default to all-sky search when column_filters is given and position is None

Author: zoghbi-a

astroquery/heasarc/core.py

@@ -499,6 +499,10 @@ def query_region(self, position=None, catalog=None, radius=None, *,
         table : A `~astropy.table.Table` object.
         """
 
+        # if we have column_filters and no position, assume all-sky search
+        if position is None and column_filters is not None:
+            spatial = 'all-sky'
+
         if spatial.lower() == 'all-sky':
             where = ''
         elif spatial.lower() == 'polygon':

docs/heasarc/heasarc.rst

@@ -217,11 +217,13 @@ This allows you to query a catalog by specifying
 various column constraints. For example, the following query searches the ``chanmaster``
 catalog for all observations with exposure time greater than 190 ks.
 
+Note that when column filters are given and no position is specified,
+the search defaults to an all-sky search.
+
 .. doctest-remote-data::
 
     >>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
     >>> tab = Heasarc.query_region(
-    ...     spatial='all-sky',
     ...     catalog='chanmaster', column_filters={'exposure': ('>', '190000')}
     ... )
     >>> tab['name', 'obsid', 'ra', 'dec', 'exposure'][:3].pprint()
@@ -238,7 +240,6 @@ Another example may be to search the ``xmmmaster`` for a observation in some tim
 
     >>> from astroquery.heasarc import Heasarc
     >>> tab = Heasarc.query_region(
-    ...     spatial='all-sky',
     ...     catalog='xmmmaster', column_filters={'time': (52300, 52310)}
     ... )
     >>> tab['name', 'obsid', 'ra', 'dec', 'time', 'duration'][:3].pprint()