ACP 8.3 Update is now available. This incorporates several modest improvements along with some critical adjustments for changes in the Windows Script security environment. A few bugs have been fixed as well. For details see the Release Notes below. In order to install and use this update, your ACP Support & License must be valid as of Feb 1, 2020.

Please Note: This ACP release is matched to the ACP Expert Scheduler 8.3 release due to changes in the ACP Application Programming Interface (API).

http://download.dc3.com/acp-83-setup.exe

ACP 8.3 Release Notes

Product Changes and Improvements:


  • The ACP web server can now handle HTTP PUT requests going to Active Server Pages.
  • The ACP Web Server can now be forced to switch incoming HTTP requests over to HTTPS, thereby guaranteeing that the traffic is secure.
  • A new ASP server variable BODY has been added. For HTTP POST and PUT requests, this variable will return the raw body of the HTTP Request.
  • The encrypted HTTPS support has been enhanced to require TLS 1.2 as the secure protocol, and prevents the use of the weaker TLS and SSL protocols. See Web Server Security with TLS.
  • The ACP Application object has three new properties relating to the TLS security mode, allowing scripts to construct secure URLs with https:// scheme.
  • The ACP Preferences, Servers tab has been edited to remove references to SSL, replacing with TLS since SSL is no longer supported by ACP).
  • A new setting for AutoFlats has been added to allow setting the numerical brightness value for a flat panel's full brightness level. If not set, it defaults to the old 255 value that was hard-wired in earlier versions. The documentation for AutoFLats has been updated to describe this new setting, as has the SampleAutoFlatConfig.txt file.
  • The Sky Flat Analyzer is now described here in ACP Help. In addition, the slide-out help in the web interface Sky Flat Analyzer item has been moved out into the item itself to make this important info more obvious.
  • A new tool has been added to the web interface which updates the MPC Minor Planet and Comet databases. Thanks to Dick Berg for this one!
  • The saving and retrieval of the settings for All-Sky Domain/Port have been (once again) corrected.
  • A new tool has been added to the web interface that allows restarting the scheduler in case of Operator Intervention. USE EXTREME CAUTION!!
  • The JScript engine has been upleveled to 5.8 to include the JSON object and several other obscure ECMA level 6 features.


Bug Fixes:


  • The camera sequencing logic in the AcquireSupport library has been simplified on recommendation of Diffraction engineers. Internal improvements in MaxIm have made the detailed camera status state-machine in AcquireSUpport unnecessary, and it was making troubleshooting difficult. It was added in the distant past to handle some obscure problems early in the life of MaxIm 6. It is no longer needed.
  • The ACP Scripting Host has been adjusted for another behavior change in the Javascript engine, yielding the "red herring" error message 0x80070715 from ThinScript.ActiveScript: The specified resource type cannot be found in the image file.
  • New JScript engine The resource loader cache doesn't have loaded MUI entry "red herring" error message that appeared with the upleveled JScript 5.8 engine are now properly handled for console scripts and ACP scripts.
  • Fix degree symbols on Web System Status display to use Unicode instead of non-Local degree. Makes it portable across languages.
  • The Plan Compiler now recognized the "interstellar" type comet names (there are only two, Omuamua and Borisov).
  • The AutoFlat process no longer fails on a "too bright" or "too dark" condition. It will instead go on to the next flat set or exit gracefully (allowing a possible shutdown to occur). This was broken in 8.2 with the multiple improvements to AutoFlat... an error catcher was removed presumably for testing, and not restored for production.
  • PinPoint's incorrect mapping of Plate.Temperature to TEMPERAT (which should be CCD not Ambient) forced removal of setting this in FITS. ACP Already sets AMBTEMP and MaxIm sets CCD-TEMP, and if needed MaxIm can be configured to set TEMPERAT as CCD temperature as well.
  • ACP Help, FITS Fields Added by ACP, now contains listings for the heliocentric and barycentric julian dates (HJD-OBS and BJD-OBS respectively).
  • The tooltip on the SSL Enable checkbox (Server tab) was corrected to show its effect