20040707: Tcl script to generate GIFs (cont.)

>From: Greg Stossmeister <address@hidden>
>Organization: UCAR/Unidata
>Keywords: 200407072042.i67KgPaW016317 McIDAS Tcl scripting

Hi Greg,

re: example GIF (tm) plot
>This looks exactly like what I need. I think you've got it all there.

Not quite.

>We just need to be able to add the remapping.

Yes, the remapping section is still needed.

>Am I correct in 
>assuming that this script will run in cron and plot the latest image?

Yes, but it is just a bit more complicated that running the script
directly.  The probem is that one needs to create a McIDAS environment
using mcenv and then run in it until done.  'mcenv' will run a program
so what is needed is a "driver" script that sets up the mcidas frame
size through arguments to mcenv and then runs the Tcl script.  I
havn't figured out a good way of doing everyting in a single script.

The good news is that the Tcl script nicely uses values specified
in a configuration file, and it is very easy to add more controls
over the output plot (like annotations) through the configuration file.

>Is 
>there anything that checks whether the gif being created already exists?

No, I wanted to talk to you about where the GIFs (tm) or jpegs should
be written.  Once we have agreed on a formalism, I will add in a check
to see if an output file of the same name as the one that would be
created already exists.  If it does, the script will simply exit and
not go through the work of remapping, displaying, etc.

>Thanks,

So are you going to be in tomorrow?  If yes, we should get together
to discuss the final touches to the script.

Cheers,

Tom
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