SAMP Control

The SAMP plugin implements a SAMP interface for the Ginga reference viewer.

Note

To run this plugin you need a SAMP implementation: either pyvo >= 1.9.0 (which provides pyvo.samp), or astropy with the astropy.samp module, which astropy 8.0 deprecated in favour of pyvo’s and will remove.

Plugin Type: Global

SAMP is a global plugin. Only one instance can be opened.

Usage

Ginga includes a plugin for enabling SAMP (Simple Applications Messaging Protocol) support. With SAMP support, Ginga can be controlled and interoperate with other astronomical desktop applications.

The SAMP module is not started by default. To start it when Ginga starts, specify the command line option:

--modules=SAMP

Otherwise, start it using “Start SAMP” from the “Plugins” menu.

Currently, SAMP support is limited to image.load.fits messages, meaning that Ginga will load a FITS file if it receives one of these messages.

Ginga’s SAMP plugin uses the pyvo.samp module (as of pyvo 1.9.0), falling back to astropy.samp, so you will need one of those installed to use the plugin. By default, Ginga’s SAMP plugin will attempt to start a SAMP hub if one is not found running.

It is customizable using ~/.ginga/plugin_SAMP.cfg, where ~ is your HOME directory:

#
# SAMP plugin preferences file
#
# Place this in file under ~/.ginga with the name "plugin_SAMP.cfg"

SAMP_channel = 'Image'

# Default location is set by Ginga's viewer.
#cache_location = '/my/cache/path/'

default_connect = True

start_hub = True