[IDV #DGO-203144]: Point data questions

Hi Hans-

> Just tried today's (Apr 28) build. The data looks much better now!
> However, I do get some errors trying to read, and plot, the data.

Sorry about this.  Fix one thing, break another. ;-)

> Firstly, in the previous version I defined names and units for the fields in 
> the csv file and saved it under its own name as a preference. In the previous 
> version (I think), when selecting the saved preference the field names popped 
> up in the point data form. That does not happen with the new version.

If you resize the window slightly, you should see the fields displayed. We're
working on a fix for this.  At this time, you'll need to scroll down to the
first observation before applying the old preference.  

> Secondly, the first time I try to read the file (i.e. clicking OK after 
> having applied the saved preference def that does not show), I get an error 
> message. Trying a second time, however, the data is usually read without 
> error messages. Could perhaps have something to do with some data missing in 
> the file which results in an uninitialized field in IDV the first time the 
> file is read (just my wild guess)?

There was a change made to the underlying VisAD units package that is causing
this.  We are trying to track down the problem and hope to have a fix soon.

> The error message shown is as follows:
> " There was an error loading the data:
> Error creating data source:file.pointtext with: 
> E:\WorkingData\Data\Observations\metars.current.csv
> Making grid parameters
> An error occurred reading column number:6"
> Detailed:
> " java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: An error occurred reading column 
> number:6
> at visad.data.text.TextAdapter.readit(TextAdapter.java:990)
> at visad.data.text.TextAdapter.<init>(TextAdapter.java:210)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.TextPointDataSource.makeObs(TextPointDataSource.java:386)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.TextPointDataSource.makeObs(TextPointDataSource.java:316)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.TextPointDataSource.getSample(TextPointDataSource.java:1578)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.PointDataSource.doMakeDataChoices(PointDataSource.java:900)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.TextPointDataSource.doMakeDataChoices(TextPointDataSource.java:1586)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataSourceImpl.getDataChoices(DataSourceImpl.java:1729)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataManager.createDataSource(DataManager.java:1484)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.IntegratedDataViewer.createDataSource(IntegratedDataViewer.java:1954)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.IntegratedDataViewer.makeDataSource(IntegratedDataViewer.java:1871)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.IntegratedDataViewer.makeDataSource(IntegratedDataViewer.java:1805)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.IntegratedDataViewer.makeDataSource(IntegratedDataViewer.java:1778)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.chooser.IdvChooser.makeDataSource(IdvChooser.java:839)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.chooser.FileChooser.selectFilesInner(FileChooser.java:646)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.chooser.FileChooser.selectFiles(FileChooser.java:515)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.chooser.FileChooser.doLoadInThread(FileChooser.java:537)
> at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
> at 
> sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
> at 
> sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
> at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
> at ucar.unidata.util.Misc$2.run(Misc.java:1032)
> at ucar.unidata.util.Misc$3.run(Misc.java:1060)
> "
> 
> Thirdly:
> Plotting the data usually generates an error with no plot being shown. Trying 
> with a much smaller subset of the file works though. The original file 
> contains about 3800 lines of METAR data, each consisting of about 44 data 
> fields. The file size of that file is about 700 kB. Is there a size 
> restriction in IDV that might be the cause of this error perhaps?

There shouldn't be.  I wonder if there is bad data causing a problem.  Could
you send me two things:

- the file you are trying to use
- your preference for reading the file.  You can export this by reading in
the data and under the Preferences button, select Export Header.

Also, which field are you trying to contour?

> The error shown is as follows:
> " Creating display: Color-Filled Contour Plan View
> 1"
> Detailed:
> " java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 1
> at au.gov.bom.aifs.osa.analysis.Barnes.point2grid(Barnes.java:116)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.PointObFactory.barnesOneTime(PointObFactory.java:2035)
> at ucar.unidata.data.point.PointObFactory.barnes(PointObFactory.java:1770)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.PointDataSource.getDataInner(PointDataSource.java:1144)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.data.point.TextPointDataSource.getDataInner(TextPointDataSource.java:1656)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataSourceImpl.getData(DataSourceImpl.java:2119)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DirectDataChoice.getData(DirectDataChoice.java:332)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataChoice.getData(DataChoice.java:634)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataInstance.getData(DataInstance.java:239)
> at ucar.unidata.data.DataInstance.getData(DataInstance.java:203)
> at ucar.unidata.data.grid.GridDataInstance.init(GridDataInstance.java:204)
> at ucar.unidata.data.grid.GridDataInstance.<init>(GridDataInstance.java:161)
> at ucar.unidata.data.grid.GridDataInstance.<init>(GridDataInstance.java:142)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.PlanViewControl.doMakeDataInstance(PlanViewControl.java:1274)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.DisplayControlImpl.initializeDataInstance(DisplayControlImpl.java:2968)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.DisplayControlImpl.setData(DisplayControlImpl.java:2950)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.control.PlanViewControl.setData(PlanViewControl.java:559)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.ContourPlanViewControl.setData(ContourPlanViewControl.java:112)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.control.PlanViewControl.init(PlanViewControl.java:425)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.DisplayControlImpl.init(DisplayControlImpl.java:1269)
> at 
> ucar.unidata.idv.control.DisplayControlImpl.init(DisplayControlImpl.java:978)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.ControlDescriptor.initControl(ControlDescriptor.java:979)
> at ucar.unidata.idv.ControlDescriptor$1.run(ControlDescriptor.java:904)
> at ucar.unidata.util.Misc$3.run(Misc.java:1060)"

Sorry for the new problems.  I'll let you know when we have a fix for the
units issue.

Don

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Unidata IDV Support [mailto:address@hidden]
> Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 9:08 PM
> To: address@hidden
> Cc: address@hidden
> Subject: [IDV #DGO-203144]: Point data questions
> 
> Hi Hans-
> 
> > I am trying to use METAR data from the data server at www.weather.aero (file
> > metars.current.csv at http://weather.aero/dataserver_current/current/ )
> >
> > However, I get a number of data errors when trying to use the METAR data in
> > IDV. Looking at the point data list, it seems IDV sometimes gets confused
> > over what decimal delimiter to use. For some data fields a decimal comma is
> > used (as defined by Windows), for others a decimal point is used. The data
> > file only uses decimal points.
> 
> The IDV should display the data in your system's localization setting.
> We weren't handling this very well.
> 
> > Also, for some of the data fields, IDV complains if the data contains
> > decimal data. Values like 6.0 and 9.0 are accepted, though values like 6.3,
> > 9.1 etc are not. Is this an issue with IDV, or is it perhaps something I
> > need to define before using the data?
> 
> No, it's our poor programming. ;-)  I put a fix for this that will
> be available in the next nightly build (tomorrow).  Thanks for finding
> this issue.
> 
> Note, if you want to export the data, you'll need to use the Show Raw Data
> checkbox if you want to read it back into the IDV.  The export writes out
> what you see on the screen.  So the comma delimiters in you numbers
> would show up in the CSV file as well.
> 
> Don Murray
> 
> 
> Ticket Details
> ===================
> Ticket ID: DGO-203144
> Department: Support IDV
> Priority: Normal
> Status: Open
> 
> 


Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: DGO-203144
Department: Support IDV
Priority: Normal
Status: Open