INTERNAL: How to use personalized ENVI configuration files and save_add directories on Windows

Anonym Tuesday, May 22, 2001

Topic:
ENVI allows the user to customize several files which control different aspects of ENVI functionality, including "envi.cfg" (the system configuration file), "envi.men" (the file which controls the layout of the main menu), "display.men" (the file which controls the layout of the display menu), "map_proj.txt" (a file containing parameters for map projections), "colors.txt" (a file defining the ENVI graphics colors in RGB terms), etc.. It may be inappropriate to customize the installed versions of these files, because on many computers multiple users work with the same installation of ENVI. This webpage delineates 2 different ways for separate ENVI users on Windows to have their own customizable software configuration files:

I. Defining an IDL_PATH User variable in the System control panel (Win-NT & Win2000 only)

II. Utilizing a custom logon utility (if you are using a version of ENVI older than 3.4 you cannot use this logon utility)

The first methodology (defining an IDL_PATH User variable for each separate user) is described here in the Topic section of this webpage. The second methodology (a custom ENVI logon utility) is described below in the Discussion section of this webpage.

Background information related to user-specific control of configuration files is also described in the ENVI documentation (Appendix A) and online help system under the topic "Customizing ENVI". It is highly recommended that you take the time to read this documentation.

I. Define IDL_PATH User variables for each separate user

To customize ENVI files for yourself on a Windows-NT or Win2000 computer, without affecting other users who may run the same installation of ENVI, follow these steps:

Copy the ENVI files you are interested in customizing to your personal home folder from the default installation folders (see aforementioned documentation for more information on what files to copy).
Copy the file called "e_locate.pro", which can be found in the ENVI menu directory, into your home directory. The presence of a file with a .pro extension in your home folder will allow IDL to add your home folder to the search path when it starts up, allowing ENVI to find the copy of your own personal "envi.cfg" file.
Next, add an IDL_PATH User variable for yourself that places your personal home folder before the default installation path. For instance, for an installation of ENVI 3.4 in the default C:\Rsi\ location, the appropriate Value of the IDL_PATH Variable for a user called "bielecki" would be something like:

C:\users\bielecki;+C:\Rsi\envi34\idl54\lib;+C:\Rsi\envi34\idl54\examples
Edit your personal "envi.cfg" file to point to the new menu, map projection, colors file, etc. in your home directory. You can edit the "envi.cfg" file in interactive ENVI by choosing [File -> Preferences or System -> Edit Current Configuration] from the main ENVI menu.
You can now edit the ENVI files in your home directory, and the changes will be implemented when you start ENVI.
To establish a personalized "save_add\" folder, create a folder named "save_add" in your home folder.
Edit your personal ENVI configuration file (envi.cfg) to specify the new default "save_add\" directory. Now when you start ENVI it looks in the new IDL_PATH for the envi.cfg file, finds one in the first place it looks (your home directory), and then reads the ENVI configuration file to determine where to find the rest of the setup files and your personal "save_add\" folder.

Discussion:
II. Custom Logon Utility

Note: This logon utility is not part of the official distribution of ENVI and is not supported or maintained by Research Systems, Inc..

Start by downloading the envi_users.zip archive file.
Unpack this ZIP arhive to your ENVI installation folder (e.g. C:\Rsi\envi34\). This will create a new subfolder called "users\". This relative directory structure (i.e. "envi34\users\") has been hardcoded into the various routines employed by this logon utility and is required for it to function properly.
The routines employed also rely on the !DIR environment system variable in order to determine the path to the IDL main subdirectory of the ENVI installation. For example, the path for an installation in the default C:\Rsi\ location will be:
```
  IDL Version 5.4 (Win32 x86). (c) 2000, Research Systems, Inc.
 
  IDL> help,!DIR
      STRING    = 'C:\RSI\ENVI34\IDL54'
```
However, ENVI+IDL users should note the the IDL Main Directory can be altered from the default setting in the IDL Preferences under the Startup tab. If the IDL main directory has been altered, it must be changed back to the default before this logon utility will work:
Within this "users\" folder are 2 new shortcuts to launch ENVI using a login mechanism. You can manually replace your current shortcuts (on the Desktop, in the Start Menu, etc.) with these shortcut files so that ENVI is launched using this logon mechanism. If you did not install ENVI in the default C:\Rsi\ location you will need to edit the Target of these shortcuts:
```
"ENVI 3.4" :
C:\RSI\ENVI34\IDL54\bin\bin.x86\idlde.exe -minimized @"C:\Rsi\envi34\users\bin\custom_envi.run"
 
"ENVI 3.4 RT" :
C:\RSI\ENVI34\IDL54\bin\bin.x86\idlrt.exe "C:\Rsi\envi34\users\bin\custom_envi_rt.sav"
```
to match the correct installation location before using these shortcuts to launch ENVI.
Double-clicking on the appropriate shortcut ("ENVI 3.4" for ENVI+IDL ; "ENVI 3.4 RT" for ENVI Runtime) will launch ENVI 3.4 and bring up a login window :

Currently only 2 users are defined, each with their own personal subfolder containing the customizable installation files:

  USERNAME  PASSWORD
  --------  --------
   user1     pass1
   user2     pass2

To edit the user list double-click on the users\envi_users_edit.sav IDL 5.4 runtime application or consult the users\Readme.txt file for further information. You must manually create a new user's folder and copy the customizable files from the original ENVI installation to each user's subfolder.

Solution:
[Edit this field in the IDL-based Tech Tip Editor, v3]