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Import Plan Custom

Deep-Sky Planner can import observing lists in either of two general formats: a text listing of object designations, or a delimited text file. In both cases, each object designation is extracted from the import file and is looked up in the Deep-Sky Planner database. If a match is found, the object and essential database information are placed in an Observing Plan document for use in Deep-Sky Planner. Objects that cannot be matched with an object in the database are skipped.

Input File allows you to select a file name for import. The type of import file (simple text or delimited text) is specified in Input File Type. When an input file is selected, the contents of the file are displayed in the Input File Preview pane so that you can verify that the input file is formatted as expected.

Output File allows you to select a file name for the Observing Plan document produced by the import process. The file extension should be .dsplan.

Input File Type allows you to select the type of information in the input file:

▪Text list of object designations describes a file that contains only a list of object designations. This type of list can be produced using a simple text editor such as Notepad. When this type of file is processed, each object in the list is looked up in the Deep-Sky Planner database. An object designation can be in any of the formats supported by the Object Designation Matching Engine.

▪Delimited text file describes a file that contains object designations and other data where each data field is separated by a single delimiting character. Many programs can produce delimited text files, for example spreadsheet programs that can produce CSV (comma separated values) files.

Delimited File Options allows you to configure the parsing process applied to delimited text files. It does not apply to Text list file types.

▪Field Delimiting Character allows you to define the character that is used to separate fields in the input file. The most commonly used characters may be selected from the drop down list: comma (,), vertical bar (|), horizontal tab (\t) and semicolon (;). If the desired character is not listed in the drop down list, simply enter the character in the edit box.

▪Object field is a required field. This field contains the system's preferred object designation - that preferred by the IAU. Enter the field number in the input file that contains the object designation. Note that field number 0 is the first field in a line of text.

▪Object (User) field is an optional field. This field may contain the user's preferred designation and appears in the plan as stated. Enter the field number in the input file that contains the object designation.

▪User Text field is an optional field. If you select a field number greater than -1, that field is extracted from the input file and copied to the User Text field in the Observing Plan document.

▪User Integer field is an optional field. If you select a field number greater than -1, that field is extracted from the input file and copied to the User Integer field in the Observing Plan document. The value is stored as an integer number.

▪User Double field is an optional field. If you select a field number greater than -1, that field is extracted from the input file and copied to the User Double field in the Observing Plan document. The value is stored as a floating point number.

▪Alt Designation field field is an optional field, and it has a special use. If you have a file that has object designations in two fields and you want to preserve both in your Observing Plan document, select the field number for Alt Designation that contains an object designation which is looked up in the Deep-Sky Planner database, and select the field number for Object Designation that contains a common name. The former field (Alt Designation) is copied to the Object field in the Observing Plan document and the latter is copied to the Common Name field.

Import Options

▪Include Common Names in imported plan: Check this box if you want to lookup common names in the Deep-Sky Planner database for each object in the input file and include them in the Observing Plan document. A common name is an object designation in a different catalog outside the Deep-Sky Planner database. Common names are also unofficial names often associated with an object, e.g. Lagoon nebula for M 8.

▪Include Cross References in imported plan: Check this box if you want to lookup cross references in the Deep-Sky Planner database for each object in the input file and include them in the Observing Plan document. A cross reference is an object designation in a different catalog within the Deep-Sky Planner database.

▪Include Digitized Sky Survey links: Check this box if you want to assign a Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) image link to each object in the input file. This setting does not download images. You can download images directly from the plan document. You can also learn about using DSS images in Deep-Sky Planner here.

▪When multiple matches are found in the database tells Deep-Sky Planner which object to select from an object lookup result that contains multiple matches.

▪Choose the first match (alphabetically) automatically assigns object information from the database using the first match found in the object lookup result.

▪Choose the highest priority match automatically assigns object information from the database using the highest priority match found in the object lookup result. Priority is assigned using the following scheme:

▪Deep-Sky Objects

▪M

▪NGC

▪IC

▪C

▪H

▪H2

▪PGC

▪UGC

▪MCG

▪Arp

▪HCG

▪Mrk

▪PNG

▪LBN

▪Sh2

▪Ced

▪vdB

▪Barn

▪LDN

▪GGC

▪BOCL

▪SNR

▪HB93

▪ESO

▪ACO

▪ZwCl

▪Stellar Objects

▪WDS

▪GCVS

▪CGCS

▪Hip

▪CCDM

▪NSV

▪Number of lines to skip before importing allows you specify the number of lines in the input file to skip before processing object designations. This is useful when there are comment lines or column headers at the beginning of the file.

Import File and Save begins processing of the input file. Status information appears in the Import Status pane while the input file is processed. When processing is complete, the plan document is saved to Output File.

Cancel Import allows you to interrupt processing of an input file after it has begun. Since each object in an input file triggers a database search, the import process can take a while to complete. Cancel Import allows you to stop the process

Clear Status Window removes all messages from the Import Status pane.

Save Status allows you to save the contents of the Import Status pane to a file. This may be useful if you need to determine which objects were processed successfully and which were skipped.

Close closes the Import Plan dialog box.

Help opens this help topic.

What About?

If an object in an import file is not matched to an object in the database (or a planet name), it is not added to the observing plan document during the import process. In this case, you can add the object manually using the Observing Plan Object Editor.

Double stars and open clusters are often difficult to match during the import process since their designations vary greatly in common use. Deep-Sky Planner searches catalog designations (which are formatted according to IAU recommendations) and common names for each object. See Designation Search Engine to learn more about how Deep-Sky Planner searches for objects in the database.