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Hi John,
> >>>>>>We've got a question: is there a way to attach an attribute to a
> >>>>>>member of a compound type dataset. That is, if I have a dataset of
> >>>>>>something that is a compound type, can I attach at attribute not to
> >>>>>>the whole dataset, but just to one member of the compound type?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>> Hmm, we've had a couple of requests for similar features, but you
> >>>>> can't
> >>>>>do this currently. What's the motivation for this?
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>I think I will let John answer this part...
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>the motivation comes from creating a unifying model with the opendap
> >>data model.
> >>
> >>opendap structures contain "first class" variables that can have attributes.
> >>
> >>
> > Hmm, interesting...
> >
> >
> >
> >>however, if thats not feasible, i can do a workaround where opendap
> >>structures become groups instead.
> >>
> >>
> > Well, it definitely isn't currently supported. Should I open an issue
> > for
> >this in our tracker so we consider in the future? I'm just a bit concerned
> >about supporting the full generality of it, like attributes on parts of array
> >datatypes or nested compound datatypes, etc.
> >
> > Quincey
> >
> >
> yes, i think its worth considering in the future. this would make
> structure members first class citizens. the attributes would apply to
> the structure member as a whole, not individual array elements, just as
> for an array dataset.
Ok, I've entered an issue in our bugzilla.
> as i said, the motivation comes from opendap structures. ironically, i
> suspect that it was at least in part motivated there by mapping hdf
> (4/5?) into opendap, where they decided to map "groups" into
> "structures". so we can just undo that and map opendap structures to
> groups when needed.
That would probably work OK.
Quincey
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