20031125: Problems and Questions using new IDV

>From: David Weissman <address@hidden>
>Organization: Hofstra University
>Keywords: 200311251825.hAPIPFEH003050 IDV radar view

Hi David-

>This is a fine program. But I have some
>problems and questions. Please see the
>attached DOC file.

Okay.  I'll answer below in text (our peferred format).

> 1. This is the error message that I get when I select a Volume Scan for 
> my EXRAD level 2 reflectivity data. It does not appear to cause a 
> malfunction of the display, or any other problem. Can this be ignored,
> or is a FIX needed?

Actually, this is a bug.  I've just fixed it and it will be in 
the next release.  For now, you can ignore it.  What you will see is
that the label on the control window probably isn't right. 
You get the prize for the first person to tickle this bug. ;-)

For future reference, here's another trick you can do if you
encounter something else like this.  After pressing the
OK button from the dialog box, go to the Data Selector window
or Main Map window and from the Help menu, select the 
"Show Console" menu item.  In the console window, there
will hopefully be more output on the cause of the problem.
Please copy the error listing and send it to us.  You can copy
by selecting all the text and pressing Ctrl-C then paste the
output into your mail program.  Alternatively, you can press
the "Write to file" button at the bottom of the console to
write the entire console log to a file.  

> 2. When I view the reflectivity scans, the background is BLACK, which is
> fine for on-screen viewing and interpretation. However, when I need to save
> and print the image, this wastes a great deal of black ink. Is it possible for
> me to select a color set that produces a white background, or just change
> this for the nominal data set ?

You can turn the background color to white through the 
View menu in the main display window.  From that menu, uncheck the
"Background color" menu item and the background will be white.
Right now, you can only switch between black and white backgrounds,
but we have plans to make the colors user selectable at some point.
After turning the background to white, then use the Capture menu
items to save as a JPEG or QuickTime movie with a white background.

If you always want a white background, go to the Edit menu, select
the Resources menu and then choose User Preferences.  From the
User Preferences dialog, click on the "Map Display" tab to select
your preferences for the map window.  If you want the background to
always default to white, uncheck the "Background color" checkbox
and click the OK button.  This will set the default for any new
windows you open, or the next time you start the IDV.

> 3. Is it possible to save the individual scans with the reflectivity data, as 
> a function
> of range and azimuth, in an ASCII file or IDL file or something else I can 
> use for
> analysis?? I would like a separate file for each elevation angle. 

At present, there is no export capability. What type of analysis do
you want to do? The IDV supports some analysis functionality without
exporting to a different program.   If you can give us an idea of
what you want to do, we can possibly explain how it could be done
in the IDV, or it will give us ideas on what functionality we need to 
incorporate.

Thanks for your input.

Don Murray
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