User interfaces (clients)

RoboDIMM user interfaces

Where there is a software server, there must be clients. In the case of the RoboDIMM system, three types of clients are distinguished: 

1.      The RoboDIMM graphical user interface
2.      The telnet interface
3.      The low-level TCP/IP socket interface (API) 

1            RoboDIMM graphical user interface

The graphical user interface serves two goals:

 

1.      To keep track of the RoboDIMM’s status.
2.      To control or alter its behavior

 

The graphical user interface consists of an X11 executable, built with Borland Kylix. This allows the operator to use the interface with any arbitrary X11-terminal, either locally or remotely. The GUI has access to all features of the RoboDIMM core system, including the configuration files.

An example of one of the configuration tabs:

2            Telnet interface

The telnet interface is a good alternative when X11 is not an option. Using a simple dumb terminal, the RoboDIMM software can be controlled in all aspects. An interactive command prompt (similar to a DOS- or Unix- shell) is used to enter commands. An example:

[root@solaris /]# telnet robodimm.startel.nl 3505
Trying robodimm.startel.nl...
Connected to robodimm.startel.nl
Escape character is '^]'.

RoboDIMM version v1.0, 10 jun 2004
------------------------------------------

RoboDIMM> date
   Thu Jun 10 23:29:10 2004

RoboDIMM> selecttarget 15
    BSC6132  16h23m59.302s 61d30m51.001s  uptime=163 min. (magn. 2.7)
    Alt/Az=  77d22m22.907s 221d19m16.133s
    BSC6092  16h19m44.299s 46d18m47.999s  uptime=149 min. (magn. 3.9)
    Alt/Az=  77d22m17.582s 295d49m27.879s
    BSC5744  15h24m55.598s 58d57m56.999s  uptime=110 min. (magn. 3.3)
    Alt/Az=  83d55m27.318s 194d02m26.361s

RoboDIMM> goto BSC6132
   Ok

RoboDIMM> help exposure
 exposure - take an image with the CCD camera

 Parameters: <exposure time in seconds> <filename> [x] [y] [width] [height] [dark]

RoboDIMM> exposure 0.01 test.fits
  Extracting stars…
    Objects found:    2
  Objects rejected: 0
  Two objects were detected

RoboDIMM> quit

3            Low-level TCP/IP API

In addition to the interfaces mentioned above, the core system is also providing an ‘API’, which is in fact a TCP/IP port to which custom developed software can connect in order to gain access to all RoboDIMM facilities.