Teams / VStar Software Development

VStar Software Development

Citizen Sky

Welcome to the VStar Software Development Team! 

VStar is intended to be a multi-platform, easy-to-use variable star data visualization and analysis tool. Data for a star can be read from a file or AAVSO database and plotted on a light curve along with mean data and error bars. Phase plots are under development and period search functions are planned.

I'm David Benn (pictured on right at CitizenSky in August 2009), the lead developer of VStar in collaboration with the fine folks at AAVSO. I wrote a blog entry that provides background context and some details about VStar.

Michael Umbricht (pictured at left) has played a key role in the early testing of VStar. He wrote this Forum post soon after the CitizenSky workshop.

VStar is still very much a work in progress but is being implemented in phases, as described in my blog post above.

Contributions by developers, testers, technical writers, user interface designers, and artists (e.g. About Box images) are encouraged. One of the most underestimated aspects of software projects tends to be effort required in testing, so please feel free to volunteer to test VStar. The more platforms we test on, the better: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris.
 

Download VStar Now

VStar Download fixed (for real this time)

By Elizabeth on February 4, 2010 - 12:29pm
Teams:
The VStar Download feature should now be working correctly. My apologies for the trouble and thanks for your patience. Download and try out the latest version David talked about in his message dated February 2 - it's very cool! - and post your comments here.

New VStar version change log

By david_benn on February 2, 2010 - 8:09pm
Teams:

Hi all

Thanks to Elizabeth for taking on the latest WebStart release!

Please see the change log for details of what has changed and what is new in this release:

http://vstar.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/vstar/tags/DEV-CS-2Feb2010/Chang...

We're getting closer to a formal release candidate. More as it happens.

If you're keen to contribute towards coding, test (unit or GUI-level), or some other aspect of the project, just send a team message or via my Citizen Sky contact page.

Regards,

David

New Version of VStar Available

By Elizabeth on February 2, 2010 - 3:32pm
Teams:
A new version of VStar is available for you to try, thanks to David's hard work! Click on the "Download VStar Now" button, try it out, and let us know what you think.

VStar Download Working Again

By Elizabeth on February 2, 2010 - 3:26pm
Teams:

The VStar Download Now feature is working again. Thanks for your patience while we fixed things. Happy downloading!

VStar download temporarily not working

By Elizabeth on February 2, 2010 - 1:29pm
Teams:

The VStar Download Now feature is not working at the moment - we are very sorry for the inconvenience! We are working on it and will have it back up and working just as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.

The Data Deluge

By mikeu on January 3, 2010 - 12:38pm
Teams:

Recently there was a very interesting book review in the NY Times called A Deluge of Data Shapes a New Era in Computing. It describes the challenges of interpreting the massive amounts of information that are now becoming available in the sciences due to improved technology.Read more

VStar gets a workout

By mikeu on December 5, 2009 - 8:09pm
Teams:

I presented a seminar on Dec. 3rd for a group of teachers from the local public schools at the Ladd Observatory. It was a hands-on workshop that involved the participants in visual and CCD observing of variable stars. There is a general description in the
 Outreach Activities forum. In the past couple of weeks I've been using VStar extensively for planning observations, analyzing data and teaching. I'd like to report here on my use of VStar in preparation for and during the program.Read more

VStar feedback forum 2

By mikeu on December 2, 2009 - 11:41am
Teams:

As I announced in the project forum we have a new version of VStar ready for testing. There have been some important fixes that were applied. Each time that you click on the Download button on the Team page it will check to make sure you have the latest version, and download a newer one if there is an update available. Given that we have a new version, I've started this new feedback forum. I think we've addressed most of the questions and trouble that was reported in the first topic, but feel free to add here if there are issues that are outstanding. As always, we welcome your comments, questions and would very much like to hear your experience using VStar.

64x64 & 32x32 Pixels Icons!!!

By nicocamargo on November 30, 2009 - 8:10pm
Teams:

I did a few changes to the desktop icons: made them small to get a feel of how they would look in reality 64X64 and 32X32 pixels; got rid of some of the ones no one voted for; and replaced the "S" for a  "V" inside #1 as suggested. Hope you like at least one a lot! Any other ideas are welcome too.

8 VStar Desktop Icons To Vote For

By nicocamargo on November 24, 2009 - 9:32pm
Teams:

****UPDATED VERSIONS HERE****

>This file has the newer designs of the Desktop Icons. Shown against 2 backgrounds (light and dark). VOTE NOW!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Suggestions and comments are welcome. Vote!

By the way, all icons involve the letters S and V, but they differ in font (and more obvious details). The stars are fomed with Vs, and the Ss are in the center. Look for them, they are there.
 

VStar icon design

By mikeu on November 20, 2009 - 10:17pm
Teams:

We're looking for some artwork for the icon that appears on the desktop to start VStar. The icon needs to be a jpg or gif that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.

BTW, we're still looking to incorporate the previous designs for the About box in VStar, but we've been busy trying to get the WebStart and some key functions working first.

VStar feedback forum

By mikeu on November 16, 2009 - 2:52pm
Teams:

After you have downloaded VStar and run it, we would like to get feedback on what you think.

Choose New Star from AAVSO Database. Maybe one from the 10 Star Tutorial, or enter something like "P Cyg" (the current AAVSO Variable Star of the Season) for Other Star. Click on a datapoint in the graph to see the details. Try Change Series to select data from a different filter band. Drag the mouse on the chart to zoom in on a selection. Try out the different features and let us know if you have any problems, suggestions for improvement or just general comments on your experience using VStar.

The goal is to make VStar easy to use and to provide you with a tool for seeing how variable stars change over time. We'd like to know your impressions on how it looks and works. Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think!

VStar help forum

By mikeu on November 16, 2009 - 1:08pm
Teams:

There is now an easy way to download and run VStar. We encourage everyone to give it a try and tell us about your experience using it. Just go to the VStar Team page and click on the Download VStar Now button. There are instructions at the VStar Download page.

If you have any trouble downloading VStar or getting it to work, please leave a reply to this message describing the problem and we'll help you.

VStar Download

By david_benn on November 13, 2009 - 11:18pm
Teams:

The "Download VStar Now" button on the VStar Software Development page allows VStar Team members to easily download VStar via the Java WebStart (TM) technology, rather than having to download and install it from the SourceForge project page.

All you need to do is click the button, and wait for the download to complete and for VStar to start up.

You will see a warning dialog box, similar to those presented by other Web-downloaded applications. After you have clicked the "allow access" button, VStar will start.

It will take about a minute to download VStar to your computer the first time.  If you click on the button at another time it will only download a new copy of VStar if there is a new version.  Clicking on the start button another time will just start VStar quickly if there is no new version to download.Read more

VStar download button added

By SaraB on November 13, 2009 - 2:39pm
Teams:

Greetings Team Members,

We have just added a button that can be used to open the latest stable version of VStar using Java WebStart. Please remember that this is only a first cut at this, so do not be alarmed by the fact that the documentation is not complete and not all of VStar's features work. One thing we are trying to test is the interface with the WebStart technology itself. It will be interesting to hear how it works (or doesn't work) with various operating systems and versions of Java software.

With crossed fingers,
SaraB

VStar build and invocation changes

By david_benn on October 11, 2009 - 6:08am
Teams:

I have just fixed a number of small problems related to building and invoking VStar, centering around problems with pulling in the correct jar files in some cases, e.g. if the MySQL JDBC connector/driver jar version is new than the one specified in extlib/ReadMe.txt

See this SourceForge tracker entry for details:

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2876193&group_...

There are 3 ways to run VStar:

o Double-click the vstar.jar file icon (dist/vstar.jar)
o Type java -jar dist/vstar.jar (Unix) or java -jar dist\vstar.jar (DOS)
o Use 'ant run' (for developers and testers)

The vstar.bat and vstar.sh files have been removed. vstar.jnlp (WebStart) is not yet functional.

Regards,

David

VStar Development Process

By david_benn on September 30, 2009 - 10:24am
Teams:

Hi all

I have added a "VStar Development Process" page to the SourceForge wiki and received feedback from a few reviewers.

https://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/vstar/index.php?title=Development...

Please have a look at this and feel free to ask questions.

If you would like to get involved, hopefully this document will give you more insight regarding how to get started.

It is my *goal* to get as much remaining phase I functionality (see planning document cited on the above page) in place by the time of the AAVSO meeting in November, along with as many high-priority tracker items.

Regards,

David

State of VStar (Sep 25 2009)

By david_benn on September 25, 2009 - 9:31am
Teams:

In this brief update I want to mention some recent important VStar changes.

1. A recent bug resulted in invalid and apparently random CitizenSky login failures via VStar. See this tracker item for details: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2865770&group_id=263306...

2. A performance improvement change to the AAVSO database schema took place a couple of days ago and VStar was changed to accommodate this. You should not notice any functional difference.

3. In the Star Selection dialog box, in addition to the 10-star drop-down menu, you can also enter a star's name or AAVSO Unique ID. For example, in the "Other Star" field, you could enter: SS Cyg

These changes are all in place on or before Subversion revision 210 (http://vstar.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/vstar?view=rev&revision=210)

Regards,

David

State of VStar (Sep 19 2009)

By david_benn on September 18, 2009 - 11:30pm
Teams:

This and future updates will give an overview of the state of VStar development.

It's hard to believe I was talking about VStar in Chicago more than a month ago!

I spent most of the first week after returning to Australia resisting the urge
to fall asleep at midday. :) In fact, I didn't do much for the first couple of
weeks after getting back except sleep and work at my day job.

Since then I've been doing the following:

o Adding to and working on entries in the SourceForge bug and feature list:

https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=browse&group_id=263306&atid=1152052

o Reading CitizenSky postings.

o Watching the VStar Team grow and corresponding with you.

o Improving the codebase.

Here's a summary of what some on the team have been up to:Read more

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