Running IDL or ENVI under Macintosh

You can run IDL or ENVI in one of two ways:

You can also enable accelerators that use the Alt key to work with the Macintosh Apple key (also known as the Command key). For details, see the topic "Enabling Alt Key Accelerators on Macintosh" in IDL Help.

Running IDL or ENVI from Applescript

To run IDL or ENVI, click on one of the Applescript applications in the ITT_DIR/idlxx directory. Table 7-1 describes the complete list of applications.

Note
For versions of Macintosh OS that provide both 32- and 64-bit architectures, IDL and ENVI run in 64-bit mode by default. Each applescript (e.g. idl.app) has a 32-bit version (e.g. idl32.app) if you prefer to run in 32-bit mode. If these applescripts do not produce the expected results, you may need to set environment aliases. See Setting Up Your Environment.

Table 7-1: Applescript Applications 

Icon Name
File Name
Description 
envi+idl 

envi+idl.app

Starts command-line ENVI + IDL. 

envi 

envi.app

Starts an ENVI session. 

ENVIZoom 

ENVIZoom.app

Starts ENVI Zoom. 

ENVIHelp 

ENVIHelp.app

Starts ENVI Help. 

ENVIZoomHelp 

ENVIZoomHelp.app

Starts ENVI Zoom Help. 

IDLWorkbench 

IDLWorkbench.app

Starts the IDL workbench. 

idl 

idl.app

Starts command-line IDL. 

idlvm 

idlvm.app

Starts an IDL Virtual Machine session. 

IDLDemos 

IDLDemos.app

Starts the IDL Demo application. 

IDLHelp 

IDLHelp.app

Starts IDL Help. 

LicenseWizard 

LicenseWizard.app

Starts the License Wizard. 

DICOMNetwork-
Services 

DICOMNetworkServices.
app

Starts the DICOM Network Services.

Manually Creating an Alias to an IDL or ENVI Applescript

To manually create a Macintosh alias to an IDL or ENVI Applescript, on your desktop or other convenient location:

  1. Open a Finder window, and navigate to the ITT_DIR/idlxx directory of your IDL or ENVI installation.
  2. Identify the Applescript icon for which you would like to create an alias, for example, IDLWorkbench.
  3. While holding the Option and Command keys on your keyboard, click and drag the target icon to your desktop. Copying or moving the Applescript to another location (rather than creating a Macintosh alias) will cause the Applescript to fail.

Running IDL or ENVI from the Command Line

This section covers how to run IDL or ENVI from the X-Windows prompt on Mac OS X.

  1. Launch X11 from the /Applications/Utilities folder. X11 displays a UNIX X-Windows command line in an OS X window.
  2. Before you can run IDL or ENVI, you must set up each user's environment on the machine that will be running it. See Defining Environment Variables and Aliases.
  3. You can now start IDL or ENVI or any of the following executables by entering one of the following commands at the command line:

All available commands are listed in Table 7-2.

Table 7-2: Startup Commands 

Command
Description 
envi

Starts command-line ENVI+IDL in an Xterminal window. 

envi_rt

Starts an ENVI session. 

envizoom

Starts an ENVI Zoom session. 

envihelp

Starts ENVI Help. 

envizoom_help

Starts ENVI Zoom Help. 

idl

Starts IDL in command-line access mode. 

idlde

Starts IDL Workbench. 

idl -vm

Starts IDL Virtual Machine. 

idl -rt

Starts the runtime version of IDL. 

ittlicense

Starts the License Wizard. 

idldemo

Starts the IDL Demo Applications. You can also type demo at the IDL prompt after you have started IDL. 

idlhelp

Starts IDL Help.

For versions of Mac OS X that provide both 32- and 64-bit architectures, run the commands in Table 7-2 in 32-bit mode by entering a -32 flag after the command (e.g., idl -32). If these commands do not produce the expected results, you need to set environment aliases. See Setting Up Your Environment.

For information on other startup options, see Command Line Options for IDL Startup in Using IDL.

Running the IDL Virtual Machine under Macintosh

You can run the IDL Virtual Machine from Applescript or from the command line.

Running from Applescript

To start the IDL Virtual Machine, double-click on idlvm.app (or idlvm32.app for 32-bit) in the ITT_DIR/idlxx directory.

Running from the Command Line

To run a *.sav file in the IDL Virtual Machine:

  1. Start X11.
  2. Enter idl -vm=<path><filename>.sav at the X11 Terminal prompt, where <path> is the path to the *.sav file, and <filename> is the name of the *.sav file. The IDL Virtual Machine window is displayed.
  3. Click anywhere on the IDL Virtual Machine window to close the window and to run the *.sav file.

To launch the IDL Virtual Machine and select a *.sav file to open:

  1. Start X11.
  2. Enter idl -vm at the X11 Terminal prompt. The IDL Virtual Machine window is displayed.
  3. Click anywhere on the IDL Virtual Machine window to display the file selection menu.
  4. Open a *.sav file from the file selection menu.

Running IDL Runtime Applications under Macintosh

To run a *.sav file in the runtime version of IDL:

  1. Start X11.
  2. Enter idl -rt=<path><filename>.sav at the X11 Terminal prompt, where <path> is the path to the *.sav file, and <filename> is the name of the *.sav file.
  3. The application contained in the *.sav file is run in the runtime version of IDL.

    4. When a *.sav file is run with the idl -rt command on a machine without an IDL license, it will run in the IDL Virtual Machine.