| IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57269] |
Wed, 05 December 2007 14:42  |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Folks,
I've been thinking about IDL projects quite a lot the past
couple of days, because I'm trying to write an article that
can explain this to someone like me. Obviously, I am having
a great deal of difficulty. :-(
Here is my latest idea. See what you think of it.
First, forget about "projects". (Well, you can't forget
about them entirely, since IDL 7 is going to force you
to use them.) Of course, I'm talking to the Windows crowd
here, but I think the same thing applies to most users.
Instead, think about "work". You probably already have
your IDL *.pro files organized in some kind of "work"
structure.
For example, I have a "david" directory, and inside of
that I have folders named "coyote", "activecontour",
"catalyst", "test", etc. My normal way of working is
to work in the "david" directory when I am just
fooling around, but if I have a specific task
or, heaven forbid, "project", I make a separate folder
to contain those programs.
What I wanted to do in IDL 7 was duplicate this way of
working, but if I create a "david" project, then I can
no longer create "coyote" and "catalyst" projects, because
these live in the "david" folder, and projects (as far as
I can tell) cannot be nested like this.
So here is what I've created, that is sort of working for
me. I've renamed the Default project "Sandbox" and I let that
go into the IDLWorkshop folder. This is now where I do my
fooling around. I've renamed my "david" folder "idlwork" and
with the exception of moving all the *.pro files out of there
and over into my "sandbox" directory, I've left the directory
structure alone.
So, when I fire the IDL Workspace up, I am looking at the
project Sandbox. Now, if someone sends me an e-mail saying
that FSC_COLOR is a piece of crap, and here is how you can
fix it, I simply create a *new* project named "Coyote" and
I create if from the "coyote" directory in "idlwork". I can
make changes to coyote programs there. When I am finished with
it, I can just delete the Coyote project (taking care, God knows,
NOT to delete the contents of the directory!) and I am back
to my Sandbox. I can do this with any "project" I care to work
with.
This has several advantages. It keeps my Project Explorer
from overflowing with projects I'm not the least bit interested
in at the moment. It means the Workshop doesn't "Analyze Code"
for an hour and a half every morning. And it sort of makes
sense to me.
Of course, if I forget to delete the project before I exit
the IDL Workspace, it just starts up again the next morning
with the same configuration I left it in.
And, naturally, I do ALL the path manipulation manually
because I don't trust ANY software that thinks its smarter
than I am. This means my programs can find coyote, and catalyst,
and other procedures when they need them, even if they are NOT
in the project currently.
Does this seem like a workable configuration to anyone?
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57332 is a reply to message #57269] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 08:03  |
Vince Hradil
Messages: 574
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Dec 7, 9:30 am, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> Vince Hradil writes:
>> How about this David: instead of using Fast View for help, I put
>> Dyanamic Help over on the right side of the Workbench, then Minimize
>> it. When I bring it back up by clicking on the Help icon, not the
>> Restore icon, it expands to a readable size. Of course, this works
>> for other views, too - minimize instead of fast view. It does add a
>> little more clutter around the edges, though.
>
> Yes, that works pretty good, too. I just lose another half
> inch of real estate. (Thanks goodness I have plenty here!)
> How come these minimized windows don't *always* go down
> to the status bar, where we have so much wasted space just
> *waiting* to be used for something of value?
>
> Cheers,
>
> David
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming:http://www.dfanning.com/
> Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
Depends on where they are I think. If they are on the right, they
minimize to the right, if they are on the bottom...
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57334 is a reply to message #57269] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 07:30 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Vince Hradil writes:
> How about this David: instead of using Fast View for help, I put
> Dyanamic Help over on the right side of the Workbench, then Minimize
> it. When I bring it back up by clicking on the Help icon, not the
> Restore icon, it expands to a readable size. Of course, this works
> for other views, too - minimize instead of fast view. It does add a
> little more clutter around the edges, though.
Yes, that works pretty good, too. I just lose another half
inch of real estate. (Thanks goodness I have plenty here!)
How come these minimized windows don't *always* go down
to the status bar, where we have so much wasted space just
*waiting* to be used for something of value?
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57335 is a reply to message #57269] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 07:26 |
Vince Hradil
Messages: 574
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Dec 7, 9:22 am, Vince Hradil <hrad...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Dec 7, 8:28 am, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
>
>> I like the Fast View functionality, but I have one quibble.
>> Could the view please remember the last page size, so that
>> when I call it up again, it is the same size it was the last
>> time I accessed it? Especially with On-Line Help, it always
>> comes up in a narrow, skinny window, that I have to resize to
>> see anything. The Workshop seems to remember the rest of my
>> mistakes, so it is probably trivial to make it remember something
>> I really want. :-)
>
> How about this David: instead of using Fast View for help, I put
> Dyanamic Help over on the right side of the Workbench, then Minimize
> it. When I bring it back up by clicking on the Help icon, not the
> Restore icon, it expands to a readable size. Of course, this works
> for other views, too - minimize instead of fast view. It does add a
> little more clutter around the edges, though.
Oh, and you can also change the orientation to horizontal if that
suits you.
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57336 is a reply to message #57269] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 07:22 |
Vince Hradil
Messages: 574
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Dec 7, 8:28 am, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> I like the Fast View functionality, but I have one quibble.
> Could the view please remember the last page size, so that
> when I call it up again, it is the same size it was the last
> time I accessed it? Especially with On-Line Help, it always
> comes up in a narrow, skinny window, that I have to resize to
> see anything. The Workshop seems to remember the rest of my
> mistakes, so it is probably trivial to make it remember something
> I really want. :-)
How about this David: instead of using Fast View for help, I put
Dyanamic Help over on the right side of the Workbench, then Minimize
it. When I bring it back up by clicking on the Help icon, not the
Restore icon, it expands to a readable size. Of course, this works
for other views, too - minimize instead of fast view. It does add a
little more clutter around the edges, though.
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57421 is a reply to message #57333] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 12:17 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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R.G. Stockwell writes:
> Those reports were for _searching_ for WIDGET_CONTROL,
> not for looking it up in the index. When one searches for
> WIDGET_CONTROL, it shows up as the 101st item in the
> search list.
Ah, I see what you mean. But, still, I don't mind this
search. It seems to be quite thorough and perhaps even
better than the one in IDL 6.4. I do wish the Help
application would start in the Index, though. That's
what I want to use 99% of the time.
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57429 is a reply to message #57269] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 08:19 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Mike writes:
> Just drag it down there to the status bar. It will remember that that
> is were you like it next time (even after restarting).
Ah... Lot's to learn here. :-)
Cheers,
David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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| Re: IDL 7.0 Projects [message #57430 is a reply to message #57334] |
Fri, 07 December 2007 08:11 |
Michael Galloy
Messages: 1114
Registered: April 2006
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Senior Member |
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On Dec 7, 8:30 am, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> Yes, that works pretty good, too. I just lose another half
> inch of real estate. (Thanks goodness I have plenty here!)
> How come these minimized windows don't *always* go down
> to the status bar, where we have so much wasted space just
> *waiting* to be used for something of value?
Just drag it down there to the status bar. It will remember that that
is were you like it next time (even after restarting).
Mike
--
www.michaelgalloy.com
Tech-X Corporation
Software Developer II
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