Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
GETHELP function -- where can I find it?
Last week I posted asking about a way to get HELP info on a variable returned as a string array: > Does anyone know if I can get the normal HELP info on > just a simple variable back similarly, as in: > help,var=var or maybe help,/stru,struct=some_struct I found my own answer, in the GETHELP function, in 3.6.1. HOWEVER, it won't run. Does anyone have a working GETHELP function? The documentation says I can do this, but: IDL> a=gethelp() a=gethelp() ^ % Syntax error. IDL> print,filepath('gethelp') % Compiled module: FILEPATH. /opt/idl/gethelp IDL> $ls /opt/idl/gethelp* /opt/idl/gethelp*: No such file or directory The 4.0 beta help system says the file is in "the lib subdirectory of the IDL distribution". I can find no source file for GETHELP *anywhere* on my machine. Does anyone have a copy of it I can get? Thanks much, Russ Welti UW -- Seattle, WA rwelti@u.washington.edu
Re: GETHELP function -- where can I find it?
Russ Welti <rwelti@u.washington.edu> wrote: > Last week I posted asking about a way to get HELP info on a > variable returned as a string array: > >> Does anyone know if I can get the normal HELP info on >> just a simple variable back similarly, as in: > >> help,var=var or maybe help,/stru,struct=some_struct > > I found my own answer, in the GETHELP function, in 3.6.1. > > HOWEVER, it won't run. Does anyone have a working GETHELP > function? > > The documentation says I can do this, but: > > IDL> a=gethelp() > > a=gethelp() > ^ > % Syntax error. > IDL> print,filepath('gethelp') > % Compiled module: FILEPATH. > /opt/idl/gethelp > IDL> $ls /opt/idl/gethelp* > /opt/idl/gethelp*: No such file or directory > > The 4.0 beta help system says the file is in "the lib subdirectory > of the IDL distribution". I can find no source file for GETHELP > *anywhere* on my machine. > > Does anyone have a copy of it I can get? > > Thanks much, > Firstly, FILEPATH('xxxx') returns $IDL_DIR/xxxx even if xxxx doesn't exist. Secondly, GETHELP could be a IDL primitive, and hence it need not have a file associated with it. Lastly, I said that I was TOLD that GETHELP would be included in IDL 4.0. In the meantime, try the following: function gethelp,x if breakdown(x)='imminent' then begin print,'Please do not rely on beta versions' end return,string(randomu(seed,100)) end You're welcome much. Fergus ================================================= | Fergus Gallagher | | Remote Sensing Applications Development Unit | | British National Space Centre | | Monks Wood | | Huntingdon PE17 2LS / UK | | | | F.Gallagher@nerc.ac.uk | | http://uh.nmt.ac.uk/bnsc/fgg.html | =================================================