adding a new metadata field to the database tables

The IPP metadata database is intended to be flexible about the quantities it stores related to the images being processed. If you decide that some additional statistic or field is needed to distinguish some effect of interest, here are the steps needed to add that information to the IPP metadata database:

• identify the analysis stage at which the new statistic can be measured (eg: after registration, for both imfile and exposure).

• identify the ippScript which corresponds to the completion of that step (eg: register_exp.pl, register_imfile.pl)

• is the value constant for the component or variable? (eg: sat_pixel_frac varies from cell to cell and chip to chip : VARIABLE)

• add the name for the to the list of CONSTANT or VARIABLE information; this name will be used as the flag for later programs to specify the data, and the database field name. (eg: sat_pixel_frac)

• identify the database table which corresponds to the target of the ippScript above (eg: rawExp, rawImfile)

• add the field to the database table in dbconfig/*.md (eg: rawExp and rawImfile in det.md)

• identify the ippTool which is used to insert the data in the relevant database table (eg: regtool)

• add the corresponding flag to the argument parsing code (eg, -sat_pixel_frac in regtoolConfig.c)

• add the code to grab the value from the argument and populate the database table (eg: in regtool.c / look for sat_pixel_frac). Note that this step may require modifying a helper function.

• add code to determine the value of interest in ppStats (eg: in ppStatsLoop.c)

• add an entry to ppStats.config to request the data of interest (eg: SAT_PIXEL_FRAC)

• add a field in the ippMonitor/def which lists data for the database table of interest