Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Thu, 05/26/2016 - 19:09
Folks:
Will McMain will be making a Return Guest Appearance, 31 May, this coming Tuesday afternoon (1:00PM ET, 17:00UT) to upgrade our Drupal website to the next major version. We expect that work will start around 1:00PM ET and will be finished around 4:00PM ET. For that period the AAVSO website will be unavailable.
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Doc Kinne
Is the upgrade still going on. I can get into some areas, but I haven't been able to get into VSP for the past 39 hours. It says:
"The request has timed out because it took too long generating the chart you requested. This is usually because there are too many stars in the field -- try choosing either a narrower field of view or a lower magnitude limit."
But this is not the case. I set the magnitude limits relatively high eg 210' mag 10.
Irt was working 40 hours ago.
Thx
Stephen [HSP]
Wierd. It works in Chrome but not Firefox nor Safari (it was working in Safari 40 hours ago)
Stephen [HSP]
Resolved. I cleared cookies.
Stephen
Hi, on the homepage I get "page not found" when i click at "active forum topics". Also, the avatars are to big in the forum topics. Just to let you know.
HHU, I get the same thing on three different browsers.
Also, I can't get into CHET but Tim Crawford can. Is there some sort of checkbox that needs an extra tick to let us lesser mortals in. (I have cleared cookies).
Thanks
Stephen
I am unable to submit observations using webobs. It will load the file and show the observations but submission fails.
Webobs does not work at all. Only a short text appears on https://www.aavso.org/webobs
Can get to main WebObs page (could not even do that yesterday) but unable to upload a file of observations. I get:
The www.aavso.org page isn’t working
www.aavso.org is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500
I am getting the same error with webobs using multiple browsers.
Barbara
The text and images overlap in forum posts when using Chrome (see attached image).
I played a bit in Chrome, and the following CSS rule does seem to fix it:
.user-picture a img {
max-width: 139px;
}
Regards,
Alex
I get the same issue using firefox.
Chris
Hi,
On the front page, there's some text leeding out from the box displaying the latest forum topics (see attached),
Alex.
Webobs also doesn't work for me.
Regards.
I create an AASVO report in VPHOT for just one star. I upload the resulting file to WEBOBS. When I try to submit the data by clicking on the "Submit Observations" button, The screen goes blank and just sits there like that without actually putting data into the DB. I've tried this with the same result using Firefox and Safari on a Mac OS X system and Firefox on a Win 7 system. This same procedure worked fine a week ago on the same systems and browser. I cleared cache and cookies.
I don't seem to get any errors, just the hanging blank screen,
Similar to what other folks have reported, I'm using Chrome Version 50.0.2661.102 m on a Windows 10 machine. After successfully getting the "Review" page then clicking on "Submit" I get the following.
The www.aavso.org page isn’t working
www.aavso.org is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500
And with a recent version of Firefox I also get a blank white page.
Does anyone know if this is actively being worked on? I've yet to see any recent feedback to what the current status is.
Hi John (and everyone),
I cannot provide a detailed status report, but I do know that Will is working his way through a long list of things to fix and the inability to upload files to WebObs is definitely in there!
Thank you for your patience.
-Sara
Hi All,
I have just been informed that the Webobs file upload function has been fixed and it worked for a file I had been waiting to upload. Please give it a try and report any problems you encounter here.
It never hurts to refresh your screen and clear out your cache if at first you don't succeed.
Thank you all for your patience.
-Sara
I get an error saying the airmass value is too long. The file was generated by vphot.
I've attached a copy.
webobs still not working for me!
Created a AAVSO report in VPHOT. I select the file from VPHOT into WEBOBS. When I click on the "Upload FIle" button I get error "Line Number 8: The airmass value is too long; it must be 5 characters or less". The airmass in the text file from VPHOT is 1.4431.
Frank
I'm having the same problem as Frank.
I can't upload as I get the "line Number *" error yet my airmass onmyimage of KIC 8462852 is 1.0124
My Vphot output also had five figures after the decimal point for air mass. I deleted the extra 2 figures and Webobs accepted the file and put the data in the AID. This is a bandaid only and I don;t want to do this in the future.
Gary
Hi, for me webobs uploads do not work yet.
Josch
Josch:
You usually use LesvePhotometry for report generation. How many decimals do you have in your reports? I assume only 3? Did you still get the "too many characters" error?
Ken
Hi Ken,
I actually get a blank page after I see the uploaded data.
It never gets to the message you uploaded so many datasets.
There is no error message.
The used number of digits are different for the different values reported. From 5 (JD) to 2 (airmass)
Josch
Today I received an error message that the airmass value exceeds five characters even though I can see in my text file that it does not. I used AIP4Win to create the AAVSO formatted file.
Bill
WebObs did not work for me today (Firefox). Finally, I succeeded: I had to submit my observation with airmass with 3 decimals
Kind Regards
Alessandro Odasso
Changing the Airmass to less decimaal points worked for me also using VPhot.
Cheers
Dave DDJ
As I posted in the VPhot forum, there has been no change to the VPhot code recently! George Silvis is looking into the problem. We hope to determine what has happened and how to revert to the normal format of a day ago. Weird and annoying!
Ken
WebObs working now! Thanks.
I am still having issues with WebObs. There is one problem with airmass. TA uses 6 characters (including the decimal point), if I delete one character from the airmass then I can get the file submitted. I have a time series that I am trying to submit that does not have the issue with the airmass (has 5 characters) but when I submit it and then get to the page where you are suppose to review your work, when I hit the submit button I get the "Page isn't working" HTTP error 500 message. I hope someone is still working on this. I have data from June 1st that needs to be submitted!
webobs still not working for me though :(
Some info about the "too many characters" error follows:
Via George Silvis, Sara reports that Will installed more detailed error reporting in WebObs. Where it used to truncate to 5 digits, it now complains.
It should go back to truncation or, better, rounding.
Hopefully, this will be corrected soon?
Ken
I've been told that the decision about what to do about the air mass issue won't be made until Monday.
I truncated my air mass from 4 decimal places down to 3. It worked. So we are faced with either truncating or waiting until after Monday. The output of my AIP4Win v. 2.4.1 log file outputs to four decimal places not the three that now seems to be required. In fact looking back to some of my submissions in 2012 with AIP version 2.40 and air mass also four decimal places. I've submitted many files over the years without issue. So it seems something has changed in the WebObs application or related DB. With the very large data sets that some of us do submit, it might be tough for some of us to go through and correct the air mass for each entry or write a script to do so.
Also, some folks have been referring to ASCII characters which would include the decimal point thus 6 total ASCII. If we exclude the ASCII decimal character then the total numeric characters would be five which historically AIP4Win has provided. Instead, it might be clearer simply to use the term "decimal places".
The Extended Format definition doesn't seem to specify how many digits or characters are acceptable so it seems logical that regardless of how many numeric digits are submitted for Julian date, target mag, comp mags, air mass etc., that the WebOps app could round up or down that last significant numeric digit and then truncate accordingly thus making it a bit more resilient. I'm guessing that it has done this - to some degree - in the past but now for whatever reason, does not.
John:
You stated - "I've been told that the decision about what to do about the air mass issue won't be made until Monday."
IF someone from HQ or other (?) has told you that they know (?) what the reason is and when (?) it may be resolved, I would HOPE they would post this info on the forum for ALL to know rather than leaving us to guess?
Ken
Hi Ken,
Yes it was Sara from H.Q. that said a decision should be made until at least Monday. Apparently it has something to do with an SQL insert failure. I think it worth stating again, that AIP 4.2 and older has provided four decimal places and I have not had an issue submitting many thousands of observations since 2010 or before. AIP is supposed to be compliant with the Extended format. But having said this, as far as I can see, the AAVSO Extended format doesn't state how many decimal places are required for air mass. Sara also said Will McMain is the one who is working on the website. This seems to have cropped up during this latest upgrade and maybe related to a SQL or related change.
I agree, it would be helpful if more information was posted here as to the status.
Regards,
John
From my discussion with George Silvis and other comments provided in this forum, I tried a couple of things which have perhaps corrected the problems I was having. Feel free to try them out and please report your findings.
I opened one of my recent time series images in VPhot. Since there is a known/suspected issue with using old sequences that do not have a chart ID beginning with X, I imported new AAVSO comps under catalog. I selected/saved them in my sequence list.
I ran the time series in VPhot and saved the aavso report. The airmass was reported with 6 numerical digits as shown below:
#NAME,DATE,MAG,MERR,FILT,TRANS,MTYPE,CNAME,CMAG,KNAME,KMAG,AMASS,GROUP,CHART,NOTES
DQ Her,2457541.62410,14.834,0.029,CV,NO,STD,130,-7.137,134,-6.895,1.20444,0,X16253CK,na
When I uploaded the saved aavso report, it was successfully accepted by webobs and I subsequently found the data in the AID.
Please try this and see what happens for you. BTW, I just got an email from George Silvis that he was able to upload a report with similar airmass digits but without a newer chart id with an X. So, that may not be necessary.
SO, the problem may have been fixed and we can upload data without truncating the number of digits in airmass, which is very tedious in a time series?
Ken
In fact, I just successfully uploaded another aavso report with from 3 to 5 airmass decimal digits that had failed over the past 2 days. I suspect someone removed the error checking protocol?
Ken
PS: Now I just need to get my subscriptions reinstalled so I can get posts in
Outlook!
When reducing Data in Vphot, it accepts C for the clear filter--not CV. Webobs will not accept this. It requires the filter to be CV (or CR). Should we be consistant between these two programs?
Gary
Gary:
What are you asking? I use a C filter for most of my CBA images. I report my VPhot data as CV and it is reported as such in the AAVSO Report submitted via webobs. You just need to tell VPhot to report it as V on the time series page. I have attached one of my reports. Note the CV filter.
Ken
When using the wizzard, with images with CV in the fits Header, I get an error in Vphot and CV is not listed in the drop down. See attached image.
So are you saying to choose C here, and then when doing the time series, select V, and your AAVSO output file will read ",CV,"?
Gary
Gary:
Yes! Here is my question/clarification.
1. Why did you say that the fits header of your image contains CV? The filter you used was a C(lear) filter? There is no such thing as a CV filter. So why did you make your imaging software think it was a CV filter and not just a C filter?
2. When you upload the images via the wizard, the filter choices include CBVRI and others, but not CV. I would have just used C because that's what it is? In quick upload, VPhot will read/understand that the filter is C and call it that, if that is what the filter header says.
3. When you are doing your time series analysis, the magnitudes will first be called C and the results table will show instrumental magnitudes because there are no C magnitudes in your comps.
3. Since you want to use V as the comparison bandpass, select V under the sequence box (note that this is not your comp sequence box in another location). Click refresh. Your instrumental mags will change to V magnitudes on the basis of the comp V magnitudes.
4. Click create aavso report and your report will be saved as CV magnitudes.
Try it. Look at the report. That should work. Questions?
Ken
Hi Ken
Thanks for that. I had been entering the C sequence with the V value. This is a much better way to do it, and you get a report that has CV as the band, and Webobs will accept this fine. Thanks again.
And you can get a CR or a CI or a CSG etc!
Gary
Hi All,
Apparently the airmass problem was fixed by Will around 1800 UT on Sunday. WebObs is now treating airmass the same way as it always has with no complaints, which is to say that the airmass is being truncated to 5 digits (including the decimal point). I have updated the documentation here: https://www.aavso.org/aavso-extended-file-format
I apologize for any confusion or misunderstandings I may have caused. I was running a bit "open-loop" as I have control over neither the WebObs code nor the policy and I did not want to misinform.
If there are other problems with WebObs, I suggest we start a new thread as this one is getting rather long. In particular, I am thinking of HBB and FRL who may be experiencing other problems.
Many thanks,
Sara
Hi Sara,
I was just about to attempt upload of a file when I noticed that the air mass is being simply truncated. Shouldn't airmass take into account rounding before truncating? For instance one observation I would have submitted had an airmass of 1.1299. I would think that should get rounded up and truncated to 1.130
Don't we want to do that?
--John
Hi John,
This is definitely something we will consider for the future. For now, we just want to focus on getting everything back to normal with WebObs and the website. The airmass has been truncated to 5 digits ever since the database was created (more than a decade ago) so I don't think it will hurt anything to continue doing the same for a bit longer in order to allow people to upload their reports.
Thanks!
Sara
Hooray. Chart Error Tool works. Thanks
Stephen [HSP]
Pukemaru Observatory
New Zealand
Webobs still not working for me though :(
https://jsonexamples.wordpress.com/
Hi Vicki,
I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with WebObs. Please contact me outside of this forum with more information.
- Are you uploading individual observations or a file of observations?
- If individual, what type?
- If file, please send it to me.
- Did you get an error message?
Many thanks,
Sara (my email: sara [at] aavso.org)