BinTable.h

BinaryTable inherits from the FITS BinaryTableExtension class and its primary use is to convert that class to an aips++ Table. This explains it's use but not its name. A better name should be found.

Synopsis

The class starts with an already existing FitsInput object, which should be set at a BinaryTableExtension HDU. Member functions provide a TableDesc appropriate for the FITS data (to help in constructing an aips++ Table compatible with the BinaryTableExtension), a Table containing the current row of FITS data and a Table containing the next row of FITS data (which can be used to step through the FitsInput, copying each row using the RowCopier class), and a Table containin the entire FITS binary table from the current row to the end of the table.

Motivation

We need a way to get FITS data into aips++ Tables.

Example

open a FitsInput from a disk file, if the HDU is a BinaryTableExtension, then instantiate a BinTable object and get the entire table. A fair amount of error checking has been eliminated from this example.

    FitsInput infits("myFITSFile", FITS::Disk);
    switch (infits.hdutype()) {
       case FITS::BinaryTableHDU:
          BinaryTable bintab(infits);
          Table tab = bintable.fullTable("myTable");
          break;
    }

There would obviously be other cases to the switch to deal with any other HDUs (e.g. skip them via infits.skip_hdu()). The Table destructor would write "myTable" to disk.

To Do

It would be nice to construct this directly from the BinaryTableExtension.
When random access FITS becomes available, this needs to be able to deal with that.
A corresponding class is needed for conversion from aips++ Tables to FITS.
Throw exceptions rather than send messages to cout : however the entire FITS module behaves this way, so it should all remain consistent.
The following types of columns are not dealt with very well or at all (Bit, Byte, 0-length columns).
No attempt use any TDIM columns or keywords to shape arrays.

Member Description

BinaryTable(FitsInput &, FITSErrorHandler errhandler = FITSError::defaultHandler, Bool useMiriadSM = False, Bool sdfits = False)

The only constructor is from a FitsInput, you can also optionally provide a FITS error handler. If useMiriadSM is True, use the Miriad storage manager for all columns, otherwise AipsIO. If sdfits is True, all non-reserved and some reserved keyword are treated as if they were columns with constant values "virtual columns" in the sdfits convention.

~BinaryTable()

Table fullTable(const String& tabName, const Table::TableOption = Table::NewNoReplace, Bool useMiriadSM = False)

Get the full table, using the supplied arguments to construct the table. The table will contain all data from the current row to the end of the BinarTableExtension.If useMiriadSM is True, use the Miriad storage manager for all columns, otherwise AipsIO.

Table fullTable()

This version of the fullTable return a Memory based table Its recommended if its being used as a temporary

const TableDesc& getDescriptor()

Get an appropriate TableDesc (this is the same TableDesc used to construct any Table objects returned by this class.

TableRecord& getKeywords()

Return the Table keywords (this is the same TableRecord used in any Table objects returned by this class.

const Table &thisRow()

Get a Table with a single row, the current row of the FITS table. The returned Table is a Scratch table. The standard BinaryTableExtension manipulation functions are available to position the FITS input at the desired location.

const Table &nextRow()

Get a Table with a single row, the next row of the FITS table. The returned Table is a Scratch table. The FITS input is positioned to the next row and the values translated and returned in a Table object.

void fillRow()

this is the function that fills each row in as needed