Spectrograph control software for MRO
Go through the INSTALL.txt file in this repository.
The camera object used during scripts is as follows:
There is no clear documentation for the Python functions themselves, but there is class documentation for the C++ drivers.
Take a look at TestSpecCam.py, and then move into the provided example Python programs in the examples directory (these are from the apogee driver). This will give you a feel for the basic functions and how programming the Alta F is like. Also, take a look at the Python source code in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pylibapogee (files pylibapogee.py and pylibapogee_setup.py).
For more extensive documentation you will need to look in the classDocs folder in the doc directory. This gives you great detail in the C++ classes and functions that are DIRECTLY mapped into Python using SWIG. All the functions across C++ and Python will be named the same, only the arguements that you pass in are different.
Go ahead and open one of the html files in classDocs and move over to the classes section, and pay close attention to the classes ApogeeCam, which
is inherited by CamGen2Base, which is inherited by AltaF. This means all the functions you will be able to use in Python are documented
in these 3 classes. Make sure you know what inheritance is, which is to say the main class you will work with is AltaF which has access to the functions
of CamGen2Base and ApogeeCam because of inheritance. See the float chart above to get a visual of the layout.
Again, all the functions are described in C++ terms however the types you see translate pretty easily to Python. Here is a list of types I found in the documentation and what I believe they will translate to in the Python functions (these only apply to the "[IN]" arguments described in the docs):
C++ --> Python (examples)
const uint16 (unsigned 16 bit integer) --> int (0,1,2,...)
bool (Boolean) --> bool (True/False)
const std::string --> str ("string")
double --> float (1.5)
The drivers have built in types also, see (lines 641 to 712) pylibapogee.py for these. Descriptions are given in the "Namespace" section of the documentation. Below is an example:
Apg::Status_ImageReady --> apg.Status_ImageReady (after importing pylibapogee.pylibapogee as apg)