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The IDL Development Environment (IDLDE) is a convenient multiple-document graphical user interface that includes built-in editing and debugging tools. This section describes briefly the components of the IDLDE. The Windows version is shown on the left and the UNIX version is shown on the right within the following figure.
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The menu bar, located at the top of the main IDLDE window, allows you to control various IDLDE features. When you select an option from a menu item in the IDLDE, the Status Bar displays a brief description.
The menu bar consists of the following menu items:
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Menu Item
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Description of Functions
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The File Menu gives you options such as opening, closing and creating new Editor windows and Projects and other options such as printing, printer setup, preferences and exiting IDL.
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The Edit Menu provides edit-related options such as undo, redo, cut, copy, paste, delete, select all, clear all and clear log.
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The Search Menu allows you to find text in currently active Editor windows as well as other options such as find again, find selection, enter selection, replace, replace & find, go to line and go to definition.
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Run Menu items are enabled when an IDL program is loaded into an IDL Editor window. The run menu allows you program related functionality such as compiling, resolving dependencies, resetting, and editing programs among other things. For more information on running programs in IDL, see Chapter 3, "Preparing and Running Programs in IDL".
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The Project Menu provides project-related functionality such as adding/removing files, grouping and moving files, building, running and exporting projects and so on. For more information on working with IDL projects, see Chapter 13, "Creating IDL Projects" in the Building IDL manual.
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The Macro Menu provides functionality for creating new macros and using existing macros in IDL. Fore more about working with macros in IDL, see Chapter 5, "Creating Macros in IDL".
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The Window Menu gives functionality related to Multiple Document Panel windows.
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The Help Menu allows you to call IDL Online Help. You can call the entire Online Help system in the IDL Online Help Viewer or find help by topic. For more information on the IDL Help System, see Helpful Resources.
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You can display menu commands for each menu using the following methods:
You can select or execute a menu command using the following methods:
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You can choose any combination of three toolbars: Standard, Run & Debug, and Macros. To change the toolbars displayed, use the Windows menu to access the Toolbar pulldown menu and select or de-select any combination of the three toolbars. In addition in IDL for Windows, when you open a GUIBuilder window, its associated toolbar is displayed.
When you position the mouse pointer over a toolbar button, the Status Bar displays a brief description. If you click on a toolbar button which represents an IDL command, the IDL command issued is displayed in the Output Log.
On all platforms, the IDL Project Window allows you to manage, compile, run, and create distributions of all the files needed to develop an IDL application. All of your application files can be organized for ease of access, and to be easier to export to other developers, colleagues, or users. For further information on the Projects Window, refer to Creating IDL Projects.
On all platforms, the section of the main IDL window where IDL Editor windows are displayed is known as the multiple document panel.
Under Microsoft Windows, IDL GUIBuilder windows allow you to interactively create user interfaces. Then, you can generate the IDL code that defines the interface and the code to contain the event-handling routines. You can modify the code, compile, and run the application in the IDLDE.
You can have any number of GUIBuilder windows open simultaneously.
To open a GUIBuilder window, you can select New then GUI from the File menu, or you can select Open from the File menu. You can also open GUIBuilder windows using the toolbar buttons.
When you minimize a GUIBuilder window, a Windows title bar with the name of the file appears in the Multiple Document Panel.
For information about the GUIBuilder, see Using the IDL GUIBuilder.
IDL Editor windows allow you to write and edit IDL programs (and other text files) from within IDL. Any number of Editor windows can exist simultaneously. No Editor windows are open when IDL is first started. Editor windows can be created by selecting File ® New or File ® Open.
You can access different files from the Windows menu by clicking on the appropriate numbered file. See Creating a Simple Program for more information on the IDL Editor.
If you click the right mouse button while positioned over an editor window, a popup menu appears allowing you to quickly access several of the most convenient commands. The popup menu changes to display common debugging commands if IDL is running a program.
If a program error or breakpoint is encountered, IDLDE displays the relevant file, opening it if necessary. The line at which the breakpoint or error occurred is marked. See Debugging an IDL Program for more on IDL's debugging commands.
IDL Graphics windows appear when you use IDL to plot or display data.
You can copy the contents of a Graphics window-Direct or Object-directly to the operating system clipboard in a bitmap format using Ctrl+C.
When an IDL Graphics window is minimized (iconized), the icon displays the name of the IDL window. This icon appears on the desktop, not in the Multiple Document Panel, as with an iconized Editor window.
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On all platforms, output from IDL is displayed in the Output Log window, which appears by default when IDLDE is first started. Only one Output Log window can exist at a time.
In IDL for Windows, if you click the right mouse button while positioned over the Output Log, a popup menu appears allowing you to move to a specified error. Clear the contents of the Output Log, or copy selected contents.
In IDL for UNIX, if you click the right mouse button while positioned over the Output Log, a popup menu appears allowing you to move to a specified error or clear the contents of the Output Log.
The Variable Watch Window appears by default when you start the IDLDE. It keeps track of variables as they appear and change during program execution. For more information about the Variable Watch Window, see The Variable Watch Window.
The Command Input Line is an IDL prompt where you can enter IDL commands. The text output by IDL commands is displayed in the Output Log window.
If you click the right mouse button while positioned over the Command Input Line, a popup menu appears displaying up to 20 commands from the command recall buffer.
Select an entry in the popup menu to repeat the command. See Command Recall and Line Editing for additional information about the command recall buffer.
When you position the mouse pointer over a Control Panel button (Toolbar button in IDL for Windows) or select an option from a menu in IDLDE, the Status Bar displays a brief description.
In IDL for Windows, four sections of the IDLDE can be moved within and unanchored from the main IDLDE window: the Toolbars, Output Log, Variable Watch Window, and Command Input Line. Click on the border and drag the left mouse button. You will notice the outline of the chosen section moving with your mouse. When a location is chosen, release the mouse button to dock the window. If you move this outline so that it overlaps an edge of the window space being used by the IDLDE, the section will be docked to the nearest available side of the main IDLDE window. The Toolbars, Output Log, Variable Watch Window, and Command Input Line will remain between the Menu Bar and the Status Bar when docked. They can be docked in any order to an edge. If the outline doesn't overlap an edge, the section will float on the desktop. If you hold down the [Ctrl] key, the sections will float instead of docking to the nearest available side of the IDLDE.
In IDL for UNIX, the Control Panel buttons issue IDL commands for the currently-selected Editor window when pressed. The IDL command issued is displayed in the Output Log. By default, there are three different toolbars and the buttons displayed as well as the commands they issue are completely configurable (see Setting IDL Preferences for more on these toolbars). When you position the mouse pointer over a Control Panel Button, the Status Bar displays a brief description.