User manual

Writing Aladin plug-ins
Writing plug-ins requires a reasonable understanding of the Java language. It involved
extending the AladinPlugin object class in order to access the methods required for
manipulation of the stack, and handling of images and catalogues.
The documentation for creating plug-ins is available http://aladin.u-
strasbg.fr/java/FAQ.htx#plugins. There are a lots of tutorial plug-ins examples for
helping you to start.
7.4Interactions IDL / Aladin
IDL (Interactive Data Language) is a language and environment which is often used for
image processing, with a significant astronomer user community. An set of IDL
procedures (.pro files) which allow the use of Aladin with the IDL environment are
available at http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/idl_aladin_interface.tar.gz . These allow the
use and exchange of images, tables, colour tables, etc. between Aladin and IDL.
For more information on the use of Aladin libraries for IDL see - : http://aladin.u-
strasbg.fr/java/FAQ.htx#IDL.
8 Using Aladin
The Aladin software has evolved for more than 10 years. a wealth of practical
information can be found in the FAQ http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/FAQ.htx. This
document is continually updated as new functions are added. There are also numerous
tutorials and practical examples on-line, and is a good resource for students.
(http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/tutorials/aladin.gml).
The following sections present some notes on the various uses of Aladin. For more
information please refer to the FAQ mentioned above.
8.1 User profiles
Aladin provides a large number of options and functions for manipulating images and
catalogues with a relatively complex graphical interface. It is possible to change the
interface to accommodate the needs of users who may have different needs, and to
provide a simpler interface (if desired) for first time users. Two alternate “profiles” are
provided: “undergraduate” and “preview”.
The starting profile is defined via the user preferences (see 5.14).
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