span_named_colors

Returns an RGB array that is a span between given list of named colors.

Available in version 6.0.0 and later.

Prototype

	function span_named_colors (
		colors [*] : string,   
		opt    [1] : logical   
	)

Arguments

A string array of named colors.

A scalar logical that can contain an optional list of attributes.

Return value

A float array of size n x 3 is returned, where n depends on the number of colors input, and the desired number of colors between each.

Description

This function returns an RGB array that spans between the given list of named colors. The colors are spanned using internal calls to rgbhsv.

By default, a color table with 256 or fewer colors is returned, with an equal number of colors between each set of named colors. The background color will be set to white, the foregound color to black.

If opt is set to True, then you can optionally set the following resources:

BackgroundColor

Set to a desired named color if you want something other than white.

ForegroundColor

Set to a desired named color if you want something other than black.

NumColorsInTable

The maximum number of colors to return. The default is 256.

NumColorsInRange

Set to an integer array indicating the number of colors you want between each range of named colors. This array must be of length n-1, were n is the number of named colors input.

Note: this function will be moved from "gsn_code.ncl" to "utilities.ncl" in NCL V6.4.0. This shouldn't have any affect on your scripts, since these two scripts are automatically loaded by NCL. To use this function with older versions of NCL, you must load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl" at the top of your script.

See Also

draw_color_palette, namedcolor2rgb, gsn_define_colormap, gsn_draw_named_colors

Examples

Example 1

Create a color table that spans between five named colors. Use draw_color_palette and gsn_draw_colormap to draw the colors using two different methods.

Note that using gsn_draw_colormap requires that you first set the color to the workstation using gsn_define_colormap.

;---Open an X11 window for drawing graphics.
wks = gsn_open_wks("x11","colormap")

;----Five colors
colors = (/"SandyBrown","IndianRed","LightBlue","Purple","Yellow"/)

rgb_array = span_named_colors(colors,False)

;---Draw colors using one method
draw_color_palette(wks,rgb_array,False)

;---Draw colors using a second method
gsn_define_colormap(wks,rgb_array)
gsn_draw_colormap(wks)

Example 2

Using the same set of named colors, this time indicate the number of colors you want in each range.

;---Open an X11 window for drawing graphics.
  wks = gsn_open_wks("x11","colormap")

;----Five colors
  colors = (/"SandyBrown","IndianRed","LightBlue","Purple","Yellow"/)

  opt = True
  opt@NumColorsInRange = (/5,20,50,20/)

  rgb_array = span_named_colors(colors,opt)

  gsn_define_colormap(wks,rgb_array)
  gsn_draw_colormap(wks)

See also the suite of color and color map examples.