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>From: Katrina Bennett <address@hidden> >Organization: ? >Keywords: 200311230809.hAN89JEH008677 netCDF Windows Katrina, >I'm a novice user of this program, but I need to install your software >in order to view and export netCDF climate data to ASCII file format >using the ncdump utility. I have a GIS background but have only a >little AML programming experience and a bit of AVENUE (ESRI proprietary >languages). I'm having trouble getting started with the netCDF >install. I don't understand how I am supposed to install the program >on a Windows 2000 or XP environment. Although I've tried to download >and install a C compiler program, this didn't help me. So, first >question is: > >Do I need to build the netCDF program in some sort of compiling >program? No. >Do you have any suggestions for which free program would work? Yes. Since your objective is to simply use ncdump.exe to export climate data in netCDF format to ASCII, the amount of work you need to do is limited. The best ABC for what to do is found in the file WIN32_README.TXT. You can grab this file and the binary distribution of the netCDF for Windows using anonymous FTP from our FTP server, ftp.unidata.ucar.edu: machine: ftp.unidata.ucar.edu user: anonymous pass: address@hidden directory: pub/netcdf/contrib/win32 file: netcdf-3.5.0.win32bin.ZIP directions: WIN32_README.TXT >The pre-built libraries - once you download them ...have no .exe setup >files. The file netcdf-3.5.0.win32bin.ZIP does contain the ncdump.exe and ncgen.exe exectuables: % unzip -l netcdf-3.5.0.win32bin.ZIP Archive: netcdf-3.5.0.win32bin.ZIP Length Date Time Name ------ ---- ---- ---- 0 04-04-01 19:32 bin/ 57344 04-04-01 19:30 bin/ncdump.exe 90112 04-04-01 19:23 bin/ncdumps.exe 94208 04-04-01 19:30 bin/ncgen.exe 131072 04-04-01 19:23 bin/ncgens.exe 204800 04-04-01 19:29 bin/netcdf.dll 0 01-10-01 05:28 include/ 26587 10-13-00 10:48 include/netcdf.h 47626 12-23-98 10:30 include/netcdf.inc 0 04-04-01 19:31 lib/ 70340 04-04-01 19:29 lib/netcdf.lib 392294 04-04-01 19:22 lib/netcdfs.lib 0 04-04-01 19:04 src/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/cxx/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/fortran/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/libsrc/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/ncdump/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/ncgen/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/nctest/ 0 01-10-01 05:28 src/nc_test/ 0 04-04-01 19:05 src/nf_test/ 5939 04-04-01 19:11 WIN32_README.TXT ------ ------- 1120322 22 files >What does it mean by put the netcdf.h in your include >directory. This is if you are going to do program development. >I did this...(in the free C compiler called lcc that I >downloaded) but nothing really happened. What do you mean by "Place >these in a directory that's in your PATH:" Where's my PATH? What are >you referring to? All operating systems support the concept of an environment variable that contains the list of directories that will be searched when one tries to run a program. The typical name of this environment variable is PATH. You can see your setting in Windows by doing the following: Click on the Start button Click on Run Type in 'cmd' (without the quotes) and click OK This brings up a DOS-like command window. In that window type: PATH and hit the enter key. This will list the set of directories in the PATH for your system. The netCDF installation instructions tell you to put the ncdump.exe and ncgen.exe exectuables in a directory in your PATH. >What is the difference between the static and non-static version? A static version of a program will run without using program specific DLLs. A non-static one needs DLLs. >The library - would this include a build library? The library is needed/used when you are doing program development. >In fact - when you say "Place" do you mean cut the files and then and >paste them into the file folders in my compiler program files? Place means put. How you decide to put the file into the directory is up to you. A cut and paste is one way of moving files from one location to another. >Why would I want to build the libraries myself? Is there an >advantage? You only need the libraries if you are going to be doing program development. From what you said in the first part of this email, it doesn't sound like you will be doing program development. >Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for >your time, No worries. >Katrina >Victoria, BC Tom Yoksas