Project MPC Database Viewer/Exporter v2.0 beta

[Piper]

"MPC Database Viewer/Exporter" is a program that allows you to import any known asteroid and dwarf planet into either Orbiter or Celestia. It automatically creates all the files necessary, and automatically adds the planet into your sol.cfg file, allowing you to instantly start Orbiter and go to the minor planet without having to edit any files.

There are a total of 10 different small body meshes, plus a "rough sphere" mesh for objects large enough to be roughly circular. Objects above 900km in diameter are made into smooth spheres. There are also 5 different possible textures, this means that there are 50 different possibilities for what an asteroid can look at, 5 different possibilities for small spheres, and 5 different possibilities for smooth spheres.

When you start up the program for the first time, it will ask you for the folders for Celestia and Orbiter, if you do not have Celestia, just leave the default variable as it is.

To use the program, simply click on an minor planet that you want to put into Orbiter (or Celestia), and then click on "Export Single to Orbiter."

Alternatively, you can create a list of minor planets to add to Orbiter/Celestia by searching through the database for specific properties. If any of the minor planets have the same name as a minor planet/moon that is currently in your sol.cfg file, it will warn you before hand and let you rename it if you wish. If you do not wish to rename it, it will replace the old file, but not create a duplicate entry in your sol.cfg file. While it is possible to replace/update minor planets, you can not replace any moons, you must rename these.

Thirdly, you can create just the elements and update a file manually.

The program also has a built-in sol.cfg editor, allowing you to painlessly move around minor planets/moons and delete unwanted ones.

The program comes with a MPCORBcr.DAT file, downloaded on November 14th 2008, however you can download a new one any time, plus other MPC files. The MPCORBcr.DAT file is very large, so it takes a few minutes to download. You can also download a database file manually from http://www.astro.cz/mpcorb/ .

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Before I put this up on Orbit Hangar, I'm releasing it as a beta for fellow orbinauts to test out. Enjoy!

http://www.ioss.ca/Zips/MPCORB Viewer.zip

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[Piper]

Updated:

BUG FIXES:
- Fixed false requirement to have asteroid textures in your folder with the MPCDatabase folder.
- Fixed error in outputing Longitude of Perihelion when you output a list of files.

ADDED FEATURES:
- You can now view the entire config file for a planet when you are in the sol.cfg editor, edit the file, and then save it.
- Displays the distance that the selected minor planet crosses the ecliptic
- You can also search for objects by their node crossing distances.


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I haven't got any feedback from anybody (the bug's were found by myself), so if there isn't any feedback on this update I'll upload it to Orbit Hangar in a day.

 

[Peskie]

Awesome program! :speakcool:

Just tried this for the first time now. A few nits (since you're asking for comments):

• The doc claims a copy of MPCORBcr.DAT is included; it wasn't in the zip I downloaded. Just as well, given the size and that the file changes it may be more reasonable to require users to get a fresh copy on their own.
• The in-program download didn't work for me; all I get is "Sorry, but I'm unable to access the file/website you have selected." That's okay, I just downloaded it manually (the zip version to save time). [Edit: Got it to work; don't know what was wrong. It claims PHAcr.DAT is badly formated tho]
• Could you add or point/link to a short description of what is contained in each of the data files? (e.g. NEAcr.dat; NEAtodCR.dat; PHAcr.dat) The website these are download from doesn't appear (at first glance) to have any english descriptions. [Edit: found a description at http://www.astro.cz/mpcorb/ReadMe.txt]
• Could the Open dialog have a default file type filter of *.dat? (And possible rename config.dat to MPC_Database.cfg/ini so it wouldn't show up too).
• Make the sol.cfg editer be made resizeable; a) non-resizable windows are just silly and b) the planet config files don't fit in the size you selected without annoying horizontal scrollbars.
• Could a "Open in External Editor" button be added? Running the default program attached to *.cfg files would be fine.
• On the main screen what do the radio buttons "Hide Numbers; Hide ...; etc" do? They don't do anything that I can see.:huh:
• Does the "Export List to ..." functions export the entire list or (better) just the items that are selected (with CTRL modifier; perhaps add checkbox for list items)?
• The Search Form appears to be reset each time; could it save the previous search critera for fine-tuning searches (perhaps with a reset button to clear it to defaults)?
• Would there be a way to make fine-tuning searches faster (i.e. if I've limited the ~307k entries down to ~2k can a search occur only on these ~2k entries?); either automatically (when the new and old search conditions allow) or via a "Search within results" type of checkbox.
• Since the searches can take a long time perhaps a progress bar (as you have when loading the database) would be appropriate. While searching I get the "(Not Responding)" winblows junk; redrawing the window and responding to basic controls (e.g. exit/cancel) while searching would be good (as done with the Refresh List button). As-is it appear ths only way to cancel a running search is to have winblows kill the program.
• After most searches I made the "Total Displayed: -22605"; a negative number?hmy: This was with the 370611 entry MPCORBcr.DAT file. (Which on loading says only 14817 items are displayed). :hmm:
• The search dialog seems to take numbers of the form "1.5e6" and "5AU" but with the above issues it's not clear they were actually accepted. Typing "foo" in a numerical search field seems to do the same thing... i.e. you have no input validation and no feed-back to the user if they mistype something.
• Setting the minimum diabeter > maximum diameter (I used 3400000 as min and the default for max) causes the list to be empty and results in "Run-time error '380': Invalid property value"; this may happen with any combination that has no results.
• None of the fields at the top of the main display have units. Most are obvious but some less so.
• Would it be possible to configure the name of the sol.cfg file to edit? (E.g. I have a Sol_2001.cfg file.)
• BUG: added a PHA; then added another. Went to sol.cfg editor and deleted the first one; saved (doesn't default to sol.cfg in dialog box btw) and when re-entering the sol.cfg editor it listed my second addition twice. Restarting the program resolved the issue (the sol.cfg was correct; just the editor was incorrect).
• BUG: making an edit in planet config and switching focus out-of and back-into the sol.cfg editor causes unsaved edits to be removed!:!:

FYI, I didn't play with the list export functions.

I just recent read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne and this allowed me to easily add it!

Thanks!

 

[Piper]

I should be able to fix/add all or most of these. Hopefully I'll be able to get it finished within the next couple of day, as long as I don't get swamped with "real-life" stuff again

 

[Peskie]

I should be able to fix/add all or most of these. Hopefully I'll be able to get it finished within the next couple of day, as long as I don't get swamped with "real-life" stuff again

Great, thanks!! This is an awesome program that is more than usable as-is but with some of these nits cleaned up it will be even better!

Great work!

 

[Piper]

Updated.

• The doc claims a copy of MPCORBcr.DAT is included; it wasn't in the zip I downloaded. Just as well, given the size and that the file changes it may be more reasonable to require users to get a fresh copy on their own.
  • Fixed
• The in-program download didn't work for me; all I get is "Sorry, but I'm unable to access the file/website you have selected." That's okay, I just downloaded it manually (the zip version to save time). [Edit: Got it to work; don't know what was wrong. It claims PHAcr.DAT is badly formated tho]
  • I don't know what happened with the download (I couldn't reproduce the error), but I do think I fixed the "Improper file format" error for files that are properly formated.
• Could you add or point/link to a short description of what is contained in each of the data files? (e.g. NEAcr.dat; NEAtodCR.dat; PHAcr.dat) The website these are download from doesn't appear (at first glance) to have any english descriptions. [Edit: found a description at http://www.astro.cz/mpcorb/ReadMe.txt]
  
  • Link Added
• Could the Open dialog have a default file type filter of *.dat? (And possible rename config.dat to MPC_Database.cfg/ini so it wouldn't show up too).
  • Done
• Make the sol.cfg editer be made resizeable; a) non-resizable windows are just silly and b) the planet config files don't fit in the size you selected without annoying horizontal scrollbars.
  • I haven't made it resizable, but did changed the dimensions of things, and you shouldn't need any horizontal scroll bars
• Could a "Open in External Editor" button be added? Running the default program attached to *.cfg files would be fine.
  • Done
• On the main screen what do the radio buttons "Hide Numbers; Hide ...; etc" do? They don't do anything that I can see.
  • These are for how you want the "Readable Designation" to look like. ie. "Icarus", "1566 Icarus", or "(1566) Icarus"
  • I've made it so that the name automatically
• Does the "Export List to ..." functions export the entire list or (better) just the items that are selected (with CTRL modifier; perhaps add checkbox for list items)?
  • The Export Function exports the entire list, you can use the search function and the "remove selected" to narrow done the list to just what you want to export.
• The Search Form appears to be reset each time; could it save the previous search critera for fine-tuning searches (perhaps with a reset button to clear it to defaults)?
  • Done
• Would there be a way to make fine-tuning searches faster (i.e. if I've limited the ~307k entries down to ~2k can a search occur only on these ~2k entries?); either automatically (when the new and old search conditions allow) or via a "Search within results" type of checkbox.
  • Done
• Since the searches can take a long time perhaps a progress bar (as you have when loading the database) would be appropriate. While searching I get the "(Not Responding)" winblows junk; redrawing the window and responding to basic controls (e.g. exit/cancel) while searching would be good (as done with the Refresh List button). As-is it appear ths only way to cancel a running search is to have winblows kill the program.
  • Done
• After most searches I made the "Total Displayed: -22605"; a negative number? This was with the 370611 entry MPCORBcr.DAT file. (Which on loading says only 14817 items are displayed).
  • Fixed
• The search dialog seems to take numbers of the form "1.5e6" and "5AU" but with the above issues it's not clear they were actually accepted. Typing "foo" in a numerical search field seems to do the same thing... i.e. you have no input validation and no feed-back to the user if they mistype something.
  • Fixed
• Setting the minimum diabeter > maximum diameter (I used 3400000 as min and the default for max) causes the list to be empty and results in "Run-time error '380': Invalid property value"; this may happen with any combination that has no results.
  • Fixed
• None of the fields at the top of the main display have units. Most are obvious but some less so.
  • Fixed
• Would it be possible to configure the name of the sol.cfg file to edit? (E.g. I have a Sol_2001.cfg file.)
  • Done
• BUG: added a PHA; then added another. Went to sol.cfg editor and deleted the first one; saved (doesn't default to sol.cfg in dialog box btw) and when re-entering the sol.cfg editor it listed my second addition twice. Restarting the program resolved the issue (the sol.cfg was correct; just the editor was incorrect).
  • Fixed
• BUG: making an edit in planet config and switching focus out-of and back-into the sol.cfg editor causes unsaved edits to be removed!
  • I did it that way on purpose, as an easy way of cancelling edits.

 

[Orbiter]

hi i got the toy also ,but cant do anithing cose it dosenot find the orbiter pat
no mater what i do (put it in orbiter folder ,give it the path manualy in its config file) so please advise