TOPCAT - Tool for OPerations on Catalogues And Tables
Version 4.6-1
Starlink User Note 253
Mark Taylor
18 May 2018
Contents
Abstract
1 Introduction
2 Quick Start Guide
3 Apparent Table
3.1 Row Subsets
3.1.1 Defining Subsets
3.2 Row Order
3.3 Column Set
4 Table I/O
4.1 Table Formats
4.1.1 Supported Input Formats
4.1.1.1 FITS
4.1.1.2 Column-oriented FITS
4.1.1.3 VOTable
4.1.1.4 CDF
4.1.1.5 ASCII
4.1.1.6 IPAC
4.1.1.7 Comma-Separated Values
4.1.1.8 GBIN
4.1.1.9 Tab-Separated Table
4.1.1.10 SQL Database Queries
4.1.1.11 World Data Center
4.1.2 Supported Output Formats
4.1.2.1 FITS
4.1.2.2 Column-oriented FITS
4.1.2.3 VOTable
4.1.2.4 ASCII
4.1.2.5 Text
4.1.2.6 Comma-Separated Values
4.1.2.7 IPAC
4.1.2.8 Tab-Separated Table
4.1.2.9 SQL Tables
4.1.2.10 HTML
4.1.2.11 LaTeX
4.1.2.12 Mirage Format
4.1.3 Custom I/O Formats
4.2 Table Locations
5 Joins and Matches
5.1 Concatenating Tables
5.2 Matching Rows Between Tables
5.3 Matching Rows Within a Table
5.4 Multi-Object Matches
5.5 Plotting Match Results
5.6 Notes on Matching
5.7 Matching against a Remote Table
6 Virtual Observatory Access
6.1 The Registry
6.2 Data Access Services
7 Algebraic Expression Syntax
7.1 Referencing Cell Values
7.2 Referencing Row Subset Flags
7.3 Referencing Table Parameters
7.4 Null Values
7.5 Operators
7.6 Functions
7.6.1 Technical Note
7.7 Instance Methods
7.8 Examples
7.9 Adding User-Defined Functions
8 Activation Actions
9 Tool Interoperability
9.1 SAMP control
9.2 PLASTIC control
9.3 Messages Transmitted
9.4 Messages Received
10 Invoking TOPCAT
10.1 TOPCAT Command-line Arguments
10.2 Java Options
10.2.1 Class Path
10.2.2 Memory Size
10.2.3 System properties
10.3 JDBC Configuration
10.4 Tips for Large Tables
10.5 Examples
A TOPCAT Windows
A.1 Common Window Features
A.1.1 Toolbar
A.1.2 Menus
A.1.3 JTables
A.1.4 Column Selector
A.2 Control Window
A.2.1 Table List
A.2.2 Current Table Properties panel
A.2.3 Memory Monitor
A.2.4 SAMP Panel
A.2.5 Toolbar Buttons
A.2.6 Menu Items
A.3 Table View Windows
A.3.1 Data Window
A.3.2 Parameters Window
A.3.3 Columns Window
A.3.4 Subsets Window
A.3.5 Statistics Window
A.3.6 DataLink Window
A.4 Plot Windows
A.4.1 Differences From Old-Style Plot Windows
A.4.2 Window Overview
A.4.2.1 Navigation
A.4.2.2 Table Data Layer Controls
A.4.2.3 Defining Subsets by Region
A.4.2.4 Plot Export Window
A.4.3 Fixed Controls
A.4.3.1 Frame Control
A.4.3.2 Legend Control
A.4.3.3 Axes Control
A.4.3.4 Stilts Control
A.4.3.5 Aux Axis Control
A.4.4 Layer Controls
A.4.4.1 Position Layer Control
A.4.4.2 Pair Position Layer Control
A.4.4.3 Healpix Layer Control
A.4.4.4 Histogram Layer Control
A.4.4.5 Spectrogram Layer Control
A.4.4.6 Function Layer Control
A.4.4.7 SkyGrid Layer Control
A.4.5 Plot Forms
A.4.5.1 Mark Form
A.4.5.2 Size Form
A.4.5.3 SizeXY Form
A.4.5.4 Vector Form
A.4.5.5 SkyVector Form
A.4.5.6 Error Bars Form
A.4.5.7 XYEllipse Form
A.4.5.8 SkyEllipse Form
A.4.5.9 XYCorr Form
A.4.5.10 SkyCorr Form
A.4.5.11 Line Form
A.4.5.12 Linear Fit Form
A.4.5.13 Quantile Form
A.4.5.14 Text Label Form
A.4.5.15 Contour Form
A.4.5.16 Grid Form
A.4.5.17 SkyDensity Form
A.4.5.18 Fill Form
A.4.5.19 Histogram Form
A.4.5.20 KDE Form
A.4.5.21 KNN Form
A.4.5.22 Densogram Form
A.4.5.23 Gaussian Form
A.4.5.24 Mark2 Form
A.4.5.25 Link2 Form
A.4.6 Shading Modes
A.4.6.1 Flat Mode
A.4.6.2 Translucent Mode
A.4.6.3 Transparent Mode
A.4.6.4 Auto Mode
A.4.6.5 Density Mode
A.4.6.6 Aux Mode
A.4.6.7 Weighted Mode
A.4.7 Histogram Plot Window
A.4.7.1 Histogram Navigation
A.4.7.2 Histogram Axes Control
A.4.7.3 Bins Control
A.4.8 Plane Plot Window
A.4.8.1 Plane Navigation
A.4.8.2 Plane Axes Control
A.4.9 Sky Plot Window
A.4.9.1 Sky Navigation
A.4.9.2 Sky Axes Control
A.4.10 Cube Plot Window
A.4.10.1 Cube Navigation
A.4.10.2 Cube Axes Control
A.4.11 Sphere Plot Window
A.4.11.1 Sphere Navigation
A.4.11.2 Sphere Axes Control
A.4.12 Time Plot Window
A.4.12.1 Plot Zones
A.4.12.2 Time Navigation
A.4.12.3 Time Axes Control
A.5 Old-Style Plot Windows
A.5.1 Common Features
A.5.1.1 Dataset Selectors
A.5.1.2 Axis Configuration and Zooming
A.5.1.3 Error Bars
A.5.1.4 Point Labels
A.5.1.5 Auxiliary Axes
A.5.1.6 Defining Subsets by Region
A.5.1.7 Exporting Graphics
A.5.2 Histogram (old-style)
A.5.2.1 Histogram Style Editor
A.5.3 2D Plot (old-style)
A.5.3.1 Plot Style Editor
A.5.4 Stacked Line Plot (old-style)
A.5.4.1 Lines Style Editor
A.5.5 3D Plot (old-style)
A.5.5.1 3D Plot Style Editor
A.5.6 Spherical Plot (old-style)
A.5.7 Density Map (old-style)
A.5.7.1 Density Style Editor
A.6 Load Window
A.6.1 Filestore Browser
A.6.2 System Browser
A.6.3 Hierarchy Browser
A.6.3.1 Navigation
A.6.3.2 Table Searches
A.6.4 SQL Query
A.6.5 Cone Search
A.6.6 SIA Query
A.6.7 SSA Query
A.6.8 TAP Query
A.6.9 VizieR Catalogue Service Query
A.6.10 Virgo-Millennium Simulation Query
A.6.11 BaSTI Theory Database Query
A.6.12 Example Tables
A.7 Save Window
A.7.1 Content Panel
A.7.1.1 Current Table
A.7.1.2 Multiple Tables
A.7.1.3 Session
A.7.2 Destination Panel
A.7.2.1 Enter Location
A.7.2.2 Filestore Browser
A.7.2.3 System Browser
A.7.2.4 SQL Output Dialogue
A.8 Match Windows
A.8.1 Common Features
A.8.1.1 Match Criteria
A.8.1.2 Column Selection Boxes
A.8.1.3 Tuning
A.8.2 Pair Match Window
A.8.2.1 Output Rows Selector Box
A.8.3 Internal Match Window
A.8.3.1 Internal Match Action Box
A.8.4 Multiple Match Window
A.8.4.1 Multiple Match Action Box
A.9 VO Data Access Windows
A.9.1 Common Features
A.9.1.1 Registry Query Panel
A.9.1.2 Single Positional Search Panel
A.9.1.3 Multiple Positional Search Panel
A.9.2 Cone Search
A.9.3 Simple Image Access (SIA) Query
A.9.4 Simple Spectral Access (SSA) Query
A.9.5 Multiple Cone Search
A.9.6 Multiple SIA Query
A.9.7 Multiple SSA Query
A.9.8 Table Access Protocol (TAP) Query
A.9.8.1 Select Service tab
A.9.8.2 Use Service tab
A.9.8.3 Running Jobs tab
A.9.8.4 Resume Job tab
A.10 Activation Window
A.10.1 Activation Actions
A.10.1.1 Use Sky Coordinates in TOPCAT
A.10.1.2 Send Sky Coordinates
A.10.1.3 Display Image
A.10.1.4 Send FITS Image
A.10.1.5 Send Spectrum
A.10.1.6 Send VOTable
A.10.1.7 Send Row Index
A.10.1.8 Load Table
A.10.1.9 Plot Table
A.10.1.10 View in Web Browser
A.10.1.11 Download URL
A.10.1.12 Execute Code
A.10.1.13 Run System Command
A.10.1.14 Display Cutout Image
A.10.1.15 Invoke Service
A.10.1.16 Invoke Datalink Row
A.10.1.17 View Datalink Table
A.10.2 Viewer Windows
A.10.2.1 Image Viewer Applications
A.10.2.2 Spectrum Viewers
A.10.2.3 Web Browsers
A.11 Other Windows
A.11.1 CDS Upload X-Match Window
A.11.2 Concatenation Window
A.11.3 SAMP Window
A.11.4 Help Window
A.11.5 New Parameter Window
A.11.6 Synthetic Column Window
A.11.7 Sky Coordinates Window
A.11.8 Algebraic Subset Window
A.11.9 Column Classification Window
A.11.10 Available Functions Window
A.11.11 Log Window
B Algebraic Functions
B.1 General Functions
B.1.1 Arithmetic
B.1.2 Arrays
B.1.3 Conversions
B.1.4 CoordsDegrees
B.1.5 CoordsRadians
B.1.6 Coverage
B.1.7 Distances
B.1.8 Fluxes
B.1.9 Formats
B.1.10 Gaia
B.1.11 KCorrections
B.1.12 Lists
B.1.13 Maths
B.1.14 Strings
B.1.15 Tilings
B.1.16 Times
B.1.17 TrigDegrees
B.2 Activation Functions
B.2.1 BasicImageDisplay
B.2.2 Browsers
B.2.3 Image
B.2.4 Mgc
B.2.5 Output
B.2.6 Sdss
B.2.7 Sog
B.2.8 SuperCosmos
B.2.9 System
B.2.10 TwoQZ
C Release Notes
C.1 Acknowledgements
C.2 Version History