20040217: MCIDAS HELP: displaying MD files

>From: jeff underwood <address@hidden>
>Organization: SIU
>Keywords: 200402180243.i1I2hErV018052 McIDAS-X 7.8 MD DSSERVE DIRFILE

Jeff,

>I have for some time used McIdas 7.8 to display and analyze satellite 
>images, and recently wanted to display surface/upper air plots and contours 
>with McIdas.  I am embarrassed to say that I am having trouble getting 
>McIdas to recognize the MD files.
>
>The files downloaded from SSEC are named with the standard convention 
>MDXXnnnn, and are in a directory that I have named 
>/space/user/Colorado/.  Heres the dumb question...how do I go about reading 
>and displaying these files with McIdas?
>
>After downloading satellite images I simply use "DSSERVE ADD" to add create 
>a file, and then redirect using "DIRFILE=".  I can then access the data for 
>all McIdas applications.  But I'm having problems with the MD 
>files.  Please help.

The DIRFILE= keyword way of specifying the set of files in an POINT
dataset (i.e., MD files) did not work until the v2003 release.
Since you are running v7.8, you will need to use the MD file cylinder
numbers in the specification of the various sets.  Here is an
example of defining the set of MD files 0001 - 0010 to be dataset
RTPTSRC/SFCHOURLY:

DSSERVE ADD RTPTSRC/SFCHOURLY MD 1 10 RT=YES "Real-Time SFC Hourly

Then again, you could upgrade to v2003 and be able to use the DIRFILE=
keyword method of specifying ADDE datasets for all types of data
McIDAS supports: IMAGE, GRID, POINT.  I will be releasing an addednum
to v2003 (v2003b) by Friday, so you will want to wait if you decide
to upgrade.  And, I highly recommend upgrading from v7.8 to v2003b.

Tom Yoksas
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