort the currently displayed spreadsheet 3 levels deep. In the past you had to always click Refresh which ran a query to do this. NEW: When opening an observing plan, the tab the plan is opened on will now automatically be renamed to the plan name. Enhancements UPD: Updated support to call Virtual Moon Atlas 2 from Deepsky. UPD: LogTypes in Misc preferences now includes a (SHOW ALL) log type which will use all log types when determining whether an object should be marked observed in the spreadsheet. In addition, if you select another log type instead of SHOW ALL, then when the Deepsky spreadsheet loads, only observed objects within that log type will be flagged with an X on the spreadsheet. UPD: Added SAVE PLAN and ENABLE SCOPE to the main toolbar. Also grouped some of the icons a little better. UPD: The objects observed by observing plan report now includes RA, Object Type, Magnitude, and Declination in the SORT BY drop down. RA has been added to the report and the object id now includes the common name of the object if it has one followed by the object type. UPD: The Observed flag in the database is not used to tell if an object has been observed. Instead the logbook file is examined directly. UPD: The MY LOGBOOK REPORT and PRINT LOGBOOK 1 OBJECT PER PAGE now let you select the LogType prior to running the report so the report is filtered by log type. You still have the option of selecting all types. UPD: Minor change to the find object screen UPD: Scope Equipment and eyepieces for Celestron, Meade, Televue and Orion UPD: Made the chart Object Information window taller so that you can see more of the text UPD: EZ Logbook Update within date range has a few new fields to enter. UPD: Clicking the column headers in the main Deepsky spreadsheet will sort that column. Clicking it again sorts it in descending sequence. UPD: When an observing plan is shown on the spreadsheet, the # of objects observed in the plan is now shown in the status bar. UPD: In the Log NOTES VIEW, only observations with notes in them will show up here. If notes are blank for an observation they will not appear here. UPD: Added more space to enter notes in the ADD NOTE TO PLAN option Bug Fixes FIX: The slide show feature was not working properly for users of LX200 scopes. This has been resolved. LX200 users can now use the LX200 keypad to move the scope from object to object. FIX: An internal error has occurred. Deepsky will now exit at which point you can re-run the software. Variable W = 1 or W = -1 Module1.CalcASN" FIX: Corrected the date showing up incorrect on the comet and asteroid ephemeris when less than 1 day iteration was specified. FIX: Corrected error when using the quick charts FIX: When using the Outside Log entry to log an observation, session notes would be erased if you updated more than one object on that date. This is now fixed. FIX: When viewing some of Deepsky's reports, you may have gotten an "Unexpected Null" error. This has been fixed. FIX: The Plot all objects centered on selected object was not passing the observer log info to the charts. This has been fixed FIX: Table Maintenance -- Maintain Object Database, Logbook, etc, - In multiple queries, the previous query does not seem to be fully cleared so the results are wrong. In some cases, nothing is returned in the query. This is now fixed FIX: When arrowing up or down in the spreadsheet, the arrow keys would stop working. FIX: THe CTRL-Home and CTRL-End keys now work properly in the spreadsheet FIX: Fixes problem with not converting all Deepsky 2002 and earlier logbook entries into the new Deepsky format. FIX: Comet and asteroid ephemeris were not working for time increments of less than one day. This has been fixed. For time increments of 1 hour, you can use 0.041666 FIX: When upgrading to Deepsky, the logbook conversion improperly flagged the SEEN FLAG field as all being seen. This is now corrected. FIX: Using query builder on the logbook caused an SQL error to occur. This was because the OTHERID field was not included in the SQL string. This has been fixed and any new queries against the logbook should be fixed. FIX: The Logbook Search screen did not always work properly causing a TOO FEW PARAMETERS error for some searches. This included the date observed and object id searches. This has been fixed. FIX: When importing new data into the Deepsky database, objects below -85 degrees declination were being assigned the wrong constellation (PER) instead of Octans. This has now been fixed. NOTE: If you have imported your own catalogs into Deepsky, you might want to remove them and re-import them in order to fix this problem. FIX: When adding new equipment to your list, the list box would always position itself at the end of the list. Cumulative Changes From Beta 1 to Current Version UPD: Changed GOTO label on log form to : GOTO/CA for Goto or Computer Assisted. UPD: When double clicking or selecting an observation, only images and notes for that object/catalog combination will be displayed on the images and notes tab. There is a button on each tab that will let you select ALL images or notes in the logbook if you so choose. UPD: Added a SELECT button next to Other Equipment so you can pick from your personal list of equipment. NEW: (AWESOME) The search screen on the main spreadsheet hasn't changed much over the years, but now it has been completely redesigned. It is now much easier to find what you are looking for. Besides adding a common name lookup feature, you can specify multiple criteria and save the criteria set for later use. I think you will like this new feature! UPD: LogTypes in Misc preferences now includes a (SHOW ALL) log type which will use all log types when determining whether an object should be marked observed in the spreadsheet. In addition, if you select another log type instead of SHOW ALL, then when the Deepsky spreadsheet loads, only observed objects within that log type will be flagged with an X on the spreadsheet. UPD: The objects observed by observing plan report now includes RA, Object Type, Magnitude, and Declination in the SORT BY drop down. RA has been added to the report and the object id now includes the common name of the object if it has one followed by the object type. FIX: Uranometria 2000 chart #'s should now be correct. FIX: Fatal error in logbook if you select the image manager without first having an observation shown on the screen. UPD: Renamed Table Report 1 and 2 to something more meaningful. If the new Print Spreadsheet button is pressed, a warning message asking to print the report will be displayed giving the user the opportunity to cancel it. UPD: Changed the CLEAR FORM button to a CANCEL button that cancels the current log entry and clears the form. UPD: When setting up user defined fields for the logbook, clicking save will give a message saying that Deepsky must be restarted. After that, Deepsky ends. UPD: When an object is selected on the logbook spreadsheet screen, the notes view tab will now show only notes for the currently selected object. The refresh button on the notes view tab now will show all notes from all observations FIX: Problem in logbook advanced search when searching with Other ID and Constellation or Object type. FIX: Entering a new observation for an object starting with M and is not a Messier object would cause an error occurring in ctlLogSpreadNew.UpdateDeepskyTable UPD: Added numeric row headers to the logbook spreadsheet. FIX: Outside log entry requires that an object id and catalog be entered before an entry can be added to the logbook. FIX: When using Outside log entry, clearing the fields also cleared the default date. FIX: CTRL-C now works after clicking an object in the grid on the outside log entry form. UPD: When an observing plan is shown on the spreadsheet, the # of objects observed in the plan is now shown in the status bar. UPD: Added more space to enter notes in the ADD NOTE TO PLAN option NEW: When opening an observing plan, the tab the plan is opened on will now automatically be renamed to the plan name. UPD: In the Log NOTES VIEW, only observations with notes in them will show up here. If notes are blank for an observation they will not appear here. UPD: The log type filter now defaults to the current one set in MISC preferences when the Log spreadsheet is shown. UPD: The MY LOGBOOK REPORT and PRINT LOGBOOK 1 OBJECT PER PAGE now let you select the LogType prior to running the report so the report is filtered by log type. You still have the option of selecting all types. FIX: For NON US users, the date in the logbook spreadsheet may be blank when it actually has a value. If this persists, go to MISC preferences and check LOG DATE NON US . |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
ANN: New Version of Deepsky Software (DAS) | Deepsky Astronomy Software | Astronomy Misc | 0 | June 3rd 04 11:44 PM |
ANN: Deepsky 2003 Astro Software | DEEPSKY 2003 | Astronomy Misc | 0 | April 3rd 04 06:03 PM |
ANN: Deepsky 2003 Astronomy Software | DEEPSKY 2003 | Astronomy Misc | 0 | December 21st 03 05:02 PM |
ANN: Deepsky 2003 CD/DVD Software | DEEPSKY 2003 | Astronomy Misc | 0 | October 5th 03 06:08 PM |
ANN: Deepsky 2003 Software | Deepsky 2003 | Amateur Astronomy | 0 | August 2nd 03 02:21 AM |