A.1 Introduction

Skeleton tables are both created by and read by CDF utility programs. SkeletonTable   creates a skeleton table by reading a CDF. SkeletonCDF   creates a CDF by reading a skeleton table. In almost all cases the format of the skeleton tables read and written will be the same. Any differences are minor and will be described where appropriate.

The skeleton table has a free format (except where noted) --- you need not be concerned with any column alignments, spaces between fields, or spaces between successive lines. However, certain syntax rules do apply to skeleton tables.

1. Lines are limited to 132 characters.

2. Keywords for the header section, gAttributes section, vAttributes section, rVariables section, and end section must always be specified (in that order). The zVariables section is optional --- its keyword may be omitted.

3. An exclamation point ( !) at any point signifies a comment until the end of the line. Any characters encountered after the exclamation point will be ignored. An exclamation point may begin a line (making the entire line a comment). Exclamation points inside delimited character strings are part of the string and do not cause the start of a comment.

4. Attribute and variable names must be delimited. Any character not in the name may be used as the delimiter with the following exceptions:
   1. Do not use an exclamation point (!) to delimit an attribute or variable name.
   2. Do not use a period (.) to delimit an attribute name in the variables section.
   3. Do not use a left square bracket ([) or a numeral to delimit a variable name.

5. When specifying a character string attribute entry value, do not use a hyphen (-) to delimit the string or strings (if the string is split across one or more lines).

6. All items are referenced from one (1). These include gAttribute gEntry numbers and NRV variable index values.

In the descriptions that follow, optional fields are shown in brackets ( [...]).