Question:

I am having a great deal of difficulty with the TEK_COLOR procedure It loads automatically in my previous version and is usable in coding. However, In the 8.7.1 version it loads only a gradient black to white scale. Using palette and clicking on the boxes appropriate for each of the 32 colors, it gives the appropriate numbers, but not the colors. Seems to work in the plot function but not the plot procedure. How do you set it up to run tek_color on initiation of IDL?

Solution:

To run the TEK_COLOR procedure in IDL automatically at launch, you will need to create a startup script (.PRO code). Here is a link to more information on start-up scripts: https://www.harrisgeospatial.com/docs/StartupFiles.html

In order to use the tek_color colortable with IDL graphics PROCEDURES (i.e. Direct Graphics), you will need to turn off decomposed color. The following five lines of code demonstrates how to use TEK_COLOR with graphics procedures.

;============================
DEVICE, DECOMPOSED = 0
tek_color
a = findgen(100)*!pi/180.
b = sin(a)
plot,a,b,color=4,background=8
;============================

You will want to include the first two lines in your startup script to configure the TEK_COLOR colortable automatically when you launch IDL.