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3.9 Table Schemes

When a string is used to specify a table, it is usually the name of an external resource (file or URL) containing a byte stream. However, STIL also provides a pluggable interface for referencing tables that do not originate from a byte scheme. This is done using the TableScheme interface, either directly, or via a StarTableFactory that maintains a list of registered schemes.

The form of a scheme specification is:

   :<scheme-name>:<scheme-specific-part>
where <scheme-name> is a registered scheme name or the classname of a class that implements TableScheme and has a no-arg constructor. So for instance
    StarTable rows10 = new StarTableFactory().makeStarTable( ":loop:10" );
creates a 10-row single-column table, as described by the loop scheme documentation below.

The following subsections describe the schemes provided with STIL. Others can be implemented and installed into the StarTableFactory using the addScheme method, or at runtime using the startable.schemes system property.


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STIL - Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library
Starlink User Note252
STIL web page: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stil/
Author email: m.b.taylor@bristol.ac.uk