Get your own copy of the contouring applet

Below is a copy of the ReadMe.txt file that is contained in the self-extracting zip file Contour.exe which you may download from this site. It contains everything you need to set up your own exercises using the Contour applet.

(updated 10.29.99) How to use the Contour Applet for your own teaching. Here's how to get started: 1. create a subdirectory on your Web server that is accessible by the server 2. download the Contour.exe file into this directory 3. 'unzip' the contents of the Contour.exe file into the subdirectory you just created. On Windows, you can simply run "Contour.exe" from the command line (it is a self-extracting file). 4. Start up your favorite (Java-enabled) browser and point it into this directory at the 'MyContour.html' file. For example: http://www.yourserver.school.edu/~yourname/cont/MyContour.html This will run the example. Now you're ready to use it for your own classroom work. If you look at a listing of the directory you 'unzipped' into, you'll find four types of files: 1. '.txt' -- ReadMe.txt is this file. 2. '.class' files -- these are the Java code 3. '.gif' files -- the plot and analysis pictures to be used for this exercize 4. '.html' file -- the HTML that describes the specifics for this exercize. For each exercize, you need to supply 3 files: the two GIF (or JPEG) files and the HTML. On of the GIF files should contain a picture of the plotted values that the student will analyze (Myplot.gif in the example). The other GIF file contains a picture of the solution or analysis (probably overlaid on the plotted values). The analysis file is loaded on-demand, when the student presses the "Show Solution" button. Generally, you should put the HTML and the .class files in the same directory. Normally, the .gif (or .jpg) files will also reside in the directory. If you have lots of exercizes, however, you may want to partition by putting the .gif files in subdirectories off the base directory which contins the HTML. (in which case, you'd refer to them as something like: "mysubdir/Myplot.gif" in the example, below). If you are not familiar with creating HTML Web pages, please see: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html and then come back here. Note if you use a word processor (like WordPerfect or Word) you must save the file that contains the HTML in plain text format. To illustrate how easy this is, here's the HTML that is used to drvie the example supplied: <html> <head> </head> <body> <p> Put some instructions right here -- tell folks what the field is, what their options are ... for example: <p> Across the top there are a series of buttons: <ul> <li> Erase last line = this button erases the latest line you've drawn; pressing twice will erase the last two lines, etc. </li> <li> Colors = Use these to select the color of the isolines you draw </li> <li> Show Solution = If you want to see how we analyzed the data, press this button </li> </ul> <applet code="Contour.class" width=750 height=550> <param name="mapname" value="Myplot.gif"> <param name="solution" value="Myanalysis.gif"> <param name="info" value="Please draw a 60, 70 and 80 line"> </applet> <p> You may also put text after the applet window </body> </html> In this example, the main "variables" are the names of the files containing the images you created: one with data points and probably one with data and the solution analysis. Any graphing tool can be used to create these files (which can be in .gif or .jpg format). The "width=" and "height=" need to be set up for the size of your graphic plus about 200 lines for the buttons and labels. We have put this sample along with two GIF files in this directory for you to get and experiment with directly. If you'd like to have the students draw fronts and Highs and Lows, just add this parameters: <param name="fronts" values="true"> ======================================= This material was developed by Tom Whittaker and Steven Ackerman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is Copyrighted, 1998. You may use this for any non-commercial purpose, and by doing so accept full reponsibility for the any consequences resulting therefrom.