OT Release Notes: River

The River version of the Observing Tool was publicly released on 3 January 2003. Summarised below are the most significant changes from the previous public release (Limberlost). There is extensive web documentation that describes the new and modified features. 

• New instrument components and instrument iterators
• Michelle component and iterator added. The public release only supports imaging observations. The position editor visualisation of chop/nod beams is the same as for T-ReCS.
• GMOS-S component and iterator added. This is largely a clone of the GMOS-N component although it is separate as specific elements of the instrument (filters, gratings etc) are different.
• Modified instrument components and iterators
• Additional GMOS iterator (sequence component) items. Several items included in the GMOS static component are now also available in the iterator (e.g. custom mask MDF, ROI, read mode, binning).
• Modifications to GMOS component in the area of nod & shuffle. A second default nod offset and shuffle rows, appropriate for longslit nod and shuffle, have been defined. 
• Updated GMOS filter list with new science filters.
• Bug fixes
• Under certain circumstances, a sequence pasted was not the same as that copied. The sequence copy & paste bug has been fixed.
• Calibration lamp bug. The GCAL quarz halogen lamp and CuAr arc were incorrectly labelled as ARC and FLAT, respectively.
• User interaction and user interface features
• Program chooser window size is now changeable and remembered between uses. Column widths have been increased, are changeable and the list of available programs can be sorted by clicking on the column header.
• Science program editor window title now includes program reference number.
• A check that the number of nod and shuffle rows is a multiple of the Y-binning is now performed. This is one in a much larger series of internal checks and verification planned for a future release.
• The tree structure representing the entire science program or individual observations can be expanded using the right-click menu.
• The calibration Observe commands in the science program are labelled with the type of calibration (flat or arc) and lamp name.
• Mislabelling of steps (i.e. reversal of p and q labels) in the offset iterator has been corrected. 
• The location for loading and saving of XML files is remembered between uses.
• The View...science area menu in the position editor has been reorganised for clarity.
• Options when attempting to import an XML science program with the same program reference have been modified. The user can now cancel or continue with the import; in the latter case a temporary program reference number is assigned.
• A note component can now be added at the top-level (science program; previously notes could only be added to individual observations).
• Access to 2MASS image and catalogue servers enabled (via the usual position editor catalog menu).
• User-defined proxy settings, allows catalogue access when using a proxy server from behind firewall. See more information on the proxy settings page.

Last update: Phil Puxley
11 January 2003