iraf.net

Hi Dave,> There is a mechanism in ADAM for associating a parameter with a global
> name so that applications can effectively share a parameter. This is used
> in a number of ways, the simplest is simply to save the user specifying the
> same value to lots of applications. For example, the name of the graphics
> device to use is made global so that once it has been set for one
> application it becomes the default for all others. Figaro uses the
> mechanism to pass information from one application to another without the
> user being aware of it - the parameters used are never intended to be set
> by the user.
>
> Is there a way of achieving this effect in IRAF ?
> an increasing number of inquires about the ftp mirror now that news of it
> has leaked out. If there is going to be much delay I think we should get
> the ftp side set up now and not wait for the web stuff to be ready - we
> already know that the mirror is capable of getting the web pages over the
> net in a reasonable time. There are a couple possibilities, using global psets or package parameters.
Psets are described in ftp://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/docs/pset.ps.Z. A global
pset is a named pset which you can reference in the parameter list for a
task, but which can be shared by any number of tasks. The task sees
"psetname.paramname" as the parameter name, but the psetname is not the
task name. Package parameters are parameters in the package task pset for
the package in which the task belongs.

> p.s. How are you progressing with updating your web pages ? I am getting
> an increasing number of inquires about the ftp mirror now that news of it
> has leaked out. If there is going to be much delay I think we should get
> the ftp side set up now and not wait for the web stuff to be ready - we
> already know that the mirror is capable of getting the web pages over the
> net in a reasonable time. If there is much more of a delay I agree we will have to do this. We finished
the first phase of this a month ago but there was no more time to look at
it over the holidays due to sick leave, vacation, etc. We should be able
to get back to it now. Lets try to get something working by the end of the
month. - Doug