For First Time Users of MIDL Software:

There are two stages in getting up and running with MIDL software.

First read the checklist below describing the setup steps needed to get MIDL running on your system.

Once you have the program running, then read the Getting Started document which tells how to use the MIDL software itself. This "getting started" information is also available from the help menu inside the MIDL application.

Here is a checklist to go through to make sure your machine is set up properly to run the MIDL application.

Some background:
The MIDL software is in Java, and it runs on your machine, downloading the data you are interested in from various web sites. This is different than the more typical server-driven processing, because the MIDL software will actually be downloaded to (and run on) your machine.
(For the technicians: it uses Java WebStart to launch and cache a Java application on the client computer. WebStart compares the cached application with the copy on the server every time the program is run.)

NOTE: The creators of Java (Sun Microsystems) have a somewhat confusing habit of giving each version mutliple names. What is consistently called "Java 1.5.0" on these pages may also be referred to by Sun as version 5.0 or also "Java 2 SE 5.0". The "Java 2" portion of this larger name has not changed for several versions, and so the "5.0" portion of the name corresponds to what I call version 1.5.0

You will need to have Java 1.5.0 or higher installed on your machine. If you have concerns about installing Java on your machine, you may read our page about "Why Java?"
- Windows - The easiest way to get your Windows machine setup is to install Java 1.5 on it.
  This will also install Java WebStart.
  Go to Sun's web site http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads and click on the highest version of Java that you see there. You need to download and install the JRE (Java Runtime Environment), so look for links to the JRE for Windows.
- Mac OSX - You need Mac OS 10.4.2 or higher. Prior MacOS versions do not have and cannot support Java 1.5.0.
  NOTE: The Mac OS X update to get the right Java will refer to "Java 2 SE 5.0" This contains the Java 1.5.0 software that you need. The naming conventions are (unfortunately) confusing.
- Unix/Linux users will need to have Java 1.5 or higher installed on their machine.
  Just visit the Sun Microsystems site http://java.sun.com/j2se/downloads and follow the instructions there. Some flavors of Unix require that Java be installed by a system adminitrator.
The first time you run the software, you must do so using a web browser.
On PC's, use Internet Explorer 5 or higher, or Netscape 7 or higher.
On Mac's, only Internet Explorer works.
Using an appropriate browser, visit the Launch Data Viewer page, and click on the MIDL icon.
You may be asked if you want to Open or Save the ".jnlp" file being loaded. (Only Netscape seems to ask about this).
Select the "Open" option.
On the first use, you will be prompted about a security warning, asking whether or not you want to install and run our program. Because we have not yet purchased a ($700) digital certificate with which to digitally sign our code, WebStart does not recognize our identity. If you want to run our software, you need to ignore the warning click "Start."

After you've run MIDL once...

After you have successfuly launched the MIDL software once, it can be started again from the web in the same way you started it the first time (clicking on the MIDL icon on the Launch Data Viewer page). You may see the question about what to do with the ".jnlp" file, but the security warning should not appear again.
Once you have run the MIDL software once, you can also launch it directly from your computer without using a web browser.
First open Java WebStart (on PC's, go to Start->Programs->Java WebStart). There you should see the MIDL icon . If you don't see it, then look on the WebStart "View" menu and make sure the "Downloaded Applications" option is selected. If you see the MIDL icon, you can just double click on it to start the program. The MIDL icon can also be placed on your desktop and can then be launched similar to regular applications by just double clicking the icon. To get WebStart to place the icon on your desktop, highlight the MIDL icon from within WebStart (with a single click), and then select "Application->Create Shortcuts" from the WebStart menu options.

MIDL - a project at the Space Department of the Applied Physics Laboratory, a component of Johns Hopkins University.
Funding provided by the Applied Information System Research Program of NASA

Maintainer:

Jon D. Vandegriff

Last modified: Wed Oct 26 14:31:55 EDT 2005