MCOCR Overhaul

I recently overhauled MCOCR--the optical-character-recognition program that captures local data for the Centretown Observatory. The program was still generating too many errors, and I wanted to make it easier to use.

MCOCR v. 2.32 in Action

In the image above, you'll see some changes from the old version; there've also been some changes under the hood.

New .ini Directives
I've added a new, optional SegThresh directive, designed to be used within Group (value) definitions. It allows you to specify a segment (0-7) and a threshold value (0-100). That then becomes the threshold value for that segment only, rather than the default for the whole character. I added it in for situations where you just can't find a threshold value that'll work for the whole character.

Working Positioners
You'll have noticed the addition of a new positioner: "Char Adjust." We'll come back to that in a minute, but first a general explanation. Each positioner generates an X-Y offset value to be applied when scanning that character.  You would first hit the [Adjust] button, to enter Adjustment Mode. Under "Global Adjust," the positioner adjusts the positions of all scanning elements at once. For finger-grained control, select a Location, then one of the values from the "Group Adjust" listbox. Any adjustments there only affect that group (i.e. barometric pressure, temperature). Finally, you can adjust the positions of individual characters through the "Char Adjust" buttons. Incidentally, the button in the middle of each positioner resets the offset values to zero.

Hitting the [Adjust] button a second time makes the values stick.

Menu Bar
I've added a menu bar, with which we're all familiar. It includes a provision to 'seed' the precipitation-to-date value, with either Zero or the most-recently-recorded value.

Bottom Line
The program has grown much easier to use and is capturing data successfully 99.98% of the time. I'm soon going to release it into the wild.

-Bill