[netCDFJava #OAW-479304]: Bizarre problem of the day: try loading this NcML aggregation 5 times!

> NetCDF-Java folks,
> 
> If I try loading this NcML in the ToolsUI 4.1:
> 
> http://coast-enviro.er.usgs.gov/models/share/tglo.zip
> 
> I sometimes get one set of variables and sometimes another set of variables.
> If I stay in ToolsUI and keep hitting "reload" I see the number of
> variable change back and forth.
> 
> This aggregation is a bit unusual in that I wanted to aggregate a
> bunch of files where the lon and lat for the u,v variables were
> missing.   To avoid using a "union" aggregation on top of the
> joinExisting aggregation, I simply tried creating a new 1st file in
> the aggregation that contained the extra variables.   So the first
> file is slightly larger than the 2nd (and all the subsequent files).
> This should work right?    Well, it seems to *sometimes* work for me.
> Bizarre!
> 
> -Rich
> --
> Dr. Richard P. Signell   (508) 457-2229
> USGS, 384 Woods Hole Rd.
> Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
> 
> 

The problem is that the files are dissimiliar, and the aggregation grabs a 
random one as its "prototype". The new collection stuff allows you to specify 
how to choose the prototype, but its only currently used by Fmrc. In TDS, you 
can set a global default.

ToolsUI 4.2 has some support to check that, open the file under the 
Ncml/Aggregation tab, and click the upper, far right icon "Check files", get 
this report:

Original = E:/work/signell/tglo/TGLO-his-08-07-07-00-06.nc
CompareTo= E:/work/signell/tglo/TGLO-his-08-07-07-12-06.nc
 cant find variable JPRJ in 2nd file
 cant find variable PLAT in 2nd file
 cant find variable PLONG in 2nd file
 cant find variable ROTA in 2nd file
 cant find variable JLTS in 2nd file
 cant find variable P1 in 2nd file
 cant find variable P2 in 2nd file
 cant find variable P3 in 2nd file
 cant find variable P4 in 2nd file
 cant find variable XOFF in 2nd file
 cant find variable YOFF in 2nd file
 cant find variable depthmin in 2nd file
 cant find variable depthmax in 2nd file
 cant find variable f0 in 2nd file
 cant find variable dfdy in 2nd file
 cant find variable hraw in 2nd file
 cant find variable dndx in 2nd file
 cant find variable dmde in 2nd file
 cant find variable x_rho in 2nd file
 cant find variable y_rho in 2nd file
 cant find variable x_psi in 2nd file
 cant find variable y_psi in 2nd file
 cant find variable x_u in 2nd file
 cant find variable y_u in 2nd file
 cant find variable x_v in 2nd file
 cant find variable y_v in 2nd file
 cant find variable lat_psi in 2nd file
 cant find variable lon_psi in 2nd file
 cant find variable lat_u in 2nd file
 cant find variable lon_u in 2nd file
 cant find variable lat_v in 2nd file
 cant find variable lon_v in 2nd file
--------------------------------
   Aggregated coordinate variable    double time(time=12);
     :long_name = "time since initialization";
     :units = "seconds since 2003-10-28 00:00:00";
     :field = "time, scalar, series";

time =
  {1.480896E8, 1.480932E8, 1.480968E8, 1.481004E8, 1.48104E8, 1.481076E8, 
1.481328E8, 1.481364E8, 1.4814E8, 1.481436E8, 1.481472E8, 1.481508E8}
   Component file E:/work/signell/tglo/TGLO-his-08-07-07-00-06.nc
time(time=6) (seconds since 2003-10-28 00:00:00) =
  {1.480896E8, 1.480932E8, 1.480968E8, 1.481004E8, 1.48104E8, 1.481076E8}
   Component file E:/work/signell/tglo/TGLO-his-08-07-07-12-06.nc
time(time=6) (seconds since 2003-10-28 00:00:00) =
  {1.481328E8, 1.481364E8, 1.4814E8, 1.481436E8, 1.481472E8, 1.481508E8}


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: OAW-479304
Department: Support netCDF Java
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed