CDM File Types

The NetCDF-Java/CDM library provides a uniform API to many different scientific file formats and remote access protocols. Generally, application programmers should respect the encapsulation of these formats. When information is needed about the underlying file type, NetcdfFile.getFileTypeId(), NetcdfFile.getFileTypeVersion(), and NetcdfFile.getFileTypeDescription() methods can be called.

The Id must be unique and once registered, will never change, so that application code can test against it. Version information should have a standard form for each file type, but the form may differ between file types. The Description is human-readable and may present variations when appropriate, such as adding processing history, etc. The Reference URL(s) in this table are informational, and may change as needed.

To support this functionality, getFileTypeId(), getFileTypeVersion(), and getFileTypeDescription() methods have been added to the IOServiceProvider interface as of version 4.0.46. You will need to add these methods to your IOServiceProvider implementations. To use an IOSP implementation, you must include its module in your netCDF-java build. For more information on including modules in your build, see here.

To register your format/IOServiceProvider, or to send corrections and additions to this table, please send email to support-netcdf-java@unidata.ucar.edu.