Sharing Tools and Actions

You can share the Visualize Perspective tools and actions you create or customize. The Tool Palette provides an export option that allows you to select the items to export to a file. You can then send the file or post it for download for others to use.

Note
If you are creating a sharable plugin with the Plugin Wizard, you can add the .vexp file to your Project, and the actions will be imported automatically when the plugin is installed. See Distributing IDL Workbench Actions inside a Plug-in.

Exporting Tools and Actions

To export tools or actions that you have added, use the following instructions.

  1. To export tools and/or actions, click the pull-down menu button at the top right of the Tool Palette.
    export01..jpg
  2. Select Export from the pull-down menu, as shown above.

    3. The Export Actions dialog appears:.
    export02.jpg

  3. Click the check boxes next to the actions and tools that you want to export.
  4. Under Export File Name, select the file location of the exported file. This file has a .vexp extension, which stands for "visualization export." You may rename the file, but it must retain the.vexp extension to be imported into IDL.
  5. Click OK.

    6. The toolpalette.vexp file is created in the directory you chose in the Export Actions dialog. You can now send the exported file via e-mail or post it on a web site for download.

    Tip
    If your exported actions contain any custom IDL routines, you must also provide those routines to colleagues to place in a location on their machines (in the IDL path).

Importing Tools and Actions

You can use tools and actions created by others by importing them into IDL through the Visualize perspective. The file you import must have a .vexp (Visualization Export) file extension. See Exporting Tools and Actions for more information.

Note
On Windows and OSX, you can simply double-click an action file from an e-mail, a web site, or a directory. IDL automatically imports it into the Workbench.

For UNIX-type operating systems and Windows, you can use the following procedure to import action (.vexp) files.

  1. To import tools and/or actions, click the pull-down menu button at the top right of the Tool Palette.
    import01.gif
  2. Select Import from the pull-down menu, as shown above.

    3. The Import Tools and Actions dialog appears:
    import02.gif

  3. From the Look In pull-down menu at the top, navigate to the location of the .vexp file you want to import.
  4. Select the file name and click OK.

    5. IDL imports the new tools and/or actions contained in the .vexp file. The image below shows a new tool and the actions within it:

import03.gif