[Kstars-devel] GSoC 2: Improving the observation planner and logging feature, and OAL compliance

[Akarsh Simha]

Here's the current description for the second GSoC project on the
Wiki:

===========================================================
KStars: Improve the observation planner and logging feature

Brief explanation: KStars already has an observation observation
planner and logging feature. It requires a lot of tiny and not-so-tiny
improvements though. Here's a list of some of the improvements we'd
like to see: 

1. "Smart" assignment of observation times to objects (accounting for
   time taken to observe each object)

2. A time-line view for your observation session plan, on which you
   can drag objects around to set observing times.

3. Ensure compatibility with OAL 2.0 XML schema is perfect

4. Currently, OAL parsing code is tightly tied to the rest of KStars
   -- separate it out into a Qt-based OAL library

5. Clean up the Observation Planner interface

6. Clean up the Execute Session interface. Fix bugs. 

7. Bring the time-line view of a session into the Execute Session
   interface

8. Add the ability to export OAL-compliant target lists (removing the
   time field)

9. Add the ability to read and edit OAL-compliant observation logs
   within KStars

10. Add the ability to publish observation logs on a server.

Expected results: A better observation planning and logging feature
	 for KStars.

Knowledge Prerequisite: C++ and Qt; XML parsing, in particular with
	  Qt; be comfortable with desiging UIs using Qt
===========================================================

My TODOs for this project:
1. Do a thorough review of both the code and the UI of Observation
   Planner and "Execute Session"
2. Check OAL compliance of current output
3. Decide an algorithm for appropriate time-division
4. Look for ways of implementing a time-line widget
5. See if there are other items to be added to this list
6. Deliniate how OAL parsing can be made independent of KStars'
   classes
7. Figure out if there are nice schema --> UI scripts we can use for
   creating an editing interface (or is there an application we can
   invoke? Would that be a good idea?)
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