Igor includes a feature for extending its capabilities. We call this the External Operation or XOP feature. An XOP is a piece of separately compiled code that Igor can call to accomplish things that are not built in.
To create an XOP, you need the optional Igor XOP Toolkit. You can create XOPs using MPW, THINK or CodeWarrior C or C++. It is also possible to create an XOP using Absoft FORTRAN.
You do not need the Igor XOP Toolkit to use an XOP created by WaveMetrics or a third party. Igor Pro comes with a number of XOPs, in the Igor Extensions and More Extensions folders.
XOPs that are in the Igor Extensions folder when Igor is launched are available for use. For example, the Load General Binary and Load Excel File items in the Load Waves submenu of the Data menu are added by XOPs that are placed by the Igor Pro installer in the Igor Extensions folder.
Igor Pro comes with XOPs for other jobs such as communicating via serial or GPIB ports, acquiring data from the sound input port or sending it to the sound output port, loading MATLAB, Nicolet, GW Instruments and other files, slicing 3D data . . . .
To use an XOP that is not in the Igor Extensions folder, make an alias for the XOP file and put the alias in the Igor Extensions folder. Then relaunch Igor Pro.
Most of the XOPs supplied by WaveMetrics come with documentation in the form of a help file. The help file, if available, is in the same folder as the XOP.
Here are some things for which you might want to write an XOP:
To massage one or more waves.
To import data from a file format that Igor does not support.
To do data acquisition directly into Igor waves.
To automatically communicate with a remote computer.
If you are a C programmer and would like to extend Igor with your own XOP you will need to purchase the Igor XOP Toolkit from WaveMetrics. This toolkit contains documentation on writing XOPs, files that supply support routines and source code for several sample XOPs. Contact WaveMetrics for details.
