BADPAR

Name

badpar

Purpose (one Line)

Validate an input parameter against valid entries.

Description

This is a general parameter checking function for validating input
quantities in other procedures and functions. This routine will
generate an error message indicating what is wrong with the item.
Example of use:
pro foo,array
if badpar(array,[4,5],2,CALLER='foo') then return
.
. code for foo .
.
end
This would cause an immediate return to the routine that called foo
with an error message if the input was not either floating or double
and 2 dimensional.
As of IDL v3.0, these are the recognized type codes (see 1-218 in
reference guide).
Type
Code Data Type
---- -----------------------------
0 Undefined
1 Byte
2 Integer
3 Longword integer
4 Floating point
5 Double-precision floating
6 Complex floating
7 String
8 Structure
9 Double-precision complex
10 Pointer
11 Object reference
12 Unsigned integer
13 Unsigned Longword integer
14 64-bit integer
15 Unsigned 64-bit integer

Calling Sequence

val = badpar(param,goodtype,goodrank)

Inputs

param - IDL variable to validate.
goodtype - Scalar or vector of type codes that are valid.
goodrank - Scalar or vector of valid ranks.

Optional Input Parameters

Keyword Parameters

CALLER - String identifying the calling routine.
DEFAULT - Value to return in param if undefined and undefined allowed.
DIMEN - Dimensions of variable.
NPTS - Total number of elements in variable.
RANK - Rank of variable.
TYPE - Type of variable.

Outputs

Return value is true if the parameter is bad. False if good.

Common Blocks

Side Effects

Restrictions

Procedure

Modification History

3/24/93 - Written by Marc W. Buie, Lowell Observatory.
4/27/93 - MWB, added TYPE and DEFAULT keywords.
2000/11/1, MWB, added new types for IDL v5.4
2007/08/14, MWB, fixed bug with returning DIMEN on defaulted variable.