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Dear Jeff, CMC is working on putting its BUFR tables into a relational database. Our main goal is relatively modest: it is to provide a web-based human interface to browse and update the Tables, to replace the error-prone process of manually updating a large ASCII file. But we are mindful of other possible advantages such as improved programming interface. We have a working prototype of a Table B interface. It is composed of a PHP front-end and MySQL back-end. We can enter new descriptors, change their status (validation, pre-operational, operational), even change descriptor definition while maintaining traceability and descriptor history across Table version numbers. We want to be able to ingest directly WMO computer-friendly Table updates, verify them and accept them into our operational system. Furthermore we want to be able to publish Tables in backward-compatible ASCII formats. Development has been slow, due to other projects competing for the resources, but it is progressing. Our next step would be to develop a similar interface for Table D. We also need to integrate code and flag tables that are referred to by Table B descriptors. We can talk about this more, off-line, if you wish. Best regards Yves -----Message d'origine----- De : Jeff Ator [mailto:Jeff.Ator@xxxxxxxx] Envoyé : 16 June, 2011 13:00 À : Eric Wise; Paul Zamiska; leslie.baran@xxxxxxxx; Lamar Troutman; Enrico Fucile; Sibylle Krebber; Atsushi Shimazaki; Eizi Toyoda; Richard Weedon; Pelletier,Yves [CMC]; Simon Elliott; Jose Mauro de Rezende; Weiqing Qu; Stan Kellett; bufrtables@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Objet : BUFR and GRIB2 table information in relational DB? Hi Everyone, This is more of a general survey question. Here at NCEP, we currently have our BUFR and GRIB2 master table information scattered across a bunch of ASCII tables, web pages and system files. We're thinking about designing and implementing a relational database to store all of this information in one place, and then developing methods to allow the information to be easily exported from the database into the specific formats we need for all of our APIs and other operational tasks. We believe the BUFR and GRIB2 tables lend themselves well to relational database design (especially when multiple versions of tables including local entries need to be stored), and having one master repository would alleviate problems we're currently having keeping information synchronized across multiple system files and documents. My question is, has anyone out there ever done or thought about doing this type of thing? If so, we'd be interested to correspond with you about your experiences, issues encountered, best practices, etc. and explore any possible avenues for collaboration. It's hard for us to believe that nobody else has ever thought of this before, so if at all possible we'd like to benefit from any existing experience in the community and avoid re-inventing the proverbial wheel. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or experience in this area that you'd be willing to share. Either way, thanks for your time and consideration! With best regards, -Jeff
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