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### 9.4 Messages Received

This section describes the messages which TOPCAT will respond to when it receives them from other applications via the SAMP/PLASTIC hub. The SAMP MTypes and PLASTIC message IDs are listed along with the descriptions; unless you are a tool developer you can probably ignore these.

Load Table
  Loads a table sent by another application. It is added to the list of tables in the Control Window.

  SAMP MType: `table.load.votable`, `table.load.fits`, `table.load.cdf`, `table.load.pds4`, `table.load.stil` or `coverage.load.moc.fits`.

  PLASTIC Message ID: `ivo://votech.org/votable/load` or `ivo://votech.org/votable/loadFromURL`

  Note the non-standard MType `table.load.stil` is supported for loading tables with SAMP. This is like the other `table.load.*` MTypes, but any table format supported by the application is permitted. This MType has an additional parameter "`format`", which must contain the table format name (not case sensitive).

New Subset
  Loads a row selection sent from another application. If an external application is looking at the same table as one that TOPCAT has loaded, it can send a row selection. In this case, TOPCAT will add that selection as a new Row Subset for the table. The name of the received subset will be that of the sending application, for instance "Aladin". If a subset of that name already exists (which is probably because the same application has sent a row selection previously) then its content will be overwritten by the new selection. In either case, receiving the message causes plots displaying data from the table in question to show the points from the new subset.

  Note: this behaviour differs from the behaviour in TOPCAT versions prior to v3.0. Different options for handling exactly how a received row selection is treated may be made available in future versions.

  SAMP MType: `table.select.rowList`

  PLASTIC Message ID: `ivo://votech.org/votable/showObjects`

Highlight Row
  If TOPCAT already has loaded the table identified by the request, it will activate the requested row. This will result in the row being marked in any currently visible plots and in the Data Window if it is visible, as well as performing any additional actions you have configured in the Activation Window.

  SAMP MType: `table.highlight.row`

  PLASTIC Message ID: `ivo://votech.org/votable/highlightObject`

Load Resource Identifiers
  Receives a list of VO registry resource identifiers from another application. Several of TOPCAT's Virtual Observatory access windows display a list of resources in their Registry Query Panel. Normally, the displayed resources are a default set or are those you have selected by entering keywords. However, another application can send a list of resources, and if they are of an appropriate type for the window in question, and if the window is currently visible, its currently displayed list will be replaced with the ones which have been sent.

  SAMP MTypes: `voresource.loadlist`, `voresource.loadlist.cone`, `voresource.loadlist.siap`, `voresource.loadlist.ssap`

Get Table
  Allows clients to retrieve tables currently loaded into TOPCAT. This MType has a mandatory parameter `format` giving the (case-insensitive) table format name required for the output table. It also takes an optional integer-like parameter `id`, giving the ID number (as shown in the Control Window table list) of the table required. If `id` is missing or non-positive, the current table is used. The returned response has an output parameter `url` giving the URL of the apparent table in question. This MType is experimental and may be modified or withdrawn in the future.

  SAMP MType: `table.get.stil`.

System-level messages are also responded to. For SAMP these are:

- `samp.hub.disconnect`
- `samp.hub.event.shutdown`
- `samp.hub.event.register`
- `samp.hub.event.unregister`
- `samp.hub.event.metadata`
- `samp.hub.event.subscriptions`
- `samp.app.ping`

and for PLASTIC:

- `ivo://votech.org/test/echo`
- `ivo://votech.org/info/getName`
- `ivo://votech.org/info/getIconURL`
- `ivo://votech.org/hub/event/ApplicationRegistered`
- `ivo://votech.org/hub/event/ApplicationUnregistered`
- `ivo://votech.org/hub/event/HubStopping`

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TOPCAT - Tool for OPerations on Catalogues And Tables
Starlink User Note253
TOPCAT web page: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/
Author email: m.b.taylor@bristol.ac.uk
Mailing list: topcat-user@jiscmail.ac.uk