2.4 Changes to Version 6.0

1.

A completely newly structured startup procedure which is aimed making installation and customizing PaPCo simple and easy, with a minimum user-editing of files:

(a)

A new startup widget allowing easy selection of standard or user-defined modules.

(b)

Choice between new compilation and restore of compiled procedures and functions, increasing startup-speed.

(c)

New panel-editor functionality ``configure'', allowing easy user-configuration of module data paths and environmental variables.

(d)

The PaPCo distribution has been extended by a further tar file, PAPCO_USER_XX. This file is meant to be unpacked in the user's home directory and PaPCo should be run from the directory PAPCO_USER_XX that is created. All the directory structure expected by PaPCo is contained here to provide a standard sample setup.

2.

Several changes to the PaPCo main widget:

(a)

``Previous'' and ``Next'' buttons: Allowing the user to quickly step forward and backwards in time by the difference between the current start and end times.

(b)

New mouse action ``Mouse Writes Paneldata''. Allows the user to write default (time and y-coordinate) or user-defined information about the cursor position in a panel to a file (see Section 6.5.5). The times written to these files are then compatible to the Event times module (Section 7.1).

(c)

``Save&Done'' button. Exits PaPCo and also saves all currently compiled procedures and functions for a quick startup.

3.

Making it easier to create own modules:

(a)

Overhauled standard module plot_type. This module is now a completely working example module using a dummy data file for 11. January 1997. It implements all the latest PaPCo standards and supports all PaPCo features. This should now always be used as the model for designing own modules.

(b)

A new procedure, make_new_module.pro, is provided. This routine creates a new module directory structure will all the files needed, using the plot_type module template. All occurrences of ``plot_type'' in the directory names, file names and inside all files are replaced by the user defined new module name. In this way all the major editing tasks are performed automatically, while making sure that the PaPCo naming convention is observed.

4.

A new procedure papco_get_remote_data.pro. Makes uses of the UNIX GNU free-ware ``wget'' to automatically fetch data from a remote site given the ftp address, directory and filename. The user can use this in the user-written read routine to automatically obtain data from a remote site if it is not available locally. It is up to the user to implement.

5.

No sample data. With older distributions, some sample CRRES data was supplied for testing purposes. Now PaPCo is distributed with a working sample module (plot_type) and a sample data file for this module for Jan 11, 1997. This file and module can now be used for testing. Some sample products are included in the distribution.

6.

A PaPCo mailing list is now being maintained for updates and news. The list is public, see Section 1.3.3

7.

The ``Choose time by orbit'' feature has been generalized for easy inclusion of new missions (currently supported for CRRES and POLAR).