This function uses a " template" Frame to search another Frame (or FrameSet) to identify a coordinate system which has a specified set of characteristics. If a suitable coordinate system can be found, the function returns a pointer to a FrameSet which describes the required coordinate system and how to convert coordinates to and from it.

This function is provided to help answer general questions about coordinate systems, such as typically arise when coordinate information is imported into a program as part of an initially unknown dataset. For example:

• Is there a wavelength scale?

• Is there a 2-dimensional coordinate system?

• Is there a celestial coordinate system?

• Can I plot the data in ecliptic coordinates?

You can also use this function as a means of reconciling a user’ s preference for a particular coordinate system (for example, what type of axes to draw) with what is actually possible given the coordinate information available.

To perform a search, you supply a " target" Frame (or FrameSet) which represents the set of coordinate systems to be searched. If a basic Frame is given as the target, this set of coordinate systems consists of the one described by this Frame, plus all other " virtual" coordinate systems which can potentially be reached from it by applying built-in conversions (for example, any of the celestial coordinate conversions known to the AST library would constitute a " built-in" conversion). If a FrameSet is given as the target, the set of coordinate systems to be searched consists of the union of those represented by all the individual Frames within it.

To select from this large set of possible coordinate systems, you supply a " template" Frame which is an instance of the type of Frame you are looking for. Effectively, you then ask the function to " find a coordinate system that looks like this" .

You can make your request more or less specific by setting attribute values for the template Frame. If a particular attribute is set in the template, then the function will only find coordinate systems which have exactly the same value for that attribute. If you leave a template attribute un-set, however, then the function has discretion about the value the attribute should have in any coordinate system it finds. The attribute will then take its value from one of the actual (rather than virtual) coordinate systems in the target. If the target is a FrameSet, its Current attribute will be modified to indicate which of its Frames was used for this purpose.

The result of this process is a coordinate system represented by a hybrid Frame which acquires some attributes from the template (but only if they were set) and the remainder from the target. This represents the " best compromise" between what you asked for and what was available. A Mapping is then generated which converts from the target coordinate system to this hybrid one, and the returned FrameSet encapsulates all of this information.

AstFrameSet $\ast$astFindFrame( AstFrame $\ast$target, AstFrame $\ast$template, const char $\ast$domainlist )

target

template

domainlist

Frame

FrameSet

astFindFrame()

result = astFindFrame( target, astFrame( 3, " " ), " " );

Searches for a 3-dimensional coordinate system in the target Frame (or FrameSet). No attributes have been set in the template Frame (created by astFrame), so no restriction has been placed on the required coordinate system, other than that it should have 3 dimensions. The first suitable Frame found will be returned as part of the " result" FrameSet.

result = astFindFrame( target, astSkyFrame( " " ), " " );

Searches for a celestial coordinate system in the target Frame (or FrameSet). The type of celestial coordinate system is unspecified, so astFindFrame will return the first one found as part of the " result" FrameSet. If the target is a FrameSet, then its Current attribute will be updated to identify the Frame that was used.

If no celestial coordinate system can be found, a value of AST__NULL will be returned without error.

result = astFindFrame( target, astSkyFrame( " MaxAxes=100" ), " " );

This is like the last example, except that in the event of the target being a CmpFrame, the component Frames encapsulated by the CmpFrame will be searched for a SkyFrame. If found, the returned Mapping will included a PermMap which selects the required axes from the target CmpFrame.

This is acomplished by setting the MaxAxes attribute of the template SkyFrame to a large number (larger than or equal to the number of axes in the target CmpFrame). This allows the SkyFrame to be used as a match for Frames containing from 2 to 100 axes.

result = astFindFrame( target, astSkyFrame( " System=FK5" ), " " );

Searches for an equatorial (FK5) coordinate system in the target. The Equinox value for the coordinate system has not been specified, so will be obtained from the target. If the target is a FrameSet, its Current attribute will be updated to indicate which SkyFrame was used to obtain this value.

result = astFindFrame( target, astFrame( 2, " " ), " sky,pixel," );

Searches for a 2-dimensional coordinate system in the target. Initially, a search is made for a suitable coordinate system whose Domain attribute has the value " SKY" . If this search fails, a search is then made for one with the domain " PIXEL" . If this also fails, then any 2-dimensional coordinate system is returned as part of the " result" FrameSet.

Only if no 2-dimensional coordinate systems can be reached by applying built-in conversions to any of the Frames in the target will a value of AST__NULL be returned.

result = astFindFrame( target, astFrame( 1, " Domain=WAVELENGTH" ), " " );

Searches for any 1-dimensional coordinate system in the target which has the domain " WAVELENGTH" .

result = astFindFrame( target, astFrame( 1, " " ), " wavelength" );

This example has exactly the same effect as that above. It illustrates the equivalence of the template’ s Domain attribute and the fields in the " domainlist" string.

result = astFindFrame( target, astFrame( 1, " MaxAxes=3" ), " " );

This is a more advanced example which will search for any coordinate system in the target having 1, 2 or 3 dimensions. The Frame returned (as part of the " result" FrameSet) will always be 1-dimensional, but will be related to the coordinate system that was found by a suitable Mapping (e.g. a PermMap) which simply extracts the first axis.

If we had wanted a Frame representing the actual (1, 2 or 3-dimensional) coordinate system found, we could set the PreserveAxes attribute to a non-zero value in the template.

result = astFindFrame( target, astSkyFrame( " Permute=0" ), " " );

Searches for any celestial coordinate system in the target, but only finds one if its axes are in the conventional (longitude,latitude) order and have not been permuted (e.g. with astPermAxes).

• The Mapping represented by the returned FrameSet results in alignment taking place in the coordinate system specified by the AlignSystem attribute of the " template" Frame. See the description of the AlignSystem attribute for further details.

• Beware of setting the Domain attribute of the template and then using a " domainlist" string which does not include the template’ s domain (or a blank field). If you do so, no coordinate system will be found.

• A null Object pointer (AST__NULL) will be returned if this function is invoked with the AST error status set, or if it should fail for any reason.

A Frame (describing a coordinate system) will be found by this function if (a) it is " matched" by the template you supply, and (b) the value of its Domain attribute appears in the " domainlist" string (except that a blank field in this string permits any domain). A successful match by the template depends on a number of criteria, as outlined below:

• In general, a template will only match another Frame which belongs to the same class as the template, or to a derived (more specialised) class. For example, a SkyFrame template will match any other SkyFrame, but will not match a basic Frame. Conversely, a basic Frame template will match any class of Frame.

• The exception to this is that a Frame of any class can be used to match a CmpFrame, if that CmpFrame contains a Frame of the same class as the template. Note however, the MaxAxes and MinAxes attributes of the template must be set to suitable values to allow it to match the CmpFrame. That is, the MinAxes attribute must be less than or equal to the number of axes in the target, and the MaxAxes attribute must be greater than or equal to the number of axes in the target.

• If using a CmpFrame as a template frame, the MinAxes and MaxAxes for the template are determined by the MinAxes and MaxAxes values of the component Frames within the template. So if you want a template CmpFrame to be able to match Frames with different numbers of axes, then you must set the MaxAxes and/or MinAxes attributes in the component template Frames, before combining them together into the template CmpFrame.

• If a template has a value set for any of its main attributes, then it will only match Frames which have an identical value for that attribute (or which can be transformed, using a built-in conversion, so that they have the required value for that attribute). If any attribute in the template is un-set, however, then Frames are matched regardless of the value they may have for that attribute. You may therefore make a template more or less specific by choosing the attributes for which you set values. This requirement does not apply to ’ descriptive’ attributes such as titles, labels, symbols, etc.

• An important application of this principle involves the Domain attribute. Setting the Domain attribute of the template has the effect of restricting the search to a particular type of Frame (with the domain you specify). Conversely, if the Domain attribute is not set in the template, then the domain of the Frame found is not relevant, so all Frames are searched. Note that the " domainlist" string provides an alternative way of restricting the search in the same manner, but is a more convenient interface if you wish to search automatically for another domain if the first search fails.

• Normally, a template will only match a Frame which has the same number of axes as itself. However, for some classes of template, this default behaviour may be changed by means of the MinAxes, MaxAxes and MatchEnd attributes. In addition, the behaviour of a template may be influenced by its Permute and PreserveAxes attributes, which control whether it matches Frames whose axes have been permuted, and whether this permutation is retained in the Frame which is returned (as opposed to returning the axes in the order specified in the template, which is the default behaviour). You should consult the descriptions of these attributes for details of this more advanced use of templates.