There are many read-write variables that are already defined. These variables can be read from or written (changed) to and are global in scope. To change them, either use the set command or its shortcut. For example:

To set FILTERINDEX to 5:

FILTERINDEX= 5

To set FILTERINDEX to the value of variable CURRENTFILTER:

FILTERINDEX= $CURRENTFILTER

Category and Variable Name

Description



Error Handling


ARAPERROR

True if the last ARAP command failed

AUTOFOCUSERROR

True if the last autofocus command failed

CALIBRATIONERROR

True if the last CCD calibration command failed

CCDERROR

True if the last CCD-related command failed

CLOUDSENSORERROR

True if the last cloud sensor related command failed

COMPORTERROR

True if the last comport, relay, getrelay, setperseus, getperseus, or servo command failed

DATABASEERROR

True if the last database command failed

DOMEERROR

True if the last dome-related command failed

ECUERROR

True if the last ECU command failed

EMAILERROR

True if the last e-mail related command failed

FATALERROR

Set to "true" when a fatal error occurs. A fatal error also be initiated by setting this variable to "true"

FATALERRORSCRIPT

The script that optionally runs in the event a fatal error occurs

FILEERROR

True if the last file input/output or directory-related command failed

FINDERROR

True if the last object database search command (such as 'goto' or 'find') failed

FOCUSERERROR

True if the last Focuser-related command failed

FTPERROR

True if the last ftp command failed

HTTPERROR

True if the last httpgetfile command failed

MAXIMERROR

True if the last MaxIm DL-related command failed

NUMERICERROR

True if a numeric error occurred - used by many commands

ORBITERROR

True if the last orbit-related command failed

PINPOINTERROR

True if the last PinPoint-related command failed

SCPERROR

True if the last scp command failed

SMERROR

True if the last social media related command failed

TELESCOPEERROR

True if the last telescope-related command failed

SWITCHERROR

True if the last switch-related command failed

USEFATALERRORSCRIPT

If "true", this causes the specified script to run following the occurrence of a fatal error

X10ERROR

True if the last X10 command failed.

XMLERROR

True if the an XML-related command failed.

ZIPERROR

True if the last zip command failed



Time and Date


DAYOFMONTH

The day of the month of the local time

HOUR

The hour of the local time (0 to 24)

MINUTE

The minute of the local time

MONTH

The month of the local time

SECOND

The second of the local time

USESYSTEMTIME

When "true" (the default) all time-related calculations read the computer's clock and set the local time variables before using the time. When false, the time in the local time variables is used. The local time is stored in the next six variables.

YEAR

The year of the local time

HOURS

Can be used to store time hours (0 to 24). It is used by the HOURSHMS variable to format the time as hh:mm:ss



Position and Related


AIRMASS

The current air mass of RA and Dec, as set by calcairmass command

ALT

The altitude above the horizon in degrees

AZ

The azimuth east of north in degrees

DEC

The declination in degrees. Acceptable formats when setting this value are a floating point number, degrees and minutes separated by a colon or in degrees, minutes and seconds separated by a colon. Example valid values are: -01:10, +01:10.1, 0:10.343, -01:15:30, 1:15:30.1.

ELAPSEDTIME

The number of seconds that have elapsed since program start. ELAPSEDTIME is set to zero when program starts, but can be set to any arbitrary positive value.

EPOCH

The epoch of the coordinates used by the telescope. It is set connecting to the telescope. A value of -1 means that the epoch of current date is used.

HA

The current hour angle of RA and DEC as set by calchourangle command

HJD

The value of the Heliocentric Julian Date as set by the calcheliocentricjuliandate command.

ILLUMINATION

The illumination of the Moon as set by the moonradec command

INPHASE

Set by the calcphase command - when "true" the PHASE is within the specified tolerance.

JD

The current Julian Date as set by the calcjuliandate command

PHASE

The phase (0 to 1) as set by the calcphase command

RA

The right ascension in hours. Acceptable formats when setting this value are a floating point number, hours and minutes separated by a colon or in hours, minutes and seconds separated by a colon. Example valid values are: 01:10, 01:10.1, 0:10.343, 01:15:30, 1:15:30.55.

REFRACTIONENABLED

When true, the relevant calculations are corrected for atmospheric refraction

SEPARATION

The angular separation as set by various commands

POSITIONANGLE

The position angle counter-clockwise from north as set by various commands

SIDEOFPIER

The side of pier as set by getsideofpier and getdestinationsideofpier commands



Auto-Focus


AUTOFOCUSTYPE

The method of auto-focusing used by the autofocus command: 1 is FocusMax, 2 is Planewave PWI3, 3 is MaxIm DL

BESTFOCUSPOSITION

The best focus position as set by the last autofocus command

HALFFLUXDIAMETER

The current star diameter as set by the last autofocus command



ASCOM Drivers


DOME

The name of the ASCOM dome driver

FOCUSER

The name of the ASCOM focuser driver

TELESCOPE

The name of the ASCOM telescope driver

SWITCH

The name of the ASCOM switch driver



CCD


CALIBRATIONENABLED

New 'light' images are automatically calibrated when set to "true"

CCDBINNING

The binning factor used for CCD imaging commands (defaults to 1 in x and y dimensions)

CCDHEIGHT

The height, in binned pixels, defining the sub frame used for CCD imaging commands

CCDLEFT

The left most pixel, in binned pixels, defining the sub frame used for CCD imaging commands

CCDTOP

The top most pixel, in binned pixels, defining the sub frame used for CCD imaging commands

CCDWIDTH

The width, in binned pixels, defining the sub frame used for CCD imaging commands

CCDTIMEOUT

The number of seconds, in addition to the exposure time, that commands that take CCD images wait before indicating an error and aborting the exposure (the default is 60 seconds).

FILTERINDEX

The index of the optical filter. The first filter has an index value of 0

FLIPX

New 'light' images are flipped from left to right when set to "true"

FLIPY

New 'light' images are flipped top to bottom when set to "true"

IMAGECOUNTER

The current image counter that is optionally appended to new image filenames

IMAGECOUNTERENABLED

The current image counter is appended to new image filenames when set to "true"

IMAGEDIRECTORY

The drive and directory where image files are stored

KERNELFILTERENABLED

New 'light' images are automatically kernel filtered when set to "true"

KERNELFILTERINDEX

The MaxIm DL kernel filter type (see the MaxIm DL documentation for details)

KERNELFILTERVALUE

The MaxIm DL kernel filter value (see the MaxIm DL documentation for details)

FFTFILTERENABLED

New 'light' images are automatically FFT filtered when set to "true"

FFTFILTERINDEX

The MaxIm DL FFT filter type (0 is high pass, 1 is low pass)

FFTFILTERCUTOFF

The MaxIm DL FFT filter cutoff value (0-100) as a percentage of the image size (see the MaxIm DL documentation for details)

FFTFILTERWEIGHT

The MaxIm DL FFT filter weight value (0-100) in percentage (see the MaxIm DL documentation for details)

LASTIMAGEFILE

The fully qualified filename of the last image file taken or saved (updated by all commands that create image files, either from a camera or during image processing)

PIXELSIZEX

The horizontal pixel size in arc-seconds

PIXELSIZEY

The vertical pixel size in arc-seconds

READOUTMODE

Sets the CCD camera's read out mode - see MaxIm DL help if you need to use this advanced setting. The default is 0.



PinPoint


PPCATALOG

The PinPoint catalog type (see the PinPoint documentation for info)

PPCATALOGMAXIMUMMAGNITUDE

The faintest magnitude stars from the catalog used in PinPoint plate solve operations

PPCATALOGMINIMUMMAGNITUDE

The brightest magnitude stars from the catalog used in PinPoint plate solve operations

PPCATALOGPATH

The drive and directory that PinPoint looks for its star database

PPMAXIMUMSOLVESTARS

The maximum number of stars to use in PinPoint plate solve operations

PPMINIMUMBRIGHTNESS

The minimum brightness that a star must be to be detected by PinPoint

PPMINIMUMIMAGESTARS

The minimum number of stars that need to be found in an image before PinPoint solve operations will attempt to plate solve an image.

PPMINIMUMMATCHSTARS

The minimum number of stars that must match to provide a successful PinPoint plate solve operation

PPROTATIONTOLERANCE

The maximum number of degrees (0 to 20) from north-south that an image can deviate before an otherwise successful PinPoint plate solve is rejected.

PPSCALETOLERANCE

The maximum amount, in percent, that the image scale can deviate from PIXELSCALEX and PIXELSCALEY before an otherwise successful PinPoint plate solve is rejected.

PPSEARCHOVERLAP

The image overlap, in percent, used when building search pattern used to solve plates using PinPoint

PPSIGMAABOVEMEAN

The minimum signal to noise ratio that a star must have before it is detected by PinPoint

PPTIMEOUT

The maximum PinPoint plate solve time in seconds



Cloud Sensor


AMBIENTTEMPERATURE

The ambient temperature (in integer degrees Celsius) as set by the getcloudsensordata command

CLOUDSENSORDATAAGE

The number of seconds since the cloud sensor data was updated as set by the getcloudsensordata command

CLOUDSENSORTYPE

The type of cloud sensor: 1 is original Boltwood, 2 is the current Boltwood II, 3 is AAG Cloudwatcher, 4 is a cloud sensor simulator

CLOUDSENSORIGNOREWETNESS

If true, the wetness sensor is ignored

SKYBRIGHTNESS

The sky brightness as set by the getcloudsensordata command

SKYSTATE

The state of the sky as set by the getcloudsensordata command. It will be one of the following: UNKNOWN, CLEAR, CLOUDY, VERYCLOUDY, or WET

SKYTEMPERATURE

The relative sky temperature (in integer degrees Celsius) as set by the getcloudsensordata command

WINDSPEED

The wind speed (in km/h) as set by the getcloudsensordata command

HUMIDITY

The relative humidity (in percent) as set by the getcloudsensordata command

CLOUDYTHRESHOLD

The sky temperature threshold between a clear and cloudy sky (in degrees Celsius). It is set by by the getcloudsensordata command.

VERYCLOUDYTHRESHOLD

The sky temperature threshold between a cloudy and very cloudy sky (in degrees Celsius). It is set by by the getcloudsensordata command.



Photometry


PHOTOANNULUS

The width of the annulus, in pixels, used by the photometry command to determine the background level (1 to 20)

PHOTOAPERTURE

The radius of the aperture, in pixels, used by the photometry command (1 to 20)

PHOTOAPERTURERATIO

The ratio between a star’s full width half maximum and the aperture used by the photometry command's auto-aperture feature (1 to 10).

PHOTOGAP

The gap between the aperture and the annulus, in pixels, used by the photometry command (0 to 20)

PHOTOMAG

The magnitude of a star, compared to a reference star (used by the photometry and intensitytomagnitude commands) (-10 to 30)

PHOTOMINAPERTURE

The minimum aperture used by the photometry command even when auto-aperture feature would have calculated a smaller number.

PHOTOREFINTENSITY

The reference intensity corresponding to the reference magnitude (used by the photometry and intensitytomagnitude commands in converting integrated intensities to magnitudes)

PHOTOREFMAG

The reference magnitude corresponding to the reference intensity (used by the photometry and intensitytomagnitude commands in converting integrated intensities to magnitudes) (-10 to 30)



E-mail


EMAILATTACHMENT

The filename of the first file attachment, as set by the checkemail command. If there was no attachment, it is empty.

EMAILBODY

The e-mail message body, as set by the checkemail command

EMAILFROMADDRESS

The e-mail address of the sender, as set by the checkemail command

EMAILMESSAGEID

The unique e-mail message id, as set by the checkemail command and used by the email and emailfile commands.

EMAILREPLYTOADDRESS

The e-mail "Reply-To" header value, as set by the checkemail command

EMAILSUBJECT

The e-mail subject line, as set by the checkemail command

OUTGOINGEMAIL

The from address used by the 'email' command

POP3PASSWORD

The POP3 password used by the checkemail command

POP3PORT

The POP3 port used by the checkemail command

POP3SERVER

The POP3 server used by the checkemail command

POP3USER

The POP3 user name used by the checkemail command

SMTPPASSWORD

The SMTP authentication password used by the email and emailfile commands

SMTPPORT

The SMTP port used by the email and emailfile commands

SMTPSERVER

The SMTP mail server used by the email command

SMTPUSER

The SMTP authentication user name used by the email and emailfile commands



Python Language


PYTHONINPUT

Passed to and returned from a Python Language script. This is intended to be used to pass an ARAP variable to a Python script.

PYTHONOUTPUT

Passed to and returned from a Python Language script. This is intended to be used to return a Python variable to an ARAP script.

PYTHONCONSOLE

Passed to and returned from a Python Language script. This is intended to be used to return the console output from the Python script.



Miscellaneous


ARRAYDELIMITER

The delimiter for array variables

COMPORTOUTPUT

The output from many of the comport commands

DATABASEFIELD

The database table field, as set by the database getfield command

DATABASESOFTERROR

Set by database find and seek commands

DOMESHUTTER or DOMESTATUS

The status of the dome shutter (set by getdomeshutter command) (0 = open, 1 = closed, 2 = shutter is opening, 3 = shutter is closing, 4 = shutter error)

DOMESYNCAZIMITH

The dome azimuth calculated by the calcdomesyncazimuth command

EXITCODE

The result returned from external programs. Used by execute, zip, and scp commands. It can also be set and is returned as Windows as the ARAP's ExitCode.

FILELINE

The text returned from the getfilelines command

FILELINENO

The line number of a string in a file as returned by the findfileline command

FILELINES

The number of lines in a file as returned by the getfilelines command

FILENAME

A filename set by the getfilename command

FINDFILENAME

A filename set by the findfile command.

RANDOM

Returns a random integer number between 0 and variable RANDOMMAX-1

SMRESPONSE

The Twitter response from social media commands

XPOSITION

X coordinate returned by radectoxy command and used by the xytoradec command

YPOSITION

Y coordinate returned by radectoxy command and used by the radectoxy command

STARFWHM

The size of stars in pixels as set by the getstarinfo command (-1 is error)

STARFLATNESS

The roundness of stars as set by the getstarinfo command (-1 is error)

STARBACKGROUND

The sky background as set by the getstarinfo command (-1 is error)

XMLNODENAME

The node name of the node found by the parsexmlnodename command

XMLTEXT

The raw XML node extracted or found by the parsexmlnodename or parsexmlindex

XMLVALUE

The text value of the XML node extracted or found by the parsexmlnodename or parsexmlindex