This help file is intended to be read by those who are not familiar with RPS/WWW. It is short, so please read it completely.

• Warnings, caveats, etc.: PLEASE READ THIS ENTRY, IF NOTHING ELSE.

  The user of RPS/WWW, REGARDLESS of experience, should develop the habit of saving her/his work often. We recommend that you always Verify a form before saving it and Verify again if you ever need to reload a saved form.

  The RPS web interface works as a stateless server; in other words, no system anywhere is waiting for input from the user. The system responds only to a specific request, the request is handled, and the server then forgets it handled that request. NO backups of any files exist UNLESS THE USER CREATES THEM. Ignore this advice at your peril.

  Use the 'Save Page As' command that nearly all Web browsers provide to save your form early and often.

  Finally, be certain to save the form as an HTML file, by specifying .html as the extension. Otherwise it may not reload properly.

• Visit the RPS platform support page.

• Mission-specific questions should be addressed to the relevant mission Guest Observer Facility (GOF).

• Q: How do I reload a saved form using the RPS Web Interface?

  A: A saved file may be reloaded by using the "Open File..." command that all Web browsers implement. After the file is loaded into the browser, click on Verify button in RPS. You may now resume filling out the form, etc.

• Q: How do I use LaTeX mark-ups in the abstract?

  A: The RPS processor prepends all LaTeX special characters, such as $ % # \ with a backslash (\) when generating the LaTeX file. When this file is run through the LaTeX processor, the special characters will be printed as they were entered. If you intended for these special characters to be LaTeX commands (i.e., a math element delimited by dollar signs), the prepended backslashes must be removed by editing the LaTeX file before generating the DVI and PostScript files.

• One-line description of each RPS form button (alphabetical order):

  • Add Target - Target adding and Cloning Form
  • Delete Target - remove a target form - must have set 'delete target' flag at top of the form of the target to be deleted (note: the target numbers will appear to be wrong after a target is deleted: the processor will correct this if you Verify
  • Feedback - for sending question, comments, complaints, etc. to the RPS Help Desk
  • LaTeX - obtain the LaTeX version; save after receipt (blank forms may be obtained by using the LaTeX button before entering any information into the form)
  • Reload - give instructions on how to reload your saved HTML form
  • PostScript - obtain the PostScript version of your form.
  • Save - save the values entered in the form boxes
  • Submit - submit the electronic version to the proposal database. The Submit button will not appear on the form until after the form has been successfully verified.
  • Upload - takes you to the upload form which can be used to upload the scientific justification and PostScript forms.
  • Verify - send the electronic version for verification

• Q: I submitted my form electronically using the RPS E-mail Interface. How do I upload my PostScript RPS form and scientific justification?

  A: You need to the RPS Web Interface to upload the files. Follow these steps:

  1. If you haven't already done so, convert the LaTeX file of your RPS form to PostScript.
  2. Go to the RPS Web Interface for the mission to which you are submitting. The links are on the RPS home page.
  3. Click on the Upload button.
  4. Click on the buttons next to "Scientific Justification File To Upload" and "PostScript Form File To Upload" and select your respective files.
  5. Fill out the input fields with your last name, first initial, and the proposal number you were provided when you submitted.
  6. Click on the Submit button.

• Q: I've already submitted my proposal and uploaded my PostScript file(s), but I noticed an error in my scientific justification PostScript file. What should I do?

  A: You should re-upload the corrected PostScript file(s). Follow the enumerated steps above for uploading files, but append the letter "b" to the proposal number (or "c" if you are re-re-uploading, etc.). For example, if your proposal number is 123, then you should enter "123b" in the proposal number field in the RPS upload interface.

• Q: I've already submitted my proposal, but I just noticed that I entered an incorrect value into the RPS form. What should I do?

  A: You should re-submit. You will receive a new proposal number for your re-submission and you'll need to re-upload your forms and scientific justification with the new proposal number, as well. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we have a policy that we will not modify any submissions, so we cannot make the corrections for you. We will assume that a re-submission of the same proposal supercedes any previous submission, but, as a courtesy, please contact the RPS Help Desk to let us know what your old and new proposal numbers are, as that will save us a small bit of effort in detecting the duplication.