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Next: The DISH Command Line Interface Up: DISH: The Single Dish Environment in AIPS++ Previous: Introduction

The DISH Graphical User Interface

**Figure 1:** DISH: Showing the Results Manager and one Operation
$\begin{figure} \epsscale{0.75} \plotone{garwoodrw1.eps} \end{figure}$

Figure 1 shows the major components of the DISH GUI. The Results Manager is the core of DISH. All glish variables which DISH creates in response to user actions are stored in the Results Manager and listed in the Variable window. These variables are all available at the glish command line for the user to interact with. DISH immediately plots the currently selected variable if it can be plotted. A description is associated with each variable. The user can change the description or the name of a variable in the Results Manager. Certain variables can also be browsed.

The Results Manager recognizes three different types of variables. Individual scans are two-dimensional data arrays plus any associated information (including analysis history information). The first dimension of the data array can be anything but is typically a frequency or velocity axis while the second dimension is a Stokes axis. This type of data is called an SDRECORD. These can be displayed as line graphs and the associated information can be browsed. The second type of variable is a collection of SDRECORDS. These can also be browsed, but not displayed. The selection operation in DISH applies a user defined selection criteria to such a collection, producing a new collection. The third type of variable is everything else. The Results Manager does little more than keep track of this data for the user. Users can store any variable in the Results Manager from the glish prompt. Other types of special purpose data types may be added in the future.

The Menu bar at the top of the DISH GUI provides access to the File, Operation, Help and other features of DISH. New data files are created and existing data files are opened through the File menu. The GUI panels for each available operation are enabled and dismissed through the Operations menu. Multiple operation panels may be present at any time although screen size limitations are generally such that only a few will typically be displayed at one time. When enabled, each operation panel appears at the bottom of the DISH window. The operation shown here is for fitting baselines to the currently displayed spectra. The most recent status message is shown in the text immediately below the Results Manager. Messages displayed here are also echoed to the aips++ logger.

Operations within DISH may operate on collections of scans or they may operate on individual scans. All operations place their results in the Results Manager. If the result can be displayed, it is. Operations on individual scans always operate on the most recently displayed scan so that, hopefully, the user is not confused as to what is being operated on.

Each time DISH is exited, its current state is saved to disk. This state includes all of the contents of the Results Manager as well as the parameter values for the operations and user interface preferences. DISH is restored to this state when it is restarted.

Next: The DISH Command Line Interface Up: DISH: The Single Dish Environment in AIPS++ Previous: Introduction