How to use the INT-WFS WWW interface

How to query the catalogue

Specifying Query Constraints.

When you first enter a WDB query form you will see a lot of query fields like this :

Filter Band

The checkbox you see to the left of the field name determines whether or not the value of this item appears in the tabular output. In the above example the name of the detector will appear in the tabular output.

These are the operands that are available for querying in the fields.

<: Less than.
>: Greater than.
<=: Less than or equal to.
>=: Greater than or equal to.
!=: Not equal to.
=: Equal to. Can be used with wild cards.
~: As = but ignoring case.
==: Exact match (No wild-cards)
*: Wild-card in strings ( A*B will match AB, AxB, AxxxxB, etc. ).
..: A range of values (ex.: 234.56 .. 678.9 ).
|
OR: Will match any of the specified expressions (ex.: =123 OR > 5000 OR < 1 ).

Many of the query items are character fields. These can be queried in a number of ways depending upon how much you are able to narrow the search down yourself. For example, if you know that the observations you want were done with the a some sort of B filter you could enter the following:

Filter Band

Any observations where the filter band name has a B in it (lower or upper case) will match this query.

You can make this more definite including an equal sign and a wild card. As below:

Filter Band
With this query any filter band name that starts with a B will be chosen.

Finally if you really want to be fussy you can use the double equal sign:

Filter Band

This way the only thing that will come out is observations where the filter band matches your input exactly (although case is still not important).

Specifying dates and range of dates

Dates are specified by YYYYMMDD. If a range is desired, two dates have to be specified separated by two single dots (..). To select all exposures that started between the 1-Jan-1998 and 12-Feb-1998 you could enter:

Observation Date

Submitting your query

To get the result of your query you have to submit it. At the bottom of the query form you will see a set of buttons like this :

In order to submit your request press the "Search" button. If you want to reset all the fields back to the way they where before you started entering qualifiers in them, press the "reset" button. (You could try to edit the "Observation Date" field above and then press the "Reset" button).

A full list of query fields

Observation date

The date of the observation. This is in the format YYYYMMDD. A range of dates can be specified using the .. syntax mentioned above.

Starting UT

The UT at the beginning of the observation. This is in the format HH MM SS. Ranges can be specified using the .. syntax mentioned above.

Target Name

The name of the target as reported in the header. It is not recommended that a search is done with this field unless you are pretty sure you know what the target was called by the observer.

Run number

The telescope run number of the frame in question.

Filter band

The name of the filter band used for an observation. (e.g. UBVRI)

Filter system

The name of the filter system used in the observation. (e.g. Johnson,Gunn)

RA

The RA of the target in the format HH MM SS. Ranges can be specified using the .. syntax mentioned above.

DEC

The DEC of the target in the format DD MM SS. Ranges can be specified using the .. syntax mentioned above.

Setting up output modes

Setting up tabular output

The query returns tabular output by default. You get a table with one row for each observation that matches your search criteria. This summary table shows only a sub-set of the available information, but you can get the rest either by following the "more" link (q.v in this help) for individual observations or by using "full screen mode" (q.v. in this help) to list all the data for every matching record.

You want to use a full screen mode output?.

There is a selection box on each query form which allows the user to be able to retrieve the information from each archive in full screen mode instead of the default tabular format. This is only useful when just few records are expected since this mode could generate a tremendous amount of information.

How to limit the number of retrieved records?

Right now, there is a default limit of 100 in number of records one can retrieve from the database. If you are reaching this limit in your query result, it is more than likely that there are other observations that match your query criteria. You can either modify this limit or respecify your query. For internal reasons there is a hardcoded limit setup to 1500 records.

Extra fields in tabular output

Once your search is completed, the matching data are presented in tabular format with special action fields. These action fields are:

The mark check-box.
The more button.
The display button.

It is worth remembering that the checkboxes that appeared to the left of the query items on the query form are what determine which columns appear in the tabular output. If, for example, you have made a query and you can't find the telescope name on the output table, then go back to the query form and press the telescope checkbox and resubmit the query.

Want more info on each retrieved records?

For each records retrieved from the archive, there is a more link written as M. This allows the user to retrieve all known information concerning this particular entry.

Want a display of a frame?

For each records retrieved from the archive, there is a display link written as P (for preview). This is provided so that the user can get a display of a particular frame. The previewer only works in the new, prototype interface to the catalogue.

Please send suggestions or problem reports via the feedback form or by email to Jim Lewis.