A TimeMap is a specialised form of 1-dimensional Mapping which can be used to represent a sequence of conversions between standard time coordinate systems.
When a TimeMap is first created, it simply performs a unit (null) Mapping. Using the astTimeAdd function, a series of coordinate conversion steps may then be added. This allows multi-step conversions between a variety of time coordinate systems to be assembled out of a set of building blocks.
For details of the individual coordinate conversions available, see the description of the astTimeAdd function.
"
printf"
format specifiers identified by "
%"
symbols in
the normal way. If no initialisation is required, a zero-length string may be
supplied. "
options"
string contains "
%"
format specifiers,
then an optional list of additional arguments may follow it in order to supply
values to be substituted for these specifiers. The rules for supplying these are
identical to those for the astSet function (and for the C "
printf"
function). The nature and units of the coordinate values supplied for the first input (i.e. the
time input) of a TimeMap must be appropriate to the first conversion step applied by
the TimeMap. For instance, if the first conversion step is "
MJDTOBEP"
(Modified Julian
Date to Besselian epoch) then the coordinate values for the first input should be date
in units of days. Similarly, the nature and units of the coordinate values returned
by a TimeMap will be determined by the last conversion step applied by the
TimeMap.
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.