Java error

I’ve been using VStar for quite some time now. I’ve been getting the same null point error message lately. Some stars are fine, others won’t load.

Duane

I would never delete VStar from my tool list. It is a very powerful tool and usually works very well. I use it very often. I just don't know what is going on with a few stars. They are ones with a lot of data.

I've even used it in a lower level math class that I teach to demonstrate ways of looking at data and the usefulness of "simple" visual data where anyone can contribute. Between the last sentance and this one I loaded a DCEP and used the DCDFT to find the period using just visual data. The period found was within minutes of the published value. This took maybe 2 minutes and could be refined to get even better results.

Keep using it and think about the VStar Choice class for VStar. It is a great class.

Duane

Hello Again,

I just loaded khi cyg using dates other than the defualt and it worked fine. There is an older forum post around May 2016  that may have something to do with what is happenning. It concerns loading errors with ss cyg.

Maybe Ken or David could chime in?

Duane

I had trouble this morning using Khi Cygni.  I think KHI CYG is what worked with the LCG.  I suspect Vstar will only work with the same designation.--Well that did not work either.

Sorry

Gary

Hello,

I'm able to load all data for khi cyg if I don't include the date JD2457910-11. There is one observation in V on that date. Maybe as in a previous forum, there is something funny going on with that particular observation report. I found this by looking at LCG for that date. (LCG loads fine, it sometimes takes time. If you choose fewer bands to load it is quicker.)

Duane

Hi Michel

Thanks Duane, Gary, Elizabeth for your help and also thanks for your kind words Duane. It's always great to hear about how people are using VStar in different ways.

I have limited access to compute resources right now. My Mac's charging port died a few weeks ago. It was several years old and due for replacement anyway. The replacement Mac is several days away (getting a bigger SSD than comes standard) .

While doing much debugging right now is hard I'll do what I can by looking at the web service response. If you have other star/date combinations for which you see errors, please post them here.

Michel, you can change the locale from French to English in Preferences. VStar is just picking up on what it thinks is the set locale for your opertating system. Does nothing else on your PC appear as French? Let us know here if you need help with this. See also the relevant section in the user manual.

Do you see the observation plugin error just when loading data from AAVSO or at other times too.

I'm sorry you are having a frustrating time. We are here to help.

David

Hello,

I get the same nullpionter error with SS CYG. I can load all data except between JD2457972-73. I noticed one of the V observations are by the same observer as the single observation that seems to be responsible for the error with khi cyg. The observation date for ss is 2457972.66807.

I have no trouble loading either star in LCG other than the time to load lots of data.

Duane

Hi Mike

VStar applies error handling and exception blocks liberally. Sometimes though, things "fall through the cracks"

As per comment #10 above, this bug has been acknowledged and capturred; see https://sourceforge.net/p/vstar/bugs-and-features/602

There are two things you can do with an erroneous observation: ignore it or try to correct it.

Not sure what LCG does without looking again. Perhaps someone else knows.

If I see invalid (not well-formed) input, my inclination is to ignore the observation but indicate that to the user. I'll admit that that policy is not applied uniformly across all observationn source plugins.

Having said all that, it's also been pointed out by at least one other person in this thread that as far as AAVSO submitted data is concerned, the best place to stop errors from making it into the database is WebObs. 

David

Hi David and all,

I found the problem with the SS Cyg data. Some records by observer JM contained a value of "\2" for uncertaintly rather than the intended ".02" and my guess is that VStar didn't like the blackslash (since it is an escape character). I have corrected the observations and SS Cyg now loads correctly again.

I agree completely that this sort of thing should be caught by WebObs. Until we can get to that project, I think that probably the best thing for VStar to do is ignore such data issues. Unfortunately, the uncertainty field in our database is a varchar so MySQL itself will not stop strange characters from getting into that field.

I hope this helps,
Sara

Hi

First of all, regarding the Java error, thank you for the correction work in the DB, I will try VStar again in a while.

But

I don't know if this is linked with the DB correction but it seems that the complete data set of Khi Cyg (or Chi Cyg) is lost (see attached file for the 75 last days, only the last 24h estimations exist)

Thank for your feedback.

Michel

Ok everything looks ok now, super job Sara, Thank you +++

Michel