Cloud Eleven: A cloud-based code sharing solution for IgorPro

This post is something of a “how to” guide. The problem is how can you share code with a small team and keep it up-to-date?

For ImageJ, the solution is simple. You can make an ImageJ update site and then push any updated code to the user when they startup ImageJ. For IgorPro, there is no equivalent. Typically I send ipf files to someone and they run the code, but I have to resend them whenever there’s an update. This can cause confusion over which is the latest version.

I’ve tried a bunch of things such as versioning the code (this at least tells you if the person is running an out-of-date version). I also put the code up on GitHub and tell people to pull down the latest version, but again this doesn’t work well. The topic of how to share code comes up perennially on the Igor mailing list and on IgorExchange, so it’s clearly something that people struggle with. I’ve found the solutions offered to be a bit daunting.

My solution is detailed here with some code to make it run.

The details

It is possible to use aliases (shortcuts on Windows) in the User’s WaveMetrics folders to point to external files. Items in the Igor Procedures directory get loaded when you start Igor. Items in User Procedures can get loaded optionally. These aliases sit in the Users Wavemetrics folder (the exact location depends on the Igor Version) and this means that the program itself can get updated without overwriting these files.

So, if aliases are created here that point to a cloud-based repo of Igor Code it can be used to:

1. Optionally load code as the user needs it. Because the code sits in the cloud it can be updated and instantly used by everyone.
2. Force Igor to load a bit of code to make a little menu item so that the user can pick the code they want to load.

To get this working, I made use of Ryotako’s excellent menu loader which was written for loading the “hidden” WaveMetrics procedures. I created a version like that one which makes a menu of our shared code in alphabetical order. I then made a version that allows the code to be grouped by purpose. People in my group told me they prefer this version. Code just needs to be organised in folders for it to work.

The IgorDistro.ipf just needs to be placed in a folder called IP somewhere in a share that users have access to (unless people are contributing to code development, you can make the share read-only). In the same directory that IP sits in, place a folder called UP with all of your code organised into folders. Aliases need to be created that point Igor Procedures folder to IP and User Procedures to UP. That’s it! I’ve tested it on IP7 and IP8, on Windows and Mac, using a shared Dropbox as the cloud repo.

Obviously, the correct IgorPro licences need to be in place to share the code with multiple users.

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The post title comes from the pseudonymous LP by Cloud Eleven. A great debut album. The track “Wish I” is worth the price of the record alone (assuming people still buy records).