ncBrowse News
Current Version rel-1.6.3
August 28, 2006

Content

• News
• Features
• ToDo List
• Wish List

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News

• August, 28, 2006. (rel-1.6.3) Fixes problems with accessing the new Dapper server.
• February 21, 2006. (rel-1.6.2) Behaves properly when epic_code is specified but the value is missing.
• October 21, 2005. (rel-1.6.1) CDL generation bug fix. Updates SGT library -- includes support for latest MacOSX Java VMs (1.4.2_09 and 1.3.1_16).
• March 31, 2005. (rel-1.6.0) The beta version is finally decared the offical version! Most changes from 1.5.0Beta3 are minor, however, Dapper access has been improved and several minor bugs have been fixed. You can now color lines by another variable (using the Variable Map interface).
• April 20, 2004. Mail list for ncBrowse has been moved to ncBrowse@noaa.gov. If you want to become a member of the mail list see the main page for instructions on how to join the mail list.
• March 29, 2004. (rel-1.5.0Beta3) Access to Dapper (created by Joe Sirott is an OPeNDAP in-situ data server using the Climate Data Portal written by Willa Zhu) first test release. Web access now loads links page.
• October 2, 2003. (rel-1.4.0) ncBrowse now uses VisAD from Univ of Wisconsin-Madison to create some 3D visualizations. NOTE: Java3D must be installed for VisAD to work. Java3D is included in the VM downloads. Live Access Server (LAS) data access has been added. Numerous bug fixes.
• July 28, 2003. (rel-1.3.3Beta9) You can now specify a list of OPeNDAP urls in a file. On the command line add "-DncBrowse.OPeNDAP.File=dods_sites.txt" to activate.
• March 31, 2003. (rel-1.3.3Beta8) ncBrowse can now be run using the system look and feel. On the command line add "-DncBrowse.useSystemLF=true" to activate.
• February 5, 2003. ncBrowse help has been rewritten (some might say written) and enhanced to cover rel-1.3.3 features. Many thanks to a valuable member of the ncBrowse team for their effort.
• December 17, 2002. (rel-1.3.3Beta7) ncBrowse now treats dimension variables that are of type character as an index. Variable map entries in the variable list are now indicated by the color blue.
• December 12, 2002. (rel-1.3.3Beta6) This is a bug fix version. Two issues have been resolved. 1) ncBrowse now properly handles the situation when a data subset contains no valid data. 2) The valid_min, valid_max, scale_factor, add_offset, missing_value and _FillValue variable attributes are ignored if they are not of a numeric data type. (Yes, someone made a file with these attributes as strings!)
• July 1, 2002. (rel-1.3.3Beta5) NcBrowse now handles variables with zero dimensions. Linked with version 1.1.1 of the dods library and the latest SGT graphics library. Distribution includes java virtual machines for Windows, Solaris, and Linux systems.
• March 13, 2002. (rel-1.3.3Beta4) NcBrowse was ignoring the _FillValue attribute, bug fixed. Linked with improved SGT graphics library.
• January 15, 2002. (rel-1.3.3Beta3) Test version with OPeNDAP (formerly known as DODS) import added.
• December 18, 2001. (rel-1.3.3Beta2) Test version with "export cdl" bug fix and subsetting for export added. First version with MacOS X installer.
• November 8, 2001. (rel-1.3.3Beta1) Test version with bug fixes. Includes support for "Variable Maps" and animation. Variable maps are a drag-n-drop way to define what variables, axes, etc are associated with the graphic x, y, z, axes and u and v velocity components.
• September 18, 2001. (rel-1.3.0Beta3) Test version with bug fixes and latest netcdf2.jar
• June 1, 2001. (rel-1.3.0Beta1) Test version released that uses the new netcdf2.jar.
  • Uses new MultiArray classes. Dramatic speed up for accessing arrays out of natural order.
  • Contains test DODS connection. To turn on add "-DncBrowse.useDODS=true" to the command line. Default is to have the DODS access turned off.
  • A few misc bug fixes added.
• April 5, 2001. Created a mail list for ncBrowse at ncbrowse@epic.noaa.gov. Mail archive is at ncBrowse Mailing List/.
• March 7, 2001. (rel-1.2.2) Remove dependence on jdk1.3 from Web access code.
• February 1, 2001. (rel-1.2.1) Fix bug that disabled exporting CDL or UNH format.
• February 1, 2001. (rel-1.2.0) First official release of version 1.2.0. Lots of bug fixes. New features include:
  • Direct access of remote netCDF files from the Web. No server side cgi binary or script required. Only requires that the web server be HTTP/1.1 compliant. Uses the HTTPClient library.
  • Open new local or remote file in new browser.
  • SGT graphics improved. Lots of bug fixes and contouring added!
  • Support of netCDF type "short" added.
  • Dependence on VisualCafe "symantec" classes removed.
  • Pop-up dialog for user feed back on possible "long" operations.
• June 6, 2000. (rel-1.0jdk1.1) Removed window management features from this version. This allows ncBrowse to run under jdk1.1 JVMs.
• March 30, 2000. (rel-1.1Beta3) Added Help feature and implemented support for hyperlinks in News and Help pages.
• March 22, 2000. (rel-1.1Beta2) Fixed Dialogs and Frames so that "Close" disposes of JFrame.
• March 7, 2000. (rel-1.1Beta1) Updating graphics attribute editors. LineAttribute editor replaced. Double clicking or right click on lineKey will bring up the LineAttribute editor.
• February 25, 2000. (rel-1.0) First release. Double clicking or right click on variable in TreeView will bring up the Domain Selector. Now handles variables with no dimensions.
• February 22, 2000. (rel-1.0Beta5) Final feature release, future releases of 1.0 will be bug fixes. Added window management. Each netCDF browser allows management of associated windows.
• February 16, 2000. Changed variable domain selector to popup with double click or single right click. Added button on Domain Selector to indicate dialog for field editing. Can now have multiple windows open by using the "Open in New Window" menu item. Included code to count open windows so that last close kills application.
• February 15, 2000. Add option to show all variables.
• February 14, 2000. Add support for dimensions without variables, character data, and single point output.
• February 9, 2000. Bug fixes and work around for refresh problem.
• February 7, 2000. TreeView feature added.
• February 3, 2000. Initial Release of ncBrowse software.

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Features

• Directly access remote netCDF files via Web.
• Browses properly formed EPIC and COARDS formatted files.
• Handles files with character variables.
• Handles files with dimensions that don't have an associated variable.
• Uses sgt graphics to perform 1 and 2 dimensional cuts through data.
• Output entire or subset of a single variable as a "cdl" text file.
• Output time-depth slice in UNH format.
• InstallAnywhere scripts for UNIX, Win32, MacOS X, and MacOS. Found at ftp://www.epic.noaa.gov/java/ncBrowse

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ToDo List

• Add TreeView.
• Add support for all netCDF datatypes.
• Robustness issues when expected units are missing.
• Expand types that can be supported for both dimension variables and variables.

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Wish List

• Palette control
  • Set range for colorbar
  • Use zoomed region of graph for colorbar range
• Edit attributes
• Edit variable names
• Plot vectors from file
• Mask values for graphics (missing_value, mask arrays, ...)

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ncBrowse Home Page: http://www.epic.noaa.gov/java/ncBrowse
EPIC Group Java Page: http://www.epic.noaa.gov/java
EPIC Home Page: http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/epic/home.html

Send comments to: dwd@pmel.noaa.gov
last modified: October 2, 2003

US Dept of Commerce NOAA / OAR / PMEL / EPIC