= VSO Interfaces Through IDL =

There are two sets of interfaces using RSI's Interactive Data Language.  The first is a low-level VSO object, that can be extended for use in other programs.  The second are commands for the general science public who wish to search for data products using the command line.

Both are available through [http://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/ SolarSoft], in the gen tree.  The code used is pure IDL, and does not have any dependancies on other programming languages, but may be slow for exceptionally large arrays of metadata results.

''Note'' : The VSO tools currently only support the 'URL' [wiki:DataTransferMethod Transfer Methods], and as such will not be able to retrieve data from providers who store their data nearline.

== User Tools ==

There are two functions available within IDL to search for data products:

  * [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/vso_search.pro vso_search] : uses VSO to get a list of records that match given parameters
  * [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/vso_get.pro vso_get] : will attempt to download available data products, given a list of records.

Documentation and examples for the two commands is available through Dominic Zarro's [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/xdoc/ XDOC] interface.

== Programmer Tools ==

For programmers who wish to extend the VSO for use in their own code, there is a more low level interface, that uses [http://orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/idl/objects/objects.html IDL Objects] in the [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/vso__define.pro VSO object].  Documentation is available through [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/xdoc/ XDOC], as well as example usage in [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/vso_search.pro vso_search], [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/vso_get.pro vso_get] or Dominic Zarro's [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/synoptic/classes/eit__define.pro EIT] object.

Users wishing to write other web services in IDL may wish to look at the [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/soap__define.pro SOAP] and [http://achilles.nascom.nasa.gov/~zarro/php/ssw_print.php?file=$SSW/gen/idl/interfaces/vso/xmlparser__define.pro XML Parser] objects.

== Support ==

Questions, comments or suggestions about the VSO interface in IDL should contact [wiki:People/JoeHourcle Joe Hourcle].