IDome
Definition
Assembly: ASCOM.DeviceInterfaces (in ASCOM.DeviceInterfaces.dll) Version: 7.1.3+4851.c5da65c2b
public interface IDomeV3Public Interface IDomeV3public interface class IDomeV3Remarks
This interface can be used to control most types of observatory structures, including domes (with or without a controllable shutter), clamshells, and roll off roofs.
Dome Coordinates
The azimuth and shutter altitude coordinates within this interface refer to positioning of the dome itself and are not sky coordinates from the perspective of the observing device. Mount geometry and pier location often mean that the observing device is not located at the centre point of a hemispherical dome and this results in the dome needing to be positioned at different coordinates than those of the mount in order to expose the required part of the sky to the observing device.
Calculating the required dome position is not the responsibility of the dome driver, this must be done by the client application or by an intermediary hub such as the Device Hub. The coordinates sent to the dome driver must be those required to position the dome slit in the correct position after allowing for the geometry of the mount.
Dome Slaving
A dome is said to be slaved when its azimuth and shutter altitude are controlled by a "behind the scenes" controller that knows the required telescope observing coordinates and that can calculate the required dome position after allowing for mount geometry, observing device orientation etc. When slaved and in operational use most of the dome interface methods are of little relevance apart from the shutter control methods.
How to use the Dome interface to implement a Roll-off Roof or Clamshell
A roll off roof or clamshell is implemented using the shutter control as the roof. The properties and methods should be implemented as follows:
- OpenShutter and CloseShutter open and close the roof
- CanFindHome, CanPark, CanSetAltitude, CanSetAzimuth, CanSetPark, CanSlave and CanSyncAzimuth all return false.
- CanSetShutter returns true.
- ShutterStatus should be implemented.
- AbortSlew should stop the roof or shutter.
- FindHome, Park, SetPark, SlewToAltitude(Double), SlewToAzimuth(Double) and SyncToAzimuth(Double) all throw MethodNotImplementedException
- Altitude and Azimuth throw PropertyNotImplementedException
Properties
| Altitude | The altitude (degrees, horizon zero and increasing positive to 90 zenith) of the part of the sky that the observer wishes to observe. |
| AtHome | when the dome is in the home position. Raises an error if not supported. This is normally used following a FindHome operation. The value is reset with any azimuth slew operation that moves the dome away from the home position. AtHome may optionally also become true during normal slew operations, if the dome passes through the home position and the dome controller hardware is capable of detecting that; or at the end of a slew operation if the dome comes to rest at the home position. |
| AtPark | if the dome is in the programmed park position. |
| Azimuth | The dome azimuth (degrees, North zero and increasing clockwise, i.e., 90 East, 180 South, 270 West). North is true north and not magnetic north. |
| CanFindHome | if driver can perform a search for home position. |
| CanPark | if the driver is capable of parking the dome. |
| CanSetAltitude | if driver is capable of setting dome altitude. |
| CanSetAzimuth | if driver is capable of rotating the dome (or controlling the roof mechanism) in order to observe at a given azimuth. |
| CanSetPark | if the driver can set the dome park position. |
| CanSetShutter | if the driver is capable of opening and closing the shutter or roof mechanism. |
| CanSlave | if the dome hardware supports slaving to a telescope. |
| CanSyncAzimuth | if the driver is capable of synchronizing the dome azimuth position using the SyncToAzimuth(Double) method. |
| Connected | Set to connect to the device hardware. Set to disconnect from the device hardware. You can also read the property to check whether it is connected. This reports the current hardware state. |
| Connecting | Returns True while the device is undertaking an asynchronous connect or disconnect operation. |
| Description | Returns a description of the device, such as manufacturer and model number. Any ASCII characters may be used. |
| DeviceState | Returns the device's operational state in a single call. |
| DriverInfo | Descriptive and version information about this ASCOM driver. |
| DriverVersion | A string containing only the major and minor version of the driver. |
| InterfaceVersion | The interface version number that this device supports. Should return 3 for this interface version. |
| Name | The short name of the driver, for display purposes |
| ShutterStatus | Gets the status of the dome shutter or roof structure. |
| Slaved | if the dome is slaved to the telescope in its hardware, else . |
| Slewing | if any part of the dome is currently moving, if all dome components are stationary. |
| SupportedActions | Returns the list of custom action names supported by this driver. |
Methods
| AbortSlew | Immediately stops any and all movement. |
| Action | Invokes the specified device-specific custom action. |
| CloseShutter | Close the shutter or otherwise shield the telescope from the sky. |
| CommandBlind | Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and does not wait for a response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission. |
| CommandBool | Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and waits for a boolean response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission. |
| CommandString | Transmits an arbitrary string to the device and waits for a string response. Optionally, protocol framing characters may be added to the string before transmission. |
| Connect | Connect to the device asynchronously |
| Disconnect | Disconnect from the device asynchronously |
| Dispose | This method is a "clean-up" method that is primarily of use to drivers that are written in languages such as C# and VB.NET where resource clean-up is initially managed by the language's runtime garbage collection mechanic. Driver authors should take care to ensure that a client or runtime calling Dispose() does not adversely affect other connected clients. Applications should not call this method. |
| FindHome | Start operation to search for the dome home position. |
| OpenShutter | Open shutter or otherwise expose telescope to the sky. |
| Park | Rotate dome in azimuth to park position. |
| SetPark | Set the current azimuth position of dome to the park position. |
| SetupDialog | Launches a configuration dialog box for the driver. The call will not return until the user clicks OK or cancel manually. |
| SlewToAltitude | Ensure that the requested viewing altitude is available for observing. |
| SlewToAzimuth | Ensure that the requested viewing azimuth is available for observing. The method should not block and the slew operation should complete asynchronously. |
| SyncToAzimuth | Synchronize the current position of the dome to the given azimuth. |