Where can I get a description of the RHESSI GUI?
Can I run more than one instance of the RHESSI GUI?
How do I access the RHESSI data objects used in the GUI from the command line?
Can I start the GUI with an object I’ve created on the command line?
What should I do when the widgets are hung?
What should I do when the graphics seems to be stuck in a weird mode?
Why am I getting strange color effects in the RHESSI GUI?
Why is resizing a GUI plot window so slow?
Where can I get a description of the RHESSI GUI?
Click here for the RHESSI GUI Users's Guide.
Can I run more than one instance of the RHESSI GUI?
No, not from one SSW IDL session.
How do I access the RHESSI data objects used in the GUI from the command line?
Type hessi_data in an SSW IDL session to display instructions for retrieving the objects from the GUI.
For example, typing:
IDL> hessi_data, image=image_obj
will return the image object used in the GUI in the variable image_obj (which you could have named anything).
Note: The command line and the GUI are both referring to the same object, so be careful; changes made on the command line will affect the GUI and vice versa. This is true even if you set another variable name equal to the object, and make changes using the new variable name. You are still referring to the same object.
Can I start the GUI with an object I’ve created on the command line?
Yes. To pass an existing RHESSI object into the GUI, start the GUI by typing:
hessi, object_reference
where object_reference is the name of your object. You will still have access to this object from the command line while the GUI is running.
What should I do when the widgets are hung?
First try to determine whether they just appear to be hung because IDL is processing data for a long time. If text is periodically written to the IDL log, then it's still working. We will try to put an indication (like an hourglass) on the screen indicating that work is in progress.
If all of the IDL widgets are hung, you can try to interrupt IDL by pressing Ctrl, Pause simultaneously on Windows, or Ctrl C on Unix. If that doesn't work, you may have to kill the entire IDL session. On windows you can do this through the Task Manager, on Unix you can use the kill command from another window.
If only some of the widgets are hung, or can't be killed, there is a 'Reset Widgets' button in the File pulldown menu on the GUI that will allow you to select widgets to kill.
What should I do when the graphics seems to be stuck in a weird mode?
The 'Reset Widgets' button in the File pulldown menu on the GUI also tries to reset graphics functions to their normal state (in addition to letting you kill hung widgets).
Why am I getting strange color effects in the RHESSI GUI?
A variety of interesting color effects have been seen on different hardware with individual setups. Because of differences in hardware capabilities, there is no single solution for making the colors work correctly. Also (and mainly), we don’t fully understand colors.
Usually there are problems with color when remotely logging into a Unix machine. Try changing your .Xdefaults file on the remote host and adding or editing the following resources:
idl.colors The number of colors used by IDL.
idl.gr_depth The depth, in bits, of the visual used by IDL.
idl.gr_visual The type of visual: StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, or DirectColor.
Refer to the X Windows section of the IDL help pages.
Why is resizing a GUI plot window so slow?
On Linux, in some desktop environments, you may have noticed that when you resize the GUI or a Plotman widget (by clicking and dragging one of the edges or corners) it redraws the plot many, many times, each one slightly larger (or smaller), until it reaches the size you selected. We've tried to fix this problem, but haven't come up with a solution. The problem is that the Window Manager wants to show the contents while resizing.
However, there is a work-around. If you can switch to using the KDE desktop, you can turn off that 'feature'. Once in the KDE desktop, from the Main menu, go to Control Center, Desktop, Window Behavior and turn off the option to show contents while resizing.
This problem doesn't occur on Windows platforms.
Last updated
07 November 2008
by
Kim Tolbert
,
301-286-3965