ASTAP download range has increased from 1..4 to 0..4

[Han K]

In the latest ASTAP v0.9.265 a new downsampling factor of 0 is allowed. This value represents an auto selection of the downsampling factor.

Please allow the value 0 in the Nina setting menu. Keep the default at 2 since the new 0 causes a runtime error in old ASTAP versions. Maybe end 2020 is is wise to change the default from 2 to 0.

[Stefan B]

Cool! Sure we will add this!

[Stefan B]

By the way - Is the version inside the astap exe maintained? If yes it should be possible to retrieve the version and validate that 0 is only allowed for a minimum version

[Han K]

I assume I can add the version (see it in the compiler setting) but never used it.

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[Han K]

I can add a version number, but if I compile in Linux, Raspberry Pi or MacOS, I have to enter the number manually in the compiler configuration. That’s cumbersome. I will keep it as it is in the source code. Resume no file version for the moment.

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[Dale Ghent]

Typical/traditional way of handing this is to have a C header file (or ObjectPascal equivalent) such as version.h that contains a global variable that contains the version string. The appropriate file includes this header and the command line processing code (getopts(), et al) print it out when, say, the -v or --version flag is specified on the command line. When you update the code with changes, you would also update version.h with the new version number.

I think what would be useful for us is the ability to easily get the version of ASTAP programmatically and thus be able to derive the feature sets available (such as autoselection of downsample factor), or also demand to the user that they install a newer version if they have a version below that which we want to operate with.

[Han K]

I have a compromise. The files version will refer to the interface standard. So the new downsample range 0,1,2,3,4 is valid for file version 0.9.1.0 or higher. Older versions with no file version accept only range 1,2,3,4. For the latest version 0.9.1.0 or higher you could make the default downsampling 0. For older version the default downsampling should be 2. Is this okay? The ASTAP version online is already updated with this file version.

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[Stefan B]

available in 1.10