Re: And now for something completely different...interface for the new netcdf-4 feature of multiple dimensions.

• To: Ed Hartnett <ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: Re: And now for something completely different...interface for the new netcdf-4 feature of multiple dimensions.
• From: Russ Rew <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 09:35:23 -0700

Ed,

> I suggest we add one function:
> 
> EXTERNL int 
> nc_inq_unlimdims(int ncid, int *numlimdimsp, int *unlimdimidsp);
> 
> This function will return the number of unlimited dimensions in
> nunlimdimsp, and an array of their ids in unlimdimidsp.
> 
> Meanwhile, nc_inq_unlimdim will return the first defined unlimited
> dimension, for backward compatibility.
> 
> Any suggestions, corrections, rejections, projections, dejections,
> directions, restrictions, or digressions are welcome.

This looks ideal to me, except for the minor typo in the prototype:

> EXTERNL int 
> nc_inq_unlimdims(int ncid, int *numlimdimsp, int *unlimdimidsp);
                                  nunlimdimsp

In the documentation, I would specify that the int* unlimdimidsp
pointer could be NULL if you just want to inquire about the number of
unlimited dimensions without getting their IDs.  This would also
permit doing that first to allocate the right amount of space to hold
the unlimited dimension IDs.

--Russ

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