NAME

qpcreate -- create a qpoe file from an input ASCII event-list

USAGE

qpcreate input_list column_definitions qpoe

DESCRIPTION

qpcreate converts an input ASCII event-list to QPOE format. The input file must have an accompanying column definition file to specify the names of the event-list columns as well as their datatype. There is also as accompanying header data file, which should be edited to reflect the appropriate keywords. Optionally, display parameters and units may also be specified. The input is first converted to an ST/TABLE file (with tcreate ), then to a FITS BINTABLE file (with xwfits ), for conversion into a standard PROS QPOE file (with qpcreate ).

PARAMETERS

evtlist = "" prompt = input ASCII event-list

The filename containing the input ASCII list.

coldef = "." prompt = column definition file

The filename containing the column definitions for the evtlist. The default ".", expects the filename to have the same root as the evtlist with a ".cd" file extension. Four columns are defined:

	name	datatype	display-format	units

The names when making an event-list should ALWAYS include

		x	s
		y	s

and OFTEN include

		pha	s
		pi	s
		time	d
		rawx	s
		rawy	s
where the recognised data-types are:
.nf
		s	- short
		i	- integer
		r	- single precision real
		d	- double precision real
		b	- boolean
		ch*n	- character string of length n

The display format is optional and accepts standard FORTRAN or SPP formats. See also help tcreate for more detailed information.

headdef = "." prompt = header parameter definitions

The filename containing the column definitions for the evtlist. The default ".", expects the filename to have the same root as the evtlist with a ".hd" file extension.

outfile = "." prompt = output QPOE file name

The output qpoe file name. The file must have a ".qp" extension, but may be specified with or without the extension. The "." default will build an output QPOE filename with the same root as the input evtlist.

(nskip = 0) [int]

Number of lines at the beginning of evtlist to skip. This is set when there are some header lines in the input file.

(nlines = 0) [int]

Number of lines in the input evtlist to be read to produce a single output row.

(nrows = 0) [int]

Number of lines to write to the output file. If ==0, write all the data.

(clobber = no) [boolean]

Boolean flag specifying whether or not the qpoe file or any of the other intermediate files can be overwritten, if they already exists.

(display = 1) [int]

The display level. A display level of 0 generates no display. A display level

	level		action
	-----		------
	  0		no output
	  1		just output filename info
	  2		all filenames

(sort = yes) [boolean]

Boolean flag to indicate if final QPOE file should be sorted.

(ssize = 1000000) [int]

Maximum number of events per buffer when doing sorting. This number can be made larger for machines with large memory (an average event is ~20 bytes long) or smaller for low-memory machines.

(qpi = yes) [boolean]

Boolean flag controlling whether the internal qpoe parameters (see below) are prompted for, or whether they are defaulted to internally hardwired values. This parameter is not usually changed by the user. (Prompting is normally turned off during stand-alone debugging only.)

(psize = 4096) [int]

Page size for the qpoe file. This parameter is internal to qpoe and should not normally be changed.

(bsize = 8192) [int]

Bucket length for the qpoe file. This parameter is internal to qpoe and should not normally be changed.

(xkey = "x") [string]

Name of the event keyword to use for the x-index of the QPOE file.

(ykey = "y") [string]

Name of the event keyword to use for the y-index of the QPOE file.

(qpkey = "") [string]

Key on which to make the qpoe index. This parameter is internal to qpoe and should not normally be changed.

(debug = 0) [int]

Debug level for qpoe internals. This parameter is internal to qpoe and should not normally be changed.

EXAMPLES

1. Make a QPOE file from the input list, sim.lst containing:

10      20      2
20      30      4
30      40      6
40      50      8
50      60      10
60      70      12
70      80      14
80      90      16
90      100     18
100     120     20

x       s       %6d     pixels
y       s       %6d     pixels
pha     s       %6d     pixels

qpcreate sim.lst . sim.qp

TIME REQUIREMENTS

BUGS

SEE ALSO

Task, tcreate , which will create a TABLE file to an ASCII-list.

Task, imcopy , which will copy a qpoe file to an image file. However, currently this task will NOT correctly update the WCS information, so task, blkavg with option=sum is recommended instead.

Documentation on region filtering (help regions ) for a description of the spatial filter user interface.

Documentation on qpoe filtering (help qpoe ) for a description of the qpoe filter user interface.

Documentation on file extensions (help extensions ) for a description of PROS file extensions.

Documentation on coordinates (help coords ) for a description of PROS coordinate conventions.