coyote: CGSYMCAT

Description
This function provides a symbol catalog for specifying a number of plotting symbols.
Categories
Graphics
Params
theInSymbol: in, required, type=varies
   The number (or name) of the symbol you wish to use. Possible values are::
      0  : No symbol.                         NONE
      1  : Plus sign.                         PLUSSIGN
      2  : Asterisk.                          ASTERISK
      3  : Dot (period).                      DOT
      4  : Open diamond.                      OPENDIAMOND
      5  : Open upward triangle.              OPENUPTRIANGLE
      6  : Open square.                       OPENSQUARE
      7  : X.                                 X
      8  : Defined by the user with USERSYM.  USERSYM
      9  : Open circle.                       OPENCIRCLE
     10  : Histogram style plot.              HISTOGRAM
     11  : Open downward triangle.            OPENDOWNTRIANGLE
     12  : Open rightfacing triangle.         OPENRIGHTTRIANGLE
     13  : Open leftfacing triangle.          OPENLEFTTRIANGLE
     14  : Filled diamond.                    FILLEDDIAMOND
     15  : Filled square.                     FILLEDSQUARE
     16  : Filled circle.                     FILLEDCIRCLE
     17  : Filled upward triangle.            FILLEDUPTRIANGLE
     18  : Filled downward triangle.          FILLEDDOWNTRIANGLE
     19  : Filled rightfacing triangle.       FILLEDRIGHTTRIANGLE
     20  : Filled leftfacing triangle.        FILLEDLEFTTRIANGLE
     21  : Hourglass.                         HOURGLASS
     22  : Filled Hourglass.                  FILLEDHOURGLASS
     23  : Bowtie.                            BOWTIE
     24  : Filled bowtie.                     FILLEDBOWTIE
     25  : Standing Bar.                      STANDINGBAR
     26  : Filled Standing Bar.               FILLEDSTANDINGBAR
     27  : Laying Bar.                        LAYINGBAR
     28  : Filled Laying Bar.                 FILLEDLAYINGBAR
     29  : Hat up.                            HATUP
     30  : Hat down.                          HATDOWN
     31  : Hat right.                         HATRIGHT
     32  : Hat down.                          HATDOWN
     33  : Big cross.                         BIGCROSS
     34  : Filled big cross.                  FILLEDBIGCROSS
     35  : Circle with plus.                  CIRCLEWITHPLUS
     36  : Circle with X.                     CIRCLEWITHX
     37  : Upper half circle.                 UPPERHALFCIRCLE
     38  : Filled upper half circle.          FILLEDUPPERHALFCIRCLE
     39  : Lower half circle.                 LOWERHALFCIRCLE
     40  : Filled lower half circle.          FILLEDLOWERHALFCIRCLE
     41  : Left half circle.                  LEFTHALFCIRCLE
     42  : Filled left half circle.           FILLEDLEFTHALFCIRCLE
     43  : Right half circle.                 RIGHTHALFCIRCLE
     44  : Filled right half circle.          FILLEDRIGHTHALFCIRCLE
     45  : Star.                              STAR
     46  : Filled star.                       FILLEDSTAR
Keywords
color: in, optional, type=varies
    Set this keyword to the color (color table index, 24-bit value, or color name) 
    of the color desired. 
names: in, optional, type=boolean, default=0
    If this keyword is set, the function returns the names of the symbols allowed.
    The index number of the name is its symbol number.
thick: in, optional, type=float, default=1.0
    Set this keyword to the thickness desired. Default is 1. 
Examples
To use with normal IDL routines::
   Plot, findgen(11), PSYM=cgSymCat(theSymbol)
To connect symbols with lines, use a negative value for the PSYM keyword::
   Plot, findgen(11), PSYM=-cgSymCat(theSymbol)
To use with Coyote Library routines, you can call cgSymCat indirectly::
   cgPlot, findgne(11), PSYM=16, SYMCOLOR='dodger blue'
Author
FANNING SOFTWARE CONSULTING::
   David W. Fanning 
   1645 Sheely Drive
   Fort Collins, CO 80526 USA
   Phone: 970-221-0438
   E-mail: david@idlcoyote.com
   Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com
History
Change History::
   Written by David W. Fanning, 2 September 2006. Loosely based on the
      program MC_SYMBOL introduced on the IDL newsgroup 1 September 2006,
      and MPI_PLOTCONFIG__DEFINE from the Coyote Library.
   Modified to allow PSYM=8 and PSYM=10 to have their normal meanings. This shifted 
   previous symbols by two values from their old meanings. For example, an hourglass 
   went from symbol number 19 to 21. 2 October 2006. DWF. 
   Whoops! Added two symbols but forgot to change limits to allow for them. 4 May 2007. DWF.
   Added THICK keyword. 21 Aug 2007. DWF.
   Added COLOR keyword and made THICK keyword apply to all symbols. 11 Nov 2008. DWF.
   If you are using USERSYM, the "color" can get "stuck" on the last color used to draw
      a symbol. To "unstick" the color,  you have to call USERSYM without a color keyword
      before calling it again with a color keyword. This is, without a doubt, the strangest
      bug I've ever seen in IDL! 20 June 2012. DWF.
   Changed the way I "unstick" the color from calling USERSYM to calling SYMCAT. This
      avoids a problem in changing the symbol when SYMCAT is used (unnecessarily) to pass
      a symbol into Coyote Graphics programs. 9 July 2012. DWF.
   Added the ability (via Jack Saba) to ask for symbols by name. 17 July 2012. DWF.
   Added the ability to ask for the color by name. 17 July 2012. DWF.
   Renamed to cgSYMCAT from SYMCAT. 17 July 2012. DWF.
   The previous problem with USERSYM colors "sticking" turned out to be a problem
       with cgGraphicsKeywords, so I removed previous "fix". 18 July 2012. DWF.
   Modified the program to allow a "negative" string to be used as the symbol name
       (e.g., PSYM="-star"). 30 July 2012. DWF.
   Modified to use 36 points in circle, rather than 72. 10 May 2013. DWF.
   Fixed a problem with using parentheses, rather than square brackets. 15 Dec 2014. DWF.
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2006-2014, Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.