1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The OSLX module provides services for handling various types of common VLT data. The purpose of this document is to explain how to use the OSLX library for application programing.

1.2 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

[1] VLT Software, INS Common SW, Specification, VLT-SPE-ESO-17240-0385, Issue 3.0, 30/01/04

[2] VLT Software, INS Common SW, INS File Handling - SLX, User Manual, VLT-MAN-ESO-17240-0726, Issue 2, 25/03/03.

[3] ESO Data Interface Control Board, Data Interface Control Document, Revision 2.0, May 21, 2002, GEN-SPE-ESO-19940-0794/2.0

1.3 REFERENCE DOCUMENTS

The following documents are referenced in this document.

[4] VLT Software, Central Control Software - CCS, Extended CCS, User Manual, VLT-MAN-ESO-17210-0770.

[5] VLT Software, Central Control Software - CCS, Event Handler Tool-Kit, User Manual, VLT-MAN-ESO-17210-0771.

1.4 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

The following abbreviations and acronyms are used in this document:

CCS Central Control Software

ICS Instrument Control Software

LCC LCU Common Software

LCU Local Control Unit

OSLX Objective SLX

SLX Setup Files and operations Logs Handling (and more)

SW Software

TBD To Be Defined

TCS Telescope Control Software

VLT Very Large Telescope

WS Workstation

1.5 GLOSSARY

Alias Conversion Tables, Alias Tables
Tables containing the association between a Short-FITS keyword and an alias for this.

Configuration Files, Instrument Configuration Files
There are 3 types of Configuration Files. One type describes the current configuration of the instrument (Instrument Configuration), another all the functions available for the instrument (Reference Configuration Files), and the last type the various elements/positions for each function (Auxiliary Configuration Files).

Short-FITS Files, Context Specific Short-FITS Files
Instrument developers are encouraged to use the Short-FITS format for all files used by the instrument. They contain a header like Setup Files.

Data Interface Dictionary, Dictionary
A list of records defining each keyword used in a certain context. OSLX is dependent on the availability of a Dictionary.

Operations Log
The term Operations Logs is used in this document to cover the following kinds of logs: 1) Operations Logs, 2) Configuration Logs, and 3) Conditions Logs (see [3] for further description).

Short-FITS, Short Hierarchical FITS
Shorter version of the normal ESO hierarchical FITS, that is more convenient to handle, e.g. in Tcl scripts.

1.6 STYLISTIC CONVENTIONS

The following styles are used:

bold
in the text, for commands, filenames, pre/suffixes as they have to be typed.

italic
in the text, for parts that have to be substituted with the real content before typing.

teletype
for examples.

<name>
in the examples, for parts that have to be substituted with the real content before typing.

bold and italic are also used to highlight words.