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Re: How do I get IDL to place a string array into a netdcf file attribute? [message #84408]

Mon, 03 June 2013 12:08

Michael Galloy
Messages: 1114
Registered: April 2006

Senior Member

On 6/1/13 7:19 AM, Fabien wrote:
> An array of strings is not really an attribute anymore. You should
> define a new variable (as a string array) for this. Why do you want to
> keep it as an attribute?
>
> Cheers,
>
> fab

Another option is to make a scalar string from your string array by
concatenating with STRJOIN (using the appropriate CR/LF delimiters).

Mike
--
Michael Galloy
www.michaelgalloy.com
Modern IDL: A Guide to IDL Programming (http://modernidl.idldev.com)
Research Mathematician
Tech-X Corporation

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Re: How do I get IDL to place a string array into a netdcf file attribute? [message #84427 is a reply to message #84408]

Sun, 02 June 2013 10:40

Fabzi
Messages: 305
Registered: July 2010

Senior Member

Hi again,

On 06/02/2013 02:19 AM, Peter Thorne wrote:
> how to pass a flag meanings attribute which makes the flag
> arrays make sense to a user

I use NetCDF extensively, and as a user I will not expect a variable
attribute to be an array (I don't think that it is allowed by NetCDF
but I did not check it).
I don't see the problem with giving flag information as a variable. You
need to define a new dimension, nflags = 50 and then a variable
flags(nflags). You can refer to this flag variable in the concerned
variable's attributes.
I know that some institutions provide extensive metadata in their
attributes using XML (cf HDF_EOS formats), but this is not very handy
for everyone.

This is my personal opinion, but maybe someone out here has more
experience on writing attributes as arrays...

Cheers,
Fab

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Re: How do I get IDL to place a string array into a netdcf file attribute? [message #84433 is a reply to message #84427]

Sat, 01 June 2013 17:19

Peter Thorne
Messages: 13
Registered: October 2000

Junior Member

On Saturday, June 1, 2013 9:19:17 AM UTC-4, Fabien wrote:
> An array of strings is not really an attribute anymore. You should
>
> define a new variable (as a string array) for this. Why do you want to
>
> keep it as an attribute?
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> fab

Thanks. Am trying to make some cf compliant netcdf files for which a large number of integer (short) vectors are flag values of the same dimension as the (much smaller number of) data vectors which are floats. I can write the fag values vectors themselves and the flag values attributes themselves w/o issue but am struggling with how to pass a flag meanings attribute which makes the flag arrays make sense to a user. In one case I have 50+ unique legal flag values which need to be interpretable by a user.

Peter

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Re: How do I get IDL to place a string array into a netdcf file attribute? [message #84434 is a reply to message #84433]

Sat, 01 June 2013 06:19

Fabzi
Messages: 305
Registered: July 2010

Senior Member

An array of strings is not really an attribute anymore. You should
define a new variable (as a string array) for this. Why do you want to
keep it as an attribute?

Cheers,

fab

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Re: How do I get IDL to place a string array into a netdcf file attribute? [message #84566 is a reply to message #84427]

Wed, 05 June 2013 06:26

Peter Thorne
Messages: 13
Registered: October 2000

Junior Member

Thanks. This was also suggested by a contact I have on the CF convention board. I'm going to try this and see whether it is 'compliant'. I can't see another work around.

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