readme.txt
----------

The files in this folder are netCDF file procedures and examples for IDL.
These files are provided by Tom Woods from LASP/University of Colorado.  While written
for the NASA TIMED SEE data products, they are also generic enough to use for
most other netCDF files.

The read_netCDF.pro is a generic reader of netCDF files that returns the data
back into an IDL structure and attributes back into a string array.

The write_netCDF.pro is a generic writer of netCDF files given an IDL 
structure variable.  Optionally, netCDF file attributes can also be written 
if an external text file exists for that structure type or specified by the user.

The following files are in this folder:

	example.att			File used by write_netCDF.pro in writing "example" data
	
	example.ncdf		NetCDF file of the "example" data
	
	example.sav			XDR file of original "example" data
	
	example2.att		File used by write_netCDF.pro in writing "example2" data
	
	example2.ncdf		NetCDF file of the "example2" data
	
	example2.sav		XDR file of original "example2" data
	
	read_netCDF.pro		IDL procedure to read a netCDF file
	
	write_netCDF.pro	IDL procedure to write a netCDF file


Procedure Usages
----------------
read_netCDF, filename, data, attributes, status

write_netCDF, data, filename, status, path=dir_path, att_file=att_filename, /clobber

where	filename = name of netCDF file
		data = structure variable
		attributes = string array of attributes read from netCDF file		
		status = procedure completion status: 0 = OK, other numbers mean an error
		/path = optional directory path for the *.att file used by write_netCDF
		/att_file = optional attributes definition file name for write_netCDF
					(required to use if "data" does not have structure name)
		/clobber = option to clobber (delete) any old netCDF file with given "filename"
		

Limitations
-----------
The variables defined inside "data" structure can only have up to 4 dimensions and can
only have nested structure definitions up to 4 levels.


Example Usage
-------------
The following is listing of commands in IDL to write a file and then to read it.

IDL> restore, 'example.sav'	; restore "example" structure back into IDL

IDL> write_netCDF, example, 'example.ncdf', status, /clobber	; re-write example.ncdf

IDL> read_netCDF, 'example.ncdf', ex, ex_att, status		; read back example.ncdf

IDL>help, example, ex, /struct		; to view data structures

IDL> for k=0,n_elements(ex_att)-1 do print, ex_att[k]		; print attributes to screen


Contact
-------
Tom Woods		E-mail:  tom.woods@lasp.colorado.edu

For more information, view the header comments in the *.pro and *.att files.


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END of readme.txt