Re: Basic NetCDF questions...

Hi,

The netCDF 3 file format doesn't support structures so you can't 
currently create/write structures. (You should be able to once netCDF 4 
comes out.) What you can do structure-wise with netCDF 3 fils is think 
of all the variables that use the record (unlimited) dimension as a 
structure. The creation (in the netCDF-java object model, not on file) 
of a "record" structure variable is what the addRecordStructure() method 
does. So, to use structures in netCDF 3 files, you need to write the 
files with an unlimited dimension and when you read the files use the 
addRecordStructure().

Here is a recently (or soon to be) released document on structures in 
netCDF 3 files (sorry if this is what Russ already sent you):

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf-java/formats/RecordsInNetcdf3.html

Hope this helps,

Ethan

Russ Rew wrote:

> >   Thanks for the pointers. I have been reading through 
> > the Structures examples and that looks like what I need to 
> > do. Do you happen to have any example of how to create and 
> > write structures using the Java NetCDF API? I haven't used 
> > the Java library before and addRecordStructure() is always 
> > returning false, 2.2 alpha build.
> >    
>
> Sorry, I don't know of any examples for that.  I'm CC:ing Ethan Davis
> and John Caron, in case they have an example they could point to or
> know why addRecordStructure() might be returning false.
>
> --Russ
>  

--
Ethan R. Davis                                Telephone: (303) 497-8155
Software Engineer                             Fax:       (303) 497-8690
UCAR Unidata Program Center                   E-mail:    address@hidden
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO  80307-3000                       http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
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