Feature Request: Object Filters for Target Auto-Completion

[TimMc]

It would be nice to be able to specify classes of objects to display in the auto-complete Target name selection field that comes up after hitting the [Enter] key from the main screen in Celestia. E.g. The filter could be set to "Asteroids", and only asteroid targets then show up when you call up the Auto-complete target selection field. Other categories could include "Galaxies" (or "Nebula" or "Deep Space Objects"), "Planets", "Stars" (+ filters for sub-classes such as spectral class? e.g. "Stars G2 V"), "Spacecraft", "Moons".

Such a facility would allow more educational exploring of the Universe.

Tim Mc

[don]

Howdy Tim,

Sounds like a good idea.

How about implementing it (somewhat) via a celx script, until a real implementation can be done?

The user selects from a list (such as you proposed) and then the script "marks" all of the requested items Celestia has in it's database. Then, the script ends and the user can select and travel to the marked objects.

Just an idea.

Cheers,

-Don G.

[TimMc]

Don

I'll put your suggestion on my TODO list. It might take a while to surface unless I give up my day job!

I still look forward to an embedded facility in Celestia.

Regards, Tim Mc

[don]

Hi Tim,

The idea came from an example celx script in the CVS repository, that marks stars with a specific spectral type (below). That might give you some ideas.

Code: Select all

function mark_spectraltype(x)
    local obs = celestia:getobserver()
    local nstars = celestia:getstarcount()
    local i = 0
    while i < nstars do
        star = celestia:getstar(i)
        first, last = string.find(star:spectraltype(), x, 1, true)
        if first == 1 then
            star:mark("#ff99ff", "triangle", 10)
        end
        i = i + 1
    end
end

spectral = "O"
celestia:flash("Marking all " .. spectral .. " stars.")
mark_spectraltype(spectral)


[don]

I still look forward to an embedded facility in Celestia.

Yes, by all means!