[activegem-users] ActiveGEM 1.6.1 - Release

[Ron McTaggart-C. <rm...@at...>]

ActiveGEM Users -

Version 1.6.1 of the ActiveGEM package was released on 13 May.  The
plotGEM interface (v2.4.0) included with this release has undergone a
number of important upgrades based on user suggestions.  Along with a
series of general upgrades and bug fixes, specific enhancements have
been made to definition of the Map Background and to Custom Colours. 
This release note contains a brief description of the enhanced
functions; a full list is included in the ChangeLog distributed with the
package.

BASIC CHANGES
=============
- Right-click on main window to raise field window
- Short active device name (selectable) displayed beside 'plot' button
on main window
- Zoom-in and Zoom-out now available on 'Map->Advanced Map and Area
Settings' page - note that Zoom-out resets the grid area to the last
non-zoomed domain rather than to the last in a series of zoom
requests... this should usually produce the desired result
- Scroll buttons added to most (possibly) long entries
- 'Long' button added near 'scalar' and 'vector' function entries on the
field window page.  The 'long' pop-up window allows for greater control
over long mathematical functions.
- 'Shell' notebook page added (to main window) - this page displays the
runtime information generated by GEMPAK
- 'Quit' now always runs gpend

MAP BACKGROUND
==============
The $MAPFIL map background selection variable is now available on the
'Map->Advanced Map and Area Settings' page under the 'Miscellaneous
Options' heading.  This allows users to add additional information (i.e.
roadways, counties, lake and rivers, etc) to the map.  The 'base' map is
the default, and additional maps may be added: 1-using the 'Custom Maps'
pull-down menu; 2-by entering a full pathname for a map file in the
entry region provided on the line; or, 3-by browsing the 'GEMMAPS'
archive.  (Options 1 and 3 will be most useful.)  When a map is added
using the pull-down menu, it is automatically added to the map list to
the right of the entry line.  When using the entry window (options 2 or
3 above), each map must be added manually using the 'Add' button.  To
remove a map from the plot list, select the offending map file and press
the 'Remove' button.

CUSTOM COLOURS
==============
A range of custom colour schemes are now available in plotGEM under the
'Options->Colour Mapping' heading.  This allows users to define the
background colour for plots as well as to define one of a number of
custom colour tables for GEMPAK plotting.  To set the map background
colour, de-select the 'Use Default' checkbutton and use the 'Background
Colour' pull-down menu to choose the desired background.  To load a
custom colour table, choose one of the maps from the 'General Colour
Map' pull-down menu.  This will generate a new colour table for GEMPAK
and will update the colour options throughout the plotGEM interface.  As
much as possible, the default colours propagate sensibly through
multiple colour map changes.  No colour maps change black, white and
vanilla selections, but colours may change for some of the more
extensive remappings (e.g. 'rainbow').  The use of custom colour maps
greatly eases the generation of smoothly-varying colour plots.

The 'Fixed Range' colour fill option on the 'Scalar Field' page of the
main window is designed for use with smoothly-shaded custom colour
tables.  Based on Min/Max values (required) provided by the user and the
colours selected for each (Begin/End on the 'Fixed Range' line), plotGEM
computes the best interval for a smoothly-shaded plot (if the 'Auto Fill
Interval' is active - default).  Note that a wide range of colours may
result in a precision warning from plotGEM - accepting the proposed
solution is almost certainly a good idea.  For more information on the
'Fixed Range' option, please refer to the ActiveGEM manual.

THANKS
======
Thanks to those of you that provided feedback on the initial ActiveGEM
release.  To the greatest extent possible, all of the suggestions
received have been incorporated into the v1.6.1 release.  As always,
please make complete bug reports when you find problems with the new
version of the package, and feel free to pass along any and all
suggestions and comments.... or best of all lend a hand with continuing
development.
ron