def defineVarAxis(self, var, teachingCommand):
        
        cdmsFile = self.tabWidget.currentWidget().getFile()
        axisList = QAxisList(cdmsFile, var, self)
        axisList.setupVariableAxes()
        argString = self.generateKwargsAsString()

        self.emit(QtCore.SIGNAL('recordTeachingCommand'), teachingCommand)
        self.emit(QtCore.SIGNAL('defineVariable'), cdmsFile, var, argString)
Create a new tab/axisList, store it in defined var list, and record
dataset/ETHPy150Open VisTrails/VisTrails/contrib/cdat/cdat_window.py/QVariableView.defineVarAxis