pyaavso¶

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pyaavso is a Python library for working with AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) data. The library is compatible with both Python 2.7 and 3.3+.

Features¶

reading and writing variable star observations in AAVSO’s Visual File Format
downloading all observation data for a given observer

Installation¶

Use pip to install latest release available at PyPI:

pip install pyaavso

Usage¶

The following code uses VisualFormatWriter to report a single observation of SS Cyg between the outbursts.

>>> from pyaavso.formats import VisualFormatWriter
>>> observer_code = 'XYZ'
>>> with open('data.txt', 'wb') as fp:
...     writer = VisualFormatWriter(fp, observer_code)
...     writer.writerow({
...         'name': 'SS CYG',
...         'date': '2450702.1234',
...         'magnitude': '<11.0',
...         'comp1': '110',
...         'chart': '070613',
...     })

The data.txt file can be now submitted to AAVSO.

Resources¶

Documentation

Issue tracker

CI server

Author¶

Zbigniew Siciarz (zbigniew at siciarz dot net)

License¶

pyaavso is free software, licensed under the MIT/X11 License. A copy of the license is provided with the source code in the LICENSE file.

Gittip¶

Like this project? You can support it via Gittip!

Documentation¶

Usage¶

Basic usage¶

The following example shows how to use pyaavso to download all observations by a given observer.

from __future__ import unicode_literals, print_function

import sys
import logging

from pyaavso.formats import VisualFormatWriter
from pyaavso.utils import download_observations


if __name__ == '__main__':
    # configure logging so we can see some informational output
    logger = logging.getLogger('pyaavso.utils')
    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
    logger.addHandler(logging.StreamHandler())
    try:
        observer_code = sys.argv[1]
    except IndexError:
        print('Usage: python download_observations.py <OBSERVER_CODE>')
    else:
        observations = download_observations(observer_code)
        print('All done.\nDownloaded %d observations.' % len(observations))
        filename = '%s.txt' % observer_code
        with open(filename, 'wb') as fp:
            writer = VisualFormatWriter(fp, observer_code)
            for observation in observations:
                writer.writerow(observation)
        print('Observations written to file %s.' % filename)

API reference¶

`pyaavso` Package¶

pyaavso.__init__.get_version()¶

Subpackages¶

formats Package¶

`visual` Module¶

exception pyaavso.formats.visual.FormatException¶: Raised when the data does not conform to AAVSO format specification.

class pyaavso.formats.visual.VisualFormatReader(fp)¶

A class to read observations from file in AAVSO Visual File Format.

The reader API is also based on csv Python module. You create a reader instance by passing a file-like object in the constructor. This will read all the data and validate required headers. Then the reader object can be used to iterate over observation data.

A short example:

>>> with open('data.txt', 'rb') as fp:
...     reader = VisualFormatReader(fp)
...     for observation in reader:
...         print '%(name)s %(magnitude)s' % observation
SS Cyg 10.0
RZ Cas 6.4

Creates the reader instance and reads file headers.

Raises FormatException when any of the required headers could not be found in input. The following header parameters are required:

TYPE - always ‘Visual’, yet must be specified in file

OBSCODE - official AAVSO-assigned observer code

DATE - date format, must be one of ‘JD’ or ‘Excel’

Other headers described in AAVSO specification have reasonable default values, eg. the default delimiter is a comma, when not specified in headers. Without the OBSTYPE header, observations are assumed to be visual.

Parameters:	fp – a file-like object from which data will be read

classmethod row_to_dict(row)¶

Converts a raw input record to a dictionary of observation data.

Parameters:	cls – current class row – a single observation as a list or tuple

class pyaavso.formats.visual.VisualFormatWriter(fp, observer_code, delimiter=', ', date_format=u'JD', obstype=u'Visual')¶

A class responsible for writing observation data in AAVSO Visual File Format.

The API here mimics the csv module in Python standard library.

To write your observations into the data file, you first need to create the writer, passing to it the destination file and your observer code. Then call writerow() for every single observation, for example:

>>> with open('data.txt', 'wb') as fp:
...     writer = VisualFormatWriter(fp, 'XYZ')
...     writer.writerow({
...         'name': 'SS CYG',
...         'date': '2450702.1234',
...         'magnitude': '<11.1',
...         'comment_code': '',
...         'comp1': '110',
...         'comp2': '113',
...         'chart': '070613',
...         'notes': 'This is a test',
...     })

Creates the writer which will write observations into the file-like object given in first parameter. The only other required parameter is the official AAVSO-assigned observer code.

Parameters:	fp – file-like object to write observations into observer_code – AAVSO observer code delimiter – field delimiter (set as DELIM header) date_format – observation date format (one of JD or Excel) obstype – observation type (Visual or PTG)

classmethod dict_to_row(observation_data)¶

Takes a dictionary of observation data and converts it to a list of fields according to AAVSO visual format specification.

Parameters:	cls – current class observation_data – a single observation as a dictionary

writerow(observation_data)¶

Writes a single observation to the output file.

If the observation_data parameter is a dictionary, it is converted to a list to keep a consisted field order (as described in format specification). Otherwise it is assumed that the data is a raw record ready to be written to file.

Parameters:	observation_data – a single observation as a dictionary or list

parsers Package¶

`webobs` Module¶

class pyaavso.parsers.webobs.WebObsResultsParser(html_source)¶

Parser for WebObs search results page.

The parser reads an HTML page with search results (presented as a table) and parses the table into a list of observations.

Creates the parser and feeds it source code of the page.

get_observations()¶: Parses the HTML table into a list of dictionaries, each of which represents a single observation.

`utils` Module¶

pyaavso.utils.download_observations(observer_code)¶

Downloads all variable star observations by a given observer.

Performs a series of HTTP requests to AAVSO’s WebObs search and downloads the results page by page. Each page is then passed to WebObsResultsParser and parse results are added to the final observation list.

Development¶

Feature roadmap¶

implement the Extended File Format
add VSX search
add programmatic access to lightcurves generated by LCG
create an API client for Variable Star Plotter

Contributing¶

Looking to improve pyaavso? Here’s how you can help.

Report issues¶

If you think you found a bug in pyaavso or have a feature request, feel free to file an issue. We rely on GitHub for issue tracking. Please, search through existing issues before you report a new one; perhaps your problem was already discussed or fixed.

When submitting an issue, please include the following:

problem description

steps to reproduce (a smallest possible code example that reproduces the issue would be most welcome!)

expected outcome

actual outcome

platform information: your operating system, Python version, etc.

any other relevant information

Contribute code¶

Contributions to pyaavso source code are accepted as pull requests on GitHub. Fork the project, work on it in your repository and when you think your patch is ready, send us a pull request.

License¶

By contributing your code, you agree to license your contribution under the terms of MIT license (see LICENSE file for details).

Changelog¶

0.1.5¶

fixed VisualFormatReader bug on Python 3 when input is bytes, not string

0.1.4¶

minor packaging and documentation fixes

0.1.3¶

Python 3.4 compatibility
more specific Python version classifiers in setup.py

0.1.2¶

added wheel distribution

0.1.1¶

less memory-hungry VisualFormatReader

0.1.0¶

initial release

pyaavso¶

Features¶

Installation¶

Usage¶

Resources¶

Author¶

License¶

Gittip¶

Documentation¶

Usage¶

Basic usage¶

API reference¶

pyaavso Package¶

Subpackages¶

formats Package¶

visual Module¶

parsers Package¶

webobs Module¶

utils Module¶

Development¶

Feature roadmap¶

Contributing¶

Report issues¶

Contribute code¶

License¶

Changelog¶

0.1.5¶

0.1.4¶

0.1.3¶

0.1.2¶

0.1.1¶

0.1.0¶

Indices and tables¶

`pyaavso` Package¶

`visual` Module¶

`webobs` Module¶

`utils` Module¶