Table row to SED?

[Ivan Zolotukhin]

Hi,

>> I'm sure you can make simpler example for few SED columns, just look
>> at the Google Charts API docs. I must also admit that Google Charts
>> only works for basic stuff, so recently I switched to deploying myself
>> custom plotters on the web to visualize complex plots upon each click
>> in TOPCAT, and even these quite serious efforts worth it because all
>> collaborators do appreciate the resulting research tool.
>>
>> >>  - own tiny SAMP client in a language like Python with simple graphics
>> >> libraries (I use unreleased Octopus for this if you remember)
>> >
>> > I also thought of a tiny SAMP client to receive table.load.votable
>> > and subsequent table.highlight.row messages and translate them to
>> > spectrum.load.ssa-generic messages to pass on to SPLAT/Iris/whatever.
>> > Good solution for experts, not really feasible for general astronomer
>> > usage.
>>
>> Don't look at the problem as if it is only related to SED. There is
>> multitude of various (row) plotting that researchers want in their
>
> pros and cons - in the use case I was thinking of, the user might
> want to go on and actually do spectral things with the result,
> for instance view alongside model SEDs.  But I take the point that
> a more general capability has its uses.
>
>> domains while going through a table in TOPCAT. There's hence better
>> and more consistent alternative I've been asking you since couple of
>> years: extend support for custom activation actions. Allow user
>> scripts there (and include one basic example to the docs) and give
>> users basic debug tools (for now it's just almost impossible to
>> debug).
>
> This is already possible.  The (various forms of the) "exec"
> activation function (filed under "System" in Activation Functions)
> let you run a script from topcat with command-line arguments
> supplied from column values.  I admit the documentation is
> terse, but the Example listed says:
>
>    exec("do_stuff.py " + RA + " " + DEC)
>
> which should give the idea.  You just need a python script called
> "do_stuff.py" (or a shell script or whatever) on your path which
> takes RA and DEC command-line arguments, and every time you click
> on a row/point, it will get run with the RA and DEC column values
> supplied to it on the command line.
>
> If you're a java enthusiast you can also write java custom activation
> functions, but I don't expect that will apply to most astronomers.
>
> Debugging: print statements are your friend.
>
> Does this cover your requirements?

No. Complete example of setup including plotting script itself is
crucial here, otherwise it's too obscure. Where does user put this
script? How does user know that TOPCAT found it and attempted to call?
In particular, I've never been able to make it work with any sort of
plotting (I tried shell script with OS command line plotting
application call and Python script with matplotlib) -- I don't
remember exactly why, but debugging this was a pain so that I dropped
the idea and developed Octopus instead as it was just easier.

--
With best regards,
 Ivan