8420
IDL 8.5.1 Release Notes
IDL 8.5.1 Release Notes contains supported platform information, new routines and features, backward compatibility issues, known problems, and problems fixed in this version.
Supported
Platforms
| Platform |
Hardware |
Operating System |
Supported Versions |
| Windows |
Intel/AMD 64-bit |
|
7, 8, 10 |
| Macintosh |
Intel 64-bit |
OS X |
10.9, 10.10 |
| UNIX |
Intel/AMD 64-bit |
Linux |
Kernel 2.6.32, glibc 2.12 |
| SPARC 64-bit |
Solaris |
10 |
| Intel/AMD 64-bit |
An X-Windows manager is required for Macintosh. The software
products were tested using XQuartz 2.7.4.
32-bit installers for Windows are no longer available. However, the 32-bit binaries are still provided with the 64-bit Windows installer so that you can launch IDL in 32-bit mode on 64-bit Windows systems. You can find the 32-bit versions of IDL in the IDL 8.5 program group under Start > Programs > IDL 8.5 > 32-bit.
New Routines and Features
For information on new routines and features, see "What's New"
in the IDL Help.
Backward-Compatibility
Issues
Default Value Changed for Tile Cache Size Preference
The default value for the IDL_GR_TILECACHESIZE preference has been
changed from a default of 512 MB to 0. A value of 0 indicates an
"unlimited" tile cache size: memory usage will continue to grow as more
graphics tiles are cached. You can set this preference in the IDL
Workbench Preferences dialog.
|
Live Tools have been removed
The obsolete Live Tools routines have been removed from the IDL installation.
These routines have been obsolete since IDL 6.2. If you have
code that uses the Live routines, you should migrate your
code to use the new function graphics routines.
|
Code SAVE Files
Created with IDL 8.3 Cannot be Restored in Previous Versions
In IDL 8.3 the
IDL Save file revision level was increased from 11 to 12 because of the
new colon operator (see the "What's New in IDL 8.3" Help topic). Save
files that contain IDL code and that are created with IDL 8.3 and later
versions cannot be
restored in previous versions of IDL. If you want to distribute a code
SAVE file to other users who may only have IDL 8.0, IDL 8.1, or IDL
8.2, you should create your SAVE file using one of these earlier IDL
versions.
Note:
This
change does not affect older Code SAVE files or SAVE files that contain
data.
|
IDL Workspace Migration
IDL does
not automatically
update the IDL workspace between releases. After upgrading to a new IDL
version, you have the following options:
- Create a new workspace to use with
the new IDL
version. You will need to reset any IDL Workbench preferences you may
have set in the old version.
- Continue using the old workspace
without
modification. New views may not be available.
- Use the Window > Show
View > Other
menu option to update the workspace to specify the views you want to
display.
|
IDL Core Preference Migration
IDL does not
automatically
migrate IDL core preferences between releases. After upgrading IDL to a
new version, you should:
Reset any IDL
core
preferences you want to use with
the new IDL version by using the Preferences dialog or the PREF_SET
routine.
|
Additional
Documentation is Provided In Acrobat (PDF) Documents
The online help
contains all the routines and functions in the IDL language.
Documentation that does not
exist in the online help is provided in fully searchable PDF format as
part of the IDL installation, located in <install_dir>\help\pdf.
|
Known Problems
All Platforms
|
IDLffVideoWrite Cannot
Create Animated GIFs
Because of vendor issues in the ffmpeg library, IDLffVideoWrite cannot
create animated GIF files. Use the WRITE_GIF routine instead. |
|
Installation error on
Windows platforms: "Key not valid for use in specified state"
Some customers have reported this error during the installation
process. It is caused by a Microsoft update (KB2918614), which affects
the Windows installer service. Workaorund: uninstall this Microsoft
update. For more information, see the Microsoft
Community website. |
| IDL-42545
|
WIDGET_TREE
Drop Event
Can Cause IDL to Crash if an Error Exists in the DRAG_NOTIFY Callback
Routine
If there is an
error (such as an undefined variable) in the custom DRAG_NOTIFY
callback routine, IDL may freeze or crash since the error halts
execution in the child routine and IDL cannot return to the calling
function.
Workaround:
Handle potential problems in the callback routine by including CATCH
statements in your code. See the documentation topic "Responding to
Drag Notifications (Callbacks)" for more information.
|
| IDL-55393
|
Breakpoints
in Files
Opened via Links, Shortcuts, or Alternate Paths
To improve
performance, IDL always compiles the first version of a file it finds
in its path. If you open a file in the editor and set a breakpoint,
then compile from a version of the same file with a different path, IDL
will not assume that the two files are the same. As a result, IDL will
not stop at the breakpoint set in the second file.
Alternate paths to
the same file can be constructed via UNIX links, Windows shortcuts,
mapped drives, or UNC paths.
Workaround:
Make sure that the full path to the file in which you set the
breakpoint is the same as the full path to the compiled file. If you
use the IDL Workbench, compiling using the Workbench menus or toolbars
will ensure that the same path is used for compilation and debugging.
|
| IDL-49236
|
Deleting
a Project or
a
Directory Within a Project While the Project Is Open Causes Exceptions
when the Workbench Exits
When
a project file or a directory within a project is deleted from outside
the Workbench (for example, from Windows Project Explorer) while the
project is open, a warning message may be issued while the Workbench is
still running. An exception may occur on exiting the Workbench.
|
IDL-51318
IDL-51322
|
Formatter
Preferences
for Keywords and Class Names are
Ignored by the Source→Format
Command
The keyword and class name formatting preferences
set on the IDL Formatter
preference page are not applied when the code is highlighted and the Source > Format
command is selected.
|
| IDL-58532
|
Default
UTF-8 Encoding
is Corrupting .pro Files with Non-English Characters
Non-English
characters are converted to symbols when imported into the IDL
Workbench. Importing a .pro
file containing non-English characters in IDL permanently corrupts the
file with bad characters. Workaround: Before
opening a file or before
saving an open file, change the file encoding to ISO-8859-1 for Spanish
or German, or to Shift-JIS for Japanese.
To change the encoding for an individual file, open the
file in an IDL editor, then select File
> Properties.
In the Resources dialog box, change the 6Text file encoding
preference.
To change the default encoding preference for IDL,
select Window >
Preferences.
In the Preferences dialog box, choose General
> Workspace. Change the Text file
encoding preference.
|
IDL-57214
IDL-58285
IDL-58839
|
IDL
Crashes on
Macintosh
and UNIX When Performing Graphics Operations Where GL Drivers are
Present
Possible
workaround:
Rename the gl_driver.so
file (located in bin\bin.<platform>)
to gl_driver.ba.
|
| IDL-60473 |
Accessing
Preferences
while IDL is Busy May Hang Workbench
Trying to change
Preferences while IDL is busy (for example, when a lengthy command is
being executed) may cause the Workbench to hang.
|
IDL-63902
IDL-52705 |
Using
the IDL_Java Bridge Causes the Workbench to Ignore the Current
Directory in CLASSPATH
Workaround:
Copy the
.class file to any other directory explicitly listed in CLASSPATH.
|
Macintosh
Platforms
| IDL-60599 |
On
Macintosh OS, Only
One Workbench Instance Can Run at a Time
Even if the
preference "Prompt for workspace on startup" is set and multiple
workspaces are available, only one instance will run.
Workaround: Run the Workbench from the init
script located in the idlde.darwin.x86_64.app/Contents/MacOS
directory of your IDL installation. |
| IDL-64149 |
Widget Interface Loses Focus When Selection is Made in a Drop-down List
Workaround:
In X11 Preferences, enable "Click-through
Inactive Windows"
|
IDL-67319
IDL-67320
|
Graphics
Rendering Causes Memory and Device Errors
XQuartz version 2.7.2 causes these error messages when creating IDL
Graphics. When IDL is installed, the Macintosh operating system may
direct
you to install the most recent version of XQuartz.
Workaround: Use the latest version of XQuartz. |
| IDL-68845 |
Launching
the IDL Workbench on Macintosh May Prompt Installation of Java v1.6
If
you launch the IDL Workbench on Macintosh without first having Java
v1.6 installed, the Macintosh OS may prompt you to install it first.
This will happen even though IDL includes Java v1.7. For more
information on this issue, please see: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11919004/eclipse-4-2-mac-os-x-10-8-ml-and-java-6
Workaround: Install
the Macintosh version of Java 1.6 when prompted. The Workbench will
continue to use Java v1.7 as it was installed with IDL. Another
workaround is to add a softlink as sudo from Frameworks 1.6 ->
1.7
as described in the link above. |
Windows Platforms
| IDL-27165
|
Using
DIALOG_PICKFILE
with the MULTIPLE Keyword Limits the Maximum nFiles or Maximum nBytes
for a File Array
When attempting
to open
multiple files using DIALOG_PICKFILE, the operating system has a
maximum buffer of 32767 bytes.
|
| IDL-47445
|
Export
Bridge
Instantiation Object Creation Failure with Embedded License
Attempting to
create an export object with an embedded license fails when no printer
is set up.
Workaround: Install and set up a printer
before running IDL.
|
| IDL-48454
|
WIDGET_TIMER
Can Cause
Applications To Freeze Until An Event Is Sent To The Application
WIDGET_TIMER
events fail after 10 events. This problem happens in the following
cases:
- Timer events are chained together by setting the next
timer within the
handling of the current timer and before the "work" section of the
event handler is performed.
- The next timer goes off during the current timer
event processing (for example, during a lengthy calculation).
Workaround: Chain timer events by setting the
next timer after any computations are completed. For smoother
performance, set the next timer based on how long the computations
execute, which accounts for variances in machine speed. For example, to
fire the timer once every second, set the next timer to 1.0 - (time
to perform computation)
|
| IDL-49641
|
Updating
Edited
Variable
Values is Slow While IDL is Busy or Blocking
If you edit a
variable value using the IDL Workbench Variables view while IDL is busy
(for example, when a lengthy command is being executed, or when a
widget application is blocking), it may appear that the variable is not
being updated. The new variable value is displayed when IDL is no
longer busy. (Related to ID 49604.) |
| IDL-61842 |
IDL
on Windows 7 May
Have Unpredictable Behavior When Using Graphics
The cause may be
graphics cards that are unsupported in Windows 7. Please see a list of
supported graphics cards on the Microsoft.com website. You may want to
upgrade your graphic driver or switch the IDL Graphics preference to
use software rendering.
|
| IDL-66357 |
Installing
into a Directory Named with Multibyte Characters May
Cause the IDL Workbench to Not Launch
If you are
installing IDL into
a directory that contains multibyte characters, path names in
the
idlde.ini file may be truncated.
Workaround for
32-bit systems:
In the <install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86\idlde.ini
file, edit the following lines:
Line 2 should read: <install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86\jre\bin
Line 14 should read:
Dosgi.sharedConfiguration.area=<install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86\configuration
Workaround for
64-bit systems:
In the <install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86_64\idlde.ini
file, edit the following lines:
Line 2 should read: <install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86_64\jre\bin
Line 14 should read:
Dosgi.sharedConfiguration.area=<install_dir>\IDLxx\bin\bin.x86_64\configuration
|
| IDL-66363 |
Executable
for a C++ Project that Uses COM_idl_connect.tlb Needs to be in
\bin directory to Run
If you create a
C++ project that uses COM_idl_connect.tlb,
the .exe must be
installed in <install_dir>\bin\bin.x86
or <install_dir>\bin\bin.x86_64 to
run.
Alternatively, you can add the install
path to the PATH environment variable.
|
UNIX Platforms
IDL-14221
IDL-30564
|
DIALOG_PRINTERSETUP
Causes IDL to Hang When Called from a Modal Widget
This is a known
problem with no known workarounds except to use DIALOG_PRINTERSETUP
with a non-modal widget.
|
| IDL-41964
|
IDL
Does Not Run in
Security Enhanced Linux
Some recent
versions of Linux implement mandatory access control in the Linux
kernel using the Linux Security Modules framework. IDL will not run in
such an environment without a modification to the security context for
the IDL binaries.
Workaround: Either disable SELinux or modify
the default security context for IDL. See Help
Article 3092 for details. |
| IDL-43301
|
Upper
Left Corner of
Tree Widget is Never a Valid Drop Zone
When the ability
to drag and drop tree widget nodes has been enabled, the UNIX tree
widget does not recognize the upper left corner of the widget as a
valid drop zone. This area typically extends over the icons of the
first two nodes (but not the labels). This is a vendor issue. You can
drop items onto the first two nodes by moving the cursor over the
labels instead of the icons. |
| IDL-55427
|
IDL
Dataminer Requires latest
libstdc++
Third-party
libraries used by
the IDL Dataminer module require a library that may not be available by
default on some newer Linux systems.
Attempting to run the IDL Dataminer may cause IDL to issue an error
similar to the following:
% DLM_LOAD: Error loading
sharable executable.
Symbol:
IDL_Load, File =/rsi/qa/unix/idl71/bin/bin.linux.x86_64/idl_dataminer.so
libstdc++.so.5:
cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
You will need to install the appropriate libstdc++
compatible library for your platform.
|
| IDL-55537
|
IDLnetURL
Objects with
ENCODE Property Fails on Linux 32-Bit
Using IDLnetURL
with the ENCODE property set to a value other than 0 fails on 32-bit
Linux systems. |
| IDL-57381
|
Missing
64-bit Library
IDL requires a
64-bit version of libXp. Red Hat-based Linux distributions such as RHEL
and Fedora may not install this library by default. On Red Hat you can
obtain this library using the following command:
yum install libXp.x86_64
|
| IDL-58106
|
DIALOG_PRINTERSETUP
Crashes on Linux 64-bit running in the Workbench
Calling
DIALOG_PRINTERSETUP from the Workbench causes 64-bit IDL to crash.
Workaround: To set up a printer, launch IDL
in command line mode and run DIALOG_PRINTERSETUP. Once you have set up
a printer, the information is cached in your home directory. Then
printed IDL programs will go to the appropriate printer regardless of
whether you are running the Workbench or command line IDL.
|
| IDL-58460
|
IDL
Graphics Cause
Crash in Ubuntu Versions of UNIX
Recent versions
of Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions may not ship with
the libstdc++.so.6
library, which is required by Xerces. You will need to download this
library and install it in the /bin/bin.linux.x86
directory of your IDL installation. (On 64-bit installations, this
directory is /bin/bin.linux.x86_64.)
|
| IDL-59497
|
IDL
Graphics Fail with
Software Rendering on Linux
IDL graphics in
the Workbench
in software rendering mode may fail on Linux machines if the display is
local and Xinerama is not enabled. Workaround:
Configure Xinerama on the system or run from the IDL command line.
|
IDL-68960
IDL-68965 |
Java-IDL
Bridge with Drawable Windows Maknown problems y Not Render Properly
with Software
Rendering
You
may run into problems when using the Java-IDL Bridge with drawable
windows and software rendering. The window may not display anything.
Note that this affects the example code in the IDL documentation (IDLWindowExample.java and IDLgrWindowExample.java).
Workaround:
If nothing appears in the drawable window, change to hardware rendering
by setting your drawable object's RENDERER property to zero
(i.e.,
RENDERER=0). |
IDL-69332
|
Selecting the
Help Preference Can Crash the IDL Workbench on Some Linux Systems
Selecting Window > Preferences > Help on
some Linux systems may cause the IDL workbench to crash.
Workaround: Open the idlde.ini file and find the -vmargs
line. Add the following new line after the -vmargs line:
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.DefaultType=mozilla. |
Problems Fixed in this Version
| IDL-5479 |
Support HDF(version 4.1r2) attributes on VGROUPS
IDL's HDF routines now support VGROUP attributes. See the What's New for details. |
| IDL-68785 |
IMSL_SPValue is crashing Windows
IMSL routines should now work properly on Windows. |
| IDL-69428 |
Routines will not accept more than 255 parameters if keywords are present
Routines should now work properly with more than 255 parameters. |
| IDL-69429 |
IDL does not recognize Python installation when using WinPython
The IDL Python bridge should now work properly with WinPython. |
| IDL-69437, IDL-69438, IDL-69439 |
Python bridge problems on Linux
The IDL Python bridge should now behave better on Linux platforms. |
| IDL-69442 |
Possible bug in binomial.pro for N or V larger than 32767
N and V are no longer converted to integers. |
| IDL-69446 |
Double clicking .pro file in Windows 10 crashes Workbench if not open already
The Workbench should now launch properly. |
| IDL-69458 |
WRITE_CSV keyword TABLE_HEADER produces extra commas
WRITE_CSV with the TABLE_HEADER keyword now produces correct output. |
| IDL-69473 |
Behavior of MIN() and MAX() without /NAN is faulty
Previously, if your array contained NaN values, and you did not set the /NAN keyword, MIN or MAX would sometimes return NaN as the result and other times would return a valid value, depending upon the location of the NaN's in the array. Now, IDL always ignores NaN values and returns the correct minimum or maximum. |
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