PDL::Graphics::IIS - Display PDL images on IIS devices

- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- FUNCTIONS

- iis
- iiscur
- iiscirc
- saoimage
- ximtool

- BUGS
- AUTHOR

# NAME

PDL::Graphics::IIS - Display PDL images on IIS devices (saoimage/ximtool)

# SYNOPSIS

     use PDL::Graphics::IIS;
     saoimage ( -geometry => '800x800' );
     iis rvals(100,100);

# DESCRIPTION

This module provides an interface to any image display 'device' which support the 'IIS protocol' - viz the SAOimage and Ximtool X-windows programs, the old SunView imtool program and presumably even the original IIS CRT itself if they aren't all in museums!

These programs should be familiar to astronomer's - they are used by the common IRAF system. The programs and their HTML documentation can be obtained from the following URLs:

     SAOimage: http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/saoimage.html
     Ximtool:  http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/projects/x11iraf/x11iraf.html

Non-astronomer's may find they quite nifty for displaying 2D data.

The Perl variable `$stdimage` is exported from the module and controls the frame buffer configuration currently in use. The default value is `imt1024` which specifies a `1024x1024` frame buffer. Other values supported by the module are:

     imt512, imt800, imt1024, imt1600, imt2048, and imt4096.

If you have a $HOME/.imtoolrc you can use it to specify other frame buffer names and configurations in exactly the same way you can in IRAF. Here is a sample file:

     -------------------snip-------------------------
     # Format:  configno nframes width height
      1  2  512  512         # imt1|imt512
      2  2  800  800         # imt2|imt800
      3  2 1024 1024         # imt3|imt1024
      4  1 1600 1600         # imt4|imt1600
      5  1 2048 2048         # imt5|imt2048
      6  1 4096 4096         # imt6|imt4096
      7  1 8192 8192         # imt7|imt8192
      8  1 1024 4096         # imt8|imt1x4
      9  2 1144  880         # imt9|imtfs    full screen (1152x900 minus frame)
     10  2 1144  764         # imt10|imtfs35 full screen at 35mm film aspect ratio
     -------------------snip-------------------------

(Note: some versions of SAOimage may not even work if this file is not present. If you get funny error messages about 'imtoolrc' try copying the above to $HOME/.imtoolrc or /usr/local/lib/imtoolrc)

The Perl variable `$iisframe` is also exported from the module and controls which display frame number to use in programs such as Ximtool which supports multiple frames. This allows you to do useful things such as blink between images.

The module communicates with the IIS device down FIFO pipes (special UNIX files) - unlike IRAF this module does a pretty decent job of intelligently guessing which file names to use for the pipes and will prompt for their creating if absent. Also if SAOimage or Ximtool are started from within Perl using the module this will guarantee correct file names!

# FUNCTIONS

## iis

Displays an image on a IIS device (e.g. SAOimage/Ximtool)

     iis $image, [ { MIN => $min, MAX => $max,
                     TITLE => 'pretty picture',
                     FRAME => 2 } ]
     iis $image, [$min,$max]

     (image(m,n),[\%options]) or (image(m,n),[min(),max()])

Displays image on a IIS device. If `min()` or `max()` are omitted they are autoscaled. A good demonstration of PDL threading can be had by giving `iis()` a data *cube* - `iis()` will be repeatedly called for each plane of the cube resulting in a poor man's movie!

If supplied, `TITLE` is used to label the frame, if no title is supplied, either the `OBJECT` value stored in the image header or a default string is used (the title is restricted to a maximum length of 32 characters).

To specify which frame to draw to, either use the package variable `$iisframe`, or the `FRAME` option.

## iiscur

Return cursor position from an IIS device (e.g. SAOimage/Ximtool)

     ($x,$y) = iiscur($ch)

This function puts up an interactive cursor on the IIS device and returns the `($x,$y)` position and the character typed (`$ch`) by the user.

## iiscirc

Draws a circle on a IIS device (e.g. SAOimage/Ximtool)

     (x(),y(),radius(),colour())

     iiscirc $x, $y, [$radius, $colour]

Draws circles on the IIS device with specied points and colours. Because this module uses PDL::PP threading you can supply lists of points via 1D arrays, etc.

An amusing PDL idiom is:

     perldl> iiscirc iiscur

Note the colours are the same as IRAF, viz:

     201 = cursor color (white)
     202 = black
     203 = white
     204 = red
     205 = green
     206 = blue
     207 = yellow
     208 = cyan
     209 = magenta
     210 = coral
     211 = maroon
     212 = orange
     213 = khaki
     214 = orchid
     215 = turquoise
     216 = violet
     217 = wheat

## saoimage

Starts the SAOimage external program

     saoimage[(command line options)]

Starts up the SAOimage external program. Default FIFO devices are chosen so as to be compatible with other IIS module functions. If no suitable FIFOs are found it will offer to create them.

e.g.:

     perldl> saoimage
     perldl> saoimage( -geometry => '800x800' )

## ximtool

Starts the Ximtool external program

     ximtool[(command line options)]

Starts up the Ximtool external program. Default FIFO devices are chosen so as to be compatible with other IIS module functions. If no suitable FIFOs are found it will offer to create them.

e.g.

     perldl> ximtool
     perldl> ximtool (-maxColors => 64)

# BUGS

None known

# AUTHOR

Copyright (C) Karl Glazebrook 1997. All rights reserved. There is no warranty. You are allowed to redistribute this software / documentation under certain conditions. For details, see the file COPYING in the PDL distribution. If this file is separated from the PDL distribution, the copyright notice should be included in the file.