MIDAS comprises two somewhat different sets of programs - the System Primitives (MIDAS programs developed by ESO software staff) to provide the basic functions of the system, and individual application programs (written by or in collaboration with astronomers according to the MIDAS standards defined below). In addition to the application programs MIDAS provides a powerful command language (the MIDAS Command Language, MCL). This command language makes it possible to create MIDAS procedures, series of MIDAS commands which look like programs. The MIDAS system from the user's point of view is described in the MIDAS User Guide which includes three volumes.
This document concentrates on the development of MIDAS application code either in FORTRAN or in C. Hence, if you are not interested in writing a FORTRAN or C program to run within the MIDAS environment, then you have time for a coffee: This document is not for you. However, if you are interested you will find in this document a description of the MIDAS environment with its various data structures and the subroutine/function calls in FORTRAN 77 or C to access these structures. It replaces and supersedes all previous versions of the Environment Document.
Chapter provides a general introduction and
description of the MIDAS system and its data structures.
Chapter
gives an overview of the coding
standards which should be used when writing a MIDAS application
program. Chapter
describes the ``STandard''
Interfaces to images, catalogues, keywords, descriptors, files, text,
errors in a language independent way. The detailed descriptions of
these interfaces for C and FORTRAN 77 are given in
Appendix
. Chapter
describes the interfaces to the MIDAS Table File System; the detailed
C and FORTRAN 77 interface description is given in
Appendix
.
Chapter
contains the graphics interfaces. Detailed descriptions of the routines, for C and FORTRAN, can be found in Appendix
.
Chapter
describes the interfaces for connecting to a Midas server (``background
Midas''); the detailed C interface description is given in
Appendix
.
Chapter
explains how to integrate
and run your application in the MIDAS environment.
Appendix
contains a brief description
of the standard descriptors and other conventions used for images and
tables while Appendix
contains a number of complete
examples of MIDAS application programs using the interfaces described
in this document.
If you are new to the MIDAS environment, you should read
Chapter and
completely,
find out what subroutine calls are available in
Chapters
,
and
, and
then look carefully at the examples in Appendix
and
the detailed interface descriptions in the
Appendices
,
,
and
.
Our intention was to write this document
for you, and we hope you will find it useful.
If you are an experienced MIDAS programmer, then you probably have not
bothered reading this far unless you happen to read this kind of stuff
for pleasure (?). In any case, Chapters ,
and
should serve as a reference on how to use the
``STandard'' Interfaces, the MIDAS Table File System Interfaces and the Graphics Interfaces.
The appendices should provide the information about the exact calling
sequences for either FORTRAN 77 or C.
=31 =1 =1995