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A.2 Image Header Formats

As in the bin weight data, the header format differs depending upon whether it is written in ascii or binary. The actual information written will depend upon the gridding method, but the format is the same. ascii headers are composed of a set of lines, one variable per line, which have the following template:

     # <variable name> = <variable value>

C binary headers are written out as structures, with all padding intact. This is portable across 32bit Sparc and MIPS machines. Structure definitions are in the file spatquant.h. The structure is preceded by an integer which describes its type; the types are defined by the enum BackEndType in spatquant.h.

Fortran binary headers are written as a single record, preceded by a record containing an integer, which describes the backend. The variables are written in the same order as they are defined in the C structure. Again, see spatquant.h for more info. You will have to know the exact type of the variables being written and their order in order to read the header.