Using XSELECT

XSELECT is a high level command interface to the FTOOLS. It uses commands that are relevant to high energy astrophysics data analysis to chain together sequences of FTOOLS in a manner transparent to the user. This release includes a manual for XSELECT. It should be available wherever you found this manual, or go to the WWW site mentioned above.

In order for a user to use XSELECT, the Host version of FTOOLS must be installed on the system and the user must set up their account to properly use the Host version of the FTOOLS as discussed in the Host Environments section of this document. In particular, it is highly recommended that users set up their accounts to use the FTOOLS by running the mkftools script found in the scripts/install/ subdirectory of the FTOOLS directory path. The init_ftools.com script will set up the necessary things for VMS users.

Using the full compliment of commands available to XSELECT users also requires that the image display program saoimage, available from SAO, be installed. Check with your system administrator to verify the existence of this program at your site. Binary versions of this program are available via anonymous FTP from the software archive at the HEASARC.

FTOOLS HELP DESK

If FTOOLS has been useful in your research, please reference this site (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools) and use the ASCL reference for HEASoft [ascl:1408.004] or the ASCL reference for the original FTOOLs paper [ascl:9912.002]:

Blackburn, J. K. 1995, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 77, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems IV, ed. R. A. Shaw, H. E. Payne, and J. J. E. Hayes (San Francisco: ASP), 367.

Web page maintained by: Bryan K. Irby