This is a silly question but I have not not found the secret method yet.
I have had SkyTools3Pro for several years now. Over that period I have downloaded a large number of DSS images when using the Interactive Atlas display window. Recently, I updated my copy of ST3Pro to the latest Version 3.2K level. In doing so, my default settings were reset. (I did not lose any observations, equipment, observer profile, or anything like that; just the defaults for various tools appeared to be reset.)
I can no longer figure out how to show DSS images in the Interactive Atlas. The old images I had seem to have lost their links or something. If I download new images, they do not display either.
What are the magic incantations in the Preferences and View dialogs of the Interactive Atlas that will restore the capability of viewing DSS images in the Atlas window?
Normally the update wouldn't reset your settings. Did you need to manually reset using the "Reset Defaults" button? Was there anything else unusual after you updated?
Neither the update nor the the settings reset should have affected your plottable images. The only obvious thing I can think of is, on the View Controls, whether your images were all stored in the "My Plottable Images" group. Try selecting the pull-down menu. Are there other options?
Also, please open the Data Manager via the button on the planner tool bar. Select the Plottable Images tab. Are there images listed?
To be honest, I don't recall if I had manually used the Reset Defaults button after the update or not. I had some problems with views and had to go back through a bunch of settings to get my usual set up restored after the update.
In the View dialog of the Interactive Atlas window, the only option for image display is from Group "My Plottable Images". No other group names appear in the drop down selection box.
I opened the Data Manager and all of my old images are listed there as being in the "My Plottable Images" group. None were "checked" and I noticed the note saying "Images that are checked above are displayed on the charts". So, I manually checked each of the several hundred images from the "My Plottable Group". (Again that drop-down in the Data manager lists only the single image group name.)
After checking each and every image in the Data Manager, I went back to the Interactive Atlas view and the older images are now displayed. Success for that part.
However, no new images are being added when I download new DSS image data. I selected M12 for instance which not in the old original DSS images I had and downloaded it. The "Get Digital Sky Survey Image" dialog says operation successful but the new image is still not displayed. Going back to the Data Manager shows the M12 image missing in the list of My Plottable Images.
While the original display problem is now fixed, I appears I still cannot add images to my display list in the "My Plottable Images" group. Any hints to look for that may get that part working again?
The solution to your original problem is baffling because the individual image check marks only matter if you have select "Plot according to individual selection" on the View Controls (as opposed to Always Plot Image Data). That, and the update should not have affected any of this. So I don't understand what is going on.
If there was a typical problem downloading the DSS data there would be an error. It would seem that the best explanation is that your plottable image database (which keeps track of the images) has become corrupted. Do you have a recent backup you can restore from? If so, I recommend that you restore the "Image Links / Images" from the backup. This is why we do backups, because bad things sometimes happen...
2018-06-18, 05:49 PM (This post was last modified: 2018-06-18, 05:52 PM by jdupton.)
Greg,
Thanks for the ideas. I will try to restore a backup from before the update and see what happens. I will post an update once I do that later today.
John
PS: I just thought of something else. It has been so long since I originally installed SkyTool3Pro that I have forgotten which settings I used during the install. Might it be possible that if I had installed the original as Administrator and then installed the update as a normal user that permissions could be blocking access to the image database? Just a random thought on my part...
The problems are now fixed. All features work including the addition and display of newly downloaded DSS images.
I first did a restore of a backup from before the program update. I only selected a restore of Web Links and Image Links / Images. The problems remained after the restart. Next, I did a restore of everything from the same backup. That fixed the problem. It must have been a corrupted setting in the Preferences that was causing the problem. After the second restore and restart, all is working well.
I only lost the latest new observing lists I created but that is not an issue. I rebuild observing lists monthly and discard old ones on a regular basis. I will remember the restore method in case I ever run into this again. Thanks.
