ISOC Science Data Archive FAQ: tips on usage
This page is a compilation of tips on how to accomplish specific
search or retrieval tasks through the
Integral
Science Archive (ISDA) user interface. This page
assumes that the reader is already familiar with the
Guided
Tour of the ISOC Science Data Archive, which provides
potential ISDA users with a brief primer introduction to
the content and usage of the ISDA.
Clicking on a question will take you down the page to the answer. If you want
to find the answer to another question, either scroll through the page
manually, or use your browser Back
button to return to the question list.
If you have any suggestions for items, which you deem interesting
to be dealt with in this page, or if you need additional help,
please do not hesitate to contact the
Integral HelpDesk.
Q1. How do I search for a list
of targets?
A1. The ISDA user interface allows a user to search on a list of
either targets names (according to either the NED, the SIMBAD name resolver,
or the name as originally given by the observer) or target coordinates.
In order to search on a list of target names:
- go to the Query Specification panel (default when the
ISDA applet is launched)
- select:
- "Search Target By=Name"
- "Name=for NED", or for SIMBAD or
Given by Proposer
- write the file name (full path) in the File With Target List
widget (the button Locate File besides the widget can be used
to browse your local disk)
- click on Execute query
In order to search on a list of coordinates:
- go to the Query Specification panel (default when the
ISDA applet is launched)
- select:
- "Search Target By=Equatorial" or Galactic or Ecliptic
- Radius or Box, as appropriate
- write the file name (full path) in the File With Target List
widget (the button Locate File besides the widget can be used
to browse your local disk)
- click on Execute query
The file for a search on a target list shall contain one target name
per line. The file for a search on a coordinate list shall
contain one full set of coordinates per line. Several formats
are allowed for equatorial coordinates:
- two numbers per line are interpreted as hours and
degrees
- six numbers are assumed to be hours, minutes, seconds, and
degrees, arcminutes, arcseconds for right ascension and declination,
respectively
- integer numbers can be used, but the declination
degrees shall contain the sign explicitly to separate it from
right ascension. Missing numbers are interpreted as zeros.
For example: "12 30 +50" is interpreted as "12h 30m 0s +50d 0' 0''")
- any other combinations require explicit identification of the
coordinates, using the following characters: h, m,
s, d, ', "
For ecliptic and galactic coordinates, inputs are expected in
degrees (two numbers per line).
Q2. How can I create a file, containing a list of
observations and/or target names fulfilling a given search condition?
A2.
First of all, you need to create the list of observations, fulfilling
your search condition:
- go to the Query Specification panel (default when the
ISDA applet is launched)
- define your query
- click on Execute query
This will lead you automatically to a new panel of the ISDA user interface
(Latest Results), which will display the list of observations,
matching your search criteria. If you want to create a file, listing
the content of this panel, the only thing you need to do is:
- select "Save/Query Results" or Query Results (one-line-format) or Query Results (HTML-format)
The first two options produce an output in ASCII format. The layout
of the former mirrors the ISDA user interface layout; the latter is
a table-like list, where each row corresponds to one observation.
Q3. Is is possible to stop a query
if I make a mistake?
A3. Yes. The Query Specification panel contains the button
Cancel Query
(pale blue, top panel section below the Integral logo). Clicking
this button will interrupt the ongoing query, and give back
the full control of the ISDA user interface to the user.
Q4. Is it possible to submit
batch queries or queries using scripts?
A4. No. However, in the very near future this will be possible using the
Archive InterOperability System (AIO). If you are interested
in using this system, please contact the
Integral HelpDesk.
Q5. Does the ISDA contain information on future scheduled observations
A5.At present this information is not accessible via the ISDA. Please go to the
ISOC home page> and look under the
Target and Scheduling section.
Q6. I have forgotten the password
of my ISDA account. What can I do?
A6. Just contact the
Integral HelpDesk.
We will reset the password of your ISDA account to a dummy value,
that we'll immediately communicate you. We recommend
you to change the dummy password as soon as possible
to a new value, following these steps:
- click on the button Login/Register in the start
panel of the ISDA user interface applet
- click on Change your password
- fill the widget with the old (dummy) password and the new password
of your choice
- click OK
Q7. The ISDA user interface
tells me that I have "exceeded my quota". What can I do to get
the data I want?
A7. A quota (i.e. a maximum volume of data that
can be retrieved within a given time interval by an ISDA account)
is being imposed on data retrieval, only when the "shopping basket"
retrieval functionality is used.
Currently, the quota is set to 100 GBytes of data, so this is only
likely to be a problem if
you are copying data on a very large scale.
The quota is refreshed every three days. The goal of the quota
is to prevent users from requesting completely
unrealistic amounts of data.
No quota is imposed on the "direct download" retrieve modality.
Hence, if you have exceeded your quota, you have the choice among
the following three possibilities:
- contact the
Integral HelpDesk,
to get a temporary extension of your account's quota,
specifying the data retrieval need that would justify this
extension. We will
agree with you the best solution to accommodate your needs
- use the "direct download" retrieval modality
- wait for your quota to be refreshed
Q8. Can I retrieve my
own proprietary data?
A8. No. Although this is possible for other ESA archives, e.g. XMM,
this has not been enabled in the ISDA. PIs should request their proprietary
data from the ISDC .
Q9. How do I get help
on the ISDA?
A9. There are two main source of on-line help on the ISDA
- the
Guided Tour to the ISDA, a short description of the
ISDA main features and functionalities
- the on-line help
in the ISDA user interface.
Clicking with the mouse on a blue field,
or on a field of an observation/exposure/ISDA source catalogue will
pop-up a
help window, whenever available
If everything else fails, you may consider to contact the
Integral HelpDesk.
Q10. How can I generate a list of
SCWs suitable for input to og_create?
A10. On the "Latest Results" page select go to the pull-down menu
"Print/Save" at the top left of teh screen. Then select
"Save list of SCW for OSA". This will save a list of all the SCW
records on the results page to a file in a format compatible with og_create.
[Last update: 07-Jul-2005 by ]