FXGREAD Name
      FXGREAD
Author
  
   Craig B. Markwardt, NASA/GSFC Code 662, Greenbelt, MD 20770 
  
   craigm@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov 
  
   UPDATED VERSIONs can be found on my WEB PAGE:  
      
      http://cow.physics.wisc.edu/~craigm/idl/idl.html
Purpose
  
   Perform an unformatted read on a generic resource.
Major Topics
  
   File I/O, Pipes, URLs, FITS Calling Sequence
     FXGREAD, UNIT, BUFFER, TRANSFER_COUNT=TC
Description
 
  
   FXGREAD performs an unformatted read on the unit UNIT.  The UNIT
      must have previously been opened by FXGOPEN. 
  
   Currently only unformatted reads are permitted because the precise
      number of bytes to read must be known ahead of time.
  
   In other respects, this procedure is similar to the READU built-in
      IDL procedure. 
  
   You must use the specialized 'FXG' style functions to read, write
      and seek on file units opened with FXGOPEN:
          FXGOPEN  - open resource 
    
     FXGCLOSE - close resource 
    
     FXGREAD  - read from resource 
    
     FXGWRITE - write to resource 
    
     FXGSEEK  - seek on resource (i.e., perform POINT_LUN) 
    
     FXGFILTERED - determine if resource is a normal file.
Inputs
 
  
   UNIT - the unit number to operate on.  The unit must have been
          
          previously opened by FXGOPEN. 
  
   BUFFER - an array of the desired type and size is passed upon
            
            input to FXGREAD.  Only basic types are permitted.  Upon
            
            output, the array will have been filled with data from
            
            the resource.  The full extent of the transfer can be
            
            determined by examining the TRANSFER_COUNT.
Keyword Parameters
 
  
   TRANSFER_COUNT - upon output, contains the number of elements
                    
                    transferred to BUFFER.
Modification History
      Written, 1999, CM
      Documented, 02 Oct 1999, CM 
  
   Changed copyright notice, 21 Sep 2000, CM