Why sdfopen cant open in Grads 1.9b4

[Don Hooper]

Comments in-line.
> From owner-gradsusr at LIST.CINECA.IT  Fri Jun 10 12:52:34 2005
> From: Arjun <arjunjt at CAOS.IISC.ERNET.IN>
>
> Hooper,
>
>   First of all, I am sorry. Actually, I had installed grads 1.9b4
> in my system a few days back. When sdfopen command din't work, I
> shifted back to 1.9b3. Now it is working fine. In Grads 1.9b4, when
> I open netcdf file with sdfopen, it was saying 'Unknown command: sdfopen'.
> Sorry, I was confused that you were asking all ncdump data. In my system
> even ncdump is not working. I mean it is not there in my system
> Should I install that separately?
The ncdump command comes with NetCDF software from Unidata:
        http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/
It is not a part of GrADS at all.  GrADS comes with the NetCDF library
built-in to it, so it is not necessary to install NetCDF software to use
GrADS, even with NetCDF files.
>
> About European and NASA type data, actually i did not have any idea
> about where it was originated and other things. I have little knowledge
> on that. Some european satellite data also comes in netCDF format like
> meteosat data, that is why I just referred as European data. I have been
> downloading NASA's NCEP reanalysis data for plotting wind vector plots
> from following site.
>   http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cdc/data.ncep.reanalysis.html
> I just referred this as NASA's netcdf data. If I am wrong, please correct
> it.
That site is not NASA.  I maintain that web page and the associated data,
which reads into GrADS via sdfopen just fine, and always has.  The site
belongs to the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC).  NOAA, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is most definitely not
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  I suspected
this origin for your data; it's why I asked about where you got it.
>
> I hope the error which I am getting 'Unknown command: sdfopen' might be
> due to some incomplete installation of the software. I guess ncdump
> should be installed in the computer for using sdfopen command.
Modern versions of GrADS actually come as four seperate commands:
        gradsc, gradsnc, gradshdf, gradsdods
A symbolic link "grads" is often created during installation to
point to one of these four, usually gradsnc.  Of the four, only
gradsc should give the error message that you got.  It's possible
that the symbolic link was created to point to gradsc.  Just type
in the command gradsnc (or gradshdf) and try your sdfopen command
again.
>
> Please help me in this regard.
>
> Thank you.
>
> On Fri, 10 Jun 2005, Don Hooper wrote:
>
> > Comments in-line.
> >> From owner-gradsusr at LIST.CINECA.IT  Fri Jun 10 11:20:29 2005
> >>
> >> Hooper,
> >>
> >>   I am using NASA format netcdf files not European type.
> > I've no idea what this statement means.  NetCDF was invented by
> > Unidata in the USA.  The folks at NCSA (also USA) invented HDF,
> > including HDF-SDS which mimics NetCDF but in HDF form.  There is
> > no "European type", and NASA has nothing to do with it.  I've noted
> > some preference for HDF in general by NASA, but that's about it.
> >> I can open the same files in Grads 1.9b3 but it is giving
> >> error in 1.9b4.
> > What is the error message?  It can be critical for solving problems.
> >> The size of the ncdump file is bigger. I cant send through mail.
> > The size of "ncdump -h" output is too big to e-mail?  How is that
> > possible?  I've consistently asked for just the "-h" output from
> > ncdump from you.  I've also asked from where you got the NetCDF file,
> > and what its name is.  You've refused to answer.  Are you sure you
> > want help?  We are not mind-reading magicians here.  We need information
> > to solve problems.
> >>
> >> Bye
> >> Mallikarjun
> >>
> >> On Thu, 9 Jun 2005, Don Hooper wrote:
> >>
> >>>> From arjunjt at caos.iisc.ernet.in  Thu Jun  9 13:18:10 2005
> >>>> Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 00:52:41 +0530 (IST)
> >>>> From: Arjun <arjunjt at caos.iisc.ernet.in>
> >>>> To: Don Hooper <hoop at Colorado.EDU>
> >>>> Subject: Re: Why sdfopen cant open in Grads 1.9b4
> >>>>
> >>>> Hello Hooper,
> >>>>
> >>>>   Its NCEP reanalysis data. I just tried to open using sdfopen
> >>>>   but it couldn't. So how to go about it?
> >>>>
> >>>>   Thanks
> >>>>
> >>>> On Thu, 9 Jun 2005, Don Hooper wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Mallikarjun,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> We can't begin to answer this question without the output from
> >>>>> running "ncdump -h" on your NetCDF file.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> -Hoop
> >>>>>> From owner-gradsusr at LIST.CINECA.IT  Thu Jun  9 12:19:32 2005
> >>>>>> From: Arjun <arjunjt at CAOS.IISC.ERNET.IN>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Hai All,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>   I have tried using Grads 1.9b4. I could not open netCDF file
> >>>>>> using sdfopen command. Any solution for this?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Thanks
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Mallikarjun
> >>>>>> --
> >>>>>> Mallikarjuna.K
> >>>>>> J.R.F
> >>>>>> Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
> >>>>>> Indian Institute of Science
> >>>>>> Bangalore - 560 012
> >>>> --
> >>>> Mallikarjuna.K
> >>>> J.R.F
> >>>> Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
> >>>> Indian Institute of Science
> >>>> Bangalore - 560 012
> >>>
> >>> Where is the "ncdump -h" output I requested?  Where did you get this file?
> >>> What is its name?
> >>>
> >>> -Hoop
> >> --
> >> Mallikarjuna.K
> >> J.R.F
> >> Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
> >> Indian Institute of Science
> >> Bangalore - 560 012
> >
> > -Hoop
> >
>
> --
> Mallikarjuna.K
> J.R.F
> Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
> Indian Institute of Science
> Bangalore - 560 012

-Hoop