@set AUTHOR-EMAIL jdsmith@@as.arizona.edu
@set MAINTAINER J.D. Smith
@set MAINTAINER-EMAIL jdsmith@@as.arizona.edu
-@set IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE http://idlwave.org/
@c %**end of header
@finalout
* Getting Started:: Tutorial
* The IDLWAVE Major Mode:: The mode for editing IDL programs
* The IDLWAVE Shell:: The mode for running IDL as an inferior program
-* Installation:: How to Install or Upgrade
* Acknowledgements:: Who did what
* Sources of Routine Info:: How does IDLWAVE know about routine XYZ
* HTML Help Browser Tips::
* Walking the Calling Stack::
* Electric Debug Mode::
-Installation
-
-* Installing IDLWAVE:: How to install the distribution
-* Installing Online Help:: Where to get the additional files needed
-
Sources of Routine Info
* Routine Definitions:: Where IDL Routines are defined.
@node Introduction, IDLWAVE in a Nutshell, Top, Top
@chapter Introduction
@cindex Introduction
-@cindex CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture)
-@cindex Interface Definition Language
@cindex Interactive Data Language
@cindex cc-mode.el
@cindex @file{idl.el}
@cindex Feature overview
IDLWAVE is a package which supports editing source files written in
-the Interactive Data Language (IDL@footnote{IDL is a registered
-trademark of Research Systems, Inc., a Kodak Company}), and running
+the Interactive Data Language, and running
IDL as an inferior shell@footnote{Note that this package has nothing
to do with the Interface Definition Language, part of the Common
Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)}@footnote{IDLWAVE can also
be used for editing source files for the related WAVE/CL language, but
with only limited support.}. It is a feature-rich replacement for the
-IDLDE development environment bundled with IDL, and uses the full
+IDLDE development environment included with IDL, and uses the full
power of Emacs to make editing and running IDL programs easier,
quicker, and more structured.
shoulder of your nearest IDLWAVE guru for a few days.
It is assumed that you have access to Emacs or XEmacs with the full
-IDLWAVE package including online help (@pxref{Installation}). We also
-assume that you are familiar with Emacs and can read the nomenclature of
-key presses in Emacs (in particular, @kbd{C} stands for @key{CONTROL}
-and @kbd{M} for @key{META} (often the @key{ALT} key carries this
-functionality)).
+IDLWAVE package including online help. We also assume that you are
+familiar with Emacs and can read the nomenclature of key presses in
+Emacs (in particular, @kbd{C} stands for @key{CONTROL} and @kbd{M} for
+@key{META} (often the @key{ALT} key carries this functionality)).
Open a new source file by typing:
You likely have your own indentation preferences for IDL code. For
example, some like to indent the main block of an IDL program from the
-margin, different from the conventions used by RSI, and use only 3
-spaces as indentation between @code{BEGIN} and @code{END}. Try the
-following lines in @file{.emacs}:
+margin and use only 3 spaces as indentation between @code{BEGIN} and
+@code{END}. Try the following lines in @file{.emacs}:
@lisp
(setq idlwave-main-block-indent 2)
@cindex Online Help, Installation
@cindex Speed, of online help
-For IDL system routines, RSI provides extensive documentation.
-IDLWAVE can access an HTML version of this documentation very quickly
-and accurately. This is @emph{much} faster than using the IDL online
-help application, because IDLWAVE usually gets you to the right place
-in the documentation directly --- e.g. a specific keyword of a routine
---- without any additional browsing and scrolling. For this online
-help to work, an HTML version of the IDL documentation, which is not
-part of the standalone IDLWAVE distribution, is required. The
-necessary files can be downloaded from @uref{@value{IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE},
-the maintainers webpage}. There are a variety of options for
-displaying the HTML help: see below. Help for routines without HTML
-documentation is also available, using the routine documentation
-header and/or source.
+IDLWAVE can display help from an HTML version of the IDL documentation
+if it is available. This is @emph{much} faster than using the IDL
+online help application, because IDLWAVE usually gets you to the right
+place in the documentation directly --- e.g. a specific keyword of a
+routine --- without any additional browsing and scrolling. There are
+a variety of options for displaying the HTML help: see below. Help
+for routines without HTML documentation is also available, using the
+routine documentation header and/or source.
+
+To make this feature work, you should set
+@code{idlwave-html-help-location} to the directory name of the
+directory where the IDL help files are installed.
@kindex M-?
In any IDL program (or, as with most IDLWAVE commands, in the IDL
Customize this variable to see what choices of browsers your system
offers.
-Certain browsers like @code{w3} (bundled with many versions of Emacs)
-and @code{w3m} (@uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/}, the author's help
-browser of choice) are run within Emacs, and use Emacs buffers to
-display the HTML help. This can be convenient, especially on small
-displays, and images can even be displayed in-line on new Emacs
-versions. However, better formatting results are often achieved with
-external browsers, like Mozilla. IDLWAVE assumes any browser function
-containing "w3" is displayed in a local buffer. If you are using
-another Emacs-local browser for which this is not true, set the
-variable @code{idlwave-help-browser-is-local}.
-
-@emph{N.B. For Windows users}: IDLWAVE can bring up RSI help directly
-in the Microsoft HTMLHelp documentation supplied with IDL: no
+Certain browsers like @code{w3} and @code{w3m}
+(@uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/}, the author's help browser of
+choice) are run within Emacs, and use Emacs buffers to display the
+HTML help. This can be convenient, especially on small displays, and
+images can even be displayed in-line on new Emacs versions. However,
+better formatting results are often achieved with external browsers,
+like Mozilla. IDLWAVE assumes any browser function containing "w3" is
+displayed in a local buffer. If you are using another Emacs-local
+browser for which this is not true, set the variable
+@code{idlwave-help-browser-is-local}.
+
+@emph{N.B. For Windows users}: IDLWAVE can bring up help directly
+from the Microsoft HTMLHelp documentation supplied with IDL: no
additional help files are needed. Be sure to set
@code{idlwave-system-directory} and the help file will be found
automatically (or, alternatively, specify its location directly with
-@node The IDLWAVE Shell, Installation, The IDLWAVE Major Mode, Top
+@node The IDLWAVE Shell, Acknowledgements, The IDLWAVE Major Mode, Top
@chapter The IDLWAVE Shell
@cindex IDLWAVE shell
@cindex Major mode, @code{idlwave-shell-mode}
@end defopt
-@node Installation, Acknowledgements, The IDLWAVE Shell, Top
-@chapter Installation
-@cindex Installation
-
-@menu
-* Installing IDLWAVE:: How to install the distribution
-* Installing Online Help:: Where to get the additional files needed
-@end menu
-
-@node Installing IDLWAVE, Installing Online Help, Installation, Installation
-@section Installing IDLWAVE
-
-@cindex FTP site
-@cindex URL, homepage for IDLWAVE
-@cindex Homepage for IDLWAVE
-@cindex IDLWAVE, homepage
-@cindex XEmacs package IDLWAVE
-@cindex Emacs, distributed with IDLWAVE
-@cindex Copyright, of IDL manual
-IDLWAVE is part of Emacs 21.1 and later. It is also an XEmacs package
-and can be installed from
-@uref{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/packages/,the XEmacs ftp site}
-with the normal package management system on XEmacs 21. These
-pre-installed versions should work out-of-the-box. However, the HTML
-files required for online HTML help are not distributed with
-XEmacs/Emacs and have to be installed separately@footnote{Due to
-copyright reasons, the HTML version of the IDL manual cannot be
-distributed under the GPL.} (@pxref{Installing Online Help}).
-
-You can also download IDLWAVE and install it yourself from
-@uref{@value{IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE}, the maintainers webpage}. Follow the
-instructions in the INSTALL file.
-
-@node Installing Online Help, , Installing IDLWAVE, Installation
-@section Installing Online Help
-@cindex Installing online help
-@cindex Online Help, Installation
-
-If you want to use the online help display, an additional set of files
-(HTML versions of the IDL documentation) must be installed. These
-files can also be downloaded from @uref{@value{IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE}, the
-maintainers webpage}. You need to place the files somewhere on your
-system and tell IDLWAVE where they are with
-
-@lisp
-(setq idlwave-html-help-location "/path/to/help/dir/") ;e.g. /usr/local/etc
-@end lisp
-
-Note that the help package only changes with new versions of the IDL
-documentation, and need not be updated unless your version of IDL
-changes.
-
-@node Acknowledgements, Sources of Routine Info, Installation, Top
+@node Acknowledgements, Sources of Routine Info, The IDLWAVE Shell, Top
@chapter Acknowledgements
@cindex Acknowledgements
@cindex Maintainer, of IDLWAVE
manuals. The file @file{idlw-rinfo.el} contains the routine information
for the IDL system routines, and links to relevant sections of the HTML
documentation. The Online Help feature of IDLWAVE requires HTML
-versions of the IDL manuals to be available; the HTML documentation is
-not distributed with IDLWAVE by default, but must be downloaded
-separately from the @uref{@value{IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE}, the maintainers
-webpage}.
+versions of the IDL manuals to be available.
The HTML files and related images can be produced from the
@file{idl.chm} HTMLHelp file distributed with IDL using the free
5.0). Since IDLWAVE runs on a many different system types, a single
browser configuration is not possible, but choices abound.
-On many systems, the default browser configured in
-@code{browse-url-browser-function}, and hence inherited by default by
-@code{idlwave-help-browser-function}, is Netscape. Unfortunately, the
-HTML manuals decompiled from the original RSI source contain
-formatting structures which Netscape 4.x does not handle well, though
-they are still readable. A much better choice is Mozilla, or one of
-the Mozilla-derived browsers such as
-@uref{http://galeon.sourceforge.net/,Galeon} (Linux),
+Unfortunately, the HTML manuals decompiled from the original
+source contain formatting structures which Netscape 4.x does not
+handle well, though they are still readable. A much better choice is
+Mozilla, or one of the Mozilla-derived browsers such as
+@uref{http://galeon.sourceforge.net/,Galeon} (GNU/Linux),
@uref{http://www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/,Camino} (MacOSX), or
@uref{http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firebird/,Firebird} (all
platforms). Newer versions of Emacs provide a browser-function choice
@code{browse-url-gnome-moz} which uses the Gnome-configured browser.
-Note that the HTML files decompiled from RSI Microsoft Help sources
+Note that the HTML files decompiled from Microsoft Help sources
contain specific references to the @samp{Symbol} font, which by default
-is not permitted in normal encodings (it's technically illegal). Though
+is not permitted in normal encodings (it's invalid, technically). Though
it only impacts a few symbols, you can trick Mozilla-based browsers into
recognizing @samp{Symbol} by following the directions
@uref{http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/Xfonts.html, here}. With this
portability of Emacs, much of IDLWAVE does also work under different
operating systems like Windows (with NTEmacs or NTXEmacs) or MacOS.
-The only real problem is that RSI does not provide a command-line
+The only real problem is that there is no command-line
version of IDL for Windows or MacOS(<=9) with which IDLWAVE can
-interact@footnote{Call your RSI representative and complain --- it
-should be trivial for them to provide one. And if enough people ask for
-it, maybe they will. The new MacOSX version of IDL @emph{does} have a
-shell and works well with IDLWAVE.}. As a result, the IDLWAVE Shell
+interact. As a result, the IDLWAVE Shell
does not work and you have to rely on IDLDE to run and debug your
programs. However, editing IDL source files with Emacs/IDLWAVE works
with all bells and whistles, including routine info, completion and fast
;; the X/Emacs installation)
(setq load-path (cons "c:/program files/IDLWAVE" load-path))
-;; The location of the IDL library files, both from RSI and your own.
+;; The location of the IDL library files, both standard and your own.
;; note that the initial "+" expands the path recursively
(setq idlwave-library-path
'("+c:/RSI/IDL55/lib/" "+c:/user/me/idllibs" ))
place, and this is the source of the error. If you recompile (or just
"make; make install") from source, it should resolve this problem.
Another option is to recompile the @file{idlw*.el} files by hand using
-@kbd{M-x byte-compile-file}. Why not take the opportunity to grab the
-latest IDLWAVE version at @uref{@value{IDLWAVE-HOMEPAGE}, the
-maintainers webpage}
+@kbd{M-x byte-compile-file}.
@item @strong{@kbd{M-@key{TAB}} doesn't complete words, it switches
windows on my desktop.}
@item @strong{All the Greek-font characters in the HTML help are
displayed as Latin characters!}
-Unfortunately, the HTMLHelp files RSI provides attempt to switch to
+Unfortunately, the HTMLHelp files attempt to switch to
@samp{Symbol} font to display Greek characters, which is not really an
permitted method for doing this in HTML. There is a "workaround" for
many browsers: @xref{HTML Help Browser Tips}.
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