Dear Karl I think that allowing strings as an alternative to char arrays is a natural extension and should not be problematic since the information content is the same. It's good to hear from Jim that the cf-checker is happy with it. We have discussed this before. As you say, the CF convention does not allow for it at the moment, and so a change is needed. This depends on someone carefully going through the document to see what might need to be changed to include this alternative.
Best wishes Jonathan ----- Forwarded message from Jim Biard <[email protected]> ----- > Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2016 16:46:18 -0400 > From: Jim Biard <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [CF-metadata] string variables and netCDF4 > > Karl, > > The string type passes the cf checker as long as it is an ASCII string. It > is possible to make a unicode string, and that fails. So, from a practical > perspective, it is fine. > > Grace and peace, > > Jim > > [image: CICS-NC] <http://www.cicsnc.org/>Visit us on > Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/cicsnc> *Jim Biard* > *Research Scholar* > Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites NC <http://cicsnc.org/> > North Carolina State University <http://ncsu.edu/> > NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information <http://ncdc.noaa.gov/> > *formerly NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center* > 151 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 > e: [email protected] > o: +1 828 271 4900 > > *Connect with us on Facebook for climate > <http://www.facebook.com/NOAANCEIclimate> and ocean and geophysics > <http://www.facebook.com/NOAANCEIoceangeo> information, and follow us on > Twitter at @NOAANCEIclimate > <http://www.twitter.com/NOAANCEIclimate>and @NOAANCEIocngeo > <http://www.twitter.com/NOAANCEIocngeo>.* > > > On Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 12:31 PM, Karl Taylor <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > I have a question from Robert Pincus that I don't know that answer to: > > > > Is it ok to use a one-dimensional “string” variable instead of a > > two-dimensional character variable to encode expt_label? This might be > > asking whether it’s ok to use netCDF4, which I certainly hope is the case. > > > > He's defining an array of "labels". > > > > The conventions document states: "NetCDF does not support a character > > string type, so these must be represented as character arrays." > > > > so my take on this is that a one-dimensional array of "string" variables > > would not be permitted. In general do we forbid use of any of the new > > netCDF4 structures? (I guess yes). > > > > thanks, > > Karl > > _______________________________________________ > > CF-metadata mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata > > > _______________________________________________ > CF-metadata mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata ----- End forwarded message ----- _______________________________________________ CF-metadata mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.cgd.ucar.edu/mailman/listinfo/cf-metadata
