[IDV #XVT-855811]: IDv problems

Hi Bill-

> It is vs 2.3

That's the latest, so good.
 
> I am trying again, and again the NSF-ATM thredds server is not working.
> When I click on it, it says "Please wait", but I end up waiting forever
> and eventually that "could not load catalog" message appears.

Well, we found that there was a line in the server config file that said
"if loading from Iowa, fail". ;-)

Actually, you are not alone in this, but you get the gold star for reporting
it.  We recently finished testing this server and I was told it was
publicly available.  However, someone forgot to add that line to the
server config file, so port 8080 was blocked to people outside of Unidata.
That's been fixed, so you should be able to access it now.  Thanks for showing
us the error of our ways.

> It sounds like my IDV did not do what it should have, then, since it would
> not load the current model data (or at least not display it) while it
> still seemed to think the old sample data was around (even though I had
> turned off those plots and had clicked on remove the data for those older
> sample cases.

If you did not remove the displays, the times from those displays are still
used  to set up the animation sequence.  So, if you loaded in new data, your
first times will still show from the old data, but the new ones would be
added on.  If you animate, you would see times from the turned off data as
well as the latest data.  So, you can either remove the old displays (instead 
of 
turning them off), or uncheck the View->Use Times in Animation on each display 
control.  Removing the displays you don't want is easier.

> So, I understand now why things looked reversed when using the
> geopotential height on isobaric levels for isosurfaces.

Okay.

> I believe I did everything you said for the contour plan view over
> topography (I had already selected the geopotential height @ isobaric item
> and the levels and times I wanted, etc.)   I'm trying again, although
> since NSF-ATM is not working, I went to motherlode.  The thing I don't
> understand is
> why when I select "create display" after making these selections, does a
> separate narrow window pop up, labeled Field Selector.  I had already done
> the field selection in the larger dashboard menu.  But instead of my
> height field getting put on the map view, the 3rd window pops up.
> 
> However, I now see if I go into the 3rd window and click on the NAM entry
> and open it up like I had already done in the data choosing selection and
> field selector, and go ahead and select the times there, I now do get the
> fields to display.  So, it appears the problem has been solved in some
> ways, but is that 3rd window and the required duplication supposed to be
> needed?  With simple 2d fields and simple isosurfaces, I don't get that
> 3rd window (Field Selector label at top) showing up, and instead things
> simply plot from the dashboard window.

We don't make any assumptions of what type of field you are displaying over 
topography.  You could plot color filled contours of temperature on the 500 mb 
topography which is why you are prompted for two fields.  That would allow you
to show the distribution of temperature on that surface.  You specify the field
you want to display and the IDV prompts you for the topography field that you 
want to overlay it on. So, even though you are asking to plot geopotential 
height 
on a geopotential height surface, you need to specify what you want as the 
topography, 
thus the 3rd window.  Actually, plotting variables other than geopotential 
height 
on the geopotential height surface is more instructive IMHO.  A combination of 
temperature as color filled contours over geopotential height and contours of 
geopotential height on the pressure surface is a good display. 

If you haven't already done so, you might want to take some time to run through 
the 
workshop materials to get a feel for the different displays you can create the 
the 
basic IDV concepts.  All the datasets are on line or can be downloaded.  
The materials are at:

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/IDV/docs/workshop/

Let us know if you have more questions.

Don

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XVT-855811
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Open