Helper Objects

Author: Optuma Team Last updated: Jun 25, 2019 10:43

Helper objects can be used to retrieve information and data without drawing anything on the chart.

Ephemeris

The Ephemeris object is used to retrieve planetary data. An Ephemeris object is created automatically and does not need to be created.

Planet Data

To Select the planets to retrieve the data from , select the planets in the Ephemeris object. To Select Aspect data select the Aspects in the Ephemeris object.

var
   Text1 : TText;
procedure Init(Tool : TTool);
var
   i : Integer;
begin
   Ephemeris.SelectPlanets('Mars, Venus');   // select the planets
   Ephemeris.SelectAspects('Quintile, Conjunction'); // select the aspects
   Ephemeris.GeoType := gtGeo;  // This sets the Geo Type - possible values are (gtGeo, gtHelio, gtSidereal)
    Ephemeris.GMTOffset := '+10:00';  // The GMT offset in H:MM as a string, can have + or - e.g. "+10:00" or "-5:00"        
    Ephemeris.CoordinateType := ctEcliptic;  // ctEcliptic or ctEquatorial     

   Text1 := Tool.AddText('Info', 0, 0);
end;

To retrieve the data call the PopulatePlanetData method passing the date of interest. To use the planet data, normally you do need to create a TPlanetInfo object for each planet to which you want to retrieve planet data. This example will display a text box with the planet data and aspect data at the selection point date.

procedure Process(Tool : TTool; ProcessStart : Integer; ProcessEnd : Integer; DataIn : TDataList);
var
   i : Integer;
   Mars, Venus : TPlanetInfo;
   aAspect : TAspectInfo;
   sInfo : String;
begin
   Ephemeris.PopulatePlanetData(Tool.MP[0].Date);
   Mars := Ephemeris.Planet['Mars'];
   Venus := Ephemeris.Planet['Venus'];


   sInfo := 'Mars Planet Data'+#13#10 + 'Longitutde: ' + FloatToStr(Mars.Longitude) + #13#10 + 'Distance: '+FloatToStr(Mars.Distance)+#13#10;

   sInfo := sInfo +'Aspects';
   for i:=0 to Ephemeris.AspectCount-1 do
   begin
      aAspect := Ephemeris.Aspects[i].AspectInfo;
      sInfo := sInfo + #13#10 + aAspect.Name;
   end;

   Text1.P1.Idx := Tool.MP[0].Idx;  // move the text object to the selection point index
   Text1.P1.Price := Tool.MP[0].Price; // move the text object to the selection point price
   Text1.Text := sInfo;  // set the text object text
end;

TPlanetInfo

TPlanetInfo has the following properties:

  • Name : string
  • Symbol : string
  • Active : boolean
  • Colour : TColor
  • GroupIndex : Integer
  • GroupName : string
  • Date : TDateTime
  • PlanetType : TPlanetType - ptPlanet, ptFixedStar, ptHouse, ptASC, ptNone, ptGann
  • Longitude : double
  • Latitude : double
  • LongSpeed : double
  • LatSpeed : double
  • RectAscension : double
  • Declination : double
  • RectSpeed : double
  • DecSpeed : double
  • Distance : double
  • DistSpeed : double

TAspectInfo

TAspectInfo has the following properties:

  • Name : string
  • Symbol : string
  • Active : boolean
  • Colour : TColor
  • iGroupIndex : Integer
  • GroupName : string
  • Date : TDateTime
  • Angle : real
  • AspectType : TAspectType - asLongitude, asDeclination
  • Aspect : TAspect
  • MoonPhases : TMoonPhases - tmpNewMoon, tmpWaxCres, tmpFirstQuart, tmpWaxGibs, tmpFullMoon, tmpWaneGibs, tmpLastQuart, tmpWaneCres

Discussion