[GRASS-windows] d.* commands on windows

Sun Aug 16 00:08:55 EDT 2009

Peter,

thanks a lot for your feedback on running winGRASS following the  
examples
in the grassbook - it has been very helpful.
  We use similar environment for teaching so for the first
assignment I provide instructions both for the GUI and CLI, including  
a little
screen capture movie to help with the GUI instructions:

http://courses.ncsu.edu/mea592a/common/GIS_anal_grass/ 
GIS_Anal_grdataS1.html

As it is obvious it takes much more space, effort and time to  
describe how to do
things in GUI (even with excellent screen capture software) than  
using CLI.
And it is much easier to maintain and update CLI instructions (and  
they are more stable too)
than anything related to GUI which changes a lot (another reason I am  
begging
for d.* commands in GRASS7).

So for the rest of the assignments (and for the book) we use CLI  
assuming that GUI
is so intuitive that people can figure out how to run the examples  
there whether it is
Tcltk GUI or wxpython.

As for using the d.* commands - here is an example of its use with  
the PNG driver
on MSWindows, as Glynn has indicated
http://courses.ncsu.edu/mea592a/common/GIS_anal_grass/ 
WorkflowGRASS_09.sh

as for the *.txt files that cannot be found we use GUI which works  
pretty well, but
getting the problem fixed would be nice.

Markus, should we put some of this on the GRASSbook or GRASS web site
to help others who are learning how to use GRASS on MSWindows ?
I can also put the relevant html file into SVN in case somebody wants  
to improve it,
extend it etc.,

Helena

On Aug 10, 2009, at 12:00 PM, grass-windows-request at lists.osgeo.org  
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Features not yet implemented (Peter Brooks)
>    2. Re: Features not yet implemented (Markus Neteler)
>    3. Re: Features not yet implemented (Peter Brooks)
>    4. Re: Features not yet implemented (Glynn Clements)
>    5. Re: Features not yet implemented (Peter Brooks)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:40:58 +0100
> From: "Peter Brooks" <peter at timedworld.com>
> Subject: [GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented
> To: grass-windows at lists.osgeo.org
> Message-ID: <4A7F183A.10557.8D5769 at peter.timedworld.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> 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 :-)
>
> Many thanks
> Peter
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2009 21:21:29 +0200
> From: Markus Neteler <neteler at osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented
> To: Peter Brooks <peter at timedworld.com>
> Cc: grass-windows at lists.osgeo.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<86782b610908091221w40c86920meb30a2ca985860e5 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi Peter,
>
> just a quick answer:
>
> On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Peter Brooks<peter at timedworld.com>  
> 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.
>
> great to hear that (the main author is AFAIK currently on holidays).
>
>> 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!)
>
> A lot will be the family of d.* commands, right? Indeed, they
> are not available *in* the wxPython GUI but in the terminal
> window (when using a Unix based operating system).
> In the GUI you can use the icons instead.
> One day there will be hopefully the possibility to control the
> wxGUI monitor from d.* commands.
>
>> I also run a Mac and the same thing happens with the new GUI on that.
>
> Yes, but here you can use the terminal window (the so called shell).
> Just enter the commands there and 99.9% should work :)
>
>> 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 book should be ok for Windows, too, with the current exception of
> the d.* commands. Note: the cygwin GRASS version even supports
> that since it comes with a X server but it will be prepared only  
> for the
> final release of 6.4.0.
>
> Again, the hope is to have a wxPython based portable family of d.*
> commands in the future. The more people join the programming,
> the faster we'll arrive there (a prototype is in SVN but not active
> right now).
>
> Hope this clarifies a bit,
> Markus
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:29:54 +0100
> From: "Peter Brooks" <peter at timedworld.com>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented
> To: Markus Neteler <neteler at osgeo.org>
> Cc: grass-windows at lists.osgeo.org
> Message-ID: <4A7F31C2.13422.F112F7 at peter.timedworld.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Many thanks Markus for the speedy reply - that makes a lot of sense.
>
> I hope I didn't found ungrateful... it is a very powerful system, and
> free!  Many thanks to you and all the developers.
>
> Regards
> Peter
>
> On 9 Aug 2009 at 21:21, Markus Neteler wrote:
>
> Hi Peter,
>
> just a quick answer:
>
> On Sun, Aug 9, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Peter Brooks<peter at timedworld.com>
> 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.
>
> great to hear that (the main author is AFAIK currently on holidays).
>
>> 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!)
>
> A lot will be the family of d.* commands, right? Indeed, they
> are not available *in* the wxPython GUI but in the terminal
> window (when using a Unix based operating system).
> In the GUI you can use the icons instead.
> One day there will be hopefully the possibility to control the
> wxGUI monitor from d.* commands.
>
>> I also run a Mac and the same thing happens with the new GUI on
>> that.
>
> Yes, but here you can use the terminal window (the so called shell).
> Just enter the commands there and 99.9% should work :)
>
>> 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 book should be ok for Windows, too, with the current exception of
> the d.* commands. Note: the cygwin GRASS version even supports that
> since it comes with a X server but it will be prepared only for the
> final release of 6.4.0.
>
> Again, the hope is to have a wxPython based portable family of d.*
> commands in the future. The more people join the programming, the
> faster we'll arrive there (a prototype is in SVN but not active right
> now).
>
> Hope this clarifies a bit,
> Markus
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:39:19 +0100
> From: Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented
> To: Peter Brooks <peter at timedworld.com>
> Cc: grass-windows at lists.osgeo.org
> Message-ID: <19071.52903.79073.332458 at cerise.gclements.plus.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> 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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:28:18 +0100
> From: "Peter Brooks" <peter at timedworld.com>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-windows] Features not yet implemented
> To: Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>
> Cc: grass-windows at lists.osgeo.org
> Message-ID: <4A800452.3312.104318E at peter.timedworld.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Many thanks Glynn for that very clear explanation.
>
> Cheers
> Peter
>
> On 10 Aug 2009 at 8:39, Glynn Clements wrote:
>
> 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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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