August 2002
 
This directory contains procedures (mainly written by Markus Feldt, MPI
Heidelberg) which use the IDL SOCKET command to access Web servers.   All these
procedures require IDL V5.4 or later on either Unix or Windows machines

Dominic Zarro (LAC/GSFC) has written an independent set of routines to use IDL
sockets to access Web servers.   His routines use object-oriented code and are
available at http://orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/idl/sockets.html

WEBGET() - Use the IDL SOCKET procedure to get data from http servers
QUERYGSC() - Query the Guide Star Catalog (GSC V2.2) at the Space
    Telescope Science Institute by position  
QUERYDSS - Query the digital sky survey (DSS) on-line at the European
     Space Observatory (ESO) or STSCI servers
QUERYSIMBAD - Query the SIMBAD name resolver at ESO to obtain J2000
     coordinates