Routines for reading and writing .nc files in IDL

To read data files in IDL, use the read_dt.pro routine. It will return all the raw data arrays to you, but it will also calculate a single image in the BSIF common variable image_data. If you type IDL> read_dt by itself, you will see the routine's arguments. It returns to you the raw data arrays of integer and floating point pixel and row data, as well as loading the special array image_data that is defined in the common block of bsif_common.pro. Scanned images are handled specially; with them, the pre-scan and post-scan columns are stripped off and the image is resampled onto a regular grid in the fast axis direction. That is, read_dt.pro will return to you the raw data as saved by the scanning routines and the elements of the dt_par structure unmodified; at the same time, it will give you a modified version of image_data, n_cols, x_dist, x_start, and x_stop that is better for display of the image.

The routine also includes optional keywords for psfile='myfile.ps' to save a PostScript file that one can then print out, and options for /display to show the image on the screen and (for scanned images) the option /click to allow you to click on the image and see the position where you clicked.