SAEXPD (Jan95)                 ftools.xte                 SAEXPD (Jan95)



NAME
    saexpd -- reads XTE science array (SA) data and formats it so as  to
    be  acceptable  to  pre-existing non-XTE-specific FTOOLS. At present
    saexpd supports only those files with Time as one of  the  variables
    in  a  2D array format. This will be modified when examples of other
    file types are standardized.  [WARNING: This code  is  OUT  OF  DATE
    and  has  not  kept up with the evolution of SA data descriptors, so
    that it can no longer be used.]
    
    
USAGE
    saexpd  infile(s)  outfile   timecol   columns   operation   element 
    outimecol outcol sensecase clobber mode
    
    
DESCRIPTION
    The  task  will  reformat  standard XTE/SA FITS files into different
    formats such that pre-existing non-XTE-specific FTOOLS can  be  used
    in analysis of the data.
    
    Two  separate  options (output formats) are presently supported. The
    first, COLEXPD, will read in an XTE/SA 2D array and output an XTE/SA
    1D  array  element,  and  will  expand  the  number of Timestamps to
    account for the increase of time  in  (e.g.)  4ms  bin  tables.  The
    second  option,  VECEXPD, will read in an XTE/SA 2D array and expand
    the output into a non-XTE-specific format  of  one  data  value  per
    column per timestamp.
    
    At  present  it  is assumed that one of the elements is Time so that
    the number of timestamps and rows is increased. See the  "operation"
    keyword below for a more indepth explanation of what occurs for each
    chosen option.
    
    
PARAMETERS
    
    infile [file name]
        The name of the XTE science array FITS file to be manipulated.
    
    outfile [file name]
        The name of the output FITS  file.  If  COLEXPD  is  chosen  the
        result  is  an  XTE/SA  1D  FITS  file.  If  VECEXPD is chosen a
        standard  binary  FITS  file  is  created  with  one  value  per 
        timestamp. See "operation" for more details.
    
    timecol = "TIME" [string]
        The  name  of  the  column  in  the input file containing timing
        information.   This    value    is    case    sensitive   unless 
        the  "sensecase"  parameter  is  set  to  "no".  The  value  for
        time  is assumed to be a double precision scalar.
    
    columns = "NNCnt" [string]
        The  name of the column in  the  input  file(s)  containing  the
        integer  vector  to  be  expanded.  The  entire  vector  will be
        rewritten into the output file. This  value  is  case  sensitive
        unless the "sensecase" parameter is set to "no".
    
    operation = COLEXPD or VECEXPD [string]
        The  operation  to  be  performed.  COLEXPD  will read in the 2D
        array and will, if  one  of  the  elements  is  time  dependent,
        expand  the number of timestamps and write a 1D array associated
        with each time stamp.  Therefore, if the data chosen is  in  the
        form  of (Time,Channel) with (1024,15) elements and 9 Timestamps
        in the initial file the output file will have 9*1024  Timestamps
        and   a   (15,1)   1D  array  associated  with  each  timestamp. 
        Alternatively, if VECEXPD is chosen the number of timestamps  is
        expanded  in  a  similar  manner  as  above but the remaining 1D
        vector is expanded into additional columns.  Therefore,  if  the
        data  chosen  is  in  the  form of (Time,Channel) with (1024,15)
        elements and 9 Timestamps in the initial file  the  output  file
        will  have 9*1024 Timestamps and will have a total of 16 columns
        where the last 15 have names NNCnt1,  NNCnt2,...  NNCntnnn  with
        up to 998 elements being expanded into 1 element columns.
    
    element = "Channel" [string]
        The  CTYP name of the column to be expanded - at the moment only
        Time is allowed for the other choice, but a future release  will
        allow  2D  arrays without Time as one of them, in which case the
        one which is to be expanded must be given.
    
    outimecol = " " [string]
        If "timecol" is not to be the title of the time  column  in  the
        output   file  than  give  a  title  to  be  used.  (Default  is 
        "timecol".)
    
    outcol = " "[string]
        If we are not to use "columns" as the output header  than  input
        one.   Note  that for a COLEXPD a maximum of 8 characters can be
        input, but for a VECEXPD a maximum of only 5 characters  can  be
        input  to  allow  for  the "nnn" which will be tacked on to this
        string denoting each column title.
    
    sensecase = yes [boolean]
        Whether to make the input case sensitive. If  sensecase  is  set
        to  "no"  all  input  comparative  strings  will be converted to
        upper case as will all output column headers.
    
    clobber = yes [boolean]
        Tells if existing output files are to be overwritten.
    
    mode = ql [string]
        This option  allows  the  PAR  file  to  be  updated  with  each
        successful completed run so that the defaults are changed.
    
    
EXAMPLES
    1.   Process  an  XTE/SA  file, "infile," using the defaults default
    (the default file names must be properly set):
    saexpd infile.fits outfile.fits default default
    
    
NOTES:
    Only 1D and 2D XTE/SA data is allowed and one of the  elements  must
    be  Time.  This  will  be  changed  in  a future version, once other
    formats have been decided upon.
    
    
BUGS
    
    Version SAEXPD_V3.3
    
    Please report problems to xtehelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov.
    
    
SEE ALSO
    SEEXPD