SKTedit - an X based Skeleton Table Editor

Skeleton tables are an inherently ASCII file. They can be edited manually using any ASCII editor. On the other hand, the correct syntax of the skeleton table must be maintained which can be difficult. The entry of Non-Record Varying data can also be tedious. Both of these concerns are addressed in SKTedit. For detailed information on the format of skeleton tables, see the CDF Users Guide Appendix A: Skeleton Table Format

Although still under development, SKTedit will allow you to view and edit all aspects of a skeleton table using a point and click graphical interface. Cut and Paste from other applications is also supported, although it uses the Unix style commands. Additional functionality is planned to aid with other difficult aspects of completing skeleton tables, such as ISTP/IACG compliance, and creating the companion translation file for input into makeCDF

How to Run SKTedit:

First, have X running on your local machine. For Macs, please use MacX 1.5. Previous version of MacX, Xoftware and possibly eXodus have problems with the application freezing.

Next, log into your favorite Unix machine (currently xfiles, nssdc or bolero), make sure that your display is set to your machine, and that /usr/local/bin is in your path. To have this set up automatically, add the following 2 lines to your .login:

setenv DISPLAY yourmachine.gsfc.nasa.gov:0.0
set path=($HOME/bin /usr/bin . /usr/local/bin)

Last, run SKTedit by saying:

SKTedit

Two windows will appear, the Feedback form and the Main Menu. Use the Feedback form as you work to send in comments and suggestions. The Main Menu looks like this:

Screen shot of Main Menu

The File Menu allows you to read in either a skeleton table or a CDF and to write out a CDF. Only the metadata normally in a skeleton table are read in. See Current Potential Problems for a potential problem with reading in a skeleton table. The cursor will appear as a watch while the file is being read in.

Screen shot of File Menu

The Attributes Menu looks the same for both Global and Variable attributes. For Variable Attributes, the name of the variable will appear in the title of the window.

Screen shot of Attribute Menu

The Variable Menu lists all of the currently defined variables.

Screen shot of Variable Menu

Current Potential Problems:

If you read in a Skeleton Table, a CDF is created with the name in the logical file ID. If this does NOT match the name of the skeleton table SKTedit will not find it. You'll need to read in the CDF directly. This is on the top of the list of items to fix.
When a dialog box appears DO NOT CLICK ANYWHERE ELSE BUT IN THE BOX. These questions usually start with "Are you sure?" and will appear to warn you before you do anything permanent, such as reading or writing a file.

Return to Create Skeleton Table page

Return to Conversion to CDF page

Author & Curator

Emily A. Greene, emily@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)441-4234
Hughes STX Corporation, NSSDC Project, 7701 Greenbelt Rd., Suite 400, Greenbelt, MD 20770