Hi John,
You can use catalogRef with any URL that returns a catalog XML document.
This includes both your examples below (with .html changed to .xml).
Yes, we already have the problems you describe below on our bug list. We
are working on both of them for TDS 4.2; we will have them fixed before
we make TDS 4.2 our stable release.
Thanks for reporting,
Ethan
On 8/4/2010 2:14 PM, John Maurer, IV wrote:
> Hi All,
> Is it OK to use catalogRef to link to a particular dataset within an
> external TDS catalog?, or must it point only to the top-level external
> TDS catalog? Here are my examples:
>
> * dataset:
>
> http://hfrnet.ucsd.edu/thredds/HFRADAR_USHI_hourly_RTV.html?dataset=HFRNet/USHI/1km/hourly/RTV
> * catalog:
> http://hfrnet.ucsd.edu/thredds/HFRADAR_USHI_hourly_RTV.html
>
> I've been trying to use a catalogRef to the specific datasets like in
> the first example above (by switching .html to .xml), but this appears
> to break the external catalog! On my first access, it works but some of
> the catalog metadata are duplicated (the more I visit the catalog
> reference the more times they get duplicated in the catalog's HTML page,
> like Summary, Creators, etc.). Then, trying to access other datasets
> from the same catalog via additional catalogRefs are then broken (HTTP
> response code 500)--these appear to remain broken until the external
> administrator bounces their TDS. This doesn't seem to be specific to
> this server (hfrnet.ucsd.edu) because the same thing happens to me when
> trying a different server from sdf.ndbc.noaa.gov.
>
> In addition to the above problems, when I try to visit a catalog page in
> my browser, as in the above URLs, and I switch .html to .xml in my
> browser to investigate the underlying XML and to get the URL for my
> catalogRef, this also appears to break the entire catalog on that user's
> server. After that point, I can only visit the dataset I have viewed and
> all other datasets disappear from the catalog, presumably until those
> administrators bounce their TDS. As you can see, I'm unintentionally
> breaking things! Sorry to those TDS administrators! I'm e-mailing here
> in the hopes of better understanding the process and/or to report
> possible bugs in TDS.
>
> Thanks,
> John Maurer
> Hawaii Ocean Observing System (HiOOS)
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> thredds mailing list
> thredds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> For list information or to unsubscribe, visit:
> http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/mailing_lists/
