Where can I find examples of drag scripts? I’m very new to this and I have never made script’s for anything. I look at the tutorial videos and I’m still having questions. I’m used to SGP but I took the plunge after I read about Robotarget. I need to learn this.
Is there some kind of drag script lessons anywhere?
I have a roll off roof, weather sensors and all that. I use a wall mounted flat panel which requires me to park the telescope under 0 dec for example. I would love to do the flats after each night at the beginning of astronomical dusk at the same mechanical angle as shown in the fits header.
DragScript (also if the name contains script) is not a script, so nothing related to programming. Just drag and drop of action/conditions/test blocks with mouse on a blank container. You can create from simple to really difficult and complex one.
Drag script isn’t hard at all to pick up. If you read through the notes and then take the closest example to what you are looking for and adapt it you’ll be up and running with it in no time!
I had the same initial questions as you have. I have some programming experience but it’s really not necessary.
I began by looking at the examples in the wiki. At first it didn’t exactly “jump out at me” despite having some previous experience. But the way I began to learn was just by experimenting with a super basic script from scratch using something that’s easy for you to quickly test such as connect to your camera. Then build on this by setting a temperature.
Once your happy with that add something else like connect to your scope & camera. Then just for example 'play’with the scope elements for example unpark it - wait for 30sec - park the scope again etc etc. Just a really silly short basic scripts will help you see how it all fits together
Once I’d got the hang of the basic things I spent some time looking at every single element listed in the editor & exploring all the options that were user configurable.
When I felt I was ready to produce a ‘real’ script I listed out by hand the actual order of my imaging session. Then based the script on my list. For example.
Wait for astronomical/Civil darkness
Energise my equipment (I use a combination of Viking & some serial port commands for this)
wait a few seconds for everything to stabilise
Connect to all the equipment
Wait for the camera to cool.
Unpark the scope
Start tracking
Slave my dome to the scope
Open the shutter/roof
Open the flat panel
Wait 30min for the scope to cool a bit
Slew to a location (for me it’s near the Zenith but not too close
Blind solve
Email me when it’s ready to begin imaging
Then adopt my prearranged sequence or use Robo target
etc
etc
Throw in the odd email to keep you updated
Once you get into it it’s a thing of true beauty. I absolutely love it & soon had my own perpetual script up & running. If I have any issues I first refer back to the Wiki which is really good.
Just build up your script in stages rather than trying to do it all in one go.
One thing I forgot to mention about configuring an element. It may seem obvious but to access the configuration, drag the element into the editor & then double click on it to open it.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. This was allot of help.
These things probably seem obvious when I understand the process but not at this point. Again, thanks for making this a bit easier
