What are iTools?

IDL Intelligent Tools, or iTools, are applications written in IDL to perform a variety of data analysis and visualization tasks. iTools share a common underlying application framework, presenting a full-featured, customizable, application-like user interface with menus, toolbars, and other graphical features. Several predefined iTools are provided along with IDL; you can use these tools to explore and visualize your data without writing any new code yourself. For information on using the standard iTools provided with IDL, see the iTool User's Guide.

But iTools are more than just a set of pre-written IDL programs. Behind the iTool system lies the IDL Intelligent Tools Component Framework — a set of object class files and associated utilities designed to allow you to easily extend the supplied toolset or create entirely new tools of your own. This manual will help you understand the iTools Component Framework so that you can customize existing iTools or create entirely new ones.