[IDV #HVI-404538]: batch or automation methods

Hi Leonard,

> Description of problem: Is there a way to automate or batch the creation of 
> images? I would like to create maps of total precipitation from some WRF 
> output. I have about 30 grib files created 4 times dailty. So, I need to 
> batch all 120 files and create the images without my interaction. Can IDV do 
> this?
> 

Yes. The IDV provides a scripting facility called ISL (IDV Scripting language):
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/docs/userguide/isl/index.html

How this is usually used is to create what you want to see in the IDV and write 
it out as a ".isl" file. This is really a convenience for the user. This will 
write out the IDV bundle file and also a .isl file. The isl file can then be 
used by the IDV for both onscreen and offscreen generation of image and movie 
products. The generated isl file loads in the bundle and then generates an 
image or movie.

Your situation is  a little stickier because you have a set of files that need 
to be aggregated and are created all of the time. The easiest approach would be 
to load the IDV with all of the files as an aggregated grid data source (which 
aggregates any number of files on time). Or you could write out one large grib 
file and load that in. You could then write out a bundle and isl script that 
generates the images. However, you would need to have the files be in the same 
directory (if idv does the aggregation) and have the same names.

The isl facility does have the ability to change the files that are referenced 
in the bundle it loads. See here for an example:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/docs/userguide/isl/FileTags.html

-Jeff



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: HVI-404538
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed