[McIDAS #CEY-749460]: Suggested feature additions for CIRCLE and IMGDISP

Hi Russ,

Sorry for the silence over the weekend.  I was preoccupied with
a number of other things that prevented me from getting back to
you on this...

re: IMGDISP.CORE features are nice

> Well thanks. Actually I had to remember what the heck
> IMGDISP.CORE was used for. I haven't touched it in at least 10 years.

Interesting.  I haven't used the IMGDISP.(CORE|SITE|USER) capabilities
much, but I found that they came in very handy when working on the
new Nexrad Level III and TDWR radar products.  Why?  Because I
found myself repeatedly displaying the Level III composite and
overlaying it with radar IDs (STNPLOT TYPE=N).  This was very
easily done using IMGDISP.USER, so I started playing around with
it for the display of the individual radar products.  In doing so,
I found myself wanting/needing to plot range rings on top of
the displays to make sure that I had the navigation correct.  That
is when I ran into the two things that I talked about in my first
email: the non-centering of the displayed image and the need to
be able to tell CIRCLE where to center its plot.

re:
> Hmmmm.... I see what you mean. Maybe we could use
> IMGDISP.CORE to "signal" IMGDISP to center the image on the value
> specified in the ID= keyword. Maybe we could modify IMGDISP to check
> for this signal and append the ADDE request prior to issuing the
> transaction. What you think?

I started to do exactly this.  I ran into a few gotchas, so I decided
to send you a note to get your input.

re: LINELE=CENTER for CIRCLE

> This one could be done in about 10 minutes. No brainer.

Yup, I knew that it could, but I wanted to see if you
had a different way of thinking about the object at hand.

re: alternately a MODE=N (non-interactive mode)
> 
> Not so sure about this one.

I only mentioned this because I figured that you might have
a different way of doing the same thing in mind.

re:
> Needless to say, I'd vote for the first suggestion, unless
> you have a preference.

Nope, the LINELE=CENTER would work nicely when the display
is centered on the radar.  One can make this happen now by
specifying the ID= and STA= keyword on the IMGDISP command
line, but I figured that the display of radar images is
different from other images: it makes much more sense to
center on the station than to plot using the upper left
had corner in LIN,ELE space.

re:
> Fixing CIRCLE is easy. Its in MCRD, so I can mess with it as
> much as I want. IMGDISP is CORE code so we actually need to get the
> MUG to accept the change.

Well, I am not willing/able to pay the MUG to accept the change for
IMGDISP.  Rather, I would simply roll the fix into the Unidata
distribution and distribute it that way.  I mention the cost because
Dave S. asked me if monies from the Unidata subaward could be used
for MUG testing of the mods I made to support the new Level III
and TDWR products.  I am a bit put off by that notion given that
all of the code mods are being provided free-of-charge and they will
help fulfill a request that SSEC McIDAS users made to the MUG for
support of the new images.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: CEY-749460
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed