We're happy to announce that Scheduler 3.5 is released. Your support and upgrades must be current through 01-Feb-2012.

http://download.dc3.com/ACPScheduler-3.5-Setup.msi

Here are the things that were added/changed:
New Features and Improvements

  • The web schedule browser now supports creation of new Projects, Plans, Observations, and ImageSets
  • The UTC time at which a flip-wait will end is now reported in the ACP run logs for Scheduler Observations.
  • A target that is "always below the observatory's visible horizon" is no longer a plan failure. Instead the Plan is vetoed for about 20 minutes so that it will be re-evaluated. Maybe it is then above the horizon in that direction!
  • If the mount supports it, each slew to flip is checked for actual flip. If the flip was not done, the mount is explicitly flipped and then checked again. This all should never actually happen, but it was added as a hack for the Gemini mount which does not flip when it should under certain conditions.
  • Diagnostic info for flip wait is now logged as it is for ACP-only observing plans.
  • The plain white icons used in the tree section of the web schedule browser have been improved and show their function now.
  • Periodic AF will now happen in any sky condition if no real sky server is connected. If a real sky server is connected, AF will not be done in Poor skies.
  • In the web schedule browser, the project data table how shows projects with running plans highlighted (the run % is still displayed, but it too is highlighted if the number > 0).
  • Uncompressed image files are now deleted if the image is compressed for a web user.
  • The logging level is now written to the scheduler log on startup, when the log is rotated (daily), and whenever the logging level is changed.
  • Both the scheduler log and the ACP run logs now report not only the Observation that is being acquired, but it's parent Plan and grandparent Project.
  • Email sending now supports TLS and SSL3 security as needed by most SMTP mail servers nowadays.
  • A balloon popup now appears when a successful email test has completed.
  • Email sending errors now report the complete error including any "inner exceptions" that may be present.
  • Email sending now logs the type (or lack of) email security when sending messages (logged at Debug level and higher).
  • The From: address of generated email messages can now be configured.
  • The Scheduler engine's configuration form (property grid) has been reorganized more logically (instead of alphabetically).
Changes and Fixes

  • A timing hole where weather was not being checked before making a decision has been plugged.
  • Observing logic (AcquireScheduler) has been fixed to prevent a script error when guider startup fails with an external guidescope and with image exposure time aggregation enabled.
  • The web schedule browser has been fixed so that the browsing tree works in both compatibility mode and standards mode of Internet Explorer 9.
  • The web schedule browser now has a fixed area for the tree control, and scrolling within that area when needed.
  • The $PRJCONT file/folder (ImageFileConfig) substitution token has been fixed. It was not inserting anything in the name.
  • The sample startup script now runs Clarity as an executable before connecting. This has been found to prevent strange Clarity errors (when creating ActiveX object starts it).
  • The sample shutdown script no longer (harmlessly) disconnects weather. This is managed inside Scheduler now.
  • The RTML Importer now clears the Project and Plan collections at the start of each import. This allows a single instance of the component to be used for multiple imports.
  • The dome controller now gracefully recovers from a hardware dome closure while starting up and opening the dome.
  • The installer now sets two permissions that were needed for Scheduler to run on Windows 7 with User Account Control on (the default).
  • The missing "tiny info" image used in some web forms has been included in the installer.
  • The default VOEvent receiver filter has been enhanced to detect VOEvent 2.0 (and other non-VOEvent 1.1) messages and report it in a nice way insterad of a filter error. We will add VOEvent 2.0 compatibility in the future.
  • The test mosaic grid generator settings and selector has been removed. This was never implemented.
  • Trying to generate a test project with ACP as the sequencer and with its telescope disconnected no longer causes a fatal error.
  • A spurious 'var' in the Importing and Exporting Schedule Data help has been corrected.
  • The config item for periodic autofocus time now properly un-bolds when set to its default value of zero.
  • The "are you sure?" popup for deleting image sets in the web Schedule Browser has been corrected.