checks for installed modules implemented; docs moved to readthedocs.i…

…o; .gitignore updated

.gitignore

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-
-# other stuff
+# supplemental files not to track
 *~
 */#*
 dump/
 #*#
 
 # stuff we don't want to track
 setup/mytelescopes.py
+doc/_build/
 
 ### Python ###
 ## Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files

_pp_conf.py

@@ -9,10 +9,18 @@
 import sys
 import logging
 import warnings
-from astropy import wcs
-from astropy.io import fits
-import numpy as np
-
+try:
+    from astropy import wcs
+    from astropy.io import fits
+except ImportError:
+    print('Module astropy not found. Please install with: pip install astropy')
+    sys.exit()
+try:
+    import numpy as np
+except ImportError:
+    print('Module numpy not found. Please install with: pip install numpy')
+    sys.exit()
+
 # import pipeline-specific modules
 from toolbox import *
 

catalog.py

@@ -33,10 +33,19 @@
 #import urllib.request, urllib.error, urllib.parse
 import time
 import sqlite3 as sql
-from scipy import spatial
+try:
+    from scipy import spatial
+except ImportError:
+    print('Module scipy not found. Please install with: pip install scipy')
+    sys.exit()
 from astropy.io import fits
 import scipy.optimize as optimization
-from astroquery.vizier import Vizier
+try:
+    from astroquery.vizier import Vizier
+except ImportError:
+    print('Module astroquery not found. Please install with: pip install '
+          'astroquery')
+    sys.exit()
 import astropy.units as u
 import astropy.coordinates as coord
 from astropy.table import Table, Column

diagnostics.py

@@ -30,15 +30,25 @@
 from astropy.io import fits
 from astropy import wcs
 import datetime
-import matplotlib
-matplotlib.use('Agg')
-import matplotlib.pylab as plt
+try:
+    import matplotlib
+    matplotlib.use('Agg')
+    import matplotlib.pylab as plt
+except ImportError:
+    print('Module matplotlib not found. Please install with: pip install '
+          'matplotlib')
+    sys.exit()
 import subprocess
-#from PIL import Image
-from scipy.misc import toimage # requires Pillow
-from scipy.misc import imresize # requires Pillow
-from scipy.misc import bytescale
 
+try:
+    from scipy.misc import toimage # requires Pillow
+    from scipy.misc import imresize # requires Pillow
+    from scipy.misc import bytescale
+except ImportError:
+    print('Modules scipy or pillow not found. Please install with: pip '
+          'install scipy pillow')
+    sys.exit()
+
 # only import if Python3 is used
 if sys.version_info > (3,0):
     from builtins import str