[McIDAS #WFF-597037]: Convert McIDAS AREA to NETCDF

Hi Heather,

re:
> Sorry to keep bothering you, but I am a bit confused as to how to set up my
> adde dataset for this to work.  If my data is internal and I have it set up
> as:
> 
> CO2RAW/ECA

> with my local files, not an external IP address, and I use the command:
> 
> java -cp AreaToNetCDF.jar AreaToNetCDF CO2RAW/ECA.1 adde_test_eca.nc
> 
> This does not seem to work.  I am confused with the directions on the
> website, because they pertain to an adde server that does not have local
> data.

Since I have never used the AreaToNetCDF application, I can not
claim to know all of the ins and outs of how to get it to work.
That being said, it seems to me that the ADDE server that AreaToNetCDF
connects to has to support remote access.  If this really is
true, it means that you will need to setup remote ADDE access
for the system on which you are running McIDAS.  This does not
mean, however, that the machine/ADDE needs to be accessible outside
of your network or even outside of itself for that matter (in
case folks are worried about security).  I say this because McIDAS
routines that access LOCAL-DATA datasets contain code that knows
how to setup access in the local environment (not phrased well, but
I hope you get my meaning).

So, what to do?

This depends on a number of things including (but perhaps not
limited to):

- which account you are running McIDAS from

  If it is the 'mcidas' account, then things the setup should
  go much more smoothly than if you are trying to run from
  a user (non-'mcidas') account.

- if you have 'root' privilege on the machine on which you
  want to setup remote ADDE access

  'root' will need to configure the machine's firewall and install
  and configure 'xinetd'.

re:
> adde://viper/image?group=gvar&band=1&user=tjj&proj=6999&version=1
> 
> How would you do this with local data?  Am I missing something?

I don't think you are missing anything, but I say that with the
proviso that I have did not write AreaToNetCDF and have never
run it.  My exposure to the program is a little less than yours.

BUT, there is another way that I should have mentioned yesterday:

McIDAS itself can create output netCDF files of imagery.  The
process is outlined in the online help for the DSSERVE command
(HELP DSSERVE from an interactive McIDAS session).  The procedure
is:

- create an ADDE dataset that contains your input data (the data
  files that you want to convert)

  It sounds like you have already done this.

- create an ADDE output dataset of type NCDF (netCDF)

- use the McIDAS IMGCOPY command to copy images from the input
  dataset to the output dataset

Here is a pertinent snippit from the online HELP for DSSERVE:

help.k DSSERVE
DSSERVE -- Manages and lists ADDE dataset names on the local server
   DSSERVE ADD dataset format bfile efile <keywords> "comment
   DSSERVE DEL dataset
   DSSERVE LIST group format
Parameters:
   ADD  | adds a new ADDE dataset name to the local server
   DEL  | deletes an ADDE dataset name from the local server
   LIST | lists the ADDE dataset names on the local server (def)
   dataset | ADDE dataset name to add or delete; must be specified in
             the group/descriptor format; see Remarks for restrictions
   format  | file format; valid formats include AIRS, AREA, COMS, GEOT,
             GRIB, GRID, LV1B, MD, MOD4, MOD8, MODR, MODS, MODX, MSGT,
             MTST, NCDF, SYSN and TEXT (no def for ADD; def=all formats
             for LIST)
   bfile | beginning file number assigned to the ADDE dataset; 'bfile' and
           'efile' are required for AREA, GRID, MD, NCDF and SYSN formats
   efile | ending file number assigned to the ADDE dataset
   "comment | comment describing the ADDE dataset; max of 80 characters;
              the comment cannot contain an equal sign (=), apostrophe (')
              or comma (,); the text entered in this field is visible to
              the client when they list the dataset with the DSINFO command
   group | group name (def=all groups)
Keywords:
   DIRfile='mask' | directory and/or file mask to locate files for the
                    non-McIDAS format servers; can also be used for the
                    McIDAS area, grid and MD file servers if the files are
                    not in the MCPATH directories, REDIRECT directory, or
                    have names other than AREA*, GRID* and MDXX*; do not
                    specify bfile and efile when using this keyword; see
                    the Remarks
   INFo='info' | additional information for the server about the data;
                 required by some servers but not needed or used with
                 McIDAS file formats AREA, GRID, MD and SYSN;
                 120 characters maximum; the beginning and ending single
                 quotes are mandatory; see the Remarks
   TYPe= | data type of the dataset created with the ADD option; valid
           types are GRID, IMAGE, NAV, POINT and TEXT; this keyword must
           be specified for all non-McIDAS file formats (e.g., NCDF)
           except TEXT (def=IMAGE for AREA format; def=GRID for GRID
           format; def=NAV for SYSN format; def=POINT for MD format;
           def=TEXT for TEXT format)
Remarks:
****************************  General Remarks  ***************************
   The 'dataset' parameter must be specified in group/descriptor format.
   The group name is limited to 8 characters, the descriptor name is
   limited to 12 characters, and the total length of the dataset including
   the slash(/) is limited to 21 or less characters. The group name cannot
   be entirely numeric.  The following characters are not valid in the
   group name or descriptor name: slash (/), period (.), blank ( ),
   left bracket ([), right bracket (]).

   The ADD option overwrites an existing ADDE dataset name without
   warning. Thus, you cannot assign the same ADDE dataset name to more
   than one dataset, even if the datasets are different file formats.

   After adding the dataset name, the ADD option maps the dataset's group
   name to the local server in the DATALOC table. If the group name is
   already mapped to a remote server, the table entry is not changed.

 ...


************************  netCDF Dataset Remarks  ************************
   You can access netCDF grid and point files in NCDF-format datasets
   created using DSSERVE with the TYPE, DIRFILE & INFO keywords.
   The TYPE keyword specifies the data type (GRID or POINT) of the netCDF
   files in the dataset. The DIRFILE keyword specifies the directory and
   file masks to locate the netCDF files. The INFO keyword specifies the
   name of the configuration file that maps the netCDF file parameter
   names to McIDAS parameter names. The configuration file must be
   tailored specifically to the netCDF files in the dataset. Two sample
   configuration files, named netcdfgrid.cfg and netcdfpoint.cfg, are
   available in the ~mcidas/data directory. Refer to those files when
   creating configuration files for your netCDF grid and point datasets.

   You can create netCDF image files from other TYPE=IMAGE datasets. To
   do so, make a netCDF image dataset with a DSSERVE command similar to:
   DSSERVE ADD NETCDF/GOES NCDF 1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE "netCDF GOES image files
   Then specify NETCDF/GOES as the destination dataset with a positive
   position number in an IMGCOPY, IMGFILT, IMGOPER or IMGREMAP command.
   The output file name consists of the descriptor name and position
   number followed by ".nc". For example, the command
   IMGCOPY GOESEAST/VIS NETCDF/GOES.300 SIZE=ALL creates an output file
   named GOES0300.nc that's mapped to position 300 of dataset NETCDF/GOES.

It is the last paragraph that is pertinet to what you are trying to
do.

After the input and output datasets are created, the procedure would
be to simply IMGCOPY from the input to a specific member of the
output while making sure to specify the UNIT you want the output
to be in (this assumes that the input dataset supports/has that
calibration, of course).

Do you understand the process I briefly outlined above?

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WFF-597037
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed