Name

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      CONVERT_TO_TYPE

Purpose

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      Converts its input argument to a specified data type.

Author

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      FANNING SOFTWARE CONSULTING
      David Fanning, Ph.D.
      1645 Sheely Drive
      Fort Collins, CO 80526 USA
      Phone: 970-221-0438
      E-mail: david@idlcoyote.com
      Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com

Category

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      Utilities

Calling Sequence

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      result = Convert_To_Type(input, type)

Input Parameters

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      input: The input data to be converted.
      type: The data type. Accepts values as given by Size(var, /TNAME) or Size(var, /TYPE).
                      If converting to integer types, values are truncated (similar to FLOOR keyword below),
                      unless keywords are set.

Output Parameters

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      result: The input data is converted to specified data type.

Keywords

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    CEILING: If set and converting to an integer type, the CEIL function is applied before conversion.
    FLOOR: If set and converting to an integer type, the FLOOR function is applied before conversion.
    ROUND: If set and converting to an integer type, the ROUND function is applied before conversion.

Restrictions

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    Data types STRUCT, POINTER, and OBJREF are not allowed.

Modification History

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    Written by David W. Fanning, 19 February 2006.
    Typo had "UNIT" instead of "UINT". 23 February 2009. DWF.
    Added CEILING, FLOOR, and ROUND keywords. 1 April 2009. DWF.
    Modified so that the "type" variable is not changed by the program. 5 May 2009. DWF.