Deep-Sky Planner 5 Preview: Have It Your Way

Some of the most obvious changes in Deep- Sky Planner 5 (DSP5) are enhancements to the user interface. New display capabilities give you more control over what data appears in your reports and how it is displayed. This is a big deal to a lot of users, so DSP5 gives more flexibility than ever before, and the enhancements are compliant with Windows guidelines so that learning to use the product doesn't involve a steep learning curve.

Deep-Sky Planner has long given users the ability to format quantities like date and time to your liking. This capability is still present. DSP5 adds the ability to control which columns of data are displayed and in what order. Data in any column (or columns) can also be sorted in either ascending or descending order. Each of these report configuration options is saved so that once you have a type of report configured just right, it stays that way. The screenshot below shows the column customization dialog used to hide, show and re-order columns.



Even the appearance of reports has gotten a boost. The new stylesheet technology in DSP5 allows you to choose a color and font scheme for reports that suits your needs. Stylesheets are included in backup and restore operations so your stylesheets can be synchronized among computers.

The Observation Browser, as well as all of the equipment and observer browsers, now have the ability to generate reports in a format specified by XML stylesheets (XSLT.) These reports can be viewed and printed. The product ships with default XML stylesheets, but you can create and use your own. The example below shows a report of Cameras using the default XML stylesheet. With knowledge of XSLT, you can eliminate data or change the formatting to suit your needs.



Since these XML stylesheets are simply files, they can be exchanged by users. More on this capability later.

Please stay tuned for the next article in this series. It will discuss enhancements to the sky charting feature.