When you click on "Telescope GoTo" over many types of objects in Sky View (XEphem), a command is sent to put up a new browser window to fetch a page of information about the object from various web sites. It really makes things a bit easier when useful information is supplied in the browser windows.

As always, suggestions for improvements are appreciated.

#!/usr/bin/perl

$| = 1;

$caching = 1;

$browser = "mozilla";
$cachedir = "/home/tekniko/.xeseds";
$wget = "/usr/bin/wget";

# ---------------------------

$messierurl = "http://www.seds.org/messier/m/";
$ngcurl = "http://www.seds.org/~spider/ngc/ngc.cgi?";
#$ngcurl = "http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/n";
$cometurl = "http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/";
$asteroidurl = "http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/da?";
$planeturl = "http://maps.jpl.nasa.gov/";
$saturl = "https://www.TBS-satellite.com/cgi-bin/wwwwais?keywords=";

$args = @ARGV;
$port = 0;
$loc_fifo = 0;
$in_fifo = 0;

for ($i = 0; $i < $args; $i++) {
    $switch = $ARGV[$i];
    $i++;
    if ($switch eq "-m") {
        $in_fifo = $ARGV[$i];
    } elsif ($switch eq "-g") {
        $loc_fifo = $ARGV[$i];
    } elsif ($switch eq "-t") {
        $port = $ARGV[$i];
    }
}

mkdir ($cachedir) if ( ! -e $cachedir && $caching);
chdir ($cachedir) if ($caching);


open FIFO, "+<$loc_fifo" or die "$loc_fifo: $!\n";

while (true) {
    $data=0;
    $url=0;
    sysread (FIFO, $data, 1024);
    print "DATA: $data\n";


    if ($data =~ /,E, /) { 
        print "Got EarthSat!\n";
        ($fullname, @therest) = split(/,/, $data);
        ($keyword, @therest) = split(/\s+/, $fullname);
        print " -> URL: $saturl$keyword\n";
        $url = "$saturl$keyword";
    } elsif ($data =~ /,f/) {
        print "Got Seds!\n";
            ($name, @stuff) = split /,\s*/, $data;
               if ($name =~ /M(\d+)/) {
                $url = $messierurl . sprintf("m%03d.html", $1);
        }
        if ($name =~ /NGC (\d+)/) {
                    $url = $ngcurl . "ngc$1";
        }
        if ($name =~ /IC (\d+)/) {
            $url = $ngcurl . "ic$1";
        }
        if ($caching) {
            #$command = "(cd $cachedir && $wget -c -E -k -K -p $url)";
            $command = "(cd $cachedir && $wget -p -E  -K -k -c $url)";
            print " -> $command\n";
            $filename = $url;
            $filename =~ s/~/\%7E/g;
            if ($filename !~ /.html$/) { $filename .= ".html"; }
            $filename = $cachedir."/".substr($filename, 7);
            # $filename =~ s/\?/\\?/g;
            print "Checking for $filename...\n";
            if ( -e $filename) {
                print " -> found it\n";
            } else {
                print " -> NOT Found\n";
            }
            system($command) if ( ! -e $filename );
            print " -> Loading file $filename\n";
            $url = $filename;
        }
        
    } elsif ($data =~ /,e,/ || $data =~ /,p,/) {
        print "Got Comet!\n";
        if ($data =~ /^C\// || $data =~ /^P\//) {
            ($junkyear, $desig, @therest) = split(/\s+/, $data);
            ($junk, $year) = split(/\//, $junkyear);
            print " -> URL: $cometurl$year$desig.html";
            $url = "$cometurl$year$desig.html";
        } elsif ($data =~ /P\//) {
            ($comet, @therest) = split(/\//, $data);
            ($cometnum, $junk) = split(/P/, $comet,2);
            if ($cometnum < 10) {
                $zeroes = "000";
            } elsif ($cometnum < 100) {
                $zeroes = "00";
            } elsif ($cometnum < 1000) {
                $zeroes = "0";
            }
            print " -> URL: $cometurl$zeroes$comet.html";
            $url = "$cometurl$zeroes$comet.html";
        } else { 
            print " -> Must be an asteroid\n";
            ($asternumber, @therest) = split(/\s+/, $data);
            print " -> URL: $asteroidurl$asternumber\n";
            $url = "$asteroidurl$asternumber";
        }


    } elsif ($data =~ /,P/) {
        print "Got Planet!\n";
        ($planet, $junk) = split(/,/, $data);
        $planet =~ tr/[A-Z]/[a-z]/;
        print " -> $planeturl$planet.html";
        $url = "$planeturl$planet.html";


    } else {
        print "Unknown!\n";
    }
    if ($url) {
        $cmd = "$browser $url";
        $pid = fork(); 
        exec($cmd) if (!$pid);
    }
}
[download]