[Kstars-devel] Re: observing list feature

[Jeff Woods]

Sorry it's taken me most of the week to get back to you.  My thoughts on 
the observing list feature include:

+  Observing list will be implemented as a modeless dialog (seperate 
thread of control) so it can be floated around and interacted with 
seperately from the main application.  The main widget will likely be a 
table view with a row for each object in the observing list and columns 
with user specified attributes such as RA, dec, magnatude, etc.  The 
user may be able to select/deselect items to appear in the table 
(haven't decided).  From this dialog, the user should also have the 
ability to move (up/down) or remove objects.  Your suggestion of a 
detail window (perhaps included at the bottom of the dialog) would also 
make a nice addition.

+  Objects may be selected by right clicking on the item in the main 
display and selecting "Add to observing list" from the pop-up menu.  I 
may also implement a search of available objects (plug into the 
"Find..." dialog?) or add the ability to select items from the "What's 
Up Tonight" tool.

+  Allow for sorting of the list based on values in any column of the 
table (forward or reverse sort).  I'd also like to add an "intelligent 
sort" feature.  Beginning with the westernmost object in the list, 
provide a "suggested" traversal of all of the objects.  The suggested 
order would minimize telescope motion while at the same time placing an 
emphasis on the obects more to the west.  This would be to ensure we 
don't move all the way to the east while we're still in the middle of 
the list and then have to track back to the west since it's likely that 
those objects would have already set.  I've been kicking this algorithm 
around with a friend at work for a couple of weeks, and we think we have 
it hammered out pretty well.  It will be based on a weighted graph 
traversal, with the "weights" being the arc distance between any two 
objects.

+  Must allow for printing of the list (I'm tired of copying lists by 
hand!).

+  keyboard actions (custom event handlers) should be no trouble.

I'll have to get into the code before I commit to much more.  I'm not 
familiar with the KDE libraries, though I have done some development 
with Qt.  From what I've seen, though, KDE is very similar.  The work 
will likely go slow since I'm very busy (work full time + grad school + 
wife + new 12" telescope...) and can probably only commit a couple of 
hours per week to the task.  Tony (my friend from work I mentioned above 
and who lurks on this list) has offered to help with the sorting piece.

Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 15:42:05 -0700 From: Jason Harris 
<jharris at as.arizona.edu> Subject: Re: [Kstars-devel] observing list 
feature To: KStars Development Mailing List <kstars-devel at kde.org> 
Message-ID: <200401271542.06000.jharris at as.arizona.edu> Content-Type: 
text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi Jeff, No one is working on it yet, 
so you are most welcome to implement it! Here are some notes on what 
I've been envisioning: + Have a small window that floats on top of the 
main window (but is not modal). This window holds the names of objects 
in the current observing list. Double-clicking on a name centers the 
display there (and/or slews the telescope?). Right-clicking a name in 
the list brings up that object's normal popup menu. We should also add 
items to the popup menu to Add or Remove the object from the Observing 
list. + A larger tool window showing more data for each object 
(coordinates, rise/set times, airmasses, etc. In this window, the user 
can add/remove objects, change their order, etc. It might be useful to 
eventually make this like an astronomical spreadsheet calculator. For 
example, the user could add a column representing the altitude of all 
the objects at a specified time. + Objects in the list should optionally 
have a special representation in the map; either a distinct color, or a 
small attached symbol, or ?? + Keyboard actions to go to the 
Next/Previous object in the list. Let me know what you think of this, 
and what your own ideas for the tool are. Thanks a lot for offering to 
work on this tool, and welcome aboard! Jason On Tuesday 27 January 2004 
02:48 pm, Jeff Woods wrote:

>> Has anyone begun work on the observing list feature listed on your TODO
>> list?  If not, I'd be willing to work on it as it is a feature I would
>> love to see completed.
>>
>> Jeff Woods
>>
>>
>> 
>