[netCDF #OBB-868168]: creating netCDF4 datasets

["Unidata netCDF Support" <support-netcdf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Sue,

There are still instances in netCDF-4 where define mode is important.
for example setting compression characteristics of a variable.  The
documentation you cite doesn't make this clear, but later in the User's
Guide, this appears:
 <http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/netcdf-4/newdocs/netcdf-c.html#Adding>

 For netCDF-4/HDF5 format files, define mode is still important, but
 the user does not have to called nc_enddef - it is called
 automatically when needed. It may also be called by the user.

 In netCDF-4/HDF5 files, there are some settings which can only be
 modified during the very first define mode of the file. For example
 the compression level of a variable may be set only after the
 nc_def_var call and before the next nc_enddef call, whether it is
 called by the user explicitly, or when the user tries to read of write
 some data.

I hope that answers your question.  We probably need to make another pass
on the documentation to make sure it still presents a simple model to users
of netCDF-3 or the netCDF-4 classic model, but lets adventuresome netCDF-4
users know about the extra power (and complexity) of the new features.  One
way to do this is to occasionally oversimplify the situation by presenting
the classic model of how things work, and later fill in the details ...

--Russ


Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                     http://www.unidata.ucar.edu



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: OBB-868168
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed