SeaDAS Command Mode Overview

Most of the IDL functions under SeaDAS can be run in two ways:

via the SeaDAS Graphical User Interface (GUI)
via SeaDAS commands (submitted either interactively or non-interactively)

It is often most efficient to process and manipulate data using commands instead of the SeaDAS GUI. Often the best way to automate data processing is by writing a master Unix shell script that calls a mixture of SeaDAS and native Unix processing programs, SeaDAS and native IDL commands, and perhaps some of the SeaDAS Unix utilities in the following table.

To see if a SeaDAS function is available in command mode, check the command mode listing in the SeaDAS Main Menu under Help->Command Mode. You can also check the Help button in the interactive function that you are using to see if there is a corresponding command mode command available. All of the processing programs listed in the Main Menu under Process are available in command mode. Many, but not all of the functions of the general display program are also available in command mode.

SeaDAS commands and/or IDL statements can be submitted interactively either as individual commands or in ASCII script files. These script files may also be run non-interactively to process data and/or create output images.

Examples of Submitting Commands Interactively:

In general, if you enter a command name on the SeaDAS command line without any arguments or keywords, then the main GUI window for that command will come up. However, if command-line arguments are given, the command will not create a GUI window.

Bring up the bl2map graphics interface:

SeaDAS> bl2map

Execute the bl2map command from the SeaDAS command-line without bringing up a graphics interface:

SeaDAS> bl2map, 'L2_gac1.hdf', 'L1_map.hdf', [2,9], /ISOTROPIC, /MERCATOR

Execute the ASCII file 'display.demo' containing SeaDAS commands and/or IDL commands from the SeaDAS command-line.

SeaDAS> @display.demo

Bring up seadas interactively and execute the commands contained in ASCII file 'display.demo.

% seadas display.demo

Examples of Submitting Commands Non-Interactively:

Execute the commands contained in file 'test.scr' non-interactively.

% seadas -b test.scr

Execute the commands contained in file 'test.scr' non-interactively and send any print statements to the log file 'test.log'.

% seadas -b test.scr >& test.log

See the seadas command syntax for more command-line options.

Creating Command Mode Scripts:

There are currently examples of simple command mode scripts in files $SDSDEMO/*.demo and more complex examples in $SEADAS/examples. All the demos available in Utility->sddemo are written as SeaDAS command mode scripts and the scripts are also available in directory $SDSDEMO/*.demo. The individual commands being executed during the demos also print out for the user to view.

Command Mode scripts can contain any combination of SeaDAS and/or IDL commands. The command mode script is executed as any IDL batch file, and therefore only one line is executed at a time. This means that the batch file can only contain commands as you would enter them at the SeaDAS (or IDL) prompt. To avoid the annoyance of coding FOR or WHILE statements with continuation marks, it is recommended to put your coding in IDL procedures which are called from your IDL batch script.

Curator: OceanColor Webmaster

Authorized by: gene carl feldman