SETTING USER'S PREFERENCES

• Current work directory
• General preferences
  • File format and overwrite
  • Debug mode
  • History file
  • Miscellaneous settings
  • User's reduction log file
  • User's assistant : concise on-the-fly help.
  • User's name
  • On-line help browser
  • Window size

Current work directory

User's general preferences

• File

  • File format : For files just brought back from an observing run at CFHT, this is Binary FITS. [MIDAS] is for ESO's MIDAS package. In a future release, [IRAF] format will be supported too.
    Note that it is safer to use binary FITS format; if you plan to do some file exchange with MIDAS, and will to work from scratch in MIDAS format, do not use a release newer than 95NOV : the XOasis MIDAS binary format implementation does not yet work with newer 96 & 97 releases.
    Note that the XOasis implementation of binary FITS format is able to read ASCII FITS format as well.
    
  • File overwrite : You get here the choice to have the existing file being silently overwritten, or to be warned each time an overwrite is needed.
    



• Debug mode

  Activating the XOasis debug mode mode switches the program to verbose mode. All the actions are traced, and written in an ASCII file named .XOasis-debug.{user}, situated in the current directory. The XOasis kernel information button opens a window where release dates of the various programs are displayed, easing remote debugging.
  



• History file

  As the reduction process goes on, a trace is kept of every action performed, with all the optional parameter values, to allow later inspection. Everything is written in a file named .XOasis.history.{user}, situated in the current directory. As this file may grow really big, it is possible at this point to select automatic erasing of the file once it reaches a given size.
  This file is for debugging purposes only, and stays unreadable for within XOasis. It can later be read, off-line, with any text editor.
  



• Miscellaneous settings

  You may specify here :
  
  
  • The command to be used to compress files.
  • The command to be used to uncompress files.
  • The local command to be used to print plain ASCII files.
  • The circumstances where a beep should be emitted. On error or at end is a good choice, which will warn you upon completion of long lasting operations.
  • Reset XOasis parameters to default values does what it means. This applies to all the parameters which may be set in the File format, File overwrite, Debug, History, Misc, Log, Assistant, User and Help folders.
  
  The icon to the right of the text zones allows you to apply the given command to the file of your choice.
  



• User's reduction logfile

  If you check Store commands into log file, every command you give is logged into the Reduction logbook. If you want the output information to be logged too, you have to click on the save button in the result window of the action just performed.
  



• User's assistant : concise on-the-fly help

  If the XOasis on-line assistant (nicknamed Calvin) is loaded, then the following options become effective :
  • Pop-up main menu information : when the cursor is set on a main menu button, a few (supposed) informative words are displayed.
  • Stay with me through each reduction step : the Calvin windows permanently displays information during the reduction process.
  • Pop-up input field information : when the cursor is set on an input field, a few informative words are displayed.
  • Display help on entering each reduction step : when a main menu function (i.e. CCD, Mask, Extract, and so on) is selected, the Calvin windows displays a short help about this function.
  • Load Calvin at XOasis start : the assistant window is opened by default, giving you easy access to the short-form help.
  
  



• User's name

  Enter here the name to be used for personnalised messages...
  



• On-line help browser

  You may provide here :
  
  
  • The name of your favourite WEB browser
  • The OASIS help path
  
  This information will be used to display the in-line help while using XOasis. Note that this concerns the full scale help, the one which you are reading, not the short form built-in XOasis help. See the download section of the present manual.
  Note, too, that it is visually MUCH better to start your browser BEFORE starting XOasis, to avoid this greedy program to steal all the color resources of the system, leaving a very strange-looking WEB manual. So, not using this otherwise nice possibility of XOasis is a good idea !
  



• Windows size

  You may specify here the default size of the reduction folder window; but it can be resized anytime with the mouse... Later, it may work on other windows too; that is for the "s"...
  

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