The following describes the most significant changes which occurred in the
AST library between versions V5.0 and V5.1:
- The astUnlockastUnlock function now has an extra parameter that controls whether
or not an error is reported if the ObjectObject is currently locked by another
thread.
- The PrismPrism class has been modified so that any class of RegionRegion can
be used to define the extrusion axes. Previously, only a BoxBox or IntervalInterval
could be used for this purpose.
- The values of the AST__THREADSAFE macro (defined in ast.h) have
been changed from “yes” and “no” to “1” and “0”.
- Improvements have been made to the way that Prisms are simplified
when
astSimplifyastSimplify
is called. The changes mean that more types of Prism will now simplify
into a simpler class of Region.
- The PointListPointList class has a new method,
astPoints,
that copies the axis values from the PointList into a supplied array.
- The PointList class has a new (read-only) attribute, ListSizeListSize, that
gives the number of points stored in the PointList.
- The handling of warnings within different classes of ChannelChannel has
been rationalised. The XmlStrict attribute and
astXmlWarnings
function have been removed. The same functionality is now available via
the existing StrictStrict attribute (which has had its remit widened), a new
attribute called ReportLevelReportLevel, and the new
astWarningsastWarnings
function. This new function can be used on any class of Channel. Teh
FitsChanFitsChan class retains its long standing ability to store warnings as
header cards within the FitsChan, but it also now stores warnings in the
parent Channel structure, from where they can be retrieved using the
astWarnings
function.
- A new function called
astIntercept
has been added to the FrameFrame class. This function finds the point of
intersection beteeen two geodesic curves.
- A bug in the type-checking of Objects passed as arguments to constructor
functions has been fixed. This bug could lead to applications crashing or
showing strange behaviour if an inappropriate class of Object was
supplied as an argument to a constructor.
- The
astPickAxesastPickAxes
function will now return a Region, if possible, when applied to a Region. If
this is not possible, a Frame will be returned as before.
- The choice of default tick-mark for time axes has been improved, to avoid
previous issues which could result in no suitable gap being found, or
inappropriate tick marks when using formatted dates.
- A new function called
astTestFitsastTestFits
has been added to the FitsChan class. This function tests a FitsChan to
see if it contains a defined value for specified FITS keyword.
- The AST__UNDEF<X> parameters used to flag undefined FITS keyword values
have been removed. Use the new
astTestFits
function instead.
- The astIsUndef<X> functions used to test FITS keyword values
have been removed. Use the new astTestFits function instead.