The low-level analysis widgets used in Event Browser and acis_extract
are very general and may be called from the IDL prompt or from your own
IDL programs.
- If you need to graph a sampled 1-D function stored
in the vectors ``x'' & ``y'', try using the function_1d tool
function_1d, id, x, y
instead of the PLOT command. The parameter ``id'' should be
an undefined variable.
- If you need to visualize a sampled 2-D function
(an image) stored in the 2-D array ``image'', try using the function_2d
tool
function_2d, id, image
instead of the TVSCL, SHADE_SURF, SURFACE, or CONTOUR commands. If
your image is stored in a FITS file (instead of in an IDL variable), try
using the fits_viewer tool (no parameters).
- If you need to study the distribution of
a univariate dataset stored in the vector ``x'', e.g. you want to make
a spectrum from a set of energy measurements, try using the dataset_1d
tool
dataset_1d, id, x
instead of the HISTOGRAM and PLOT commands.
- If you need to study the distribution
of a bivariate dataset stored in the vectors ``x'' & ``y'', e.g. you
want to make an image from a list of photons, try using the
dataset_2d tool
dataset_2d, id, x, y
instead of the HIST_2D, TVSCL, SHADE_SURF, SURFACE, or CONTOUR commands.
- If you want to form a color image
from two (Hue/Brightness color model) or three (RGB color model) co-aligned
arrays, try using the true_color_image tool
true_color_image, id, hue_image, value_image
true_color_image, id, red_image, green_image, blue_image, /RGB
- These widgets accept a wide variety
of keyword parameters - see the comments in the appropriate .pro files
-- and all will work with multiple datasets specified by the keyword
DATASET_NAME, e.g.
dataset_1d, id, x1, DATASET_NAME='One'
dataset_1d, id, x2, DATASET_NAME='Two'
Download Instructions
Download
the latest version of TARA (the "tara{date}.tar.gz" file with the most
recent date).
If you end up using the animation tool in Event
Browser you may wish to download a slightly improved version of the RSI's
program cw_animate.pro .
Installation Instructions (unix)
IDL Program (.pro) Files:
Place the files you downloaded in an appropriate place, then unzip
and untar the tarball, e.g.
gunzip tara2008jan19.tar.gz
tar -xvf tara2008jan19.tar
Arrange for the directories tara, tara/event_browser, tara/utilities,
& tara/widget_tools to be in your IDL path. The procedure for doing
this depends on how your IDL site is administered. If you use the
environment variable IDL_PATH at your site, you could add an entry to
your existing list of paths, e.g.
setenv IDL_PATH '+/home/mymachine/patb/idl/tara:path1:path2:path3'
Or, if you use a personal IDL startup file you could put a statement
similar to this in it:
!PATH = expand_path( '+/home/mymachine/patb/idl/tara:' + !PATH
)
Third-party IDL Libraries:
You must also have
Wayne Landsman's
library of IDL routines , May 2007 version or later in your
IDL path.
Shared Libraries:
Two of the display programs in TARA (dataset_2d, dataset_3d) use small
C programs found in tara/utilities/indexed_add.c. These must be compiled
into a "shared library" so they can be called from IDL using the CALL_EXTERNAL()
mechanism.
TARA is distributed with this shared library already constructed for the
Solaris, OS-X, and linux operating systems. To configure TARA simply
run the IDL program
tara_install. At the end of
tara_install
the tool function_2d is run to test the shared library -- if it runs without
error then the shared library is configured correctly.
If the shared libarary has not been built for your operating system then
tara_install will attempt to build it using the IDL utility
MAKE_DLL.
Installation for Multiple Platforms
If your TARA installation is accessible from only a single operating
system, then you may simply put the indexed_add.so and/or indexed_add_64.so
libraries in the tara/utilities/ directory. If however you wish a
single TARA installation to be shared by multiple operating systems then
of course indexed_add libraries must be compiled for each operating system.
TARA supports such a situation by FIRST looking for indexed_add.so
or indexed_add_64.so in the (platform-dependent) user's path ($PATH), and
then looking in the (possibly platform-independent) tara/utilities/ directory.
Thus the TARA installer should simply put each platform's indexed_add.so
or indexed_add_64.so in a directory that's in the default path for most
users on that platform, e.g /usr/local/bin/ or /usr/local/rsi/idl/bin/.
Installation Instructions (Microsoft Windows)
I try to avoid the Evil Microsoft Empire whenever possible, and I
urge you to do the same. I doubt that TARA works under Windows,
which is just fine with me. :)
****
Contact
Patrick Broos
if you have problems or questions about this software or if you would
like to hear about updates to the code.
Patrick Broos
patb@astro.psu.edu
Software Engineer, ACIS Team @PSU
814-863-7947
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pennsylvania State University
525 Davey Lab
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-0418