Horizon Data Interchange utility

[Tim Long]

I have created a command line utility for Horizon Data Interchange.

I know there is a horizon editor for ACP, but I wanted to meet several needs with this utility that aren't covered.
- I specifically wanted a command line utility so it is simple and scriptable, so the process can be automated.
- I wanted "XCOPY deployment", i.e. there is no setup, so I can drop it into my DropBox and have it sync to all my computers.
- I wanted to support Astroplanner, which the current utility doesn't do
- I wanted to be able to easily add support for other programs and file formats
- I wanted it to be open source so that others can extend what I've done.

Currently, the utility is capable of importing from AstroPlanner and exporting to ACP (simply because that's the specific need I had). However, I have tried to make the code extensible so it should be relatively simple to add support for other programs and additional importers and exporters should become available over time.

The source code and documentation is at: https://bitbucket.org/tigra-astronom...ta-interchange - I have fully documented what developers need to do to make custom importers and exporters, so please feel free to fork the project and/or make pull requests.

The latest beta binaries can be obtained directly from our build server at
http://build.teamserver.tigranetwork...lastSuccessful - click on the Artifacts tab and then Download All (zip).

[This server isn't online 24x7 so if you get an error, try again later - if there is a demand I'll make a release and put it somewhere more friendly]

I have obtained successful results using the following command line:

.\TA.Horizon.exe --Importer Astroplanner --Exporter Acp --SourceFile .\SampleData\AstroPlanner.csv

[That's a beta build, there is no 'release' as such yet, and there probably never will be unless there is any interest]

I'm not sure how many AstroPlanner users there are out there but I'm hoping that some developers will have a burning desire to add support for _their_ favourite programs.

Its free, open source and covered by the MIT license which is ridiculously permissive.

Best regards,
Tim Long

[Bob Denny]

Thank you Tim!!!!

[Tim Long]

I'm pretty sure no-one has downloaded it (its a pretty obscure use case) but just in case...

I have released version 0.0.3, which has the following changes:

• Added an ACP importer and an AstroPlanner exporter, to data can now go both ways.
• Added a console exporter, which simply dumps the data to the console window and made this the default option if no exporter is specified.
• Changed the interfaces and documentation a litle bit to make life easier.

The binaries (build artifacts) for the release are at: http://build.teamserver.tigranetwork...orizon_Release

--Tim

[Dave Wormuth]

Tim,

Are the URLs for the artifacts still valid? Is this a binary executable, or source that I will have to compile?

Will this use the greater of the Horizon / Light Dome columns?

Glad to see another Astroplanner user out there. Wish they would fix my crasher on OS X!

Thanks,

Dave

[Tim Long]

David, thanks for enquiring.

The server I use for software development is currently down due to a boot volume failure. It's been down a few weeks and it hasn't been as inconvenient as I thought it might be, so I am considering not fixing it and migrating over to a cloud based service. However, that probably will not happen until the new year.

You can find the source code at https://bitbucket.org/tigra-astronom...ta-interchange but if you can't compile it for yourself then perhaps we can arrange something with a shared dropbox folder?
Regards,
Tim

[Tim Long]

To answer the other part of your question: The AstroPlanner importer reads both the horizon and light dome data from teh CSV file and creates the internal data structures for both. There is a global option, --useLightDome that was intended to let you use the light dome data. However, the code that produces the interpolated data for the exporter doesn't take any notice of the option and simply writes 0 as the light dome data, so what you will get is the horizon (only) and not the light dome.

I only put enough effort into the code so that it met my needs and it seems that I didn't need to include the light dome. If you would like this feature to be added, then you have two options:
1. Clone the code and do it yourself (we'd love to get a pull-request) or,
2. Create an issue against the project in BitBucket and ask for the feature and we will try to do it for you. We have some time over the holidays...

Best regards,
Tim Long.

[Dave Wormuth]

I'll give it a whirl. Found the Community version of Visual Studio 2015. Cloned (perhaps I should have forked?) the repository. Now for this C# stuff!

[Dave Wormuth]

Not whirling well. Possible you could share the executable via a dropbox folder? My email is dwormuth at post dot harvard dot edu

[Tim Long]

Here you go. I've updated the code so that the --UseLightDome option now works.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6hf627gt0p...rizon.zip?dl=0

[Dave Wormuth]

Worked like a charm, although it's depressing to see my northern light dome

Thanks