A data interface tool( Version 1.0 Beta )                 

INTRODUCTION:

    About VOCat

HOW TO:

    Getting Started

    Proxy Settings

   
Parsing a new Catalog

           Input File ASCII

           Input File VOTable

    Launching a View

           Submit

           Create and Launch View   

           Launch

    Working with a View

           View Mode

           SQL Mode   

           All Attributes Mode

    Tools

          VOPlot

          VOPlot 3D   

          VOStat (Web Based)

          VOStat (Stand Alone)

          Aladin   

          Simbad

          NED

          Cone Search   

    Options

          Set Search Properties

          Create New Column

    Save

          Save View

          Save as ASCII

          Save as VOTable

RELEASE:  

        Notes

       Acknowledgements

 

About VOCat

VOCat is a stand alone tool to create and query  MySQL databases. The user can create various views of the database and save them locally. The MySQL database can be present either on the user's machine (localhost) or any web server (vo.iucaa.ernet.in).

Click here for release notes and disclaimer.

VOCat has been developed as a part of the Virtual Observatory - India initiative by Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).

Third Party Tools

VOCat uses SAVOT parser for parsing of the VOTable files.

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Getting Started

System Requirements

Java : To run VOCat  you must have JRE 1.4.2 or higher version

To  check version of java on your machine, you can use the following command on  the command line

java -version   

Mysql: To create databases on local machine you will need MySql 4.1.14 version to be  installed on local machine.

To see version of MySQL installed, type following command at the command prompt

mysql

if it prompts to mysql type

status

you will get the information about mysql installed on your machine.

Starting Instructions

Please download the executable jar file named VOCat.jar. The file can be executed by typing the following command at the command prompt:

java -jar VOCat.jar

This will open a java application window as shown in the Fig. below.

VOCat needs to connect to a MySQL database first. The MySQL database can be present either on the user's machine (localhost) or any web server (vo.iucaa.ernet.in). Press the connect button on the toolbar to open settings window.

Press Ok.

If MySQL server authentication succeeds it will connect to the MySQL server and related databases will be displayed on the left panel.

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Proxy Setting

In some institutes, while connecting to internet, the application has to go through a proxy server. VOCat connects to remote database servers along with VO tools like Aladin, Simbad, Ned, Cone Search etc which require an internet connection. We enable all these internet related operations of VOCat by providing a proxy URL/IP and a proxy port.

Press the connect icon and click on the 'Use a proxy server' checkbox. Then enter the relevant proxy URL/IP and proxy port. Click the 'Save settings for future use' checkbox. Press Ok to continue. Your proxy information is saved on your local disk and will be available to you when you will launch VOCat in future.

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Parsing New Catalog

Here user needs to connect to the MySQL server in which one wishes to create database.

Enter Host MySQL server and root password  (if Any)

Select  either ASCII or VOTable  file type as input data file.

 

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Input File ASCII 

For loading a ASCII file click the "Load ASCII File" menu item from the "File" menu. A file chooser dialog appears where you can select the desired ASCII file from the local file system. Select some ASCII file. On clicking "OK" user is asked for some information before loading the ASCII file

In the first screen user can enter line numbers for header (column names), ucds, datatypes and the line where data starts

Clicking "OK" would show a screen where a delimiter is selected.

Clicking "OK" would show the meta data and data from the ASCII file. Metadata (Column names, DataType..) shown is editable.

The screen displays three tables in thr scroll pane. First table is an editable table which displays metadata informationabout all columns in the table. Second table is a data table which shows first few rows in the table split into columns. Third table asks user to enter Right Ascension and Declination columns present in the ASCII table.

Clicking OK will open next window where user has to enter database and the table name

Clicking "Insert " would insert catalog in database, after successfully completion it will prompt the following window

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Input File VOTable

User  can insert VOTable  table in database by selecting 'Select VOTable file' option

The screen displays three tables in the scroll pane. First table is an editable  table which displays metadata information about all columns in the table. Second table is a Data table which shows first few rows in the table split into columns. Third table asks user to enter Right Ascension and Declination columns present in the VOTable file.

Clicking OK will open next window where user has to enter database and the table name.

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Launching View

There are three ways to launch the view

1. Submit directly without saving the view

2. Create and Launch View

3. Launch   from launch button

 

Submit

User can directly submit the query without saving  the view by clicking on the ‘Submit' button.

Select metadata from the metadata table

Clicking 'Submit' will open view of that particular databases with selected attributes

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Creating New View

Select any database metadata table by clicking on any database in the tree view.

Here user has to select at least one column by clicking on the checkboxes provided in the 'Required column'. After selecting the required columns, the user has to click on 'Save View' button, which will prompt a window and ask the user to enter the view name.

Clicking ‘OK' will prompt another window, which gives user two choices one to launch and other  just to save view and create other view.

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Launch

When views are created by user those will be popup in the combo box on the top. Here one combo box gives list of databases having   views created And second one gives list of views related to that database. User can select any of the database and corresponding views will be listed out from which one can select any view. Clicking on ‘Launch' button will launch that particular view.

As shown in the following two windows

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Working With View

View Mode

When user launches a view it enters in the View mode as shown in the following fig.

Here two parts of the panel are shown , left part shows ‘Query form‘ and the right pane gives ‘Query Results'

Query Form

Query Results

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SQL Mode

If user is aware of the SQL syntax and wants to form some complicated SQL query, ‘SQL' mode is the option provided

Clicking on ‘SQL' button user can enter in SQL mode

Query Form

Query Results

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All Attributes Mode

Here user can view all attributes in the table on the query form and can select any of them for new query formation apart from the attributes saved  in the view. Clicking on All Attributes button gives following fig.  Query form is changed here.

 

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Tools

VOPlot

This is the first option in Tools menu Clicking on   this icon will open VOPlot plotting tool loading query results.

For more information click here

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VOPlot 3D

Clicking on   this icon will open VOPlot 3D, a 3D plotting tool loading query results.

For more information click here

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VOStat (Web based)

Clicking on this    icon one can launch VOStat web based version , but the only requirement for this is, machine must have internet connectivity.

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VOStat (Stand Alone)

 If user wants to use stand alone VOStat which is incorporated in VOCat, Statistical package 'R' should be installed locally.R-2.5.0 or higher version to be  installed on local machine.

Clicking on this  icon one can launch VOStat Stand alone version.

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Note: Following tools require Internet connection

Aladin

This icon will be enabled when user select any row in the results as it takes point source as input. Clicking on    this icon will open tool called Aladin. Before opening  aladin user has to set input co-ordinate types which can be done in the popup window.

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SIMBAD

This icon will be enabled when user select any row in the results as it takes point source as input Clicking on this icon  , will open up browser connect to Simbad query form.

 

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NED

This icon will get enabled when user select any row in the results as it takes point source as input. Clicking on this icon  , will open up browser, connect to NASA extragalactic database near position search query form.

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Cone Search

This icon will be enabled when user selects any row in the results as it takes point source as input Clicking on this icon ,  will open a new window displaying a registry which will list  out available cone search services.

 

After selection of a service the submit button will be enabled clicking on it will give the cone search results.

Cone Search Results

For more information about conesearch click here

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Options

Set Search Properties

Clicking on this icon user can set different parameters for search tools available in VOCat.

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Create New Column

User can create new column in the table using existing columns with some user defined expressions

clicking on this Icon you will get following window to create new column

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Save

Save View

Clicking on this , one can save the view with the changes in attributes made and query limits.

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Save as ASCII

Clicking on this , query results can be saved in the comma seperated ASCII format.

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Save as VOTable

Clicking on this , query results can be saved in the VOTable/xml  format.

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Please Note:

For deleting a database in MySQL, the root user has to do the following:

1) Get the 'mysql' prompt by typing
    a) mysql

    OR

    b) mysql -u root -p password

2) Then at the MySQL prompt, type

     drop database <database name>

     eg: drop database mydb;

Release Notes

Features in VOCat_1_0_Beta  Version (Release on 17 Aug. 2007):

                    1.VOPlot
                    2.VOPlot3D
                    3.VOStat (Stand Alone and Web Based)
                    4. Aladin
                    5. SIMBAD
                    6. NED                 

Acknowledgements

VOCat connects to SIMBAD and Aladin which were developed by CDS and NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). Our 'Cone Search' utility is based on idea from TOPCAT.

Feedback Address

We would be happy to receive any feedback/comments on VOCat. For feedback and comments please contact voindia@vo.iucaa.ernet.in.

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