[APBeta] Observation Sessions

[Paul Rodman]

On Jun 24, 2009, at 1:30 PM, Steve Barkes wrote:

> Ok I’ve played with this some more.  The Show Observation Database  
> functionality gives me what I would expect when looking at previous  
> sessions.
>
> But adding an observation after the fact is still too cumbersome.   
> The Calendar/Clock interface doesn’t work well for entering items  
> from several weeks or months ago.

I guess I'll try this and see what my experience is. The problem with  
one-man-vs-one million-lines-of-code is that one never has any time/ 
energy left for practising the art.

> Here are some ways it might could work:
>
> How about, from the Observation tab, if you right-click on an object  
> in the Object list you get a menu item like Add Observation to  
> Session...  Clicking this brings up a list of sessions which you can  
> select form and populates the time and general session info.

...and would default to the last chosen session.

Are you suggesting here that all your observations for a given session  
have the same date/time? This is fine (until you want to recreate the  
conditions when the observation was made (e.g. altitude) that is).

I could represent the date/time with a graphic similar to the short- 
term visibility indicator. An option for selecting the time would be  
to click in that graphic.

> Or, allow a Fix Date to a Session Time..., so all new observations  
> default to the time of the desired session.
>
> Or... Add a + to the observations list in the Observation Database  
> Window that would close the Observation Database Window, update the  
> general observing session data, and allow you to click on an object  
> from the Object list to create a new observations.

These sound contrived.

I suspect what you're saying is you have a bunch of observations that  
were all made "on the night of dd mmm yyyy", without any time info.

Paul R.

>
> On 6/22/09 7:52 AM, "Paul Rodman" <paul at ilanga.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Jun 17, 2009, at 9:14 AM, Steve Barkes wrote:
>>
>>>  Ok, I guess I’m confused.  I’m struggling to try and enter  
>>> multiple observations for a session that I had back in December of  
>>> last year.
>>>
>>>   If I right-click on an object from the observation tab, the Make  
>>> Observation option is always greyed out.  It works from the  
>>> Objects tab.
>>
>> Sounds like a bug.
>>
>>> If I create an observation from the Observation menu, or by  
>>> clicking + in Observations list, I have no way to select what  
>>> session to put the observation in.  I can only select the  
>>> “Currently Open Session” which makes no sense in that It always  
>>> has the current date/time.  If the session is currently open, I  
>>> should be able to close it, or change to an existing session.  The  
>>> other options are  create a “New Session” which I don’t want to  
>>> do, and the “Recent Sessions” is always blank and greyed out.   
>>> What about a All Sessions in addition to Recent Sessions?
>>
>> Check the Observation preferences. At the top-left is the "New  
>> Observation Date/Time Source" option. I assume you have that set to  
>> "Computer". This setting assumes you are logging at the telescope  
>> and defaults the date/time to the current date/time. You probably  
>> want the "Ask user" setting, which will always ask for a date/time  
>> before deciding what session to add the observation to.
>>
>>> It appears the only way to move an observation into a particular  
>>> session is to edit the date and time of the observation.  Then I  
>>> get an option to add it to an older session.  But this is way too  
>>> cumbersome, especially if I’m adding a dozen observations.
>>>
>>>  Shouldn’t there be a way to Set the current session, possibly to  
>>> a session date/time in the past, and then have all new  
>>> observations go into that session until I change it, or create a  
>>> new one?
>>
>> See below - all you need to do is change the date/time and the  
>> session management is automatic.
>>
>>> Shouldn’t I be able to see a list of all my sessions? And  
>>> shouldn’t it be clear looking at the interface that the correct  
>>> session has been selected?  How do I see a list of all objects  
>>> associated with a particular session?
>>
>> There is no connection between an observation and a session. A  
>> session is defined as a start and end date/time, and an observation  
>> has a date/time. If the observation date time falls in the session  
>> date/time range it is assumed to be part of that session. It is  
>> done that way to make session management largely automatic.
>>
>> However, there are some problems in the current implementation, e.g  
>> you can't have overlapping sessions (e.g. multiple observers using  
>> the same installation of AP, or a single observer at multiple sites  
>> (e.g. multiple remote telescopes being used simultaneously). I'll  
>> be looking at fixing these problems.
>>
>> Paul R.
>>
>>
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