You can use the ENVI API to create workflows, which are comprised of multiple steps—presented as user interface (UI) dialogs—that guide users through a sequence of data-processing operations. Rather than execute a single batch process with set parameter values (as with metatasks and models created with the ENVI Modeler), workflows allow you to choose the best parameter values along the way.

For example, you could create a workflow that consists of the following steps:

  1. Georeference an image to a standard map projection
  2. Correct image pixels to surface reflectance
  3. Create a spectral index image
  4. Apply an interactive threshold to the highest values of the spectral index image
  5. Convert the threshold to a classification image
  6. Smooth the classification image

With workflows, you can interact with the ENVI application as you progress through each step. Workflow steps are based on ENVITasks, where each task performs an atomic piece of functionality. At each step, you are presented with a timeline of where you are in the context of all of the steps. You can move back and forth between steps as needed.

This topic describes how to create effective workflows using the ENVI API. It provides simple and complex code examples that demonstrate how to customize workflows and how to apply powerful features to your workflows. See the following topics: