Java Tools - Advanced instructions
Optionally, the apps can also be launched from the jar file directly from the prompt:
  • java -cp jhip.jar hipparcos.sky.ShowSky
  • java -cp jhip.jar hipparcos.curve.LightCurve
  • java -cp jhip.jar hipparcos.hipi.PlotHipi

The start-up panel can also be launched directly from the prompt:

  • java -jar jhip.jar [HIP RA Dec], where the optional arguments HIP, RA, and Dec specify the Hipparcos identifier for the Intermediate-Data apps and the RA and Dec (in degrees) for the Show-Sky apps, respectively.

Users can extract a hipparcos.properties file from the jar file to influence a few default settings (use jar -xvf jhip.jar hipparcos.properties):

  • datasource=net : the Hipparcos and Tycho data are fetched over the internet from cosmos.esa.int. The 'disk' option has been deprecated;
  • bins=/Hipparcos/bin : not relevant since linked to the deprecated datasource=disk option;
  • hipurl=https://hipparcos-tools.cosmos.esa.int/cgi-bin/HIPcatalogueSearch.pl : the URL for the CGI script used for getting the data from the web;
  • browser=open -a safari : a different browser can be selected; the browser is used when users click on a source in Show Sky to acquire detailed information;
  • verbose=1 : mainly for debugging purposes; a higher number means more printed run-time messages.

A 'local' properties file is picked up through the command-line option -DtoolProps=path, for instance, java -jar -DtoolProps=/home/here/hipparcos.properties jhip.jar