Frame Tools source available

[Liam Gumley <Liam.Gumley(at)ssec.wisc.edu>]

The source code for my IDL Frame Tools is now available at

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/~gumley/frame.html

These IDL tools (FSET, AF, BF, LF, SF, FSAVE, FRESTORE) provide a handy
replacement for the WINDOW command. The FSET command creates a graphics
window (with or without scrollbars) which "contains" a user-specified
number of frames. Any kind of graphic may be displayed in each frame,
and you can 

    Advance one frame (AF command), 
    Backup one frame (BF command), 
    Loop over frames (LF command), 
    Show a particular frame (SF command), 
    New: Save all frames to a portable XDR file (FSAVE command), 
    New: Restore all frames from a portable XDR file (FRESTORE command). 

Each frame retains all the characteristics of an individual graphics
window (e.g. all plotting and mapping system variables, and color
tables). I've found it to be very useful for applications such as
comparing two plots or images of slightly different datasets, animating
sequences of images, or temporarily storing different graphics windows.
The FSAVE and FRESTORE commands also enable you to create slide-shows
that can be saved in a platform independent XDR file, and then reloaded
and played back in IDL (as long as the same version of IDL is used). 

These tools are known to work in IDL 4.0 through IDL 5.1, and support 8
or 24 bit graphics on Unix, PC, and Mac displays.

Cheers,
Liam.