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Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58523] Mon, 04 February 2008 12:26 Go to next message
Mark[1] is currently offline  Mark[1]
Messages: 66
Registered: February 2008
Member
On Feb 4, 7:48 pm, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> Always interested in your feedback.

Good on ya, mate!
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58524 is a reply to message #58523] Mon, 04 February 2008 12:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
David Fanning is currently offline  David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
Senior Member
Benjamin Hornberger writes:

> the program is great! It had always annoyed me that hdf_browser() will
> block the whole IDL session and you can't do anything else without
> closing the browser.
>
> Some quick suggestions, if you decide to spend more time on it:
>
> 1. It would be great if the window on the right that displays the
> contents would resize if the program window is resized
>
> 2. We give our own extension to the netcdf files our instruments
> produce, so it would be great if one could pass a keyword specifying the
> default extensions that are preselected in the dialog_pickfile window.
>
> 3. It looks like I can't export a single global attribute to a variable
> on the IDL main level, only all of them in a structure. I think it would
> make sense to be able to export them one by one.

All easily done, but I am *very* busy. If you don't see them
in a week or two, give me a wake-up call. :-)

Cheers,

David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58525 is a reply to message #58524] Mon, 04 February 2008 12:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Benjamin Hornberger is currently offline  Benjamin Hornberger
Messages: 258
Registered: March 2004
Senior Member
David Fanning wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have been working with netCDF files recently, and I have been
> bothered by the lack of a decent way to browse the contents of
> these files. I've found decent software to read the variables
> out of these files, but you have to know the names of the
> variables you want to read, and I often don't. I've tried
> using the HDF_BROWSER, but that interface is god-awful
> ugly, not to mention non-intuitive, and I don't like it.
>
> So I wrote my own netCDF Browser. All you do is pass it
> the name of the file and it can parse all the data and
> metadata in the file and it will give you a graphical
> view of it. Select a variable you want to read, and the
> browser will read the variable and put it into a variable
> at the main IDL level for you.
>
> Most of the functionality is built into a NCDF_DATA
> object. This gives the user great flexibility and functionality
> to work with netCDF files. But I think most users will
> use the NCDF_BROWSER front end. This is just an IDL procedure
> that takes the name of a netCDF file. It does everything else,
> including cleanup up after itself.
>
> I have some ideas for cosmetic updates, but before I implement
> them, I thought I would try to get some feedback to see if the
> browser works with everyone's netCDF files. They have worked
> with all I've tried, but I haven't subjected them to newbie
> programming pressure yet. :-)
>
> If you are interested, you can find all the Coyote programs
> you need here:
>
> http://www.dfanning.com/programs/ncdf_browser.zip
>
> To run the basic program, just pass the filename of a netCDF
> file to the program, like this:
>
> IDL> nCDF_BROWSER, file
>
> Always interested in your feedback.
>
> Cheers,
>
> David

Hi David,

the program is great! It had always annoyed me that hdf_browser() will
block the whole IDL session and you can't do anything else without
closing the browser.

Some quick suggestions, if you decide to spend more time on it:

1. It would be great if the window on the right that displays the
contents would resize if the program window is resized

2. We give our own extension to the netcdf files our instruments
produce, so it would be great if one could pass a keyword specifying the
default extensions that are preselected in the dialog_pickfile window.

3. It looks like I can't export a single global attribute to a variable
on the IDL main level, only all of them in a structure. I think it would
make sense to be able to export them one by one.

Cheers,
Benjamin
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58530 is a reply to message #58525] Mon, 04 February 2008 08:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
David Fanning is currently offline  David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
Senior Member
Lasse Clausen writes:

> CDF support would be a feature I would really like to see, because I
> have been bothered by the none-existence of a cdf browser myself. Took
> your code, substituted all "ncdf" occurences by "cdf" and zut alors!,
> it doesn't work. Never really thought it would, though. But it seems
> like small issues so that I might just invest some time. Unless
> somebody with more experience suggests writing the whole thing new
> from scratch for cdf because of differences in the file structure.

Well, the thought occurred to me, too. But I have to work,
more or less, on what I'm paid to work on, and this netCDF
thing was aggravating me. As the money for this program
rolls in, I can work on other projects. :-)

I made a few cosmetic changes this morning to make it look
more professional.

Cheers,

David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58531 is a reply to message #58530] Mon, 04 February 2008 08:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
lasse is currently offline  lasse
Messages: 48
Registered: February 2007
Member
On 4 Feb, 07:48, David Fanning <n...@dfanning.com> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I have been working with netCDF files recently, and I have been
> bothered by the lack of a decent way to browse the contents of
> these files. I've found decent software to read the variables
> out of these files, but you have to know the names of the
> variables you want to read, and I often don't. I've tried
> using the HDF_BROWSER, but that interface is god-awful
> ugly, not to mention non-intuitive, and I don't like it.
>
> So I wrote my own netCDF Browser. All you do is pass it
> the name of the file and it can parse all the data and
> metadata in the file and it will give you a graphical
> view of it. Select a variable you want to read, and the
> browser will read the variable and put it into a variable
> at the main IDL level for you.
>
> Most of the functionality is built into a NCDF_DATA
> object. This gives the user great flexibility and functionality
> to work with netCDF files. But I think most users will
> use the NCDF_BROWSER front end. This is just an IDL procedure
> that takes the name of a netCDF file. It does everything else,
> including cleanup up after itself.
>
> I have some ideas for cosmetic updates, but before I implement
> them, I thought I would try to get some feedback to see if the
> browser works with everyone's netCDF files. They have worked
> with all I've tried, but I haven't subjected them to newbie
> programming pressure yet. :-)
>
> If you are interested, you can find all the Coyote programs
> you need here:
>
> http://www.dfanning.com/programs/ncdf_browser.zip
>
> To run the basic program, just pass the filename of a netCDF
> file to the program, like this:
>
> IDL> nCDF_BROWSER, file
>
> Always interested in your feedback.
>
> Cheers,
>
> David
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming:http://www.dfanning.com/
> Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

Hi there,

CDF support would be a feature I would really like to see, because I
have been bothered by the none-existence of a cdf browser myself. Took
your code, substituted all "ncdf" occurences by "cdf" and zut alors!,
it doesn't work. Never really thought it would, though. But it seems
like small issues so that I might just invest some time. Unless
somebody with more experience suggests writing the whole thing new
from scratch for cdf because of differences in the file structure.

So long
Lasse Clausen
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58614 is a reply to message #58525] Mon, 04 February 2008 16:11 Go to previous message
David Fanning is currently offline  David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
Senior Member
Benjamin Hornberger writes:

> Some quick suggestions, if you decide to spend more time on it:
>
> 1. It would be great if the window on the right that displays the
> contents would resize if the program window is resized
>
> 2. We give our own extension to the netcdf files our instruments
> produce, so it would be great if one could pass a keyword specifying the
> default extensions that are preselected in the dialog_pickfile window.
>
> 3. It looks like I can't export a single global attribute to a variable
> on the IDL main level, only all of them in a structure. I think it would
> make sense to be able to export them one by one.

OK, all done and with a couple of bug fixes I discovered myself. :-)

Here is an article if you want to read more about it:

http://www.dfanning.com/fileio_tips/ncdf_browser.html

Cheers,

David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
Re: New netCDF Browser [message #58621 is a reply to message #58523] Mon, 04 February 2008 12:33 Go to previous message
David Fanning is currently offline  David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
Senior Member
Mark writes:

> Good on ya, mate!

Ah, my son has returned to school after his sojourn in the
Land of Oz. This makes me realize how much I miss him. :-)

Cheers,

David
--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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