[GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented

[Glynn Clements]

Peter Brooks wrote:

> Hi... I'm new to GRASS but not to GIS.  Downloaded 6.4, and got to 
> grips with the wxPython GUI, which seems a lot more intuitive than 
> the TclTk GUI.
> 
> I bought the comprehensive (but pricey) 'OPEN SOURCE GIS - A GRASS 
> GIS Approach' and am running through the examples but it seems a lot 
> of commands don't work in the new GUI... even d.erase comes back with 
> "Command 'd.erase' not yet implemented." (although there is a button 
> in the map display window that does just that!)
> 
> I also run a Mac and the same thing happens with the new GUI on that.
> 
> Does anyone know why this is, and when (or in what version) it is 
> likely to be fixed?  It is a little disconcerting to a new user 
> running through the book (yeah, I know it is Windows, and software on 
> that platform is meant to be full of bugs :-)

The way that display (d.*) commands work in the GUI is quite different
to how you would use them with a standalone monitor (which isn't an
option in the native Windows version; the way that monitors are
implemented is quite Unix-specific).

Generally speaking, commands which manage the display (d.mon, d.erase,
d.font) don't work at all in the GUI; equivalent functionality is
implemented directly by the GUI. Commands which generate graphics
(d.rast, d.vect, etc) can be used by adding a new command layer in the
"layer manager" dialog.

You can use most d.* commands from a terminal, but on Windows they
will create a graphic file (PNG, PPM, PostScript, etc), named map.png
by default. See the "pngdriver" and "psdriver" manual pages for
details of various environment variables which affect the output.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>