CDF Tools

The following tools allow you to display the CDF data and descriptions.

CDFplot

The two IDL functions used for reading and plotting CDFs are XREAD_MYCDF, an X-windows based widget for locating, selecting, and reading CDFs, and PLOTMASTER, which plots the data returned by XREAD_MYCDF.

Presently the CDF plotting routines don't run in VMS (this should be fixed in the near future). For now you must use bolero. If you do not already have an account on bolero, you must get one.

The steps below outline how to run the CDF plotting routines.

Login to your account on bolero and FTP your CDF files (remember to set binary mode).
Make sure that you are running X on your local machine and tell the computer to send any X-windows output to your X-terminal:
bolero.gsfc.nasa.gov> setenv DISPLAY <Ethernet address>:0
Copy the packages of the CDFtoolkit to your directory:
bolero.gsfc.nasa.gov> cp ~burley/test/CDFtoolkit*.pro .

Begin your IDL session:

bolero.gsfc.nasa.gov> idl

     IDL>@CDFtoolkit               compile CDFtoolkit
     IDL>a=xread_mycdf()           read data from CDF files
     IDL>status = plotmaster(a)    plot the data
     IDL>help,/struct,a            examine the data you read

Alternately, you can write your own plot routines to plot the data in the structure "a"

Return to Conversion to CDF page

CDFlist

The CDFlist program allows you to selectively list all (or a subset of) the variable data values from a CDF. The values can be displayed at the screen, output to a text file, or used to create a new CDF. (The new CDF will most likely be a subset of the original CDF.)

To run CDFlist on a VAX (NCF cluster)

add the following to your login.com file.
$define cdf$dist ncf_cdf_oper:[ncdf.cdf25-dist]
$@cdf$dist:definitions
type 'cdflist/initial=(zmode, horizontal)' at the prompt.

To run CDFlist on UNIX (bolero/nssdc/xfiles)

add 'source /ncf/share/apps/cdf25-dist/definitions.csh' to your .cshrc file.
type 'cdflist' at the prompt.

Return to Conversion to CDF page

CDFbrowse

The CDFbrowse program allows the display of practically all of the contents of a CDF by way of a full-screen interface.

To run CDFbrowse on a VAX (NCF cluster)

add the following to your login.com file.
$define cdf$dist ncf_cdf_oper:[ncdf.cdf25-dist]
$@cdf$dist:definitions
type 'CDFbrowse' at the prompt.

To run CDFbrowse on UNIX (bolero/nssdc/xfiles)

add 'source /ncf/share/apps/cdf25-dist/definitions.csh' to your .cshrc file.
type 'cdfbrowse' at the prompt.

Return to Conversion to CDF page

makeSFDU

The makeSFDU is a portable tool that can generate a minimal detached Standard Formatted Data Unit (SFDU) from a CDF file which complies with the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) Key Parameter Generation Software (KPGS) Standard and Conventions (12/92).

To run makeSFDU on a VAX (NCF cluster)

add the following to your login.com file.
makesfdu :== $ncf_spds_staff:[spds.emily.makecdf]makesfdu.exe
type 'makesfdu ncf_spds_staff:[spds.emily.makecdf]adi.txt CDFfilename SFDUfilename' at the prompt.
OR
type 'makesfdu ncf_spds_staff:[spds.emily.makecdf]adi.txt * *' to create SFDUs of all the CDFs in the current directory.

$makesfdu adi.txt CDFfilename SFDUfilename

adi.txt is the name of the Authority and Description Identifier file. This is an ASCII text file which contains the Authority numbers for various projects and instruments. It is expected that this file will be updated periodically.
CDFfilename is the name of the CDF file to be read in order to generate the SFDU file. The .cdf extension is added automatically and is not needed in the filename. If you wish to generate SFDU files for all CDF's in a directory, use an asterisk as the wildcard.
SFDUfilename is the name of the SFDU file to be generated. Since no standard extension has been defined, you should provide one in the filename. If you wish to generate SFDU files for all CDF's in a directory, use an asterisk as the wildcard.

Return to Conversion to CDF page

Author and Curator

Mona Kessel, kessel@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-6595
Code 632, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Karen C. Horrocks, horrocks@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-0191
Hughes STX/NSSDC, Code 632, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

NASA Official: R.E. McGuire, Head, Space Physics Data Facility (Code 632, NASA/GSFC)
Robert.E.McGuire@gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-7794. Last Updated: 26 Aug 1996, KCH

CDF Tools

$makesfdu adi.txt CDFfilename SFDUfilename

NASA Official: R.E. McGuire, Head, Space Physics Data Facility (Code 632, NASA/GSFC) Robert.E.McGuire@gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-7794. Last Updated: 26 Aug 1996, KCH

NASA Official: R.E. McGuire, Head, Space Physics Data Facility (Code 632, NASA/GSFC)
Robert.E.McGuire@gsfc.nasa.gov, (301)286-7794. Last Updated: 26 Aug 1996, KCH