[feature request] user-declared data format

From: Tom Roche <Tom_Roche_at_nyahnyahspammersnyahnyah>
Date: Sun Mar 03 2013 - 14:58:45 MST

I work on a model that reads and writes netCDF with different file
extensions. Particularly, I regularly analyze and operate on files
with extension='.ncf', or no extension at all. (Given that the model
is "mature," and part of an ecosystem with similar culture, I am
unlikely to be able to effect any upstream change. Furthermore,
there's a *lot* of old data.)

NCL makes file extension problematic, because it refuses to handle
(e.g., with `addfile`

http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Functions/Built-in/addfile.shtml

) files that do not provide one of a given set of supported extensions
(e.g.,

http://www.ncl.ucar.edu/Document/Manuals/Ref_Manual/NclFormatSupport.shtml
> NCL's supported data formats are:
> * NetCDF - Network Common Data Format (.nc, .cdf, or .netcdf

) This requires me to do an annoying amount of file renaming.
Am I missing something? If so, please let me know. But if not, ...

I assert that NCL should provide API that allows the user to declare
the format of a given data file. Since (IIUC) NCL lacks optional
arguments, I'd like to see API like

        function addfile_format(
                file_path [1] : string,
                status [1] : string,
                format [1] : string
        )
        return_val [1] : file

(a relatively simple extension to `addfile`) where 'format' is one of
(e.g.)

* CCM
* ESRI
* GMT
* GRIB
* HDF-EOS
* HDF-EOS5
* HDF-SDS
* HDF5
* MapInfo
* NetCDF
* TIGER

If there's a better place to make an NCL FR, please let me know.

FWIW, Tom Roche <Tom_Roche@pobox.com>
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Received on Sun Mar 3 14:58:57 2013

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