CASA Tools
Tools in CASA
The CASA toolkit is the foundation of the functionality in the package, and consists of a suite of functions that are callable from Python. The tools are used by the tasks, and can be used by advanced users to perform operations that are not available through the tasks.
It is beyond the scope of this reference to describe the toolkit in detail. Occasionally, examples will be given that utilize the tools. In short, tools are always called as functions, with any parameters that are not to be defaulted given as arguments. For example:
ia.calcmask('"ngc5921.chan21.clean.cleanbox.mask">0.5','mymask')
ia.summary()
ia.close()
uses the image tool (ia) to turn a clean mask image into an image mask. Tools never use the CASA global parameters.
To find what tools are available, use the toolhelp command:
---------> toolhelp()
Available tools:
af : Agent flagger utilities
at : Juan Pardo ATM library
ca : Calibration analysis utilities
cb : Calibration utilities
cl : Component list utilities
cp : Cal solution plotting utilities
cs : Coordinate system utilities
cu : Class utilities
dc : Deconvolver utilities
fi : Fitting utilities
fn : Functional utilities
ia : Image analysis utilities
im : Imaging utilities
lm: linear mosaic
me : Measures utilities
ms : MeasurementSet (MS) utilities
msmd : MS metadata accessors
mt : MS transformer utilities
qa : Quanta utilities
pm : PlotMS utilities
po : Imagepol utilities
rg : Region manipulation utilities
sl : Spectral line import and search
sm : Simulation utilities
tb : Table utilities (selection, extraction, etc)
tp : Table plotting utilities
vp : Voltage pattern/primary beam utilities
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pl : pylab functions (e.g., pl.title, etc)
sd : Single dish utilities
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Note that while it is possible for users to easily create their own tasks, the process for generating tools is much more complex, and is also very much out of the scope of this document.
You can find much more information about the toolkit in the Global Tool List.
WARNING: Most of the tool descriptions are not yet in place, because we are in the process of reviewing the way we test the functionality for all tools that we intend to officially endorse and advertise for public use. We expect that this will take several CASA cycles to complete, and apologize for the inconvenience. In the meanwhile, the inline help or the old CASA Toolkit Manual may provide instructions on the use of existing tools within CASA. Some examples, e.g. on the use of tools for simulating data or creating masks, can be found in the CASA Guides.