The IDL procedure ascii_to_bin

pro ascii_to_bin, file_in, f_outpre, ndata,$
                  z_low, z_high, a_low, a_high, d_low, d_high

;   Bo Milvang-Jensen, May 20, 1994.

    if n_params() eq (0) then begin
      print
      print, 'Procedure ascii_to_bin'
      print
      print, 'Usage:'
      print, 'ascii_to_bin, file_in, f_outpre, ndata,$
      print, '              z_low, z_high, a_low, a_high, d_low, d_high
      print
      print, 'Description:'
      print, 'This procedure converts an ascii data file, with alpha, delta, and'
      print, 'redshift, to a format suitable for Explorer'
      print
      print, 'file_in : name of data ascii input file with alpha, delta, redshift'
      print, 'f_outpre: prefix of output files -'
      print, '          binary output file will get suffix .dat'
      print, '          header output file will get suffix .idl'
      print, 'ndata   : number of datapoint in file_in'
      print, 'z_low   : minimum redshift value'
      print, 'z_high  : maximum redshift value'
      print, 'a_low   : minimum alpha    value'
      print, 'a_high  : maximum alpha    value'
      print, 'd_low   : mimimum delta    value'
      print, 'd_high  : maximum delta    value'
      print
      return
    end

    n_data_before = ndata

    calcdata, file_in, ndata, a, maxv,$
	      z_low, z_high, a_low, a_high, d_low, d_high, new_n

    diam = 1.0 ; diameter of balls

    dat_name = f_outpre + '.dat'    ; binary file (.dat)
    openw,  lun, dat_name, /GET_LUN
    writeu, lun,replicate(diam,ndata)
    for i=0,2 do writeu, lun, a(*,i)
    close, lun
    free_lun, lun

    idl_name = f_outpre + '.idl'   ; ascii file (.idl)
    openw,  lun, idl_name, /GET_LUN
    printf, lun, '# AVS field file'
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, '# Created by IDL procedure: ascii_to_bin'
    spawn, 'date', date_result
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, '# Created date: ', date_result
    printf, lun, '#' 
    spawn, 'pwd', pwd_result
    printf, lun, '# IDL pwd was: ', pwd_result
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, '# Input ascii data file: ', file_in
    printf, lun, '# Number of data point herein: ', n_data_before
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, '# z     low  cut:', z_low
    printf, lun, '# z     high cut:', z_high
    printf, lun, '# alpha low  cut:', a_low
    printf, lun, '# alpha high cut:', a_high
    printf, lun, '# delta low  cut:', d_low
    printf, lun, '# delta high cut:', d_high
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, '# Number of data points left after cuts: ', new_n
    printf, lun, '# Maximum absolute values (x,y,z): ', maxv
    printf, lun, '#'
    printf, lun, 'ndim=1'
    printf, lun, 'dim1=', new_n
    printf, lun, 'nspace=3'   
    printf, lun, 'veclen=1'
    printf, lun, 'data=float'
    printf, lun, 'field=irregular'
    printf, lun, 'file="', dat_name, '"'
    close,  lun
    free_lun, lun
    

end