DFS Software - Data Products Checking Tool

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Data Products Checking Tool ESO DFS Software
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Introduction

The purpose of the Data Products Checking Tool (DPCT) is to check the consistency of a number of data products (DPs) used and produced in connection with ESO's activities in Chile and in Europe.

For now the following DPs can be handled by the tool:

FITS Files

The tool handles FITS with and without extension. Some of the checks carried out are:

CHECKSUM is contained and if yes contains the correct value.
If the mandatory primary and hierarchical keywords are contained in the FITS file.
That the primary FITS keywords contained are recognized by the ESO-DICB.
That the categories of of hierarchical keywords are recognized by the ESO-DICB.
That all categories have a proper <cat>.DID reference.
That only keywords defined in the corresponding Data Interface Dictionaries (DIDs) are contained in the. This check is only done if it is chosen to run the tool using DIDs; it can also be executed without.
That the FITS file as such is properly formatted (that it can be loaded at all).
That UTC and LST have proper values.
That keywords (primary and hierarchical) have the proper order.
UTC versus MJD-OBS (should not deviate more than 0.5s).
EXPTIME versus DPR.TYPE.
OBS.ID and TPL.NO must be larger than zero.
Consistency of NAXIS1 and NAXIS2 versus DET.WIN.NX and DET.WIN.NY.
... and more ..

Data Interface Dictionaries

For the DIDs the following checks are carried out:

DID header is properly defined, i.e. contains the mandatory fields and that these are properly defined.
For each record that all the fields are defined, and that the values are properly defined. For instance it is checked if the unit defined is contained in the list of valid units. It is also checked that there are no repeated keys. For the keyword class it is checked if they are all contained in a list of valid classes.
... and more ..

Operations Log Files

The log files in question are the ones generated by the VLT SW at the telescope site. This format is defined in the DICB document (GEN-SPE-ESO-19400-794/1.1/0). The checks carried out are as follows:

It is checked that the format is according to the definition in the DICB document.
It is checked if the time stamps follow in chronological order.
That the first entry is the DATE keyword.

The tool can run with or without the availability of a Data Interface Dictionary (DID). If executed without, no check is done concerning if the keywords are defined/accepted by the ESO-DICB, nor if their format and other properties conforms with the definition in the DID.

Executing the tool on the command line without input parameters, the following output is generated on stdout:

Correct usage is:

%> dpCheck [-dictionary ] [-noDic] [-level <level>] [-v <level>] <file list>

The command line options are as follows:

-dictionary <dic(s)>	Optional. With this parameter a list of DIDs to load can be specified.
-noDic	Optional. Using this option it can be specified to run the tool with the availability of DIDs. In this case no checks of the keywords versus the definition in the DID can be carried out.
-level <level>	Optional. With this option the Check Level can be specified. The levels defined are 1, 2, 3. Default is level 3 which is the most thorough check.
-v <level>	Optional. Specifies to run the tool in verbose mode. In this mode it prints out information to stdout. A level in the range [1; 5] must be specified.
<file list>	Mandatory. Gives a list of files (DPs) to be checked.

The tool generates a report on stdout. Click here for an example of such a report. The report is generated by running the DPCT on a FITS file with one extension.

Download

To download the dpCheck tool click one of the two links for the Solaris 2.6 respectively, HP-UX 10.20 versions:

Send comments to `<Jens.Knudstrup@eso.org>` Last update: July 17, 2000

Data Products Checking Tool ESO DFS Software

Introduction

Data Products Checking Tool
ESO DFS Software