NAME

Astro::Catalog::IO::ASCII - base class for ASCII-based catalogs

SYNOPSIS

    $cat = $ioclass->read_catalog(%args);

DESCRIPTION

This class provides a wrapper for reading ASCII-based catalogs into Astro::Catalog objects. The method should, in general, only be called from the Astro::Catalog configure method.

METHODS

read_catalog

Read the catalog.

    $cat = $ioclass->read_catalog(%args);

Takes a hash as argument with the list of keywords. Supported options are:

    Data => Contents of catalog, either as a scalar variable,
            reference to array of lines or reference to glob (file handle).
            This key is used in preference to 'File' if both are present.

    File => File name for catalog on disk. Not used if 'Data' supplied.
            If a file is specified but is called 'default', the default file
            for the class is used.

    ReadOpt => Reference to hash of options to be forwarded onto the
               format specific catalog reader. See the IO documentation
               for details.

The options are case-insensitive.

write_catalog

Write the catalog.

    $ioclass->write_catalog($catalog, %args);

Takes a hash as argument with the list of keywords. Supported options are:

    File => File name for catalog on disk.

The options are case-insensitive. Other options are forwarded to the format-specific catalog writer.

SEE ALSO

Astro::Catalog

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2005 Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. All Rights Reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place,Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA

AUTHORS

Brad Cavanagh <b.cavanagh@jach.hawaii.edu>