Cross Qualification in StarView version 6

One of the major additions to StarView in version 6 is the ability to use the results of one search to drive the query of another. This is more or less giving the user the ability to do joins across database fields that are not specifically set to do joins.

There are two ways of cross qualifying: from a current search result and from a file.

As an example of searching based on a current search result we first do a search in the Proposal database using the Proposal Abstract form and take the results of that search to drive a general search to find the data files that resulted from those proposals.

First we call up a Proposal Abstract form from the searches->New Format Screens -> Proposal -> Proposal Abstract menu item. Then we specify our query. Here we are looking for all of the proposals to look at starbursts in or after cycle 7. We issue the search and get the 81 records returned (note the 1 of 81 in the lower left hand corner of the query form).

Once we have the query results we want to use for our Cross Qualification, we call up the form we want to search with, here the General Search form. We then click on the XQual button and get the following dialog.

As we are working from a current search (not one saved to disk) we click on From a Screen.  If there are more than two forms up, it will ask you to select the form to qualify from.  We then get the Cross qualification window.  Here we select the field (or fields) we want to have the results of the first screen feed into the qualifiers of the second screen.

Clicking OK puts updates the qualifiers in the general search screen:

So we click on search and wait.  As we are asking for all the files in 81 proposed projects, this could take a while.  When it returns we are faced with 2138 returned records (note that when this search comes back it often will find that is does not get all the records, as the fetch count in the user environment is typically 100.  Hence the lower left hand label will read "1 of ..." to indicate that the program has not received all the data. To scroll further into the data, simply scan forward until you get the last record. Then the label will become 1 or 2138.)

You can then mark the records of interest for retrieval, or refine the qualifications further.

To search from a file you need only have the qualifiers you wish stored in a text file The list of qualifiers should be stored in a text file of tab delineated columns. For example, if we wanted to search by RA and Dec on two coordinates our file would contain two columns of data and look like this:

10:20:30    -12:24
2:44:32    19:22

If you have your display RA set to "decimal degrees of time" then the program assumes the units of any RA column will be stored in degrees of time and not hours of time. It will read in both decimal (23.4233) and segidecimal (23:25:24) formats and display them according to the formatting in the environment data format panel

We then make create the form we want to search and click on Cross Qualification.  When asked, we say we want to search "From a File". We are then faced with a window that looks like this

We then point the File name dialog to point to our file (either by typing the full path to the file in the box or browsing to the file using the Select File button). The file contents are then displayed in the box below the filename. You then select in the attributes you will pair each lines qualifications to from the list below. You must list them in the order in which they appear in the file. Also there cannot be more entries in the file or attributes in the dialog box. The qualifiers are then loaded from the file and associated with the current form when you select OK.

Note that the default format for an export is tab delineated columns of data. Hence you can use export to export a file that can later be used for cross qualification. Simply use the default ASCII formatting and select the fields you wish to include in the cross qualification file.