The table input handlers supplied with STIL are listed in
this section, along with notes on any peculiarities they have in
turning a string into a StarTable.
By default, any of these can be used in a StarTableFactory's
named format mode, but only some of them in automatic format detection mode.
In most cases the string supplied to name the table that
StarTableFactory should read
is a filename or a URL, referencing a plain or compressed copy of
the stream from which the file is available.
In some cases an additional specifier can be given after a '#'
character to give additional information about where in that stream
the table is located.
This table summarises which input handlers are available, what format strings they use, and whether they are tried in automatic format detection mode.
Format string Format Read Automatic Format Mode? Multiple Tables?
------------- ----------- ---------------------- ----------------
FITS FITS BINTABLE or ASCII extension yes yes
FITS-plus FITS with VOTable metadata in HDU#0 yes yes
VOTable VOTable 1.0/1.1/1.2 yes yes
colfits-plus Column-oriented FITS with VOTable metadata yes no
colfits-basic Column-oriented FITS no no
CDF NASA Common Data Format yes no
ASCII Whitespace-separated ASCII no no
CSV Comma-separated values no no
IPAC IPAC Table Format no no
GBIN Gaia/DPAC internal data format yes no
WDC World Data Centre format no no