| Re: Upgrade from 3.6 [message #12070] |
Wed, 10 June 1998 00:00 |
David Foster
Messages: 341
Registered: January 1996
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Senior Member |
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Jay E Cable wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I am looking into how much work is involved in upgrading idl. Currently
> we are using a 3.6 on a osf alpha, and would like to upgrade to the
> latest version of idl. If anyone has gone though this before, and has
> any advice or suggestions about how much w ork is involved, I would really
> apreachate it. We are using idl for the gui of a large software system,
> so the main interest is in how much the widgets and what not have changed.
> Thanks!
> -Jay
> ftjec@uaf.edu
Well, I would strongly recommend upgrading, as there are many new
features that make it well worth the effort. One of the nicest
features it the ability to have your IDL prompt come back after you
start a program, which allows you to have multiple programs up at
the same time.
As far as the amount of work it takes, consider this. When we upgraded
to IDL 5.0, *every* single widget application we had no longer worked!
This sounds terrible, but it really wasn't that much trouble to get
things working again. Most of the changes involved moving the /MODAL
keyword from XMANAGER to the TLB WIDGET_BASE call, and changes to
the XMANAGER call (including the keyword /NO_BLOCK for apps that
don't block events, so XMANAGER returns immediately after registering
the app, and you get your IDL command-line back).
There were some minor changes in the requirements for GROUP_LEADER
keyword for modal widgets. Also, the concept of "modal" widgets became
more rigorous.
Plan to spend some time getting widget apps to work under 5.X; it's
worth the trouble. Liam's suggestion to get a demo is a great idea;
take one application and try to convert it. If you have questions
feel free to call/email me and I'll be glad to help you out.
Dave
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
David S. Foster Univ. of California, San Diego
Programmer/Analyst Brain Image Analysis Laboratory
foster@bial1.ucsd.edu Department of Psychiatry
(619) 622-5892 8950 Via La Jolla Drive, Suite 2240
La Jolla, CA 92037
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
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| Re: Upgrade from 3.6 [message #12071 is a reply to message #12070] |
Wed, 10 June 1998 00:00  |
sigma0
Messages: 4
Registered: June 1998
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Junior Member |
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On Wed, 10 Jun 1998, Liam Gumley wrote:
> Why not just download the IDL 5.1 demo version from ftp://ftp.rsinc.com,
> install it on the same machine, and try running you application? Or, you
> can get RSI to send you the IDL 5.1 CD-ROM, which will let you run your
> application without installing IDL on your system.
I wish! Actually, the version of osf we are running is so old that the new
version of idl will not run. I tried moving the system to a sgi running
idl 5.0, and everything I tested appeared to work fine. I am a little
worried though that maybe there are a bunch of booby traps waiting for me
though.
As for for the quality of the code, well, there is just nothing like 36k
lines of uncommented, undocumented, scientific spaghetti code!
Thanks for the info!
-Jay Cable
ftjec@uaf.edu
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
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| Re: Upgrade from 3.6 [message #12072 is a reply to message #12070] |
Wed, 10 June 1998 00:00 |
sigma0
Messages: 4
Registered: June 1998
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Junior Member |
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On Wed, 10 Jun 1998, Liam Gumley wrote:
> Why not just download the IDL 5.1 demo version from ftp://ftp.rsinc.com,
> install it on the same machine, and try running you application? Or, you
> can get RSI to send you the IDL 5.1 CD-ROM, which will let you run your
> application without installing IDL on your system.
I wish! Actually, the version of osf we are running is so old that the new
version of idl will not run. I tried moving the system to a sgi running
idl 5.0, and everything I tested appeared to work fine. I am a little
worried though that maybe there are a bunch of booby traps waiting for me
though.
As for for the quality of the code, well, there is just nothing like 36k
lines of uncommented, undocumented, scientific spaghetti code.
Thanks for the info!
-Jay Cable
ftjec@uaf.edu
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
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| Re: Upgrade from 3.6 [message #12075 is a reply to message #12070] |
Wed, 10 June 1998 00:00 |
Liam Gumley
Messages: 473
Registered: November 1994
|
Senior Member |
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Jay E Cable wrote:
> I am looking into how much work is involved in upgrading idl. Currently
> we are using a 3.6 on a osf alpha, and would like to upgrade to the
> latest version of idl. If anyone has gone though this before, and has
> any advice or suggestions about how much w ork is involved, I would really
> apreachate it. We are using idl for the gui of a large software system,
> so the main interest is in how much the widgets and what not have changed.
Why not just download the IDL 5.1 demo version from ftp://ftp.rsinc.com,
install it on the same machine, and try running you application? Or, you
can get RSI to send you the IDL 5.1 CD-ROM, which will let you run your
application without installing IDL on your system.
As far as the widgets go, it will depend on how your program was put
together. You've probably got a good chance of success if you've already
verified that the IDL 3.6 version of your application runs on several
different platforms. However, the following items would be danger signs:
(1) The application has only ever been run on one platform (even worse,
only on a single machine),
(2) The code is single spaced, with few comments, and every line starts
in column 1,
(3) The programmer who developed it is no longer around.
Just my $0.02 cents worth.
Cheers,
Liam.
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