INI File Settings and Options
Contents
Certain user selectable options are stored in the Solar Maps INI file. These options are saved to the INI file when you close down Solar Maps, and are read in again when you next start it up. In most circumstances the user does not need to be concerned with the INI file at all. However, there are two circumstances under which you may wish to edit it. These are
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If you have moved Solar Maps to another directory without re-installing it |
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To alter certain unusual settings which cannot be altered from within Solar Maps itself |
If you are not a highly experienced Windows user, and you wish to move Solar Maps to another directory, then it is strongly recommended that you re-install Solar Maps to a new directory instead of attempting to move its files to another directory manually. This will avoid any need to edit the INI file.
The Solar Maps v5 INI file is called SOLMAP5.INI, and always resides in the WINDOWS directory on your computer. You can browse or edit the INI file using the Windows NotePad, WordPad or any similar simple ASCII text editor.
A sample of some entries in a typical Solar Maps INI file is as follows.
[Solar Maps]
SystemDataPath=c:\solarmap\
UserDataPath=c:\solarmap\userdata\
InterpPath=c:\solarmap\interps\
PrefFile=c:\solarmap\userdata\def256.sms
LastFile1=c:\solarmap\userdata\world1.sfm
LastFile2=c:\solarmap\userdata\australi.sfm
LastFile3=c:\solarmap\userdata\samerica.sfm
LastFile4=c:\solarmap\userdata\seasia.sfm
WindowState=0
Left=5265
Top=360
Width=9600
Height=7200
Place=Adelaide
Country=Australia
TimeZone=ACDT -10:30
Longitude=138E35
Latitude=34S55
DayNight= 0
ClockStep= 60
LocalLineExtent= 360
HouseSystem= 5
TrueNode=-1
VulcWeston=-1
ACSAtlas=-1
256Colors=-1
RTFOn=-1
WordProcessor=
Most of the entries in the file can be controlled within Solar Maps, so these will not be discussed here. However the following items are of note.
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SystemDataPath, UserDataPath, InterpPath, PrefFile, LastFile1-8 - These items all contain the disk drive and directory in which Solar Maps is expected to be residing. If you have moved the files to another directory, then you must edit these entries to reflect the new location.
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ClockStep - This shows the AstroClock update intervals in seconds of time. Its default value is 60 seconds, but this can be altered to any whole number of seconds from 1 to 30000 seconds.
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LocalLineExtent - This shows how far around the globe lines of planetary direction extend. It’s default value is 360º, meaning that the direction lines extend from the chart location all the way around the globe, and back to the same location. You could use this option to limit the line to 180º, for example, in which case the lines would only extend to a point on the opposite side of the globe, or to 90º, in which case they would only extend to the local horizon of the chart location. You can insert any whole number of degrees from 1 to 360. |
Note that not all of these items will necessarily be present in your own INI file. if any item is absent from the INI file altogether, then its default value is used by the program.