IDLWAVE is a package which supports editing source code written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL), and running IDL as an inferior shell.
This file documents IDLWAVE, a major mode for editing IDL files with Emacs, and interacting with an IDL shell run as a subprocess.
This is edition 6.1 of the IDLWAVE User Manual for IDLWAVE 6.1.
Copyright © 1999–2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual”, and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual.”
IDLWAVE is a package which supports editing source files written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL), and running IDL as an inferior shell1. It is a feature-rich replacement for the IDLDE development environment included with IDL, and uses the full power of Emacs to make editing and running IDL programs easier, quicker, and more structured.
IDLWAVE consists of two main parts: a major mode for editing IDL
source files (idlwave-mode) and a mode for running the IDL
program as an inferior shell (idlwave-shell-mode). Although
one mode can be used without the other, both work together closely to
form a complete development environment. Here is a brief summary of
what IDLWAVE does:
IDLWAVE is the distant successor to the idl.el and
idl-shell.el files written by Chris Chase. The modes and files
had to be renamed because of a name space conflict with CORBA’s
idl-mode, defined in Emacs in the file cc-mode.el.
In this manual, each section ends with a list of related user options. Don’t be confused by the sheer number of options available: in most cases the default settings are just fine. The variables are listed here to make sure you know where to look if you want to change anything. For a full description of what a particular variable does and how to configure it, see the documentation string of that variable (available with C-h v). Some configuration examples are also given in the appendix.
| TAB | Indent the current line relative to context. |
| C-M-\ | Re-indent all lines in the current region. |
| C-M-q | Re-indent all lines in the current routine. |
| C-u TAB | Re-indent all lines in the current statement. |
| M-RET | Start a continuation line, splitting the current line at point. |
| M-; | Start new comment at line beginning or after code, or (un)comment highlighted region. |
| M-q | Fill the current comment paragraph. |
| C-c ? | Display calling sequence and keywords for the procedure or function call at point. |
| M-? | Load context sensitive online help for nearby routine, keyword, etc. |
| M-TAB | Complete a procedure name, function name or keyword in the buffer. |
| C-c C-i | Update IDLWAVE’s knowledge about functions and procedures. |
| C-c C-v | Visit the source code of a procedure/function. |
| C-u C-c C-v | Visit the source code of a procedure/function in this buffer. |
| C-c C-h | Insert a standard documentation header. |
| C-c RET | Insert a new timestamp and history item in the documentation header. |
| C-c C-s | Start IDL as a subprocess and/or switch to the shell buffer. |
| Up, M-p | Cycle back through IDL command history. |
| Down,M-n | Cycle forward. |
| TAB | Complete a procedure name, function name or keyword in the shell buffer. |
| C-c C-d C-c | Save and compile the source file in the current buffer. |
| C-c C-d C-e | Compile and run the current region. |
| C-c C-d C-x | Go to next syntax error. |
| C-c C-d C-v | Switch to electric debug mode. |
| C-c C-d C-b | Set a breakpoint at the nearest viable source line. |
| C-c C-d C-d | Clear the nearest breakpoint. |
| C-c C-d [ | Go to the previous breakpoint. |
| C-c C-d ] | Go to the next breakpoint. |
| C-c C-d C-p | Print the value of the expression near point in IDL. |
;; Change the indentation preferences
;; Start autoloading routine info after 2 idle seconds
(setq idlwave-init-rinfo-when-idle-after 2)
;; Pad operators with spaces
(setq idlwave-do-actions t
idlwave-surround-by-blank t)
;; Syntax Highlighting
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
;; Automatically start the shell when needed
(setq idlwave-shell-automatic-start t)
;; Bind debugging commands with CONTROL and SHIFT modifiers
(setq idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers '(control shift))
The purpose of this tutorial is to guide you through a very basic development cycle using IDLWAVE. We will paste a simple program into a buffer and use the shell to compile, debug and run it. On the way we will use many of the important IDLWAVE commands. Note, however, that IDLWAVE has many more capabilities than covered here, which can be discovered by reading the entire manual, or hovering over the shoulder of your nearest IDLWAVE guru for a few days.
It is assumed that you have access to Emacs with the full IDLWAVE package including online help. We also assume that you are familiar with Emacs and can read the nomenclature of key presses in Emacs (in particular, C stands for CONTROL and M for META (often the ALT key carries this functionality)).
Open a new source file by typing:
C-x C-f tutorial.pro RET
A buffer for this file will pop up, and it should be in IDLWAVE mode, indicated in the mode line just below the editing window. Also, the menu bar should contain ‘IDLWAVE’.
Now cut-and-paste the following code, also available as tutorial.pro in the IDLWAVE distribution.
function daynr,d,m,y
;; compute a sequence number for a date
;; works 1901-2099.
if y lt 100 then y = y+1900
if m le 2 then delta = 1 else delta = 0
m1 = m + delta*12 + 1
y1 = y * delta
return, d + floor(m1*30.6)+floor(y1*365.25)+5
end
function weekday,day,month,year
;; compute weekday number for date
nr = daynr(day,month,year)
return, nr mod 7
end
pro plot_wday,day,month
;; Plot the weekday of a date in the first 10 years of this century.
years = 2000,+indgen(10)
wdays = intarr(10)
for i=0,n_elements(wdays)-1 do begin
wdays[i] = weekday(day,month,years[i])
end
plot,years,wdays,YS=2,YT="Wday (0=Sunday)"
end
The indentation probably looks funny, since it’s different from the settings you use, so use the TAB key in each line to automatically line it up (or, more quickly, select the entire buffer with C-x h, and indent the whole region with C-M-\). Notice how different syntactical elements are highlighted in different colors, if you have set up support for font-lock.
Let’s check out two particular editing features of IDLWAVE. Place the
cursor after the end statement of the for loop and press
SPC. IDLWAVE blinks back to the beginning of the block and
changes the generic end to the specific endfor
automatically (as long as the variable idlwave-expand-generic-end
is turned on; see Lesson II: Customization). Now place the
cursor in any line you would like to split and press M-RET.
The line is split at the cursor position, with the continuation ‘$’
and indentation all taken care of. Use C-/ to undo the last
change.
The procedure plot_wday is supposed to plot the day of the week
of a given date for the first 10 years of the 21st century. As in
most code, there are a few bugs, which we are going to use IDLWAVE to
help us fix.
First, let’s launch the IDLWAVE shell. You do this with the command
C-c C-s. The Emacs window will split or another window will popup
to display IDL running in a shell interaction buffer. Type a few
commands like print,!PI to convince yourself that you can work
there just as well as in a terminal, or the IDLDE. Use the arrow keys
to cycle through your command history. Are we having fun now?
Now go back to the source window and type C-c C-d C-c to compile the program. If you watch the shell buffer, you see that IDLWAVE types ‘.run "tutorial.pro"’ for you. But the compilation fails because there is a comma in the line ‘years=...’. The line with the error is highlighted and the cursor positioned at the error, so remove the comma (you should only need to hit Delete!). Compile again, using the same keystrokes as before. Notice that the file is automatically saved for you. This time everything should work fine, and you should see the three routines compile.
Now we want to use the command to plot the day of the week on January
1st. We could type the full command ourselves, but why do that? Go
back to the shell window, type ‘plot_’ and hit TAB. After
a bit of a delay (while IDLWAVE initializes its routine info database,
if necessary), the window will split to show all procedures it knows
starting with that string, and plot_wday should be one of
them. Saving the buffer alerted IDLWAVE about this new routine.
Click with the middle mouse button on plot_wday and it will be
copied to the shell buffer, or if you prefer, add ‘w’ to
‘plot_’ to make it unambiguous (depending on what other routines
starting with ‘plot_’ you have installed on your system), hit
TAB again, and the full routine name will be completed. Now
provide the two arguments:
plot_wday,1,1
and press RET. This fails with an error message telling
you the YT keyword to plot is ambiguous. What are the allowed
keywords again? Go back to the source window and put the cursor into
the “plot” line and press C-c ?. This shows the routine info
window for the plot routine, which contains a list of keywords, along
with the argument list. Oh, we wanted YTITLE. Fix that up.
Recompile with C-c C-d C-c. Jump back into the shell with
C-c C-s, press the UP arrow to recall the previous command
and execute again.
This time we get a plot, but it is pretty ugly: the points are all
connected with a line. Hmm, isn’t there a way for plot to use
symbols instead? What was that keyword? Position the cursor on the
plot line after a comma (where you’d normally type a keyword), and hit
M-Tab. A long list of plot’s keywords appears. Aha,
there it is, PSYM. Middle click to insert it. An ‘=’
sign is included for you too. Now what were the values of PSYM
supposed to be? With the cursor on or after the keyword, press
M-? for online help (alternatively, you could have right clicked
on the colored keyword itself in the completion list). A browser will
pop up showing the HTML documentation for the PYSM keyword.
OK, let’s use diamonds=4. Fix this, recompile (you know the command
by now: C-c C-d C-c), go back to the shell (if it’s vanished,
you know what to do: C-c C-s) and execute again. Now things
look pretty good.
Let’s try a different day. How about April fool’s day?
plot_wday,1,4
Oops, this looks very wrong. All April Fool’s days cannot be Fridays!
We’ve got a bug in the program, perhaps in the daynr function.
Let’s put a breakpoint on the last line there. Position the cursor on
the ‘return, d+...’ line and press C-c C-d C-b. IDL sets a
breakpoint (as you see in the shell window), and the break line is
indicated. Back to the shell buffer, re-execute the previous command.
IDL stops at the line with the breakpoint. Now hold down the SHIFT
key and click with the middle mouse button on a few variables there:
‘d’, ‘y’, ‘m’, ‘y1’, etc. Maybe d isn’t
the correct type. CONTROL-SHIFT middle-click on it for help. Well,
it’s an integer, so that’s not the problem. Aha, ‘y1’ is zero,
but it should be the year, depending on delta. Shift click
‘delta’ to see that it’s 0. Below, we see the offending line:
‘y1=y*delta...’ the multiplication should have been a minus sign!
Hit q to exit the debugging mode, and fix the line to read:
y1 = y - delta
Now remove all breakpoints: C-c C-d C-a. Recompile and rerun the command. Everything should now work fine. How about those leap years? Change the code to plot 100 years and see that every 28 years, the sequence of weekdays repeats.
Emacs is probably the most customizable piece of software ever written, and it would be a shame if you did not make use of this to adapt IDLWAVE to your own preferences. Customizing Emacs or IDLWAVE is accomplished by setting Lisp variables in the .emacs file in your home directory—but do not be dismayed; for the most part, you can just copy and work from the examples given here.
Let’s first use a boolean variable. These are variables which you turn on or off, much like a checkbox. A value of ‘t’ means on, a value of ‘nil’ means off. Copy the following line into your .emacs file, exit and restart Emacs.
(setq idlwave-reserved-word-upcase t)
When this option is turned on, each reserved word you type into an IDL source buffer will be converted to upper case when you press SPC or RET right after the word. Try it out! ‘if’ changes to ‘IF’, ‘begin’ to ‘BEGIN’. If you don’t like this behavior, remove the option again from your .emacs file and restart Emacs.
You likely have your own indentation preferences for IDL code. For
example, some may prefer to indent the main block of an IDL program
slightly from the margin and use only 3 spaces as indentation between
BEGIN and END. Try the following lines in .emacs:
(setq idlwave-main-block-indent 1) (setq idlwave-block-indent 3) (setq idlwave-end-offset -3)
Restart Emacs, and re-indent the program we developed in the first part of this tutorial with C-c h and C-M-\. You may want to keep these lines in .emacs, with values adjusted to your liking. If you want to get more information about any of these variables, type, e.g., C-h v idlwave-main-block-indent RET. To find which variables can be customized, look for items marked ‘User Option:’ throughout this manual.
If you cannot seem to master this Lisp customization in .emacs,
there is another, more user-friendly way to customize all the IDLWAVE
variables. You can access it through the IDLWAVE menu in one of the
.pro buffers, menu item Customize->Browse IDLWAVE
Group. Here you’ll be presented with all the various variables grouped
into categories. You can navigate the hierarchy (e.g., ‘IDLWAVE
Code Formatting->Idlwave Abbrev And Indent Action->Idlwave Expand
Generic End’ to turn on END expansion), read about the variables,
change them, and “Save for Future Sessions”. Few of these variables
need customization, but you can exercise considerable control over
IDLWAVE’s functionality with them.
You may also find the key bindings used for the debugging commands too long and complicated. Often we have heard complaints along the lines of, “Do I really have to go through the finger gymnastics of C-c C-d C-c to run a simple command?” Due to Emacs rules and conventions, shorter bindings cannot be set by default, but you can easily enable them. First, there is a way to assign all debugging commands in a single sweep to another simpler combination. The only problem is that we have to use something which Emacs does not need for other important commands. One good option is to execute debugging commands by holding down CONTROL and SHIFT while pressing a single character: C-S-b for setting a breakpoint, C-S-c for compiling the current source file, C-S-a for deleting all breakpoints (try it, it’s easier). You can enable this with:
(setq idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers '(shift control))
If you have a special keyboard with, for example, a SUPER key, you could even shorten that:
(setq idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers '(super))
to get compilation on S-c. Often, a modifier key like SUPER or HYPER is bound or can be bound to an otherwise unused key on your keyboard; consult your system documentation.
You can also assign specific commands to keys. This you must do in the mode-hook, a special function which is run when a new IDLWAVE buffer gets set up. The possibilities for key customization are endless. Here we set function keys f4-f8 to common debugging commands.
;; First for the source buffer
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(local-set-key [f4] 'idlwave-shell-retall)
(local-set-key [f5] 'idlwave-shell-break-here)
(local-set-key [f6] 'idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp)
(local-set-key [f7] 'idlwave-shell-cont)
(local-set-key [f8] 'idlwave-shell-clear-all-bp)))
;; Then for the shell buffer
(add-hook 'idlwave-shell-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(local-set-key [f4] 'idlwave-shell-retall)
(local-set-key [f5] 'idlwave-shell-break-here)
(local-set-key [f6] 'idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp)
(local-set-key [f7] 'idlwave-shell-cont)
(local-set-key [f8] 'idlwave-shell-clear-all-bp)))
We have already used the routine info display in the first part of this tutorial. This was the invoked using C-c ?, and displays information about the IDL routine near the cursor position. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the same kind of information available for your own routines and for the huge amount of code in major libraries like JHUAPL or the IDL-Astro library? In many cases, you may already have this information. Files named .idlwave_catalog in library directories contain scanned information on the routines in that directory; many popular libraries ship with these “library catalogs” pre-scanned. Users can scan their own routines in one of two ways: either using the supplied tool to scan directories and build their own .idlwave_catalog files, or using the built-in method to create a single “user catalog”, which we’ll show here. See Catalogs, for more information on choosing which method to use.
To build a user catalog, select Routine Info/Select Catalog
Directories from the IDLWAVE entry in the menu bar. If necessary,
start the shell first with C-c C-s (see Starting the Shell).
IDLWAVE will find out about the IDL !PATH variable and offer a
list of directories on the path. Simply select them all (or whichever
you want; directories with existing library catalogs will not be
selected by default) and click on the ‘Scan&Save’ button. Then
go for a cup of coffee while IDLWAVE collects information for each and
every IDL routine on your search path. All this information is
written to the file ~/.emacs.d/idlwave/idlusercat.el
and will from now on automatically load whenever you use
IDLWAVE. You may find it necessary to rebuild the catalog on occasion
as your local libraries change, or build a library catalog for those
directories instead. Invoke routine info (C-c ?) or completion
(M-TAB) on any routine or partial routine name you know to
be located in the library. E.g., if you have scanned the IDL-Astro
library:
a=readfM-TAB
expands to “readfits(”. Then try
a=readfits(C-c ?
and you get:
Usage: Result = READFITS(filename, header, heap) ...
I hope you made it until here. Now you are set to work with IDLWAVE.
On the way you will want to change other things, and to learn more
about the possibilities not discussed in this short tutorial. Read
the manual, look at the documentation strings of interesting variables
(with C-h v idlwave<-variable-name> RET) and ask the
remaining questions on the newsgroup comp.lang.idl-pvwave.
The IDLWAVE major mode supports editing IDL source files. In this chapter we describe the main features of the mode and how to customize them.
The IDL language, with its early roots in FORTRAN, modern implementation in C, and liberal borrowing of features of many vector and other languages along its 25+ year history, has inherited an unusual mix of syntax elements. Left to his or her own devices, a novice IDL programmer will often conjure code which is very difficult to read and impossible to adapt. Much can be gleaned from studying available IDL code libraries for coding style pointers, but, due to the variety of IDL syntax elements, replicating this style can be challenging at best. Luckily, IDLWAVE understands the structure of IDL code very well, and takes care of almost all formatting issues for you. After configuring it to match your coding standards, you can rely on it to help keep your code neat and organized.
Like all Emacs programming modes, IDLWAVE performs code indentation.
The TAB key indents the current line relative to context.
LFD insert a newline and indents the new line. The indentation is
governed by a number of variables. IDLWAVE indents blocks (between
PRO/FUNCTION/BEGIN and END), and
continuation lines.
To re-indent a larger portion of code (e.g., when working with foreign
code written with different conventions), use C-M-\
(indent-region) after marking the relevant code. Useful marking
commands are C-x h (the entire file) or C-M-h (the current
subprogram). The command C-M-q reindents the entire current
routine. See Actions, for information how to impose additional
formatting conventions on foreign code.
2) ¶Extra indentation for the main block of code. That is the block between the FUNCTION/PRO statement and the END statement for that program unit.
3) ¶Extra indentation applied to block lines. If you change this, you
probably also want to change idlwave-end-offset.
-3) ¶Extra indentation applied to block END lines. A value equal to negative
idlwave-block-indent will make END lines line up with the block
BEGIN lines.
Continuation lines (following a line ending with $) can receive a
fixed indentation offset from the main level, but in several situations
IDLWAVE can use a special form of indentation which aligns continued
statements more naturally. Special indentation is calculated for
continued routine definition statements and calls, enclosing parentheses
(like function calls, structure/class definitions, explicit structures
or lists, etc.), and continued assignments. An attempt is made to line
up with the first non-whitespace character after the relevant opening
punctuation mark (,,(,{,[,=). For
lines without any non-comment characters on the line with the opening
punctuation, the continued line(s) are aligned just past the
punctuation. An example:
function foo, a, b, $
c, d
bar = sin( a + b + $
c + d)
end
The only drawback to this special continued statement indentation is that it consumes more space, e.g., for long function names or left hand sides of an assignment:
function thisfunctionnameisverylongsoitwillleavelittleroom, a, b, $
c, d
You can instruct IDLWAVE when to avoid using this special continuation
indentation by setting the variable
idlwave-max-extra-continuation-indent, which specifies the
maximum additional indentation beyond the basic indent to be
tolerated, otherwise defaulting to a fixed-offset from the enclosing
indent (the size of which offset is set in
idlwave-continuation-indent). As a special case, continuations
of routine calls without any arguments or keywords will not
align the continued line, under the assumption that you continued
because you needed the space.
Also, since the indentation level can be somewhat dynamic in continued
statements with special continuation indentation, especially if
idlwave-max-extra-continuation-indent is small, the key
C-u TAB will re-indent all lines in the current statement.
Note that idlwave-indent-to-open-paren, if non-nil,
overrides the idlwave-max-extra-continuation-indent limit, for
parentheses only, forcing them always to line up.
2) ¶Extra indentation applied to normal continuation lines.
20) ¶The maximum additional indentation (over the basic continuation-indent)
that will be permitted for special continues. To effectively disable
special continuation indentation, set to 0. To enable it
constantly, set to a large number (like 100). Note that the
indentation in a long continued statement never decreases from line to
line, outside of nested parentheses statements.
t) ¶Non-nil means indent continuation lines to innermost open
parenthesis, regardless of whether the
idlwave-max-extra-continuation-indent limit is satisfied.
In IDL, lines starting with a ‘;’ are called comment lines. Comment lines are indented as follows:
;;; | The indentation of lines starting with three semicolons remains unchanged. |
;; | Lines starting with two semicolons are indented like the surrounding code. |
; | Lines starting with a single semicolon are indented to a minimum column. |
The indentation of comments starting in column 0 is never changed.
The indentation of a comment starting with this regexp will not be changed.
A comment anchored at the beginning of line.
A comment that starts with this regexp is indented as if it is a part of IDL code.
In IDL, a newline character terminates a statement unless preceded by a
‘$’. If you would like to start a continuation line, use
M-RET, which calls the command idlwave-split-line.
It inserts the continuation character ‘$’, terminates the line and
indents the new line. The command M-RET can also be invoked
inside a string to split it at that point, in which case the ‘+’
concatenation operator is used.
When filling comment paragraphs, IDLWAVE overloads the normal filling
functions and uses a function which creates the hanging paragraphs
customary in IDL routine headers. When auto-fill-mode is turned
on (toggle with C-c C-a), comments will be auto-filled. If the
first line of a paragraph contains a match for
idlwave-hang-indent-regexp (a dash-space by default), subsequent
lines are positioned to line up after it, as in the following example.
;================================= ; x - an array containing ; lots of interesting numbers. ; ; y - another variable where ; a hanging paragraph is used ; to describe it. ;=================================
You can also refill a comment at any time paragraph with M-q. Comment delimiting lines as in the above example, consisting of one or more ‘;’ followed by one or more of the characters ‘+=-_*’, are kept in place, as is.
t) ¶Non-nil means auto fill will only operate on comment lines.
t) ¶Non-nil means auto fill will split strings with the IDL ‘+’
operator.
t) ¶Non-nil means idlwave-split-line will split strings with
‘+’.
t) ¶Non-nil means comment paragraphs are indented under the hanging
indent given by idlwave-hang-indent-regexp match in the first
line of the paragraph.
"- ") ¶Regular expression matching the position of the hanging indent in the first line of a comment paragraph.
nil) ¶Non-nil means use last match on line for
idlwave-indent-regexp.
Highlighting of keywords, comments, strings etc. can be accomplished
with font-lock. If you are using global-font-lock-mode,
or have font-lock-mode turned on in any other buffer,
it should also automatically work in IDLWAVE buffers. If you’d
prefer invoking font-lock individually by mode, you can enforce it in
idlwave-mode with the following line in your .emacs:
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)
IDLWAVE supports 3 increasing levels of syntax highlighting.
The variable font-lock-maximum-decoration determines which level
is selected. Individual categories of special tokens can be selected
for highlighting using the variable
idlwave-default-font-lock-items.
Items which should be fontified on the default fontification level 2.
A rare syntax highlighting problem results from an extremely unfortunate
notation for octal numbers in IDL: "123. This unpaired quotation
mark is very difficult to parse, given that it can be mixed on a single
line with any number of strings. Emacs will incorrectly identify this
as a string, and the highlighting of following lines of code can be
distorted, since the string is never terminated.
One solution to this involves terminating the mistakenly identified string yourself by providing a closing quotation mark in a comment:
string("305B) + $ ;" <--- for font-lock
' is an Angstrom.'
A far better solution is to abandon this notation for octals altogether, and use the more sensible alternative IDL provides:
string('305'OB) + ' is an Angstrom.'
This simultaneously solves the font-lock problem and is more
consistent with the notation for hexadecimal numbers, e.g., 'C5'XB.
IDL comes bundled with more than one thousand procedures, functions
and object methods, and large libraries typically contain hundreds or
even thousands more (each with a few to tens of keywords and
arguments). This large command set can make it difficult to remember
the calling sequence and keywords for the routines you use, but
IDLWAVE can help. It builds up routine information from a wide
variety of sources; IDLWAVE in fact knows far more about the
‘.pro’ routines on your system than IDL itself! It maintains a
list of all built-in routines, with calling sequences and
keywords2. It also scans Emacs buffers
for routine definitions, queries the IDLWAVE-Shell for information
about routines currently compiled there, and automatically locates
library and user-created catalogs. This information is updated
automatically, and so should usually be current. To force a global
update and refresh the routine information, use C-c C-i
(idlwave-update-routine-info).
To display the information about a routine, press C-c ?, which
calls the command idlwave-routine-info. When the current cursor
position is on the name or in the argument list of a procedure or
function, information will be displayed about the routine. For example,
consider the indicated cursor positions in the following line:
plot,x,alog(x+5*sin(x) + 2), | | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
On positions 1,2 and 8, information about the ‘plot’ procedure will be shown. On positions 3,4, and 7, the ‘alog’ function will be described, while positions 5 and 6 will investigate the ‘sin’ function.
When you ask for routine information about an object method, and the
method exists in several classes, IDLWAVE queries for the class of the
object, unless the class is already known through a text property on the
‘->’ operator (see Object Method Completion and Class Ambiguity), or by having been explicitly included in the call
(e.g., a->myclass::Foo).
The description displayed contains the calling sequence, the list of keywords and the source location of this routine. It looks like this:
Usage: XMANAGER, NAME, ID
Keywords: BACKGROUND CATCH CLEANUP EVENT_HANDLER GROUP_LEADER
JUST_REG MODAL NO_BLOCK
Source: SystemLib [LCSB] /soft1/idl53/lib/xmanager.pro
If a definition of this routine exists in several files accessible to IDLWAVE, several ‘Source’ lines will point to the different files. This may indicate that your routine is shadowing a system library routine, which may or may not be what you want (see Load-Path Shadows). The information about the calling sequence and keywords is derived from the first source listed. Library routines are available only if you have scanned your local IDL directories or are using pre-scanned libraries (see Catalogs). The source entry consists of a source category, a set of flags and the path to the source file. The following default categories exist:
| System | A system routine of unknown origin. When the system library has been scanned as part of a catalog (see Catalogs), this category will automatically split into the next two. |
| Builtin | A builtin system routine with no source code available. |
| SystemLib | A library system routine in the official lib directory !DIR/lib. |
| Obsolete | A library routine in the official lib directory !DIR/lib/obsolete. |
| Library | A routine in a file on IDL’s search path !PATH. |
| Other | Any other routine with a file not known to be on the search path. |
| Unresolved | An otherwise unknown routine the shell lists as unresolved (referenced, but not compiled). |
Any routines discovered in library catalogs (see Library Catalogs), will display the category assigned during creation,
e.g., ‘NasaLib’. For routines not discovered in this way, you can
create additional categories based on the routine’s filename using the
variable idlwave-special-lib-alist.
The flags [LCSB] indicate the source of the information IDLWAVE
has regarding the file: from a library catalog ([L---]),
from a user catalog ([-C--], from the IDL Shell
([--S-]) or from an Emacs buffer ([---B]).
Combinations are possible (a compiled library routine visited in a
buffer might read [L-SB]). If a file contains multiple
definitions of the same routine, the file name will be prefixed with
‘(Nx)’ where ‘N’ is the number of definitions.
Some of the text in the *Help* routine info buffer will be active (it is highlighted when the mouse moves over it). Typically, clicking with the right mouse button invokes online help lookup, and clicking with the middle mouse button inserts keywords or visits files:
| Usage | If online help is installed, a click with the right mouse button on the Usage: line will access the help for the routine (see Online Help). |
| Keyword | Online help about keywords is also available with the
right mouse button. Clicking on a keyword with the middle
mouse button will insert this keyword in the buffer from where
idlwave-routine-info was called. Holding down SHIFT while
clicking also adds the initial ‘/’. |
| Source | Clicking with the middle mouse button on a ‘Source’ line finds the source file of the routine and visits it in another window. Another click on the same line switches back to the buffer from which C-c ? was called. If you use the right mouse button, the source will not be visited by a buffer, but displayed in the online help window. |
| Classes | The Classes line is only included in the routine info window if the current class inherits from other classes. You can click with the middle mouse button to display routine info about the current method in other classes on the inheritance chain, if such a method exists there. |
t) ¶Non-nil means resize the Routine-info *Help* window to
fit the content.
Alist of regular expressions matching special library directories.
5) ¶Maximum number of source files displayed in the Routine Info window.
For IDL system routines, extensive documentation is supplied with IDL. IDLWAVE can access the HTML version of this documentation very quickly and accurately, based on the local context. This can be much faster than using the IDL online help application, because IDLWAVE usually gets you to the right place in the documentation directly—e.g., a specific keyword of a routine—without any additional browsing and scrolling.
For this online help to work, an HTML version of the IDL documentation
is required. Beginning with IDL 6.2, HTML documentation is distributed
directly with IDL, along with an XML-based catalog of routine
information. By default, IDLWAVE automatically attempts to convert this
XML catalog into a format Emacs can more easily understand, and caches
this information in your idlwave_config_directory
(~/.emacs.d/idlwave/, by default). It also re-scans the XML catalog if
it is newer than the current cached version. You can force rescan with
the menu entry IDLWAVE->Routine Info->Rescan XML Help Catalog.
Before IDL 6.2, the HTML help was not distributed with IDL, and was not part of the standalone IDLWAVE distribution, but had to be downloaded separately. This is no longer necessary: all help and routine information is supplied with IDL versions 6.2 and later.
There are a variety of options for displaying the HTML help: see below. Help for routines without HTML documentation is also available, by using the routine documentation header and/or routine source.
In any IDL program (or, as with most IDLWAVE commands, in the IDL
Shell), press M-? (idlwave-context-help), or click with
S-mouse-3 to access context sensitive online help. The following
locations are recognized context for help:
| Routine names | The name of a routine (function, procedure, method). |
| Keyword Parameters | A keyword parameter of a routine. |
| System Variables | System variables like !DPI. |
| System Variable Tags | System variables tags like !D.X_SIZE. |
| IDL Statements | Statements like PRO, REPEAT, COMPILE_OPT, etc. |
| IDL Controls | Control structures like FOR, SWITCH, etc. |
| Class names | A class name in an OBJ_NEW call. |
| Class Init Keywords | Beyond the class name in an OBJ_NEW call. |
| Executive Command | An executive command like .RUN. Mostly useful in the shell. |
| Structure Tags | Structure tags like state.xsize |
| Class Tags | Class tags like self.value. |
| Default | The routine that would be selected for routine info display. |
Note that the OBJ_NEW function is special in that the help
displayed depends on the cursor position. If the cursor is on the
‘OBJ_NEW’, this function is described. If it is on the class
name inside the quotes, the documentation for the class is pulled up.
If the cursor is after the class name, anywhere in the argument
list, the documentation for the corresponding Init method and
its keywords is targeted.
Apart from an IDLWAVE buffer or shell, there are two more places from which online help can be accessed.
In both cases, a blue face indicates that the item is documented in the IDL manual, but an attempt will be made to visit non-blue items directly in the originating source file.
Help using the HTML documentation is invoked with the built-in Emacs
command browse-url, which displays the relevant help topic in a
browser of your choosing. Beginning with version 6.2, IDL comes with
the help browser IDL Assistant, which it uses by default for
displaying online help on all supported platforms. This browser
offers topical searches, an index, and is also now the default and
recommended IDLWAVE help browser. The variable
idlwave-help-use-assistant controls whether this browser is
used. Note that, due to limitations in the Assistant, invoking help
within IDLWAVE and ? topic within IDL will result in two
running copies of Assistant.
Aside from the IDL Assistant, there are many possible browsers to choose
among, with differing advantages and disadvantages. The variable
idlwave-help-browser-function controls which browser help is sent
to (as long as idlwave-help-use-assistant is not set). This
function is used to set the variable browse-url-browser-function
locally for IDLWAVE help only. Customize the latter variable to see
what choices of browsers your system offers. Certain browsers like EWW
(see EWW in The Emacs Web Wowser Manual) are run within Emacs,
and use Emacs buffers to display the HTML help. This can be convenient,
especially on small displays, and images can even be displayed in-line
on newer Emacs versions. However, better formatting results are often
achieved with external browsers, like Mozilla. IDLWAVE assumes any
browser function containing "w3" is displayed in a local buffer. If you
are using another Emacs-local browser for which this is not true, set
the variable idlwave-help-browser-is-local.
With IDL 6.2 or later, it is important to ensure that the variable
idlwave-system-directory is set (see Catalogs). One easy way
to ensure this is to run the IDL Shell (C-c C-s). It will be
queried for this directory, and the results will be cached to file for
subsequent use.
See HTML Help Browser Tips, for more information on selecting and configuring a browser for use with IDL’s HTML help system.
Relative directory of the system-supplied HTML help directory,
considered with respect to idlwave-system-directory. Relevant
for IDL 6.2 and greater. Should not change.
The directory where the idl_html_help HTML directory live.
Obsolete and ignored for IDL 6.2 and greater
(idlwave-html-system-help-location is used instead).
t ¶If set, use the IDL Assistant if possible for online HTML help,
otherwise use the browser function specified in
idlwave-help-browser-function.
The browser function to use to display IDLWAVE HTML help. Should be
one of the functions available for setting
browse-url-browser-function, which see.
Is the browser selected in idlwave-help-browser-function run in a
local Emacs buffer or window? Defaults to t if the function
contains "-w3".
The face for links to IDLWAVE online help.
For routines which are not documented in an HTML manual (for example
personal or library routines), the source code itself is used as help
text. If the requested information can be found in a (more or less)
standard DocLib file header, IDLWAVE shows the header (scrolling down to
a keyword, if appropriate). Otherwise the routine definition statement
(pro/function) is shown. The doclib header sections which
are searched for include ‘NAME’ and ‘KEYWORDS’. Localization
support can be added by customizing the idlwave-help-doclib-name
and idlwave-help-doclib-keyword variables.
Help is also available for class structure tags (self.TAG), and
generic structure tags, if structure tag completion is enabled
(see Structure Tag Completion). This is implemented by visiting the
tag within the class or structure definition source itself. Help is not
available on built-in system class tags.
The help window is normally displayed in the same frame, but can be popped-up in a separate frame. The following commands can be used to navigate inside the help system for source files:
| SPACE | Scroll forward one page. |
| RET | Scroll forward one line. |
| DEL | Scroll back one page. |
| h | Jump to DocLib Header of the routine whose source is displayed as help. |
| H | Jump to the first DocLib Header in the file. |
| . (Dot) | Jump back and forth between the routine definition (the
pro/function statement) and the description of the help
item in the DocLib header. |
| F | Fontify the buffer like source code. See the variable idlwave-help-fontify-source-code. |
| q | Kill the help window. |
nil) ¶Non-nil means use a separate frame for Online Help if possible.
The frame parameters for the special Online Help frame.
Maximum number of items per pane in pop-up menus.
Function to call for help if the normal help fails.
nil) ¶Non-nil means fontify source code displayed as help.
t) ¶Non-nil means try to find help in routine header when
displaying source file.
"name") ¶The case-insensitive heading word in doclib headers to locate the
name section. Can be a regexp, e.g., "\\(name\\|nom\\)".
"KEYWORD") ¶The case-insensitive heading word in doclib headers to locate the keywords section. Can be a regexp.
IDLWAVE offers completion for class names, routine names, keywords,
system variables, system variable tags, class structure tags, regular
structure tags and file names. As in many programming modes, completion
is bound to M-TAB (or simply TAB in the IDLWAVE
Shell; see Using the Shell). Completion uses exactly the same
internal information as routine info, so when necessary (rarely) it can
be updated with C-c C-i (idlwave-update-routine-info).
The completion function is context sensitive and figures out what to complete based on the location of the point. Here are example lines and what M-TAB would try to complete when the cursor is on the position marked with a ‘_’:
plo_ Procedure x = a_ Function plot,xra_ Keyword ofplotprocedure plot,x,y,/x_ Keyword ofplotprocedure plot,min(_ Keyword ofminfunction obj -> a_ Object method (procedure) a[2,3] = obj -> a_ Object method (function) x = obj_new('IDL_ Class name x = obj_new('MyCl',a_ Keyword toInitmethod in classMyClpro A_ Class name pro _ Fill inClass::of first method in this file !v_ System variable !version.t_ Structure tag of system variable self.g_ Class structure tag in methods state.w_ Structure tag, if tag completion enabled name = 'a_ File name (default inside quotes)
The only place where completion is ambiguous is procedure/function keywords versus functions. After ‘plot,x,_’, IDLWAVE will always assume a keyword to ‘plot’. However, a function is also a possible completion here. You can force completion of a function name at such a location by using a prefix arg: C-u M-TAB.
Giving two prefix arguments (C-u C-u M-TAB) prompts for a regular expression to search among the commands to be completed. As an example, completing a blank line in this way will allow you to search for a procedure matching a regexp.
If the list of completions is too long to fit in the *Completions* window, the window can be scrolled by pressing M-TAB repeatedly. Online help (if installed) for each possible completion is available by clicking with mouse-3 on the item. Items for which system online help (from the IDL manual) is available will be emphasized (e.g., colored blue). For other items, the corresponding source code or DocLib header will be used as the help text.
Completion is not a blocking operation; you are free to continue editing, enter commands, or simply ignore the *Completions* buffer during a completion operation. If, however, the most recent command was a completion, C-g will remove the buffer and restore the window configuration. You can also remove the buffer at any time with no negative consequences.
t) ¶Non-nil means completion automatically adds ‘=’ after
completed keywords.
t) ¶Non-nil means completion automatically adds ‘(’ after
completed function. A value of 2 means also add the closing
parenthesis and position the cursor between the two.
t) ¶Non-nil means restore window configuration after successful
completion.
t) ¶Non-nil means highlight completions for which system help is
available.
IDL is a case-insensitive language, so casing is a matter of style
only. IDLWAVE helps maintain a consistent casing style for completed
items. The case of the completed words is determined by what is
already in the buffer. As an exception, when the partial word being
completed is all lower case, the completion will be lower case as
well. If at least one character is upper case, the string will be
completed in upper case or mixed case, depending on the value of the
variable idlwave-completion-case. The default is to use upper
case for procedures, functions and keywords, and mixed case for object
class names and methods, similar to the conventions in the IDL
manuals. For instance, to enable mixed-case completion for routines
in addition to classes and methods, you need an entry such as
(routine . preserve) in that variable. To enable total control
over the case of completed items, independent of buffer context, set
idlwave-completion-force-default-case to non-nil.
Association list setting the case (UPPER/lower/Capitalized/MixedCase...) of completed words.
nil) ¶Non-nil means completion will always honor the settings in
idlwave-completion-case. When nil (the default), entirely lower
case strings will always be completed to lower case, no matter what the
settings in idlwave-completion-case.
nil) ¶Non-nil means the empty string is considered lower case for
completion.
An object method is not uniquely determined without the object’s class.
Since the class is almost always omitted in the calling source (as
required to obtain the true benefits of object-based programming),
IDLWAVE considers all available methods in all classes as possible
method name completions. The combined list of keywords of the current
method in all known classes which contain that method will be
considered for keyword completion. In the *Completions* buffer,
the matching classes will be shown next to each item (see option
idlwave-completion-show-classes). As a special case, the class
of an object called ‘self’ is always taken to be the class of the
current routine, when in an IDLWAVE buffer. All inherits classes are
considered as well.
You can also call idlwave-complete with a prefix arg: C-u
M-TAB. IDLWAVE will then prompt you for the class in order to
narrow down the number of possible completions. The variable
idlwave-query-class can be configured to make such prompting the
default for all methods (not recommended), or selectively for very
common methods for which the number of completing keywords would be too
large (e.g., Init,SetProperty,GetProperty).
After you have specified the class for a particular statement (e.g., when
completing the method), IDLWAVE can remember it for the rest of the
editing session. Subsequent completions in the same statement
(e.g., keywords) can then reuse this class information. This works by
placing a text property on the method invocation operator ‘->’,
after which the operator will be shown in a different face (bold by
default). The variable idlwave-store-inquired-class can be used
to turn it off or on.
1) ¶Non-nil means show up to that many classes in
*Completions* buffer when completing object methods and
keywords.
t) ¶Non-nil means fontify the classes in completions buffer.
nil) ¶Association list governing query for object classes during completion.
t) ¶Non-nil means store class of a method call as text property on
‘->’.
Face to highlight object operator arrows ‘->’ which carry a saved class text property.
In the IDLWAVE Shell (see The IDLWAVE Shell), objects on which
methods are being invoked have a special property: they must exist as
variables, and so their class can be determined (for instance, using the
obj_class() function). In the Shell, when attempting completion,
routine info, or online help within a method routine, a query is sent to
determine the class of the object. If this query is successful, the
class found will be used to select appropriate completions, routine
info, or help. If unsuccessful, information from all known classes will
be used (as in the buffer).
Class inheritance affects which methods are called in IDL. An object of
a class which inherits methods from one or more superclasses can
override that method by defining its own method of the same name, extend
the method by calling the method(s) of its superclass(es) in its
version, or inherit the method directly by making no modifications.
IDLWAVE examines class definitions during completion and routine
information display, and records all inheritance information it finds.
This information is displayed if appropriate with the calling sequence
for methods (see Routine Info), as long as variable
idlwave-support-inheritance is non-nil.
In many class methods, keyword inheritance (_EXTRA and
_REF_EXTRA) is used hand-in-hand with class inheritance and
method overriding. E.g., in a SetProperty method, this technique
allows a single call obj->SetProperty to set properties up the
entire class inheritance chain. This is often referred to as
chaining, and is characterized by chained method calls like
self->MySuperClass::SetProperty,_EXTRA=e.
IDLWAVE can accommodate this special synergy between class and keyword
inheritance: if _EXTRA or _REF_EXTRA is detected among a
method’s keyword parameters, all keywords of superclass versions of
the method being considered can be included in completion. There is
of course no guarantee that this type of keyword chaining actually
occurs, but for some methods it’s a very convenient assumption. The
variable idlwave-keyword-class-inheritance can be used to
configure which methods have keyword inheritance treated in this
simple, class-driven way. By default, only Init and
(Get|Set)Property are. The completion buffer will label
keywords based on their originating class.
t) ¶Non-nil means consider inheritance during completion, online help etc.
A list of regular expressions to match methods for which simple class-driven keyword inheritance will be used for Completion.
In many programs, especially those involving widgets, large structures
(e.g., the ‘state’ structure) are used to communicate among
routines. It is very convenient to be able to complete structure tags,
in the same way as for instance variables (tags) of the ‘self’
object (see Object Method Completion and Class Ambiguity). Add-in
code for structure tag completion is available in the form of a loadable
completion module: idlw-complete-structtag.el. Tag completion in
structures is highly ambiguous (much more so than ‘self’
completion), so idlw-complete-structtag makes an unusual and very
specific assumption: the exact same variable name is used to refer to
the structure in all parts of the program. This is entirely unenforced
by the IDL language, but is a typical convention. If you consistently
refer to the same structure with the same variable name
(e.g., ‘state’), structure tags which are read from its definition
in the same file can be used for completion.
Structure tag completion is not enabled by default. To enable it, simply add the following to your .emacs:
(with-eval-after-load 'idlwave (require 'idlw-complete-structtag))
Once enabled, you’ll also be able to access online help on the structure tags, using the usual methods (see Online Help). In addition, structure variables in the shell will be queried for tag names, similar to the way object variables in the shell are queried for method names. So, e.g.:
IDL> st.[Tab]
will complete with all structure fields of the structure
st.
In addition to clicking on a Source: line in the routine info
window, there is another way to quickly visit the source file of a
routine. The command C-c C-v (idlwave-find-module) asks
for a module name, offering the same default as
idlwave-routine-info would have used, taken from nearby buffer
contents. In the minibuffer, specify a complete routine name (including
any class part). IDLWAVE will display the source file in another
window, positioned at the routine in question. You can also limit this
to a routine in the current buffer only, with completion, and a
context-sensitive default, by using a single prefix (C-u C-c C-v)
or the convenience binding C-c C-t.
Since getting the source of a routine into a buffer is so easy with
IDLWAVE, too many buffers visiting different IDL source files are
sometimes created. The special command C-c C-k
(idlwave-kill-autoloaded-buffers) can be used to easily remove
these buffers.
The key sequence C-c = calls the command idlwave-resolve
and sends the line ‘RESOLVE_ROUTINE, 'routine_name'’ to IDL
in order to resolve (compile) it. The default routine to be resolved is
taken from context, but you get a chance to edit it. Usually this is
not necessary, since IDL automatically discovers routines on its path.
idlwave-resolve is one way to get a library module within reach
of IDLWAVE’s routine info collecting functions. A better way is to
keep routine information available in catalogs (see Catalogs).
Routine info on modules will then be available without the need to
compile the modules first, and even without a running shell.
See Sources of Routine Info, for more information on the ways IDLWAVE collects data about routines, and how to update this information.
IDLWAVE can insert IDL code templates into the buffer. For a few templates, this is done with direct key bindings:
| C-c C-c | CASE statement template |
| C-c C-f | FOR loop template |
| C-c C-r | REPEAT loop template |
| C-c C-w | WHILE loop template |
All code templates are also available as abbreviations (see Abbreviations).
Special abbreviations exist to enable rapid entry of commonly used
commands. Emacs abbreviations are expanded by typing text into the
buffer and pressing SPC or RET. The special abbreviations
used to insert code templates all start with a ‘\’ (the backslash),
or, optionally, any other character set in
idlwave-abbrev-start-char. IDLWAVE ensures that abbreviations are
only expanded where they should be (i.e., not in a string or comment),
and permits the point to be moved after an abbreviation expansion:
very useful for positioning the mark inside of parentheses, etc.
Special abbreviations are pre-defined for code templates and other useful items. To visit the full list of abbreviations, use M-x idlwave-list-abbrevs.
Template abbreviations:
\pr | PROCEDURE template |
\fu | FUNCTION template |
\c | CASE statement template |
\f | FOR loop template |
\r | REPEAT loop template |
\w | WHILE loop template |
\i | IF statement template |
\elif | IF-ELSE statement template |
String abbreviations:
\ap | arg_present() |
\b | begin |
\cb | byte() |
\cc | complex() |
\cd | double() |
\cf | float() |
\cl | long() |
\co | common |
\cs | string() |
\cx | fix() |
\e | else |
\ec | endcase |
\ee | endelse |
\ef | endfor |
\ei | endif else if |
\el | endif else |
\en | endif |
\er | endrep |
\es | endswitch |
\ew | endwhile |
\g | goto, |
\h | help, |
\ik | if keyword_set() then |
\iap | if arg_present() then |
\ine | if n_elements() eq 0 then |
\inn | if n_elements() ne 0 then |
\k | keyword_set() |
\n | n_elements() |
\np | n_params() |
\oi | on_ioerror, |
\or | openr, |
\ou | openu, |
\ow | openw, |
\p | print, |
\pt | plot, |
\pv | ptr_valid() |
\re | read, |
\rf | readf, |
\rt | return |
\ru | readu, |
\s | size() |
\sc | strcompress() |
\sl | strlowcase() |
\sm | strmid() |
\sn | strlen() |
\sp | strpos() |
\sr | strtrim() |
\st | strput() |
\su | strupcase() |
\t | then |
\u | until |
\wc | widget_control, |
\wi | widget_info() |
\wu | writeu, |
You can easily add your own abbreviations or override existing
abbrevs with define-abbrev in your mode hook, using the
convenience function idlwave-define-abbrev:
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(idlwave-define-abbrev "wb" "widget_base()"
(idlwave-keyword-abbrev 1))
(idlwave-define-abbrev "ine" "IF N_Elements() EQ 0 THEN"
(idlwave-keyword-abbrev 11))))
Notice how the abbreviation (here wb) and its expansion
(widget_base()) are given as arguments, and the single argument to
idlwave-keyword-abbrev (here 1) specifies how far back to
move the point upon expansion (in this example, to put it between the
parentheses).
The abbreviations are expanded in upper or lower case, depending upon
the variables idlwave-abbrev-change-case and, for reserved word
templates, idlwave-reserved-word-upcase (see Case Changes).
"\") ¶A single character string used to start abbreviations in abbrev mode. Beware of common characters which might naturally occur in sequence with abbreviation strings.
t) ¶Non-nil means the abbrev hook can move point, e.g., to end up
between the parentheses of a function call.
Actions are special formatting commands which are executed automatically while you write code in order to check the structure of the program or to enforce coding standards. Most actions which have been implemented in IDLWAVE are turned off by default, assuming that the average user wants her code the way she writes it. But if you are a lazy typist and want your code to adhere to certain standards, actions can be helpful.
Actions can be applied in three ways:
idlwave-do-actions
must be non-nil.
nil) ¶Non-nil means performs actions when indenting. Individual action
settings are described below and set separately.
Whenever you type an END statement, IDLWAVE finds the
corresponding start of the block and the cursor blinks back to that
location for a second. If you have typed a specific END, like
ENDIF or ENDCASE, you get a warning if that terminator
does not match the type of block it terminates.
Set the variable idlwave-expand-generic-end in order to have all
generic END statements automatically expanded to the appropriate
type. You can also type C-c ] to close the current block by
inserting the appropriate END statement.
t) ¶Non-nil means point blinks to block beginning for
idlwave-show-begin.
t) ¶Non-nil means expand generic END to ENDIF/ENDELSE/ENDWHILE etc.
t) ¶Non-nil means re-indent line after END was typed.
Some operators can be automatically surrounded by spaces. This can
happen when the operator is typed, or later when the line is indented.
IDLWAVE can pad the operators ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘,’, ‘=’,
and ‘->’, as well as the modified assignment operators
(‘AND=’, ‘OR=’, etc.). This feature is turned off by default.
If you want to turn it on, customize the variables
idlwave-surround-by-blank and idlwave-do-actions and turn
both on. You can also define similar actions for other operators by
using the function idlwave-action-and-binding in the mode hook.
For example, to enforce space padding of the ‘+’ and ‘*’
operators (outside of strings and comments, of course), try this in
.emacs
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(setq idlwave-surround-by-blank t) ; Turn this type of actions on
(idlwave-action-and-binding "*" '(idlwave-surround 1 1))
(idlwave-action-and-binding "+" '(idlwave-surround 1 1))))
Note that the modified assignment operators which begin with a word
(‘AND=’, ‘OR=’, ‘NOT=’, etc.) require a leading space to
be recognized (e.g., vAND=4 would be interpreted as a variable
vAND). Also note that since, e.g., > and >= are
both valid operators, it is impossible to surround both by blanks while
they are being typed. Similarly with & and &&. For
these, a compromise is made: the padding is placed on the left, and if
the longer operator is keyed in, on the right as well (otherwise you
must insert spaces to pad right yourself, or press simply press Tab to
repad everything if idlwave-do-actions is on).
nil) ¶Non-nil means enable idlwave-surround. If non-nil,
‘=’, ‘<’, ‘>’, ‘&’, ‘,’, ‘->’, and the
modified assignment operators (‘AND=’, ‘OR=’, etc.) are
surrounded with spaces by idlwave-surround.
t) ¶Non-nil means space-pad the ‘=’ in keyword assignments.
Actions can be used to change the case of reserved words or expanded
abbreviations by customizing the variables
idlwave-abbrev-change-case and
idlwave-reserved-word-upcase. If you want to change the case of
additional words automatically, put something like the following into
your .emacs file:
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook
(lambda ()
;; Capitalize system vars
(idlwave-action-and-binding idlwave-sysvar '(capitalize-word 1) t)
;; Capitalize procedure name
(idlwave-action-and-binding "\\<\\(pro\\|function\\)\\>[ \t]*\\<"
'(capitalize-word 1) t)
;; Capitalize common block name
(idlwave-action-and-binding "\\<common\\>[ \t]+\\<"
'(capitalize-word 1) t)))
For more information, see the documentation string for the function
idlwave-action-and-binding. For information on controlling the
case of routines, keywords, classes, and methods as they are completed, see
Completion.
nil) ¶Non-nil means all abbrevs will be forced to either upper or lower
case. Valid values are nil, t, and down.
nil) ¶Non-nil means reserved words will be made upper case via abbrev
expansion.
The command C-c C-h inserts a standard routine header into the
buffer, with the usual fields for documentation (a different header can
be specified with idlwave-file-header). One of the keywords is
‘MODIFICATION HISTORY’ under which the changes to a routine can be
recorded. The command C-c C-m jumps to the ‘MODIFICATION
HISTORY’ of the current routine or file and inserts the user name with a
timestamp.
The doc-header template or a path to a file containing it.
nil) ¶Non-nil means the documentation header will always be at start
of file.
The hook function used to update the timestamp of a function.
The modifications keyword to use with the log documentation commands.
Regexp matching the start of a document library header.
Regexp matching the start of a document library header.
IDLWAVE supports Imenu, a package which make it easy to jump to the definitions of functions and procedures in the current file with a pop-up selection. To bind Imenu to a mouse-press, use in your .emacs:
(define-key global-map [S-down-mouse-3] 'imenu)
In addition, Speedbar support allows convenient navigation of a
source tree of IDL routine files, quickly stepping to routine
definitions. See Tools->Display Speedbar.
Several commands allow you to move quickly through the structure of an IDL program:
| C-M-a | Beginning of subprogram |
| C-M-e | End of subprogram |
| C-c { | Beginning of block (stay inside the block) |
| C-c } | End of block (stay inside the block) |
| C-M-n | Forward block (on same level) |
| C-M-p | Backward block (on same level) |
| C-M-d | Down block (enters a block) |
| C-M-u | Backward up block (leaves a block) |
| C-c C-n | Next Statement |
The external application providing reference help for programming.
t) ¶Non-nil means display a startup message when idlwave-mode’
is first called.
Normal hook. Executed when a buffer is put into idlwave-mode.
The IDLWAVE shell is an Emacs major mode which permits running the IDL program as an inferior process of Emacs, and works closely with the IDLWAVE major mode in buffers. It can be used to work with IDL interactively, to compile and run IDL programs in Emacs buffers and to debug these programs. The IDLWAVE shell is built on comint, an Emacs packages which handles the communication with the IDL program. Unfortunately, IDL for Windows does not have command-prompt versions and thus do not allow the interaction with Emacs, so the IDLWAVE shell currently works under only Unix and macOS.
The IDLWAVE shell can be started with the command M-x
idlwave-shell. In idlwave-mode the function is bound to
C-c C-s. It creates a buffer *idl* which is used to
interact with the shell. If the shell is already running, C-c
C-s will simply switch to the shell buffer. The command C-c
C-l (idlwave-shell-recenter-shell-window) displays the shell
window without selecting it. The shell can also be started
automatically when another command tries to send a command to it. To
enable auto start, set the variable
idlwave-shell-automatic-start to t.
In order to create a separate frame for the IDLWAVE shell buffer, call
idlwave-shell with a prefix argument: C-u C-c C-s or
C-u C-c C-l. If you always want a dedicated frame for the shell
window, configure the variable
idlwave-shell-use-dedicated-frame.
To launch a quick IDLWAVE shell directly from a shell prompt without an IDLWAVE buffer (e.g., as a replacement for running inside an xterm), define a system alias with the following content:
emacs -geometry 80x32 -eval "(idlwave-shell 'quick)"
Replace the ‘-geometry 80x32’ option with ‘-nw’ if you prefer the Emacs process to run directly inside the terminal window.
To use IDLWAVE with ENVI or other custom packages which change the
‘IDL> ’ prompt, you must change the
idlwave-shell-prompt-pattern, which defaults to ‘"^ ?IDL>
"’. Normally, you can just replace the ‘IDL’ in this expression
with the prompt you see. A suitable pattern which matches the prompt
for both ENVI and IDL simultaneously is ‘"^ ?\\(ENVI\\|IDL\\)> "’.
This is the command to run IDL.
A list of command line options for calling the IDL program.
Regexp to match IDL prompt at beginning of a line.
Name to be associated with the IDL process.
nil) ¶Non-nil means attempt to invoke idlwave-shell if not already
running.
Initial commands, separated by newlines, to send to IDL.
t) ¶Non-nil means preserve command history between sessions.
The file in which the command history of the idlwave shell is saved.
Unless it’s an absolute path, it goes in
idlwave-config-directory.
nil) ¶Non-nil means IDLWAVE should use a special frame to display the
shell buffer.
nil) ¶Non-nil means use a dedicated window for the shell, taking care
not it replace it with other buffers.
The frame parameters for a dedicated idlwave-shell frame.
t) ¶Non-nil means idlwave-shell raises the frame showing the shell
window.
The prefix for temporary IDL files used when compiling regions.
Hook for customizing idlwave-shell-mode.
The IDLWAVE shell works in the same fashion as other shell modes in Emacs. It provides command history, command line editing and job control. The UP and DOWN arrows cycle through the input history just like in an X terminal3. The history is preserved between emacs and IDL sessions. Here is a list of commonly used commands:
| UP, M-p | Cycle backwards in input history |
| DOWN, M-n | Cycle forwards in input history |
| M-r | Previous input matching a regexp |
| M-s | Next input matching a regexp |
| return | Send input or copy line to current prompt |
| C-c C-a | Beginning of line; skip prompt |
| C-c C-u | Kill input to beginning of line |
| C-c C-w | Kill word before cursor |
| C-c C-c | Send ^C |
| C-c C-z | Send ^Z |
| C-c C-\ | Send ^\ |
| C-c C-o | Delete last batch of process output |
| C-c C-r | Show last batch of process output |
| C-c C-l | List input history |
In addition to these standard comint commands,
idlwave-shell-mode provides many of the same commands which
simplify writing IDL code available in IDLWAVE buffers. This includes
abbreviations, online help, and completion. See Routine Info and
Online Help and Completion for more information on these
commands.
| TAB | Completion of file names (between quotes and after executive
commands ‘.run’ and ‘.compile’), routine names, class names,
keywords, system variables, system variable tags etc.
(idlwave-shell-complete). |
| M-TAB | Same as TAB |
| C-c ? | Routine Info display (idlwave-routine-info) |
| M-? | IDL online help on routine (idlwave-routine-info-from-idlhelp) |
| C-c C-i | Update routine info from buffers and shell
(idlwave-update-routine-info) |
| C-c C-v | Find the source file of a routine (idlwave-find-module) |
| C-c C-t | Find the source file of a routine in the currently visited file
(idlwave-find-module-this-file). |
| C-c = | Compile a library routine (idlwave-resolve) |
t) ¶Non-nil means UP and DOWN arrows move through command
history like xterm.
Alist of special settings for the comint variables in the IDLWAVE Shell.
The characters allowed in file names, as a string. Used for file name completion.
Size of IDL graphics windows popped up by special IDLWAVE command.
IDLWAVE works in line input mode: You compose a full command line, using
all the power Emacs gives you to do this. When you press RET, the
whole line is sent to IDL. Sometimes it is necessary to send single
characters (without a newline), for example when an IDL program is
waiting for single character input with the GET_KBRD function.
You can send a single character to IDL with the command C-c C-x
(idlwave-shell-send-char). When you press C-c C-y
(idlwave-shell-char-mode-loop), IDLWAVE runs a blocking loop
which accepts characters and immediately sends them to IDL. The loop
can be exited with C-g. It terminates also automatically when the
current IDL command is finished. Check the documentation of the two
variables described below for a way to make IDL programs trigger
automatic switches of the input mode.
nil) ¶Non-nil means IDLWAVE should check for input mode spells in
output.
The three regular expressions which match the magic spells for input modes.
The IDLWAVE buffers and shell interact very closely. In addition to the
normal commands you enter at the IDL> prompt, many other special
commands are sent to the shell, sometimes as a direct result of invoking
a key command, menu item, or toolbar button, but also automatically, as
part of the normal flow of information updates between the buffer and
shell.
The commands sent include breakpoint, .step and other
debug commands (see Debugging IDL Programs), .run and other
compilation statements (see Compiling Programs), examination
commands like print and help (see Examining Variables), and other special purpose commands designed to keep
information on the running shell current.
By default, much of this background shell input and output is hidden
from the user, but this is configurable. The custom variable
idlwave-abbrev-show-commands allows you to configure which
commands sent to the shell are shown there. For a related customization
for separating the output of examine commands, see Examining Variables.
'(run misc breakpoint)) ¶A list of command types to echo in the shell when sent. Possible values
are run for .run, .compile and other run commands,
misc for lesser used commands like window,
retall,close, etc., breakpoint for breakpoint
setting and clearing commands, and debug for other debug,
stepping, and continue commands. In addition, if the variable is set to
the single symbol 'everything, all the copious shell input is
displayed (which is probably only useful for debugging purposes).
N.B. For hidden commands which produce output by side-effect, that
output remains hidden (e.g., stepping through a print command).
As a special case, any error message in the output will be displayed
(e.g., stepping to an error).
Programs can be compiled, run, and debugged directly from the source
buffer in Emacs, walking through arbitrarily deeply nested code,
printing expressions and skipping up and down the calling stack along
the way. IDLWAVE makes compiling and debugging IDL programs far less
cumbersome by providing a full-featured, key/menu/toolbar-driven
interface to commands like breakpoint, .step,
.run, etc. It can even perform complex debug operations not
natively supported by IDL (like continuing to the line at the cursor).
The IDLWAVE shell installs key bindings both in the shell buffer and
in all IDL code buffers of the current Emacs session, so debug
commands work in both places (in the shell, commands operate on the
last file compiled). On Emacs versions which support it, a debugging
toolbar is also installed. The toolbar display can be toggled with
C-c C-d C-t (idlwave-shell-toggle-toolbar).
t) ¶Non-nil means use the debugging toolbar in all IDL related
buffers.
The many debugging, compiling, and examination commands provided in
IDLWAVE are available simultaneously through two different interfaces:
the original, multi-key command interface, and the new Electric Debug
Mode. The functionality they offer is similar, but the way you interact
with them is quite different. The main difference is that, in Electric
Debug Mode, the source buffers are made read-only, and single
key-strokes are used to step through, examine expressions, set and
remove breakpoints, etc. The same variables, prefix arguments, and
settings apply to both versions, and both can be used interchangeably.
By default, when breakpoints are hit, Electric Debug Mode is enabled.
The traditional interface is described first. See Electric Debug Mode, for more on that mode. Note that electric debug mode can be
prevented from activating automatically by customizing the variable
idlwave-shell-automatic-electric-debug.
The standard debugging key bindings are always available by default on
the prefix key C-c C-d, so, for example, setting a breakpoint is
done with C-c C-d C-b, and compiling a source file with C-c
C-d C-c. You can also easily configure IDLWAVE to use one or more
modifier keys not in use by other commands, in lieu of the prefix
C-c C-d (though these bindings will typically also be available;
see idlwave-shell-activate-prefix-keybindings). For
example, if you include in .emacs:
(setq idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers '(control shift))
a breakpoint can then be set by pressing b while holding down
shift and control keys, i.e., C-S-b. Compiling a
source file will be on C-S-c, deleting a breakpoint C-S-d,
etc. In the remainder of this chapter we will assume that the
C-c C-d bindings are active, but each of these bindings will
have an equivalent shortcut if modifiers are given in the
idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers variable (see Lesson II: Customization). A much simpler and faster form of debugging for
running code is also available by default; see Electric Debug Mode.
The prefix key for the debugging map
idlwave-shell-mode-prefix-map.
t) ¶Non-nil means debug commands will be bound to the prefix
key, like C-c C-d C-b.
nil) ¶List of modifier keys to use for additional, alternative binding of
debugging commands in the shell and source buffers. Can be one or
more of control, meta, super, hyper,
alt, and shift.
IDLWAVE helps you set breakpoints and step through code. Setting a
breakpoint in the current line of the source buffer is accomplished
with C-c C-d C-b (idlwave-shell-break-here). With a
prefix arg of 1 (i.e., C-1 C-c C-d C-b), the breakpoint gets a
/ONCE keyword, meaning that it will be deleted after first use.
With a numeric prefix greater than one (e.g., C-4 C-c C-d C-b),
the breakpoint will only be active the nth time it is hit.
With a single non-numeric prefix (i.e., C-u C-c C-d C-b), prompt
for a condition: an IDL expression to be evaluated and trigger the
breakpoint only if true. To clear the breakpoint in the current line,
use C-c C-d C-d (idlwave-clear-current-bp). When
executed from the shell window, the breakpoint where IDL is currently
stopped will be deleted. To clear all breakpoints, use C-c C-d
C-a (idlwave-clear-all-bp). Breakpoints can also be disabled
and re-enabled: C-c C-d C-\
(idlwave-shell-toggle-enable-current-bp).
Breakpoint lines are highlighted or indicated with an icon in the source code (different icons for conditional, after, and other break types). Disabled breakpoints are grayed out by default. Note that IDL places breakpoints as close as possible on or after the line you specify. IDLWAVE queries the shell for the actual breakpoint location which was set, so the exact line you specify may not be marked. You can re-sync the breakpoint list and update the display at any time (e.g., if you add or remove some on the command line) using C-c C-d C-l.
In recent IDLWAVE versions, the breakpoint line is highlighted when the mouse is moved over it, and a tooltip pops up describing the break details. mouse-3 on the breakpoint line pops up a menu of breakpoint actions, including clearing, disabling, and adding or changing break conditions or “after” break count.
Once the program has stopped somewhere, you can step through it. The most important stepping commands are C-c C-d C-s to execute one line of IDL code ("step into"); C-c C-d C-n to step a single line, treating procedure and function calls as a single step ("step over"); C-c C-d C-h to continue execution to the line at the cursor and C-c C-d C-r to continue execution. See Commands Sent to the Shell, for information on displaying or hiding the breakpoint and stepping commands the shell receives. Here is a summary of the breakpoint and stepping commands:
| C-c C-d C-b | Set breakpoint (idlwave-shell-break-here) |
| C-c C-d C-i | Set breakpoint in module named here (idlwave-shell-break-in) |
| C-c C-d C-d | Clear current breakpoint (idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp) |
| C-c C-d C-a | Clear all breakpoints (idlwave-shell-clear-all-bp) |
| C-c C-d [ | Go to the previous breakpoint (idlwave-shell-goto-previous-bp) |
| C-c C-d ] | Go to the next breakpoint (idlwave-shell-goto-next-bp) |
| C-c C-d C-\ | Disable/Enable current breakpoint (idlwave-shell-toggle-enable-current-bp) |
| C-c C-d C-j | Set a breakpoint at the beginning of the enclosing routine. |
| C-c C-d C-s | Step, into function calls (idlwave-shell-step) |
| C-c C-d C-n | Step, over function calls (idlwave-shell-stepover) |
| C-c C-d C-k | Skip one statement (idlwave-shell-skip) |
| C-c C-d C-u | Continue to end of block (idlwave-shell-up) |
| C-c C-d C-m | Continue to end of function (idlwave-shell-return) |
| C-c C-d C-o | Continue past end of function (idlwave-shell-out) |
| C-c C-d C-h | Continue to line at cursor position (idlwave-shell-to-here) |
| C-c C-d C-r | Continue execution to next breakpoint, if any (idlwave-shell-cont) |
| C-c C-d C-up | Show higher level in calling stack (idlwave-shell-stack-up) |
| C-c C-d C-down | Show lower level in calling stack (idlwave-shell-stack-down) |
All of these commands have equivalents in Electric Debug Mode, which provides faster single-key access (see Electric Debug Mode).
The line where IDL is currently stopped, at breakpoints, halts, and
errors, etc., is marked with a color overlay or arrow, depending on the
setting in idlwave-shell-mark-stop-line. If an overlay face is
used to mark the stop line (as it is by default), when stepping through
code, the face color is temporarily changed to gray, until IDL completes
the next command and moves to the new line.
t) ¶Non-nil means mark breakpoints in the source file buffers. The
value indicates the preferred method. Valid values are nil,
t, face, and glyph.
The face for breakpoint lines in the source code if
idlwave-shell-mark-breakpoints has the value face.
Whether to pop-up a menu and present a tooltip description on breakpoint lines.
t) ¶Non-nil means mark the source code line where IDL is currently
stopped. The value specifies the preferred method. Valid values are
nil, t, arrow, and face.
">") ¶The overlay arrow to display at source lines where execution halts, if
configured in idlwave-shell-mark-stop-line.
The face which highlights the source line where IDL is stopped, if
configured in idlwave-shell-mark-stop-line.
In order to compile the current buffer under the IDLWAVE shell, press
C-c C-d C-c (idlwave-save-and-run). This first saves the
current buffer and then sends the command ‘.run path/to/file’ to the
shell. You can also execute C-c C-d C-c from the shell buffer, in
which case the most recently compiled buffer will be saved and
re-compiled.
When developing or debugging a program, it is often necessary to execute
the same command line many times. A convenient way to do this is
C-c C-d C-y (idlwave-shell-execute-default-command-line).
This command first resets IDL from a state of interrupted execution by
closing all files and returning to the main interpreter level. Then a
default command line is send to the shell. To edit the default command
line, call idlwave-shell-execute-default-command-line with a
prefix argument: C-u C-c C-d C-y. If no default command line has
been set (or you give two prefix arguments), the last command on the
comint input history is sent.
For quickly compiling and running the currently marked region as a main
level program C-c C-d C-e (idlwave-shell-run-region) is
very useful. A temporary file is created holding the contents of the
current region (with END appended), and run from the shell.
While debugging a program, it can be very useful to check the context in
which the current routine was called, for instance to help understand
the value of the arguments passed. To do so conveniently you need to
examine the calling stack. If execution is stopped somewhere deep in a
program, you can use the commands C-c C-d C-UP
(idlwave-shell-stack-up) and C-c C-d C-DOWN
(idlwave-shell-stack-down), or the corresponding toolbar buttons,
to move up or down through the calling stack. The mode line of the
shell window will indicate the position within the stack with a label
like ‘[-3:MYPRO]’. The line of IDL code at that stack position
will be highlighted. If you continue execution, IDLWAVE will
automatically return to the current level. See Examining Variables,
for information how to examine the value of variables and expressions on
higher calling stack levels.
Even with a convenient debug key prefix enabled, repetitive stepping, variable examination (see Examining Variables), and other debugging activities can be awkward and slow using commands which require multiple keystrokes. Luckily, there’s a better way, inspired by the lisp e-debug mode, and available through the Electric Debug Mode. By default, as soon as a breakpoint is hit, this minor mode is enabled. The buffer showing the line where execution has halted is switched to Electric Debug Mode. This mode is visible as ‘*Debugging*’ in the mode line, and a different face (violet by default, if color is available) for the line stopped at point. The buffer is made read-only and single-character bindings for the most commonly used debugging commands are enabled. These character commands (a list of which is available with C-?) are:
| a | Clear all breakpoints (idlwave-shell-clear-all-bp) |
| b | Set breakpoint, C-u b for a conditional break, C-n b for nth hit (idlwave-shell-break-here) |
| d | Clear current breakpoint (idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp) |
| e | Prompt for expression to print (idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp). |
| h | Continue to the line at cursor position (idlwave-shell-to-here) |
| i | Set breakpoint in module named here (idlwave-shell-break-in) |
| [ | Go to the previous breakpoint in the file (idlwave-shell-goto-previous-bp) |
| ] | Go to the next breakpoint in the file
(idlwave-shell-goto-next-bp) |
| \ | Disable/Enable current breakpoint (idlwave-shell-toggle-enable-current-bp) |
| j | Set breakpoint at beginning of enclosing routine (idlwave-shell-break-this-module) |
| k | Skip one statement (idlwave-shell-skip) |
| m | Continue to end of function (idlwave-shell-return) |
| n | Step, over function calls (idlwave-shell-stepover) |
| o | Continue past end of function (idlwave-shell-out) |
| p | Print expression near point or in region with C-u p (idlwave-shell-print) |
| q | End the debugging session and return to the Shell’s main level
(idlwave-shell-retall) |
| r | Continue execution to next breakpoint, if any (idlwave-shell-cont) |
| s or SPACE | Step, into function calls (idlwave-shell-step) |
| t | Print a calling-level traceback in the shell |
| u | Continue to end of block (idlwave-shell-up) |
| v | Turn Electric Debug Mode off
(idlwave-shell-electric-debug-mode) |
| x | Examine expression near point (or in region with C-u x) with shortcut of examine type. |
| z | Reset IDL (idlwave-shell-reset) |
| + or = | Show higher level in calling stack (idlwave-shell-stack-up) |
| - or _ | Show lower level in calling stack (idlwave-shell-stack-down) |
| ? | Help on expression near point or in region with C-u ?
(idlwave-shell-help-expression) |
| C-? | Show help on the commands available. |
Most single-character electric debug bindings use the final keystroke of the equivalent multiple key commands (which are of course also still available), but some differ (e.g., e,t,q,x). Some have additional convenience bindings (like SPACE for stepping). All prefix and other argument options described in this section for the commands invoked by electric debug bindings are still valid. For example, C-u b sets a conditional breakpoint, just as it did with C-u C-c C-d C-b.
You can toggle the electric debug mode at any time in a buffer using C-c C-d C-v (v to turn it off while in the mode), or from the Debug menu. Normally the mode will be enabled and disabled at the appropriate times, but occasionally you might want to edit a file while still debugging it, or switch to the mode for conveniently setting lots of breakpoints.
To quickly abandon a debugging session and return to normal editing at
the Shell’s main level, use q (idlwave-shell-retall).
This disables electric debug mode in all IDLWAVE buffers4. Help is
available for the command shortcuts with C-?. If you find this
mode gets in your way, you can keep it from automatically activating
by setting the variable idlwave-shell-automatic-electric-debug
to nil, or 'breakpoint. If you’d like the convenient
electric debug shortcuts available also when run-time errors are
encountered, set to t.
'breakpoint) ¶Whether to enter electric debug mode automatically when a breakpoint
or run-time error is encountered, and then disable it in all buffers
when the $MAIN$ level is reached (either through normal program
execution, or retall). In addition to nil for never, and
t for both breakpoints and errors, this can be
'breakpoint (the default) to enable it only at breakpoint
halts.
Default color of the stopped line overlay when in electric debug mode.
The face to use for the stopped line. Defaults to a face similar to the
modeline, with color idlwave-shell-electric-stop-color.
t) ¶If set, when entering electric debug mode, select the window displaying the file where point is stopped. This takes point away from the shell window, but is useful for immediate stepping, etc.
Do you find yourself repeatedly typing, e.g., print,n_elements(x),
and similar statements to remind yourself of the
type/size/structure/value/etc. of variables and expressions in your code
or at the command line? IDLWAVE has a suite of special commands to
automate these types of variable or expression examinations. They work
by sending statements to the shell formatted to include the indicated
expression, and can be accessed in several ways.
These examine commands can be used in the shell or buffer at any time (as long as the shell is running), and are very useful when execution is stopped in a buffer due to a triggered breakpoint or error, or while composing a long command in the IDLWAVE shell. In the latter case, the command is sent to the shell and its output is visible, but point remains unmoved in the command being composed: you can inspect the constituents of a command you’re building without interrupting the process of building it! You can even print arbitrary expressions from older input or output further up in the shell window; any expression, variable, number, or function you see can be examined.
If the variable idlwave-shell-separate-examine-output is
non-nil (the default), all examine output will be sent to a
special *Examine* buffer, rather than the shell. The output of
prior examine commands is saved in this buffer. In this buffer c
clears the contents, and q hides the buffer.
The two most basic examine commands are bound to C-c C-d C-p, to
print the expression at point, and C-c C-d ?, to invoke help on
this expression5. The expression at point is
either an array expression or a function call, or the contents of a pair
of parentheses. The chosen expression is highlighted, and
simultaneously the resulting output is highlighted in the shell or
separate output buffer. Calling the above commands with a prefix
argument will use the current region as expression instead of using the
one at point. which can be useful for examining complicated, multi-line
expressions. Two prefix arguments (C-u C-u C-c C-d C-p) will
prompt for an expression to print directly. By default, when invoking
print, only an initial portion of long arrays will be printed, up to
idlwave-shell-max-print-length.
For added speed and convenience, there are mouse bindings which allow you to click on expressions and examine their values. Use S-mouse-2 to print an expression and C-M-mouse-2 to invoke help (i.e., you need to hold down META and CONTROL while clicking with the middle mouse button). If you simply click, the nearest expression will be selected in the same manner as described above. You can also drag the mouse in order to highlight exactly the specific expression or sub-expression you want to examine. For custom expression examination, and the powerful customizable pop-up examine selection, See Custom Expression Examination.
The same variable inspection commands work both in the IDL Shell and IDLWAVE buffers, and even for variables at higher levels of the calling stack. For instance, if you’re stopped at a breakpoint in a routine, you can examine the values of variables and expressions inside its calling routine, and so on, all the way up through the calling stack. Simply step up the stack, and print variables as you see them (see Walking the Calling Stack, for information on stepping back through the calling stack). The following restrictions apply for all levels except the current:
ROUTINE_NAMES,
which may or may not be available in future versions of IDL. Caveat
Examinor.
The face for idlwave-shell-expression-overlay.
Allows you to choose the font, color and other properties for
the expression printed by IDL.
The face for idlwave-shell-output-overlay.
Allows to choose the font, color and other properties for the most
recent output of IDL when examining an expression."
t) ¶If non-nil, re-direct the output of examine commands to a special
*Examine* buffer, instead of in the shell itself.
The maximum number of leading array entries to print, when examining array expressions.
The variety of possible variable and expression examination commands is
endless (just look, for instance, at the keyword list to
widget_info()). Rather than attempt to include them all, IDLWAVE
provides two easy methods to customize your own commands, with a special
mouse examine command, and two macros for generating your own examine
key and mouse bindings.
The most powerful and flexible mouse examine command of all is
available on C-S-mouse-2. Just as for all the other mouse
examine commands, it permits click or drag expression selection, but
instead of sending hard-coded commands to the shell, it pops-up a
customizable selection list of examine functions to choose among,
configured with the idlwave-shell-examine-alist
variable6. This variable is a list of key-value pairs (an
alist in Emacs parlance), where the key gives a name to be
shown for the examine command, and the value is the command strings
itself, in which the text ___ (three underscores) will be
replaced by the selected expression before being sent to the shell.
An example might be key Structure Help with value
help,___,/STRUCTURE. In that case, you’d be prompted with
Structure Help, which might send something like
help,var,/STRUCTURE to the shell for output.
idlwave-shell-examine-alist comes configured by default with a
large list of examine commands, but you can easily customize it to add
your own.
In addition to configuring the functions available to the pop-up mouse
command, you can easily create your own customized bindings to inspect
expressions using the two convenience macros
idlwave-shell-examine and idlwave-shell-mouse-examine.
These create keyboard or mouse-based custom inspections of variables,
sharing all the same properties of the built-in examine commands.
Both functions take a single string argument sharing the syntax of the
idlwave-shell-examine-alist values, e.g.:
(add-hook 'idlwave-shell-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [s-down-mouse-2]
(idlwave-shell-mouse-examine
"print, size(___,/DIMENSIONS)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f9] (idlwave-shell-examine
"print, size(___,/DIMENSIONS)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f10] (idlwave-shell-examine
"print,size(___,/TNAME)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f11] (idlwave-shell-examine
"help,___,/STRUCTURE"))))
Now pressing f9, or middle-mouse dragging with the SUPER key depressed, will print the dimensions of the nearby or highlighted expression. Pressing f10 will give the type string, and f11 will show the contents of a nearby structure. As you can see, the possibilities are only marginally finite.
An alist of examine commands in which the keys name the command and
are displayed in the selection pop-up, and the values are custom IDL
examine command strings to send, after all instances of ___
(three underscores) are replaced by the indicated expression.
The main contributors to the IDLWAVE package have been:
The following people have also contributed to the development of IDLWAVE with patches, ideas, bug reports and suggestions.
Doug Dirks was instrumental in providing the crucial IDL XML catalog to support HTML help with IDL v6.2 and later, and Ali Bahrami provided scripts and documentation to interface with the IDL Assistant.
Thanks to everyone!
In Routine Info and Completion we showed how IDLWAVE displays the calling sequence and keywords of routines, and completes routine names and keywords. For these features to work, IDLWAVE must know about the accessible routines.
Routines which can be used in an IDL program can be defined in several places:
CALL_EXTERNAL, linked into IDL via LINKIMAGE,
or included as dynamically loaded modules (DLMs). Currently IDLWAVE
cannot provide routine info and completion for such external routines,
except by querying the Shell for calling information (DLMs only).
To maintain the most comprehensive information about all IDL routines on a system, IDLWAVE collects data from many sources:
idlwave-update-routine-info) can be used
at any time to rescan all buffers.
idlwave-update-routine-info) can be used to explicitly update
the shell routine data.
Loading all the routine and catalog information can be a time consuming
process, especially over slow networks. Depending on the system and
network configuration it could take up to 30 seconds (though locally on
fast systems is usually only a few seconds). In order to minimize the
wait time upon your first completion or routine info command in a
session, IDLWAVE uses Emacs idle time to do the initialization in six
steps, yielding to user input in between. If this gets into your way,
set the variable idlwave-init-rinfo-when-idle-after to 0 (zero).
The more routines documented in library and user catalogs, the slower
the loading will be, so reducing this number can help alleviate any long
load times.
10) ¶Seconds of idle time before routine info is automatically initialized.
t) ¶Non-nil means scan all buffers for IDL programs when updating
info.
t) ¶Non-nil means query the shell for info about compiled routines.
Controls under what circumstances routine info is updated automatically.
Catalogs are files containing scanned information on individual routines, including arguments and keywords, calling sequence, file path, class and procedure vs. function type, etc. They represent a way of extending the internal built-in information available for IDL system routines (see Routine Info) to other source collections.
Starting with version 5.0, there are two types of catalogs available with IDLWAVE. The traditional user catalog and the newer library catalogs. Although they can be used interchangeably, the library catalogs are more flexible, and preferred. There are few occasions when a user catalog might be preferred—read below. Both types of catalogs can coexist without causing problems.
To facilitate the catalog systems, IDLWAVE stores information it gathers
from the shell about the IDL search paths, and can write this
information out automatically, or on-demand (menu Debug->Save Path
Info). On systems with no shell from which to discover the path
information (e.g., Windows), a library path must be specified in
idlwave-library-path to allow library catalogs to be located, and
to setup directories for user catalog scan (see User Catalog for
more on this variable). Note that, before the shell is running, IDLWAVE
can only know about the IDL search path by consulting the file pointed
to by idlwave-path-file (~/.emacs.d/idlwave/idlpath.el, by
default). If idlwave-auto-write-path is enabled (which is the
default), the paths are written out whenever the IDLWAVE shell is
started.
t) ¶Write out information on the !PATH and !DIR paths from IDL automatically when they change and when the Shell is closed. These paths are needed to locate library catalogs.
IDL library path for Windows and macOS. Under Unix/macOS, will be obtained from the Shell when run.
The IDL system directory for Windows and macOS. Also needed for locating HTML help and the IDL Assistant for IDL v6.2 and later. Under Unix/macOS, will be obtained from the Shell and recorded, if run.
Default path where IDLWAVE saves configuration information, a user catalog (if any), and a cached scan of the XML catalog (IDL v6.2 and later).
Library catalogs consist of files named .idlwave_catalog stored
in directories containing .pro routine files. They are
discovered on the IDL search path and loaded automatically when routine
information is read. Each catalog file documents the routines found in
that directory—one catalog per directory. Every catalog has a
library name associated with it (e.g., AstroLib). This name will
be shown briefly when the catalog is found, and in the routine info of
routines it documents.
Many popular libraries of routines are shipped with IDLWAVE catalog files by default, and so will be automatically discovered. Library catalogs are scanned externally to Emacs using a tool provided with IDLWAVE. Each catalog can be re-scanned independently of any other. Catalogs can easily be made available system-wide with a common source repository, providing uniform routine information, and lifting the burden of scanning from the user (who may not even know they’re using a scanned catalog). Since all catalogs are independent, they can be re-scanned automatically to gather updates, e.g., in a cron job. Scanning is much faster than with the built-in user catalog method. One minor disadvantage: the entire IDL search path is scanned for catalog files every time IDLWAVE starts up, which might be slow if accessing IDL routines over a slow network.
A Perl tool to create library catalogs is distributed with IDLWAVE:
idlwave_catalog. It can be called quite simply:
idlwave_catalog MyLib
This will scan all directories recursively beneath the current and populate them with .idlwave_catalog files, tagging the routines found there with the name library “MyLib”. The full usage information:
Usage: idlwave_catalog [-l] [-v] [-d] [-s] [-f] [-h] libname
libname - Unique name of the catalog (4 or more alphanumeric
characters).
-l - Scan local directory only, otherwise recursively
catalog all directories at or beneath this one.
-v - Print verbose information.
-d - Instead of scanning, delete all .idlwave_catalog files
here or below.
-s - Be silent.
-f - Force overwriting any catalogs found with a different
library name.
-h - Print this usage.
To re-load the library catalogs on the IDL path, force a system routine
info update using a single prefix to idlwave-update-routine-info:
C-u C-c C-i.
t) ¶Whether to search for and load library catalogs. Disable if load performance is a problem and/or the catalogs are not needed.
The user catalog is the old routine catalog system. It is produced within Emacs, and stored in a single file in the user’s home directory (.emacs.d/idlwave/idlusercat.el by default). Although library catalogs are more flexible, there may be reasons to prefer a user catalog instead, including:
However, no routine info is available in the user catalog by default; the user must actively complete a scan. In addition, this type of catalog is all or nothing: if a single routine changes, the entire catalog must be rescanned to update it. Creating the user catalog is also much slower than scanning library catalogs.
You can scan any of the directories on the currently known path. Under
Windows, you need to specify the IDL search path in
the variable idlwave-library-path, and the location of the IDL
directory (the value of the !DIR system variable) in the variable
idlwave-system-directory, like this7:
(setq idlwave-library-path
'("+c:/RSI/IDL56/lib/" "+c:/user/me/idllibs"))
(setq idlwave-system-directory "c:/RSI/IDL56/")
Under GNU/Linux and UNIX, these values will be automatically gathered from the IDLWAVE shell, if run.
The command M-x idlwave-create-user-catalog-file (or the menu item ‘IDLWAVE->Routine Info->Select Catalog Directories’) can then be used to create a user catalog. It brings up a widget in which you can select some or all directories on the search path. Directories which already contain a library catalog are marked with ‘[LIB]’, and need not be scanned (although there is no harm if you do so, other than the additional memory used for the duplication).
After selecting directories, click on the ‘[Scan & Save]’
button in the widget to scan all files in the selected directories and
write out the resulting routine information. In order to update the
library information using the directory selection, call the command
idlwave-update-routine-info with a double prefix argument:
C-u C-u C-c C-i. This will rescan files in the previously
selected directories, write an updated version of the user catalog file
and rebuild IDLWAVE’s internal lists. If you give three prefix
arguments C-u C-u C-u C-c C-i, updating will be done with a
background job8. You can continue
to work, and the library catalog will be re-read when it is ready. If
you find you need to update the user catalog often, you should consider
building a library catalog for your routines instead (see Library Catalogs).
Alist of regular expressions matching special library directories for labeling in routine-info display.
IDLWAVE can compile a list of routines which are (re-)defined in more than one file. Since one definition will hide (shadow) the others depending on which file is compiled first, such multiple definitions are called "load-path shadows". IDLWAVE has several routines to scan for load path shadows. The output is placed into the special buffer *Shadows*. The format of the output is identical to the source section of the routine info buffer (see Routine Info). The different definitions of a routine are ordered by likelihood of use. So the first entry will be most likely the one you’ll get if an unsuspecting command uses that routine. Before listing shadows, you should make sure that routine info is up-to-date by pressing C-c C-i. Here are the different routines (also available in the Menu ‘IDLWAVE->Routine Info’):
This command checks the names of all routines defined in the current buffer for shadowing conflicts with other routines accessible to IDLWAVE. The command also has a key binding: C-c C-b
Checks all routines compiled under the shell for shadowing. This is
very useful when you have written a complete application. Just compile
the application, use RESOLVE_ALL to compile any routines used by
your code, update the routine info inside IDLWAVE with C-c C-i and
then check for shadowing.
This command checks all routines accessible to IDLWAVE for conflicts.
For these commands to work fully you need to scan the entire load path in either a user or library catalog. Also, IDLWAVE should be able to distinguish between the system library files (normally installed in /usr/local/rsi/idl/lib) and any site specific or user specific files. Therefore, such local files should not be installed inside the lib directory of the IDL directory. This is also advisable for many other reasons.
Users of Windows also must set the variable
idlwave-system-directory to the value of the !DIR system
variable in IDL. IDLWAVE appends lib to the value of this
variable and assumes that all files found on that path are system
routines.
Another way to find out if a specific routine has multiple definitions on the load path is routine info display (see Routine Info).
Starting with version 6.2, IDL is distributed directly with HTML online help, and an XML-based catalog of routine information. This makes scanning the manuals with the tool get_html_rinfo, and the idlw-rinfo.el file it produced, as described here, entirely unnecessary. The information is left here for users wishing to produce a catalog of older IDL versions’ help.
IDLWAVE derives its knowledge about system routines from the IDL manuals. The file idlw-rinfo.el contains the routine information for the IDL system routines, and links to relevant sections of the HTML documentation. The Online Help feature of IDLWAVE requires HTML versions of the IDL manuals to be available; the HTML documentation is not distributed with IDLWAVE by default, but must be downloaded separately.
The HTML files and related images can be produced from the idl.chm HTMLHelp file distributed with IDL using the free Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. If you are lucky, the maintainer of IDLWAVE will always have access to the newest version of IDL and provide updates. The IDLWAVE distribution also contains the Perl program get_html_rinfo which constructs the idlw-rinfo.el file by scanning the HTML documents produced from the IDL documentation. Instructions on how to use get_html_rinfo are in the program itself.
There are a wide variety of possible browsers to use for displaying
the online HTML help available with IDLWAVE (starting with version
5.0). Since IDL v6.2, a single cross-platform HTML help browser, the
IDL Assistant is distributed with IDL. If this help browser is
available, it is the preferred choice, and the default. The variable
idlwave-help-use-assistant, enabled by default, controls
whether this help browser is used. If you use the IDL Assistant, the
tips here are not relevant.
Since IDLWAVE runs on many different system types, a single browser
configuration is not possible, but choices abound. The default
idlwave-help-browser-function inherits the browser configured
in browse-url-browser-function.
Note that the HTML files recompiled from the help sources contain specific references to the ‘Symbol’ font, which by default is not permitted in normal encodings (it’s invalid, technically). Though it only impacts a few symbols, you can trick Mozilla-based browsers into recognizing ‘Symbol’ by following the directions here. With this fix in place, HTML help pages look almost identical to their PDF equivalents (yet can be bookmarked, browsed as history, searched, etc.).
Question: You have all these complicated configuration options in your package, but which ones do you as the maintainer actually set in your own configuration?
Answer: Not many, beyond custom key bindings. I set most defaults the way that seems best. However, the default settings do not turn on features which:
To see what I mean, here is the entire configuration the old maintainer had in his .emacs:
(setq idlwave-shell-debug-modifiers '(control shift)
idlwave-store-inquired-class t
idlwave-shell-automatic-start t
idlwave-main-block-indent 2
idlwave-init-rinfo-when-idle-after 2
idlwave-help-dir "~/lib/emacs/idlwave"
idlwave-special-lib-alist '(("/idl-astro/" . "AstroLib")
("/jhuapl/" . "JHUAPL-Lib")
("/dominik/lib/idl/" . "MyLib")))
However, if you are an Emacs power-user and want IDLWAVE to work completely differently, you can change almost every aspect of it. Here is an example of a much more extensive configuration of IDLWAVE. The user is King!
;;; Settings for IDLWAVE mode
(setq idlwave-block-indent 3) ; Indentation settings
(setq idlwave-main-block-indent 3)
(setq idlwave-end-offset -3)
(setq idlwave-continuation-indent 1)
(setq idlwave-begin-line-comment "^;[^;]") ; Leave ";" but not ";;"
; anchored at start of line.
(setq idlwave-surround-by-blank t) ; Turn on padding ops =,<,>
(setq idlwave-pad-keyword nil) ; Remove spaces for keyword '='
(setq idlwave-expand-generic-end t) ; convert END to ENDIF etc...
(setq idlwave-reserved-word-upcase t) ; Make reserved words upper case
; (with abbrevs only)
(setq idlwave-abbrev-change-case nil) ; Don't force case of expansions
(setq idlwave-hang-indent-regexp ": ") ; Change from "- " for auto-fill
(setq idlwave-show-block nil) ; Turn off blinking to begin
(setq idlwave-abbrev-move t) ; Allow abbrevs to move point
(setq idlwave-query-class '((method-default . nil) ; No query for method
(keyword-default . nil); or keyword completion
("INIT" . t) ; except for these
("CLEANUP" . t)
("SETPROPERTY" .t)
("GETPROPERTY" .t)))
;; Using w3m for help (must install w3m and emacs-w3m)
(autoload 'w3m-browse-url "w3m" "Interface for w3m on Emacs." t)
(setq idlwave-help-browser-function 'w3m-browse-url
w3m-use-tab nil ; no tabs, location line, or toolbar
w3m-use-header-line nil
w3m-use-toolbar nil)
;; Close my help window or frame when w3m closes with 'q'.
(defadvice w3m-close-window (after idlwave-close activate)
(if (boundp 'idlwave-help-frame)
(idlwave-help-quit)))
;; Some setting can only be done from a mode hook. Here is an example:
(add-hook 'idlwave-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(setq case-fold-search nil) ; Make searches case sensitive
;; Run other functions here
(font-lock-mode 1) ; Turn on font-lock mode
(idlwave-auto-fill-mode 0) ; Turn off auto filling
(setq idlwave-help-browser-function 'browse-url-w3)
;; Pad with 1 space (if -n is used then make the
;; padding a minimum of n spaces.) The defaults use -1
;; instead of 1.
(idlwave-action-and-binding "=" '(idlwave-expand-equal 1 1))
(idlwave-action-and-binding "<" '(idlwave-surround 1 1))
(idlwave-action-and-binding ">" '(idlwave-surround 1 1 '(?-)))
(idlwave-action-and-binding "&" '(idlwave-surround 1 1))
;; Only pad after comma and with exactly 1 space
(idlwave-action-and-binding "," '(idlwave-surround nil 1))
(idlwave-action-and-binding "&" '(idlwave-surround 1 1))
;; Pad only after '->', remove any space before the arrow
(idlwave-action-and-binding "->" '(idlwave-surround 0 -1 nil 2))
;; Set some personal bindings
;; (In this case, makes ',' have the normal self-insert behavior.)
(local-set-key "," 'self-insert-command)
(local-set-key [f5] 'idlwave-shell-break-here)
(local-set-key [f6] 'idlwave-shell-clear-current-bp)
;; Create a newline, indenting the original and new line.
;; A similar function that does _not_ reindent the original
;; line is on "\C-j" (The default for emacs programming modes).
(local-set-key "\n" 'idlwave-newline)
;; (local-set-key "\C-j" 'idlwave-newline) ; My preference.
;; Some personal abbreviations
(define-abbrev idlwave-mode-abbrev-table
(concat idlwave-abbrev-start-char "wb") "widget_base()"
(idlwave-keyword-abbrev 1))
(define-abbrev idlwave-mode-abbrev-table
(concat idlwave-abbrev-start-char "on") "obj_new()"
(idlwave-keyword-abbrev 1))
))
;;; Settings for IDLWAVE SHELL mode
(setq idlwave-shell-overlay-arrow "=>") ; default is ">"
(setq idlwave-shell-use-dedicated-frame t) ; Make a dedicated frame
(setq idlwave-shell-prompt-pattern "^WAVE> ") ; default is "^IDL> "
(setq idlwave-shell-explicit-file-name "wave")
(setq idlwave-shell-process-name "wave")
(setq idlwave-shell-use-toolbar nil) ; No toolbar
;; Most shell interaction settings can be done from the shell-mode-hook.
(add-hook 'idlwave-shell-mode-hook
(lambda ()
;; Set up some custom key and mouse examine commands
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [s-down-mouse-2]
(idlwave-shell-mouse-examine
"print, size(___,/DIMENSIONS)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f9] (idlwave-shell-examine
"print, size(___,/DIMENSIONS)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f10] (idlwave-shell-examine
"print,size(___,/TNAME)"))
(idlwave-shell-define-key-both [f11] (idlwave-shell-examine
"help,___,/STRUCTURE"))))
IDLWAVE was developed on a UNIX system. However, thanks to the portability of Emacs, much of IDLWAVE does also work under different operating systems like Windows (with NTEmacs).
The only real problem is that there is no command-line version of IDL for Windows with which IDLWAVE can interact. As a result, the IDLWAVE Shell does not work and you have to rely on IDLDE to run and debug your programs. However, editing IDL source files with Emacs/IDLWAVE works with all bells and whistles, including routine info, completion and fast online help. Only a small amount of additional information must be specified in your .emacs file: the path names which, on a UNIX system, are automatically gathered by talking to the IDL program.
Here is an example of the additional configuration needed for a Windows system. I am assuming that IDLWAVE has been installed in ‘C:\Program Files\IDLWAVE’ and that IDL is installed in ‘C:\RSI\IDL63’.
;; location of the lisp files (only needed if IDLWAVE is not part of
;; your default X/Emacs installation)
(setq load-path (cons "c:/program files/IDLWAVE" load-path))
;; The location of the IDL library directories, both standard, and your own.
;; note that the initial "+" expands the path recursively
(setq idlwave-library-path
'("+c:/RSI/IDL63/lib/" "+c:/path/to/my/idllibs" ))
;; location of the IDL system directory (try "print,!DIR")
(setq idlwave-system-directory "c:/RSI/IDL63/")
Furthermore, Windows sometimes tries to outsmart you; make sure you check the following things:
Windows users who’d like to make use of IDLWAVE’s context-aware HTML help can skip the browser and use the HTMLHelp functionality directly. See Help with HTML Documentation.
Although IDLWAVE usually installs and works without difficulty, a few common problems and their solutions are documented below.
This is a feature, not an error. You’re in Electric
Debug Mode (see Electric Debug Mode). You should see
*Debugging* in the mode-line. The buffer is read-only and all
debugging and examination commands are available as single keystrokes;
C-? lists these shortcuts. Use q to quit the mode, and
customize the variable idlwave-shell-automatic-electric-debug
if you prefer not to enter electric debug on breakpoints… but
you really should try it before you disable it! You can also
customize this variable to enter debug mode when errors are
encountered.
IDLWAVE needs to know where IDL is in order to run it as a process.
By default, it attempts to invoke it simply as ‘idl’, which
presumes such an executable is on your search path. You need to
ensure ‘idl’ is on your ‘$PATH’, or specify the full
pathname to the idl program with the variable
idlwave-shell-explicit-file-name. Note that you may need to
set your shell search path in two places when running Emacs as an Aqua
application with macOS; see the next topic.
If you run Emacs directly as an Aqua application, rather than from the console shell, the environment is set not from your usual shell configuration files (e.g., .cshrc), but from the file ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist. Either include your path settings there, or start Emacs and IDLWAVE from the shell.
Your system is trapping M-TAB and using it for its own nefarious purposes: Emacs never sees the keystrokes. On many Unix systems, you can reconfigure your window manager to use another key sequence for switching among windows. Another option is to use the equivalent sequence ESC-TAB.
IDLWAVE scans for error and halt messages and highlights the stop location in the correct file. However, if you’ve changed the system variable ‘!ERROR_STATE.MSG_PREFIX’, it is unable to parse these message correctly. Don’t do that.
Though IDLWAVE was not written with ENVI in mind, it works just fine
with it, as long as you update the prompt it’s looking for (‘IDL>
’ by default). You can do this with the variable
idlwave-shell-prompt-pattern (see Starting the Shell), e.g.,
in your .emacs:
(setq idlwave-shell-prompt-pattern "^\r? ?\\(ENVI\\|IDL\\)> ")
IDL changed its breakpoint reporting format starting with IDLv5.5. The first version of IDLWAVE to support the new format is IDLWAVE v4.10. If you have an older version and are using IDL >v5.5, you need to upgrade, and/or make sure your recent version of IDLWAVE is being found on the Emacs load-path (see the next entry). You can list the version being used with C-h v idlwave-mode-version RET.
The problem is that your Emacs is not finding the version of IDLWAVE you installed. Emacs might come with an older bundled copy of IDLWAVE which is likely what’s being used instead. You need to make sure your Emacs load-path contains the directory where IDLWAVE is installed (/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp, by default), before Emacs’s default search directories. You can accomplish this by putting the following in your .emacs:
(setq load-path (cons "/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp" load-path))
You can check on your load-path value using C-h v load-path RET, and C-h m in an IDLWAVE buffer should show you the version Emacs is using.
Actually, this isn’t IDLWAVE at all, but ‘idl-mode’, an unrelated programming mode for CORBA’s Interface Definition Language (you should see ‘(IDL)’, not ‘(IDLWAVE)’ in the mode-line). One solution: don’t name your file .idl, but rather .pro. Another solution: make sure .idl files load IDLWAVE instead of ‘idl-mode’ by adding the following to your .emacs:
(setcdr (rassoc 'idl-mode auto-mode-alist) 'idlwave-mode)
IDLWAVE collects routine info from various locations (see Routine Information Sources). Routines in files visited in a buffer or compiled in the shell should be up to date. For other routines, the information is only as current as the most recent scan. If you have a rapidly changing set of routines, and you’d like the latest routine information to be available for it, one powerful technique is to make use of the library catalog tool, ‘idlwave_catalog’. Simply add a line to your ‘cron’ file (‘crontab -e’ will let you edit this on some systems), like this
45 3 * * 1-5 (cd /path/to/myidllib; /path/to/idlwave_catalog MyLib)
where ‘MyLib’ is the name of your library. This will rescan all .pro files at or below /path/to/myidllib every week night at 3:45am. You can even scan site-wide libraries with this method, and the most recent information will be available to all users. Since the scanning is very fast, there is very little impact.
Unfortunately, the HTMLHelp files RSI provides attempt to switch to ‘Symbol’ font to display Greek characters, which is not really an permitted method for doing this in HTML. There is a "workaround" for some browsers: See HTML Help Browser Tips.
This actually happens when running IDL in an XTerm as well. There are
a couple of workarounds: define_key,/control,'^d' (e.g., in
your $IDL_STARTUP file) will disable the ‘EOF’ character
and give you a 512 character limit. You won’t be able to use
C-d to quit the shell, however. Another possibility is
!EDIT_INPUT=0, which gives you an infinite limit (OK, a
memory-bounded limit), but disables the processing of background
widget events (those with /NO_BLOCK passed to XManager).
CONVERT_COORD, I get
CONTOUR.
You have a mismatch between your help index and the HTML help package you downloaded. You need to ensure you download a “downgrade kit” if you are using anything older than the latest HTML help package. A new help package appears with each IDL release (assuming the documentation is updated). Starting with IDL 6.2, the HTML help and its catalog are distributed with IDL, and so should never be inconsistent.
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IDLWAVE can also be used for editing source files for the related WAVE/CL language, but with only limited support.
This list is created by scanning the IDL manuals and might contain (very few) errors. Please report any errors to the maintainer, so that they can be fixed.
This is different from
normal Emacs/Comint behavior, but more like an xterm. If you prefer the
default comint functionality, check the variable
idlwave-shell-arrows-do-history.
Note
that this binding is not symmetric: C-c C-d C-q is bound to
idlwave-shell-quit, which quits your IDL session.
Available as p and ? in Electric Debug Mode (see Electric Debug Mode)
In Electric Debug Mode (see Electric Debug Mode), the key x provides a single-character shortcut interface to the same examine functions for the expression at point or marked by the region.
The initial ‘+’ leads to recursive expansion of the path, just like in IDL
Unix systems only, I think.