8 Command line syntax and options

Specview accepts several command line switches and options. The syntax is

java –jar specview.jar [-Ppreferencesfile] [-Xxunits] [-i] [. . .] ..... [input_file_pathname | URL]

Most of the selections provided as command line switches and parameters can also be accessed interactively, and via a preferences file (Sec. 9). Command line selections override selections made from a preferences file.

The -P  (upper case) command line parameter specifies a preferences file (Sec. 9) to be used at initialization time.

The -X and -Y switches enable the definition of preferred units. The xunits  and yunits strings should be spelled in a way that Specview recognizes as valid units (see Sec. 1.7).

The -i switch selects inverse video.

The -h switch turns off the printing of the identification string in the plot hardcopy output. This should be useful when preparing PostScript plots to be included in documents or publications.

The –b switch turns on Data Quality (DQ) filtering on file input. Any input file that carries DQ information will have its contents filtered at input time. The filter is not selective and will flag any data point that has one or more flagged anomalies. The default behavior with no –b switch is to ignore all data quality flags. This default behavior can be overridden when reading certain types of files. All data values are read regardless of their associated DQ values; the flagged ones just do not show up on display operations, and are ignored on data analysis operations. After data input, selective DQ filtering can be applied at any time with an interactive tool.

The –p (lower case) switch signals Specview that once the input file is read, the Spectrum Processor  (Sec. 5) must be automatically invoked. This is mostly useful when the input file in the command line contains a list of actual files to be read and combined together.

The –c switch turns off the ruled cross hair cursor.

The –l switch disables auto-log mode (Sec. 2.9).

The –n switch turns off the setting of the general appearance of the user interface on a platform-dependent basis. When present, the Java look and feel (“Metal”) is used instead.  You can also use a Java command line option to select a specific look and feel. See http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/plaf.html#commandLine for details.

The –s switch turns on Sherpa fitting mode. Should not be used with Specview. This is documented in the Iris tool documentation.

A string with no '-' prefix is assumed to be either a directory path, or the name of a file that stores one or more spectrograms to be ingested and displayed at once.

Both local and remote files (via URL) can be input. The file can store one or more spectrograms, or be a list of files that store spectrograms, or a display file. Full path names are required, and if the file contains more than one spectrum, an appropriate spectrum selector string must be also posfixed to the filename/URL string. Usually this selector takes the form of a square bracket-enclosed, comma-separated list of spectral orders, GHRS/FOS exposures ("groups"), or spectral “segments”. See the syntax in Sec. 1.6, under each instrument / format description.

If more than one input file name appears in the command line, all files will be ingested but only the last one will display. The others can be accessed throughout the memory buffer access widget (Sec. 1.3). While reading the files, no progress indicator will show up on screen.

If the file name consists of a directory path specification only, Specview will read no files, but will prepare its file selector window such that, when it first fires up, it will be listing the contents of the specified directory. By default, it lists the contents of the user home directory.