The Mission Database File

Starting with Xselect v2.0 much of the mission-dependence has been split out into a simple ascii file, xselect.mdb. Support for a new mission can be added to Xselect simply by including a new set of entries in this file. If a new mission requires particular ftools, different from the standard, then some changes in the Xselect source code will be necessary. For testing purposes it is possible to override the standard copy of xselect.mdb by setting an environment variable XSELECT_MDB to the new mission database filename.

Each line of the mission database file consists of a string of the form

Mission:Submission:Detector:Datamode:keyword value

where any of the substrings between Mission and keyword can be omitted. Keywords are inherited from higher levels eg the value of ASCA:x is also used for ASCA:SIS0:x and ASCA:SIS0:FAINT:x although the latter two do not appear explicitly. If a keyword appears at multiple levels in the hierarchy then the value for the lowest level is used eg if both ASCA:GIS2:x and ASCA:x exist then for ASCA GIS2 data the former value is used.

The keyword dictionary is given below. Probably the best approach when adding a new mission is to copy the entries for the most similar one currently supported and edit as appropriate.

  submkey               The keyword read from the file to get the SubMission
  instkey               The keyword read from the file to get the Instrument
  dmodekey              The keyword read from the file to get the Datamode
                        (All three of these keywords can be have a suffix (m:n)
                         which means take characters m to n of the keyword 
                         value)
  detectors             A list of the instruments
  modes                 A list of the datamodes
  mkf_def_expr          The global expression for filenames of MKF files
  time                  The column in the events extension used for time
  timesys               The zero for the time column
  mjdref                The zero for the time column (mjd)
  tunits                The units for the time column
  binsize               The default bin size for light curves
  x                     The column for sky X-axis
  y                     The column for sky Y-axis
  xsiz                  The keyword giving the max. value of X
  ysiz                  The keyword giving the max. value of Y
  detx                  The column for detector X-axis
  dety                  The column for detector Y-axis
  detxsiz               The keyword giving the max. value of DETX
  detysiz               The keyword giving the max. value of DETY
  rawx                  The column for raw X-axis
  rawy                  The column for raw Y-axis
  rawxsiz               The keyword giving the max. value of RAWX
  rawysiz               The keyword giving the max. value of RAWY
  phamax                The keyword giving the max. value of ECOL
  gti                   The name of the extension with GTI table
  events                The name of the extension with event data
  timeorder             Yes if the events are in time order
  instruments           A list of the instruments
  spbn                  The binning factor for spectra
  ecol                  The column for spectral information
  ccol                  The column for CCD number (if required - NONE if not)
  gcol                  The column for event grade/pattern
  imagecoord            The default coordinate system for images
  wmapcoord             The default coordinate system for WMAPs
  catnum                The extension number for catalog keywords
  wtmapb                Yes if a WMAP is to be produced
  wtmapfix              Yes if WMAP pixels outside selected region set to -1
  swmapx                True if WMAP X axis is inverted from sky
  swmapy                True if WMAP Y axis is inverted from sky
  lststr                The global expression for event files
  ofilt                 The default MKF filtering for valid files
  fbin                  The default binning for images
  hbin                  The default binning for WMAPs
  modes                 A list of the datamodes
  rbnval                Number of channels to which spectra are binned
  rbnmod                Compression mode for spectral rebinning
  catcol                A list of keywords used to catalog events files
  dispcol               A list of keywords used to display the catalog
  extract               The ftool used to extract images, spectra, and light
                        curves. Supported options are extractor and saextrct.
  respscript            The name of the script run to generate the spectral
                        responses.
  extendresp            If set to yes the spectral response generation has an
                        extended source option.