Re: Standalone IDL applications?

[davidf(at)dfanning.com (David Fanning)]

Michael Cugley (mjcugley@tigger.medschool.dundee.ac.uk) writes:

> I'm developing an IDL GUI application; it's pretty much finished, I'd
> just like to turn it into a standalone application, mainly so my
> supervisor can play with it without taking up IDL licences.

Uh, well, *that's* not gonna happen. :-(

Even run-time applications take licenses. Sorry. No such
thing as an IDL executable for rift-raft like ourselves.
(Although the less cynical of us still hold out feeble hope.)
 
> I've followed the instructions in the hyperhelp, using IDLDE,
> compiling the project to a save file, and saving the runtime bits when
> asked.  The thing starts up as expected, but there's a problem.  The
> application is an image analysis one, and I can't seem to load in any
> images.  The DIALOGUE_READ_IMAGE comes up, and I can pick the image
> and all (and a thumbnail appears), but then the application itself
> doesn't actually recieve the image.  No error messages.
> 
> Should this be important, it's IDL Version 5.3 on Sun Sparc Solaris.
> 
> Is this a licencing thing?  Has anyone else had any experience in this
> area?  

This is no licensing thing. All my experience screams "PROGRAMMER
ERROR". :-)

I'm guessing that you haven't make this dialog a MODAL
widget. You are probably relying on its ability to BLOCK
in your non-runtime version, but that isn't happening in
the run-time version (where by definition the "main" program
always blocks the IDL command line). Set the DIALOG_PARENT
keyword to the ID of your top-level base (or the widget you
are calling the dialog from).

See this article for a fuller explanation of the difference
between blocking and modal widget behavior:

   http://www.dfanning.com/tips/modal_blocking.html

This is not your fault, by the way. The documentation and
code for Dialog_Read_Image (never on my "must use" list in
any case) is even worse than usual. :-(

Cheers,

David

-- 
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
Phone: 970-221-0438 E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
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