comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado

Home » Public Forums » archive » Top 10 IDL Requests
Show: Today's Messages :: Show Polls :: Message Navigator
E-mail to friend 
Return to the default flat view Create a new topic Submit Reply
Re: Top 10 IDL Requests [message #20912 is a reply to message #20666] Mon, 31 July 2000 00:00 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Mark Hadfield is currently offline  Mark Hadfield
Messages: 783
Registered: May 1995
Senior Member
> "Kristian Kjaer" <Kristian.Kjaer@Risoe.Dk> wrote in message
news:3981DA40.F3BC8FC9@Risoe.Dk...
>
> A print button (and an equivalent cmd-line command) which would work
> on (direct) graphics already rendered to the screen (using std. direct
> graphics commands) would null _the_ major quirk in IDL, IMHO.

And how would it be done?

Once a direct graphics command has sent output to an output device, the only
"memory" IDL has of that command is the changed state of the output device.
At that point the system (or the user) has two ways of recreating the output
to a different device:

1. Switch devices & re-issue the same commands
2. Read the output back off the device and send it to the new device.

Number 1 is the method that users normally employ. It's hard to automate
because the graphics commands may well have change the state of the system
in all sorts of unknown ways. This is the method employed by David Fanning's
direct graphics objects. It's a brilliant idea but it has a major
limitation: it requires the user to bundle the graphics command in a single
routine that is "well-behaved", i.e. it can be run repeatedly & is
responsible for recreating all its data every time it is called.

Number 2 is already available for graphics windows via TVRD or the "copy to
clipboard" functionality on Windows. The graphics output is read back from
the output device as a raster image. This is pretty much useless when
redirected to a device with a different resolution.

The "directness" of IDL direct graphics is one of the main reasons for its
speed but also the source of fundamental limitations. It's because of these
fundamental limitations that RSI invented object graphics.

---
Mark Hadfield
m.hadfield@niwa.cri.nz http://katipo.niwa.cri.nz/~hadfield/
National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research
PO Box 14-901, Wellington, New Zealand
[Message index]
 
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Previous Topic: avs field
Next Topic: Dear Santa: PVWAVE Style Date/Time Axes in IDL

-=] Back to Top [=-
[ Syndicate this forum (XML) ] [ RSS ] [ PDF ]

Current Time: Sun Oct 12 11:10:17 PDT 2025

Total time taken to generate the page: 1.76131 seconds