20031021: how to display loop of images in a webpage (cont.)

>From: sridhar duggireddy <address@hidden>
>Organization: USF
>Keywords: 200310141811.h9EIBLOb028533

Hi Sridhara,

>       I placed a link to the html applet instead of doing it in the
>cgi-script.

OK.  Are things working now?

>you said that it is better to create the images on the time
>frame and make these images available to the Java Applet.

Yes, it is better to have the images you want to loop ready and just
use the web page to run the Java applet to animate them.

>I have no idea of how to do that.

Setup a script that creates the image you want once-per-hour and run
the script from cron.  I include two example shell scripts in the
McIDAS distribution, ~mcidas/data/mcrun.sh and
~/mcidas/data/mcbatch.sh.  mcrun.sh is designed to be copied to a local
file and edited to set needed McIDAS environment variables.  You can
then run that script from cron.  mcbatch.sh is designed to be copied
into a local file which is then edited to to set needed McIDAS
environment variables.  mcbatch.sh accepts a command line argument that
is the name of a McIDAS BATCH file which it then runs.

>I have to take the input from user and depending on
>the option, I have to create loop of Images for that particular option.

In the case of a loop of images, the input from the user would be to
display a loop of existing images.  If you are allowing the user to
specify the center location and resolution of the images, then you will
need to create the images from that input and animate the resulting set
of GIFs or JPEGs.

>so
>we do not know which option will be selected. so which images can i create on 
>the
>time frame.

OK, sounds like your setup requires you to create the images on the
fly.  The only problem with this is the load that will be put on your
machine as the site becomes popular.

>Do I need to place the mcidas script in cron file and
>run this command every hour? Is it possible for you to explain how to do
>this?

If the images in the loop are fixed in location and resolution, then
you can generate the new image in the sequence once-per-hour and then
animate the set using the Java applet.  I would start by creating a
McIDAS BATCH file that produces the display you want, and then make and
edit a local copy of mcbatch.sh that you then run out of cron.

>Thanks,

No worries.

Tom