[Kstars-devel] Print Wizard

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi Bruce

> I've been thinking about the Print Wizard and it possible use in the
> Observation Plan/Session Planner.
>
> My reasoning.  Presently the Observers Planner is designed for the astronomer
> who is connected to a computer/goto telescope.
>
> I think we can expand this to the visual observer by creating a print out for
> each object.  So if the astronomer picks 15 objects to observe in a session.
> Say that he/she is observing visually.  Now we give them the ability to print
> out page/s for each object to be observed, much like we do with the print
> wizard.  Then the next day the observer can come home and record his/her
> results in Kstars.

As a visual observer, I use the laptop + observation planner on the  
field. But I would like to remove it from the equation too, because I  
would like to be able to use it in areas without power supply and when  
it is too cold to safely run a laptop (sub-freezing conditions).

> I noticed that in the Planning Session feature has a place to put notes. How
> does one review old observations?  It seems to me that the whole point to
> keeps notes is that you can go back to them for review and research.  Maybe
> there should be a search feature.

Observation planning is broken :-(. If at all anything, I use that  
field to remind myself to look for something (as an example, if I put  
M87 on my list, but forgot why, I'd write "look for jet" or something  
like that). That stuff is saved in the home directory, I think. I  
wouldn't trust my real observation logs to that.

Right now, I write down observing logs in a book, or on my pen tablet,  
but this is highly sub-optimal as you point out. Ideally, we should be  
implementing existing log-exchange format called OAL that a computer  
astronomy group in Germany came up with. We do implement it in KStars,  
but it is mostly broken. But this is a project that I don't want to  
get into now (let's see if the summer is a bit more kind on me).

> Could we make the Notes section more like the Print Wizard printout?  I see a
> specific place for sky conditions eye pieces used, automatic calculation of
> magnification based on telescope and each eye piece used.  This  
> information can
> be taken for the Equipment section. Caveat: If a observer has more than one
> telescope we might need a menu (drop down) to choose telescope and  
> eye pieces.
>
> Maybe be the observations could be tied to a calendar?
>
> How will a observer enter his/her data.  Well I see two methods the first is
> base on Kstars present setup.  The observer would have to search out each
> object in his/her list via the sky view, centre it and then right click and
> choose Details, then log.  What I like to see added would be a method to do
> the same thing, but via the Observation Plan, Session Plan.

The execute session is supposed to take  care of this, but it is  
completely broken at the moment. Anyone interested in improving it  
will have my support for sure.

> Question:  What is the point of a Observation Plan, Session Plan, and note
> taking?  You don't just take notes to forget about them, they are there for
> future review and research.  Lets take Kstars to the next level lets beef up
> the note taking capability.

BTW, Bruce, at least for now, I suggest the following solution as an  
alternative to the print wizard: KStars has a lot of functionality  
accessible through DBus scripting. If you have 'qdbus' installed, and  
a KStars window open, you can access a lot of KStars functionality  
from the command line:

http://kstars.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/astro-scripting-using-kstars-d-bus-interface/

You should be able to query the observing list on the DBus (if not,  
I'll be happy to write the glue code for that), and then use scripts  
akin to those used in my Logbook project (I can put it up on some git  
repo if you want) to generate logging forms complete with DSS images.

I think this is a much easier solution than modifying the print  
wizard, but it is not easy to use since you'll have to script it.  
However, it provides a lot of flexibility. In fact, you might also be  
able to write some logging software in python or the like and  
interface it with KStars for some purposes.

KStars codebase is quickly growing and becoming somewhat unmanageable.  
It needs more modularity before we can easily write tools that work  
with it.

Regards
Akarsh