Command Procedures

The expose words can be used to fashion command procedures which will run automatically. SNAP and EXPOSE, which normally spawn subprocesses if the exposure time exceeds 60 seconds, can be forced not to do so by using the keyword WAIT. Thus, for example, the command line

$ SNAP WAIT CAM=0 TIME=100 NAME=``BLAH DAH'' NODISPLAY

will run to completion without any keyboard interaction. At the end of the exposure there will be no display of the frame obtained.

$ SNAP WAIT CAM=0 TIME=1 NAME=BLAH DISPLAY $\backslash$

will also run to completion, displaying the image with the default values, when the exposure is finished. If the $\backslash$ is not present, the program will prompt you for the values necessary for displaying the image, and thus the procedure will not be completely automated.

Note that if the image name contains a space, it must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Thus one can construct DCL command strings for sequences of flat field frames in several filters, i.e. the command DINNER, using SNAP, CONSEC, MULTIPLE, or EXPOSE, and BFMOVE. An example is given below:

$ BFMOVE FIL = RED

$ SNAP WAIT CAM=0 TIME = 70 NAME = BLAH NODISPLAY

$ BFMOVE FIL = GREEN

$ SNAP WAIT CAM = 0 TIME = 100 NAME = BLAH NODISPLAY

Such DCL procedures can be constructed using many of the commands. If you need to determine the relevant parameters, type the command interactively and note the questions asked. All parameters must be defined on the command line for such procedures to function. If the parameters are mostly unchanged, define those that are necessary, and the rest can be specified via the usual FIGARO mechanism of $\backslash$. The full name of the parameter need not be spelled out; it is sufficient to use the abbreviated form, which is that part in capital letters given in the command prompting. Thus for example, the parameter CAMERA in SNAP can be abbreviated to CAM.

Note that hidden keywords (i.e. WAIT, NODISPLAY) must be specified on the command line itself.

The files specifying the parameters for each command are named ABC.CON, where ABC is the name of the command. They are located in the directories whose logical names are FIGARO_LOCAL:[DEV], FIGSRC:, or OBSERVESRC:. Inspection of these files will prove very helpful in constructing command procedures.

For more details, see the FIGARO manuals.