en Copyright 1997-2012, David W. Fanning david@idlcoyote.com (David Fanning) Wed, 09 May 2012 20:55:18 GMT david@idlcoyote.com (David Fanning) http://www.idlcoyote.com/index.html IDL Programming Tips and Examples http://www.idlcoyote.com/images/coyote_tips.jpg http://www.idlcoyote.com/index.html http://www.idlcoyote.com/store I have decided to retire from the IDL business and move on after 20 some years of working exclusively with IDL as a programmer, author, trainer, and consultant. I do so with mixed feelings, of course, but I am finally ready to move on to something else. To reclaim the bedroom (my wife's request) from all the IDL books stored there, I am putting all my IDL books on sale at the Coyote Store. I only have four copies of IDL Programming Techniques, 2nd Edition left and I have no plans to print more. If you want this book this may be your last chance to buy it. Thank you to everyone who has made this job such a fun one over the past 20 years. I'll miss each and every one of you. In my new life, I plan to write "real" books, travel, and hike. I'll see you out there somewhere. Coyote will be with me. article 939 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 09 May 2012 20:55:18 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/reading/iceandwind.php After making the unfortunate comment I wanted to "get out of town", I became, several weeks later, a member of an oceanographic research team heading for the Arctic Ocean and its -65F wind-chill temperature. This is a story of thin ice, uncooperative equipment, cold temperatures, an eccentric scientist, and, naturally, polar bears. Why, you ask, would an oceanographer choose to study the *Arctic* Ocean!? That's a good question. Maybe I can answer it. article 938 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 02 May 2012 04:35:24 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cghistoplot.pro A new SMOOTH keyword has been added to apply the IDL Smooth function to the histogram plot before display. Also, the program has been modified to allow overplotting of the histogram in cgWindow, and a problem in the way the last histogram bin is drawn when the OUTLINE keyword is set has been corrected. article 937 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:26:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/gridpositons.pro This program has been modifed with a new PS_KEYWORDS keyword which will accept the PostScript keyword structure returned by PS_Start or PSConfig to obtain the required PostScript parameters necessary to calculate accurate grid positions. article 936 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:26:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/loglevels.pro This very useful program by Martin Schultz, which creates logarithmic levels for annotating logartithmic axes, has been added to the Coyote Library. article 935 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:26:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/colorchange.php This article describes how to change colors in a cgWindow resizeable graphics window. article 934 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:17:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/oobcontour.php This article describes how to set up a filled contour plot and color bar with out-of-bounds colors correctly displayed. article 933 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:17:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcontour.pro A problem in repairing axes damaged when the contours were filled with colors was fixed with a new algorithm several weeks ago. But, the fix didn't work when the contour plot was drawn with !P.Multi. This new update handles this situation, too. article 932 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:33:06 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgpolygon.pro I added a POSITION keyword that will allow the user to draw a color filled or unfilled rectangular region on the plot, give the normal IDL "position" parameter. article 931 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:33:06 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cghistoplot.pro I added a LOG keyword that will allow the histogram count to be displayed on a logarithmically scaled axis. article 930 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:33:06 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/graphics_tips/fastfill.php This article describes a filled contour problem in which a program that took roughly 100 seconds to render, was made to render in 0.17 seconds using a different fill technique. article 929 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:17:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/reading/coyote_reading.php I've finally gotten up to date with Coyote's short book reviews. article 928 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:48:15 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/number_formatter.pro There was a problem with number overflow when trying to format numbers using more than 10 digits. I've switched to a 64-bit integer to prevent this from happening. article 927 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:48:15 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/find_resource_file.pro I changed the order of directories where this program searches for resource files. It now looks first in the directory in which the source code that is calling Find_Resource_File is found. article 926 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:48:15 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgPlot.pro Made a small change in cgPlot that turns a scalar into a one element array so it can be placed on a plot with the OVERPLOT keyword. Addresses one of Wayne Landman's priority pet peeves with the Plot command! article 925 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:48:15 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/ps_end.pro ImageMagick is making the resizing of raster files more difficult by not conforming to their own documentation. A new raster image resizing work-around has been added to this program to assure the image width is honored. The work-around has been tested in several versions of ImageMagick, including the latest version, version 6.7.6-3, and found to work correctly. article 924 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:24:00 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgps2raster.pro ImageMagick is making the resizing of raster files more difficult by not conforming to their own documentation. A new raster image resizing work-around has been added to this program to assure the image width is honored. The work-around has been tested in several versions of ImageMagick, including the latest version, version 6.7.6-3, and found to work correctly. article 923 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:24:00 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/rasterdims.php This article describes how to set the width of raster file output created by Coyote Graphics commands via PostScript intermediary files and ImageMagick. article 922 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:54:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcontrol.pro This program has been updated to allow file output to be created by means of an OUTPUT keyword, which can be used in the same way the keyword is used in other Coyote Graphics routines. The OUTPUT keyword is a shorthand way of setting the now depreciated Create_PNG, Create_JPG, Create_PS, etc. keywords. article 921 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:54:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/zip_files/coyoteprograms.zip Changes have been made today to 13 Coyote Library routines to allow the user to specify the exact width of raster file output (e.g., JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.) created with ImageMagick. This is done via the IM_WIDTH keyword to PS_End and applies only to raster files created from PostScript intermediary files by ImageMagick. All Coyote Library routines that create raster output (e.g., cgPlot, cgContour, cgWindow, etc.) have been effected by this change. Set the default width for all raster output using the cgWindow_SetDefs program and the IM_WIDTH keyword. article 920 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:43:57 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgscatter2d.pro This program has been updated to allow a vector of color values to be used to color the scatter plot points. article 919 at idlcoyote.com Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:52:05 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgpolygon.pro Normally, if you want to draw an unfilled polygon, you use cgPlotS. If you want a filled polygon, you use cgColorFill. This makes for overly-complicated code. The new program cgPolygon sorts all of this out for you, so you only have to use one polygon program and you choose between filled and unfilled polygons with the FILL keyword. You can use different colors for the fill and outline parts of the polygon you draw. article 918 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:30:23 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/fsc_brewer.tbl The diverging Brewer color table 24 (RdYlBu) was slightly wrong in its point of divergence (off by a single index). The Brewer color table file, fsc_brewer.tbl, has been updated to correct this problem. article 917 at idlcoyote.com Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:01:08 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/zip_files/coyoteprograms.zip A number of programs have been changed in the Coyote Library today to accommodate GDL users. In particular, the COLOR keyword to the ERASE command has been changed to a color parameter. article 916 at idlcoyote.com Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:01:08 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/misc_tips/strangehash.php This article describes the auguably strange hash syntax for accessing data inside of hashes in IDL 8. article 915 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:04:40 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/linesonimage.php This article describes one of the problems people have in placing contour lines on top of images. The secret is to be sure to set up a data coordinate space by setting the Save keyword to cgImage when the image is displayed. article 914 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:55:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdcbar.pro I added CharPercent, Fit, and TReverse keywords to this discrete color bar routine to make it act and look more like the cgColorbar routine. The TReverse keyword allows you to reverse the direction of the color bar title on vertical color bars. article 913 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:14:41 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcolorbar.pro I modified the "fit" algorithm today (set with the FIT keyword) to make sure the fitted color bar is completely contained within the graphics window. article 912 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:14:41 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcolorbar.pro There was a small modification in the way color palettes are used in this program that will make color palettes easier to use and understand. Now, when a palette is used, the NCOLORS keyword will be set (if it is undefined) by the number of colors in the palette. article 911 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:44:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcontour.pro There was a small modification in the way color palettes are used in this program that will make color palettes easier to use and understand. Now, when a palette is used, the NLEVELS keyword will be set (if it is undefined) by the number of colors in the palette. Also, it is now possible to draw in the "background" color, if the COLOR or AXISCOLOR keywords are set to "BACKGROUND". Normally, the the COLOR or AXISCOLOR cannot be the same as the background color, however this is allowed in this special circumstance. This will permit users to implement rudimentary "erasing" of axes and data in their graphics programs. article 910 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:44:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgplot.pro It is now possible to draw in the "background" color, if the COLOR or AXISCOLOR keywords are set to "BACKGROUND". Normally, the the COLOR or AXISCOLOR cannot be the same as the background color, however this is allowed in this special circumstance. This will permit users to implement rudimentary "erasing" of axes and data in their graphics programs. article 909 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:44:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgsurf.pro It is now possible to draw in the "background" color, if the COLOR or AXISCOLOR keywords are set to "BACKGROUND". Normally, the the COLOR or AXISCOLOR cannot be the same as the background color, however this is allowed in this special circumstance. This will permit users to implement rudimentary "erasing" of axes and data in their graphics programs. article 908 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:44:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcontour.pro In some situations (e.g., filled contour plots), cgContour needs to "repair" its axes. I have been doing this with the AXIS command, but today this proved to be a problem when someone used time/date axes on their plot. Since I am not defining all 80 some keywords that can be used with the Contour command, I have decided to repair axis damage in a different way, using the Contour command itself. This change will be transparent to the vast majority of users. article 907 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:02:54 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdefaultcolor.pro Whoa! I wasn't finished updating cgDefaultColor, I guess. I made another change today that makes sure what happens in cgDefaultColor stays in cgDefaultColor. The "mode" variable was being changed and causing problems in some situations. article 906 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:11:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdefaultcolor.pro Against my better judgement, but to make this program work with some old NASA code that has been producing images since 1996, I have modified this program to accept floating point values as color table index numbers, if the values are in the range 0 to 255, and the default colors are being used in indexed color mode. article 905 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:24:34 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgset.pro I added a DISPLAY keyword to this program to allow the user to also set the current graphics window to the graphics window contained in the cgWindow application. Now you can use cgSet to not only make a cgWindow application the current application, but to make its graphics window the current graphics window. article 904 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:24:34 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/convertcg.php This article describes how to make cgWindow the current graphics window, so that Convert_Coord will not throw its "Window is closed and unavailable" error. article 903 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:26:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/blackback.php Some people are confused about why Coyote Graphics commands are sometimes found in graphics windows with black backgrounds and at other times appear in graphics windows with white backgrounds. This article explains what is happening and makes suggestions for how you can reliably get the window background you prefer. article 902 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:39:46 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgoplot.pro Overplotting is usually done by setting the Overplot keyword on cgPlot. This program is simply a wrapper to cgPlot, but it is easier to use as a drop-in replacement for OPlot in IDL code you are converting to Coyote Graphics. article 901 at idlcoyote.com Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:04:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcolor.pro I have made sure than if the user is specifying a vector of colors, that the vector will be returned as a byte array, rather than as a long array, if the user is working in indexed color mode. article 900 at idlcoyote.com Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:24:49 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/widget_tips/nameclip.php This article describes a simple work-around to prevent Dialog_Pickfile from clipping long file names on Windows machines. article 899 at idlcoyote.com Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:53:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgpickfile.pro There is a bug in Dialog_Pickfile on Windows machines that causes the input filename to be cut off. The simple solution it to always set the WRITE keyword to Dialog_Pickfile. This solution has been implemented in cgPickfile so the user doesn't have to worry about it. article 898 at idlcoyote.com Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:02:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/fsc_base_filename.pro Under some circumstances, the directory name returned by the program was not marked with the final path separator symbol, as required by the program documenation. Code has been added to make sure the directory name always contains the final path separator. article 897 at idlcoyote.com Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:02:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcmdwindow__define.pro I fixed a problem with absolute filenames in the AutoRasterFile method. This problem came to light when cgControl was used to create a raster file from a resizeable graphics window and an absolute, rather than relative, file name was used. article 896 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:29:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/ncdf_file__define.pro I added the keywords Chunk_Dimensions, Continuous, GZip, and Shuffle to the WriteVarDef method to allow the use of these keywords in the appropriate version of IDL. article 895 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:29:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgblendimage.pro I added a new WINDOW keyword to this program to allow the program to obtain the foreground and background images it is to blend directly from graphics windows that are already on the display. article 894 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:55:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdisplay.pro I added FORCE and MATCH keywords to this program. The FORCE keyword will force a window to open on the graphics display, even when it might not open (because of interactions with cgWindows) normally. The MATCH keyword causes the window to match the size of the current graphics window, if there is one. article 893 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:55:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/ncdf_file__define.pro I added the keyword NETCDF4_FORMAT to the INIT method, so you can create netCDF files with extended memory, even in version 7.1 of IDL. article 892 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:55:42 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgimage.pro It turns out I was not passing the correct MAXVALUE and MINVALUE keywords to the routine that does the image scaling. Thus, all images were being scaled into the range 0 to 255. This is now corrected. article 891 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:17 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgpixmap.pro This is a resizeable graphics window exactly like cgWindow (i.e., it accepts the same keywords, etc.) except that it is (normally!) invisible. Since it is invisible, it can be used as a pixmap (an invisible graphics window). The only difference with cgWindow is that this program is written as a function that returns the object reference that is at the heart of the program. This makes it much easier to handle the pixmap and its properties. article 890 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgpixmapwindow__define.pro This subclassed cgCmdWindow object allows a resizeable command window to be used as a pixmap (an invisible graphics window). One nice feature of this pixmap, is that you can actually see it, if necessary! Simply set the VISIBLE property of the object. article 889 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcmdwindow__define.pro Two new methods have been added to this graphics window object. The COPY method allows you to copy (using the Device Copy technique) the contents of the graphics window to any other graphics window. The OUTPUT method makes it easier to produce hardcopy output files (PostScript, PDF, and raster files) by simply specifying the output file name. article 887 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdisplay.pro This program has been updated to always allow a graphics window to be created if the program is called from the IDL command line. article 886 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:25:31 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/zip_files/coyoteprograms.zip The recent change to cgColor, in which a new "background" color was defined, has given me the opportunity to make it easier to handle color correctly in the Coyote Graphics routines. Thus, I have updated all of these routines to work better in whatever graphics environment you choose to use them in. They will now do the right thing in either black (Window command) or white (cgDisplay command) graphics windows. If no graphics window is open when the Coyote Graphics command is issued, cgDisplay will be used to open a window with a white background color. article 885 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:37:05 GMT http://idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftp/pro/plot/al_legend.pro This program has been updated to work more naturally with the resizeable graphics window cgWindow. The update also eliminates problems people were having using AL_Legend in cgWindows with multiple plots displayed in the window. To fully take advantage of this update, you will also need to update your cgColor program in the Coyote Library. article 884 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:30:08 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcolor.pro I added the color "Background" has been added to cgColor to complement the color "Opposite". (Background is the opposite of Opposite!) This has been done primarily for the convenience of the AL_Legend command, used with the Clear keyword. article 883 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:30:08 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgerrplot.pro This program is a drop-in replacement for the IDL program ErrPlot. It uses the same program syntax, except that colors can now be expressed as color names. article 882 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:51:24 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/store/index.php All books and software in the Coyote inventory are on-sale until the end of the month at 25 to 50 percent savings. You won't find the books this cheap again until the bankruptcy sale! article 881 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:03:55 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/reading/coyote_reading.php Coyote's January book reviews have been updated, and his Top Five Books in 2011 have been selected. article 880 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:14:45 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgbarplot.pro A new keyword, BarCoords, has been added to this program to obtain the output locations of each bar that is added to the plot. With the output locations in hard, it is easy to add, for example, error bars and other annotations to the bar plot. article 879 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:14:45 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgwindow.pro This program, at the heart of the Coyote Graphics System, has been modified extensively so that now it is simply an API or "skin" for the more powerful underlying draw widget object, cgCmdWindow. This will allow user to write programs with much more powerful functionality and interaction with the command window than was possible previously. article 878 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:14:45 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgcmdwindow__define.pro My original idea for cgWindow was to create a resizeable graphics window that could re-draw any kind of an IDL graphics command. Now I want more. In fact, what I want is a smart draw widget that I can use not only for drawing any IDL command in a graphics window, but I can also use for processing user interaction in the graphics window. To achieve this goal, I have separated the functional object in the original cgWindow program out of cgWindow and put it in its program, cgcmdwindow__define.pro. The cgWindow program is now simply a "skin" or "shell" for a very limited portion of the "functionality" of this smart object-widget. You can use this object-widget exactly like any other draw widget in your graphical user interface. article 877 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:14:45 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/code_tips/evenlog.php This article describes how to create an evenly spaced vector of points in logarithmic space. The procedure was discussed recently on the IDL newsgroup. article 876 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:03:44 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgloggen.pro This program creates an evenly spaced vector of points in logarithmic space between two end points. article 875 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:03:44 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/xcolors.pro In IDL 7, a change was made to the X Windows driver that made it impossible to both get the current color mode and set it on the same Device command, using Get_Decomposed and Decomposed keywords. You now have to do this in two steps (e.g., see the GetDecomposed of SetDecomposedState Coyote Library programs) on UNIX machines. For some reason, this change was never propogated to XColors, which caused color problems for UNIX users. (Nor was it reported to me, which makes it hard to fix!!) This version of XColors now uses SetDecomposedState to change the color mode, which will correct these color problems. article 874 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:04:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgdefaultfont.pro Recent changes to this program to more accurately predict what a user is trying to do when he or she specifies a color with a long integer was a little too successful! In particular, it was flagging 24-bit color values as color indices as the user transitioned from an 8-bit PostScript device to a 24-bit PostScript device. Since this transition occurs nearly every time I make a PostScript file (who really sets their PostScript device up as a 24-bit device and leaves it there!?), I decided to ignore the MODE keyword in the PostScript device and always get the current mode at the time this program is called. Users who specify their colors as color names, as Coyote Graphics programs are designed to accommodate, will be unaffected by this change. article 873 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:04:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/scatter2d.php This article discusses how to use cgScatter2D to create two-dimensional scatter plots in IDL. In this program I have experimented with some interesting new graphics features, such as displaying a plot with a grid in the background and with a solid fill color in the region of the plot enclosed by axes. Keywords allow full control of all features. article 872 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:37:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgscatter2d.pro This is a 2D scatter plot program in the Coyote Graphics tradition. The Pearson correlation coefficient and the parameters for fitting a straight line through the data are calculated and the best-fit line is (optionally) plotted on the line. Output variables allow you to recover the correlation and fitting parameters from the program. Like all Coyote Graphics routines, you can display the plot is a resizeable graphics window and create PostScript, PDF, and raster file output directly from the command. article 871 at idlcoyote.com Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:37:43 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgwindow.pro I have added the ability to pass a fourth positional parameter to cgWindow. This has been done primarily to accommodate PlotError and OPlotError in the NASA Astronomy Library. Changes to these routines will be available shortly that will make these routines several orders of magnitude faster than they were previously. (In tests with 4096 data points, error bars that previously took about 20 seconds to render are now rendering in about 0.5 seconds.) article 870 at idlcoyote.com Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:10:48 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/reading/coyote_reading_2011.php After a lot of hemming and hawing, Coyote has finally selected his five favorite books for 2011. As always, the choice is excruciating, but these are five books that are well worth your time reading! article 869 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:09:25 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/cg_tips/compcont.php I have used some NCEP reanalysis map projected temperature data and shown how to add filled contour plots to the map projection in the Direct, Coyote, and Function graphics systems in IDL. The data and the program I used in the comparison is available from links in the article if you want to play with this yourself. article 868 at idlcoyote.com Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:56:53 GMT http://www.idlcoyote.com/programs/cgplots.pro I added a MAP_OBJECT keyword to this program to accept a cgMap object. If given such an object, longitude and latitude values will be converted to the projected meter coordinate system set up with cgMap and will be drawn on top of map projections set up with the cgMap object. article 867 at idlcoyote.com Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:22:57 GMT