IDL Access Tools: Getting Started

IDL Access Tools

Introduction | Getting Started | Tutorial: 1 2 3 4 5 | Extended Help

** DRAFT ** DRAFT ** ** DRAFT ** DRAFT ** ** DRAFT **

Getting Started

The IDL tools have been written for use with IDL 4.0 or later, and have been tested on the following platforms: SGI Indigo 2 (IRIX 6.2) and Sun SPARCstation-20 (SunOS 5.5.1).

Instructions on using the tools and downloading data are available for both P-cube and TOVS Path-P products.

Instructions for P-cube CD Users

To run the tools directly from the CD, please perform the following steps. Implementation of each step will vary depending on your operating system and shell.

Add the path to the tools on the CD to your IDL path
Set the startup file
Pick a fixed-width font for your output log
Restart IDL
Begin using the tools with the tutorial

Add the path to the tools on the CD to your IDL path. Be sure to add the new path without eliminating any existing paths.
- unix systems: The exact syntax will depend on your shell, and the drive name for your CD drive may be different from "CDROM," so you should substitute your CD drive name for [CDROM] in the following commands. On systems using flavors of C shell, this would be
```
setenv IDL_PATH /[CDROM]/TOOLS/IDL\:$IDL_PATH
	      
```
- Win95: Start IDL, and add the CD path to the list of default paths, using the pull-down menus File->Preferences->Path. For example, if your CD drive is e:, then you would enter e:\TOOLS\IDL.
Set the startup file.
- unix systems: Once again, the exact syntax will depend on your shell, and the drive name for your CD drive may be different from "CDROM," so you should substitute your CD drive name for [CDROM] in the following commands. On systems using flavors of C shell,this would be
```
setenv IDL_STARTUP /[CDROM]/TOOLS/IDL/unixstrt.pro
	      
```
- Win95: Start IDL, and change the startup file to the full path name of the one included on the CD, using the pull-down menus File->Preferences-gt;Startup. For example, if your CD drive is e:, then your would enter e:\TOOLS\IDL\w95strt.pro.

When you use this file, IDL will compile each of the tools programs in the correct order, and will set the device visual so that the display colors behave correctly. The tools were built assuming that PseudoColor is used on unix systems, and decomposed color is turned off on Win95 systems. Unexpected results will occur on the color displays if you run the tools using TrueColor. If you use a customized startup file, you may wish to merge the startup file from the CD with your own customizations.

Pick a fixed-width font for your output log. Some of the tools display text output in the IDL window. The output will be easier to read if you are using a fixed-width font (e.g. Courier or Courier New).
- unix systems: This will depend on the window manager you are using. One way for users with xterm to do this is to add the following line to your .Xdefaults file
```
	xterm*font:      -adobe-courier-*-o-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
		      
```
- Win95: Start IDL, and change the font for the output log to Courier, using the pull-down menus File-gt;Preferences-gt;General-gt;Font.

Restart IDL. Your display should look like this:

IDL Version 4(or 5).x. Research Systems, Inc.
Installation number: xxxx.
Licensed for use by: your company/institution

For basic information, enter "IDLInfo" at the IDL> prompt.

% Compiled module: COLORBAR.
% Compiled module: BLANK_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: MAKE_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: PAINT_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: SNOWICE_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: OCEAN_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: SSMI_CONVERT.
% Compiled module: SSMI_INVERSE.
% Compiled module: EASE_CONVERT.
% Compiled module: EASE_INVERSE.
% Compiled module: PPPU_ADD_SDS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_FILES.
% Compiled module: PPPU_GET_SDS_DESCRIPTIONS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_IS_ANCILLARY_SDS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_YYYYDOY_TO_JULDAY.
% Compiled module: PPP_READ.
% Compiled module: PPP_TOC.
% Compiled module: PPP_EXTRACT.
% Compiled module: PPP_STATS.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLATFORM.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLOT.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLOT_XPARAMS.
% Compiled module: PPP_COMPARE.
% Compiled module: PPP_SHOW.
% Compiled module: PPP_ANIMATE.
% Compiled module: PPP_SAVE.
% Compiled module: PPP_RESTORE.
% Compiled module: PLAY_GIF.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLATFORM

The Polar Pathfinder P-cube/TOVS IDL access routines are now installed.

Please refer to index.html in the HTML documentation
  for more information about these tools, including extended 
  help documentation.

Select Platform:
Enter 1 for P-cube
Enter 2 for TOVS Path-P
:

The prompt at the end of the installation requires you to select either P-cube (by typing '1') or TOVS Path-P (by typing '2') mode. You can use the procedure ppp_platform at any time to switch data sets.

If you see compilation errors during startup, the first thing to check is that you might have overwritten your current IDL_PATH (instead of appending the CD path to your existing path, thereby causing IDL to lose track of standard IDL functions like MOMENT, LABEL_DATE and CONGRID). The way to check this at this point would be to print the value of IDL_PATH and confirm output that looks something like this:

IDL> print,getenv("IDL_PATH") 
/CDROM/TOOLS/IDL:+/usr/local/rsi/idl5.1/idl_5.1/lib:+/usr/local/rsi/idl5.1/idl_5.1/examples
IDL>

And not like this:

IDL> print,getenv("IDL_PATH") 
/CDROM/TOOLS/IDL
IDL>

If you did overwrite your IDL_PATH, you must start a new window to get the original path back before re-executing the setenv commands above.

Begin using the tools with the tutorial. Please refer to the Access Tools extended documentation and the tutorial for examples and suggestions on how to run the tools.

Instructions for TOVS Path-P Users

The IDL tools require the TOVS Path-P data files to be organized in a specific way on your disk (P-cube data files are already organized properly). All the data files must be placed under the same base directory. The ancillary data file must be in the base directory, while the daily data files must be in yearly subdirectories under the base directory. The directory name of each yearly subdirectory must be the 4-digit year. The easiest way to ensure that your directory is set up properly is to download the daily data tar files to the base directory and untar them from there. The yearly subdirectories will be created automatically.

For example:

unix systems: This example assumes that the data files will be stored in your home directory under a subdirectory named "tovs," e.g., in /usr/me/tovs (this location is arbitrary; the data files can be stored anywhere in your file system that there is sufficient space). In this example, the ancillary data file (tpp_n100_9999999_ancil.hdf) would be placed in /usr/me/tovs. The daily data files would be placed in the subdirectories /usr/me/tovs/1979 for 1979 data, /usr/me/tovs/1980 for 1980 data, etc. (The daily data tar files could have been downloaded to /usr/me/tovs and untarred from there to create the subdirectories automatically.) If we had instead chosen to put the data files under /usr5/data/sat/met, the ancillary data file would be placed in /usr5/data/sat/met, the 1979 daily files in /usr5/data/sat/met/1979, etc. (Note: files other than daily data files should not be put in the directories with the daily data files.)
Win95:This example assumes that the data files will be stored under the directory b:\tovs (this location is arbitrary; the data files can be stored anywhere in your file system that there is sufficient space). In this example, the ancillary data file (tpp_n100_9999999_ancil.hdf) would be placed in b:\tovs. The daily data files would be placed in the subdirectories b:\tovs\1979 for 1979 data, b:\tovs\1980 for 1980 data, etc. (The tar files could have been downloaded to b:\tovs and untarred from there to create the subdirectories automatically.) If we had instead chosen to put the data files under b:\data\sat\met, the ancillary data file would be placed in b:\data\sat\met, the 1979 daily files in b:\data\sat\met\1979, etc. (Note: files other than daily data files should not be put in the directories with the daily data files.)

To download and run the tools from the TOVS Path-P FTP site, please perform the following steps. Implementation of each step will vary depending on your operating system and shell.

Download tools from the TOVS Path-P FTP site
Add the path to the tools to your IDL path
Set the startup file
Pick a fixed-width font for your output log
Restart IDL
Begin using the tools with the tutorial

Download tools from the TOVS Path-P site
- unix systems: The exact syntax will depend on your shell. On systems using flavors of C shell, and assuming for the sake of this example that you are going to put the tools in a directory named /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools (the tools can be placed anywhere in your file system), first change your current working directory to this directory by typing
  
  cd /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools
  
  Then connect to the TOVS Path-P FTP site by typing
  
  ftp sidads.colorado.edu
  
  Use 'anonymous' for the username and your e-mail address for the password. Then type
  
  cd pub/DATASETS/TOVS/TOOLS/IDL
  
  followed by
  
  mget *.pro
  
  to retrieve the tools. You must download all the files to ensure that the tools will work properly.
- Win95:Create the directory that you are going to store the tools in. Then use the FTP tool on your PC to download the tools from the FTP directory pub/DATASETS/TOVS/TOOLS on sidads.colorado.edu.
Add the path to the tools to your IDL path. Be sure to add the new path without eliminating any existing paths.
- unix systems: The exact syntax will depend on your shell. On systems using flavors of C shell, this would be (Note that the pathname /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools is only used as an example.)
```
	setenv IDL_PATH /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools\:$IDL_PATH
	
```
  If you get an error message similar to "IDL_PATH: undefined variable," you need to run the idl_setup script. If you don't know how to run this script, consult your system administrator.
- Win95: Start IDL, and add the directory name where you put the tools to the list of default paths, using the pull-down menus File->Preferences->Path.
Set the startup file.
- unix systems: Once again, the exact syntax will depend on your shell. On systems using flavors of C shell, this would be (Note that the pathname /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools is only used as an example.)
```
	setenv IDL_STARTUP /usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools/unixstrt.pro
	
```
- Win95: Start IDL, and change the startup file to the full path name on your disk, using the pull-down menus File->Preferences->Startup. For example, if you put the tools in b:\tovs\IDL_tools, then you would enter b:\tovs\IDL_tools\w95strt.pro.

Pick a fixed-width font for your output log. Some of the tools display text output in the IDL window. The output will be easier to read if you are using a fixed-width font (e.g. Courier or Courier New).
- unix systems: This will depend on the window manager you are using. One way for users with xterm to do this is to add the following line to your .Xdefaults file
```
	xterm*font:      -adobe-courier-*-o-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
	
```
- Win95: Start IDL, and change the font for the output log to Courier, using the pull-down menus File->Preferences->General->Font.

Restart IDL. Your display should look like this:

IDL Version 4(or 5).x. Research Systems, Inc.
Installation number: xxxx.
Licensed for use by: your company/institution

For basic information, enter "IDLInfo" at the IDL> prompt.

% Compiled module: COLORBAR.
% Compiled module: BLANK_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: MAKE_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: PAINT_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: SNOWICE_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: OCEAN_LEGEND.
% Compiled module: SSMI_CONVERT.
% Compiled module: SSMI_INVERSE.
% Compiled module: EASE_CONVERT.
% Compiled module: EASE_INVERSE.
% Compiled module: PPPU_ADD_SDS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_FILES.
% Compiled module: PPPU_GET_SDS_DESCRIPTIONS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_IS_ANCILLARY_SDS.
% Compiled module: PPPU_YYYYDOY_TO_JULDAY.
% Compiled module: PPP_READ.
% Compiled module: PPP_TOC.
% Compiled module: PPP_EXTRACT.
% Compiled module: PPP_STATS.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLATFORM.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLOT.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLOT_XPARAMS.
% Compiled module: PPP_COMPARE.
% Compiled module: PPP_SHOW.
% Compiled module: PPP_ANIMATE.
% Compiled module: PPP_SAVE.
% Compiled module: PPP_RESTORE.
% Compiled module: PLAY_GIF.
% Compiled module: PPP_PLATFORM

The Polar Pathfinder P-cube/TOVS IDL access routines are now installed.

Please refer to index.html in the HTML documentation, 
  for more information about these tools, including extended 
  help documentation.

Select Platform:
Enter 1 for P-cube
Enter 2 for TOVS Path-P
:

If you see compilation errors during startup, the first thing to check is that you might have overwritten your current IDL_PATH (instead of appending the IDL tools directory to your existing path, thereby causing IDL to lose track of standard IDL functions like MOMENT, LABEL_DATE and CONGRID). The way to check this at this point would be to print the value of IDL_PATH and confirm output that looks something like this:

IDL> print,getenv("IDL_PATH") 
/usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools:+/usr/local/rsi/idl5.1/idl_5.1/lib:+/usr/local/rsi/idl5.1/idl_5.1/examples
IDL>

And not like this:

IDL> print,getenv("IDL_PATH") 
/usr/me/tovs/IDL_tools
IDL>

If you did overwrite your IDL_PATH, you must start a new window to get the original path back before re-executing the setenv commands above.

Begin using the tools with the tutorial. Please refer to the Access Tools extended documentation and the tutorial for examples and suggestions on how to run the tools.