Parameter Alias Editor

6.5 Parameter Alias Editor

The Parameter Alias Editor is opened through the Tools menu with menu and allows for the association between "canonical" parameter names used by the IDV for physical quantities, such as TEMP for temperature, and parameter names used in particular data sets for the same quantity, such as for example "jan_mean_temp."

Different data sets often have different names for the same physical quantity, such as for the quantities temperature or easterly wind speed component. You can make the IDV recognize any particular data name as representing a standard quantity. The Alias Editor associates any particular variable name that may appear in a data set (right column) with a canonical or IDV name or alias (left column).

The Alias Editor has a number of tabs that display the user editable aliases and the non-editable system aliases. You can right click on a row in the system alias tab to copy that row to the user's tab. You can also add a new alias with the New Alias button. You can edit a user's entry by right clicking on the table row.

When you do this the alias properties dialog is shown where you can edit the name, label (descriptive text) and the aliases:

Unidata's Integrated Data Viewer > Tools