VStar - version 2.14.2

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 12/18/2012 - 10:47

A new version of VStar (and its associated plug-ins) has been posted!

Because the .jnlp file was changed, you should delete it from your computer and go to this page to download a new version: http://www.aavso.org/vstar-overview

Also, due to certain changes with the plugins, you should delete everything you may already have in your vstar_plugins folder and download them all again from the "Plug-in Library" page: http://www.aavso.org/vstar-plugin-library  You can get the plug-ins individually, or all together in a zipped file which can also be found on this page.

Here is an excerpt from the David Benn's ChangeLog for this version:

Key Changes:
- Implemented Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) observation source plug-in.
- Reduced the memory footprint of each observation by around 10%.
- Made it possible to add arbitrary detail strings for observation source plug-ins
  and used this extend the detail captured by SuperWASP, Kepler, and CSS plug-ins.
- Added the ability to manage and recall previous filters from View menu.
- Added the ability to create user defined series from previous filters dialog.
- Updated plug-in development document re: model creator plug-ins, additional build
  information, and plug-in implementation examples and details.
- Exposed DCDFT and WWZ via toolbar buttons; thanks again to Nico for the new icons!

As always, your feedback is much appreciated!

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Thanks Sara.

Enjoy

Thanks Sara.

Enjoy 2.14.2!

Also, I hope everyone enjoys the break, assuming you have one.

Regards,

David

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
I just wanted to point out

I just wanted to point out the View menu's new Previous Filters item and the dialog it opens. 

Selecting between filters is possible via that dialog as well as creation of a user-defined series from a filter. This is a feature Doug Welch suggested.

Regards,

David

New VSTAR on OS 10.8.2

Since I run Vstar on a mac with newest OS X I run it using VStar.command. I've downloaded 2.14.2 and I dont see VStar.command. Am I missing something?

 

thanks,

 

..george

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Hi George

There's

Hi George

There's VStar.app, which is what appears in the Finder as a Mac application. That will launch it.

See also the ReadMe.txt file at top level re: how to add a VStar icon to the Mac VStar app launcher; I need to automate that addition.

VStar.sh will have the same effect from the shell for Mac and Linux, and VStar.bat for Windows.

Does that make sense?

Regards,

David

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Catalina Transient Survey files

It is great to have yet-another more powerful release of VStar - it is such a great variable star analysis tool and it just keeps getting better and better!

If someone has experience with using the Catalina Transient Survey website to identify a variable star and download its lightcurve, it would be helpful to those of us who haven't "learned" the Catalina Survey's data systems yet! Please post a walk-through for a single star.

Cheers,
Doug

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Thanks Avon.  Please try

Thanks Avon. 

Please try out the plugin in the context of the latest release (2.15.0) and do let me know if you find any problems.

If you or Doug have suggestions for additions/improvements to the plugin, let me know. Better still, if someone wants to take ownership of this or any other existing (or new!) plugin, please feel free to let me know. ;)

David

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Installation problems

I just bought a new laptop with Windows 8.  I can download the new version of vstar, but for some reason it will not install.  Nothing happens.  I wonder if this doesn't have to do with the OS, since I was able to install Vstar (previous release) on my wife's laptop (windows 7 I think).   Any suggestions?  Thanks.

Chris Maloney

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
Java 6 installation on Windows 8?

Hi Chris

I'm wondering whether it's possible that the new Windows 8 laptop has no Java 1.6 or higher installed?

Also, just to emphasise that the latest version is 2.15.0.

I have not yet tested VStar on Windows 8 since I don't currently have access to a Windows 8 machine.

Regards,

David

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
SourceForge download

Hi Chris

Did you use the Download Now button on that page or download the release from SourceForge for standalone use? That should work fine (unless there's a security setting issue), but can you try downloading from SourceForge rather than via WebStart?

  https://sourceforge.net/projects/vstar/files/2.15.0/

If you extract from the zip file and then double-click VStar.exe or VStar.bat, can you tell me what you see? If that fails to do anything much, can you open a command (DOS) prompt, change into the directory where you unzipped VStar, then type: VStar.bat?

Then if we still can't figure it out, perhaps I could ask you to send me a screenshot of the DOS window or just the text that's output to the window.

Also, if anyone else is having the same problem with Windows 8, or indeed, is running on Windows 8, perhaps you could post here.

The only other thing I can think of right now is that you are not noticing a Windows security request in the taskbar that may be initially blocking the WebStart request.

Thanks. 

Regards,

David

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Okay... I've just got 2.1.5

Okay... I've just got 2.15.0 running on the windows 8 machine.  I did a few phase plots of some of my program stars for verification.  It seems to be working at least as well as the windows 7 installation.

Hmm... At first winzip didn't like the zip file.  It kept saying that it was 'invalid' or some such thing and wouldn't extract it.  I don't remember the exact error.  But for some reason it unzipped it on the 4th or 5th try.  I may try to reproduce the issue tommorrow in case someone else has this problem.

So I didn't have to run the batch file from the DOS prompt.  I never noticed a windows security request. 

Anyway: thanks! 

Chris Maloney

Affiliation
Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSAU)
I'm glad you have it working

I'm glad you have it working Chris. That's odd re: the unzip problem; I'll be interested to know whether you can reproduce that. I have considered creating platform specific installers for VStar, at least for Windows and Mac OS X. It just hasn't been high on the list.

Am I right in thinking that you were still unable to get the WebStart download working?

David 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Webstart etc.

David,

Yes, that's right.  The 'Download Now' button allowed me to download a 1.52 Kb file.  Nothing happened when I tried to open it.

It was the zip file from sourceforge that eventually worked.  So far I can't reproduce the error; I've got two working copies of Vstar on the Windows 8 laptop.

There is another problem that may be worth mentioning in this context in case it is related.  I also cannot post to the forums using Windows 8.  I've been switching to the other laptop to reply to your posts.  Since the same issue occurs when I try it with the iphone, it may be OS related/security settings related.  I've been researching online: no solution yet. But Vstar is working! 

Chris