A.2 Header Section

The header section contains general information about the CDF. The format of the header section is as follows:

#header

                    CDF NAME: <cdf-name>
               DATA ENCODING: <data-encoding>
                    MAJORITY: <variable-majority>
                      FORMAT: <cdf-format>

!     Variables   G.Attributes V.Attributes   Records     Dims       Sizes
!     ---------   ------------ ------------   -------     ----    -----------
   <rVars>/<zVars>   <gAttrs>    <vAttrs>   <n-recs>/z  <n-dims>  <dim-sizes>

The fields are defined as follows:

<cdf-name>
The name of the CDF. When SkeletonTable creates a skeleton table, this will be the name of the corresponding CDF (not the full pathname specified). When SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this will be the name of the CDF created unless a CDF pathname is specified on the command line. If the CDF name in the skeleton table is to be used, a full pathname must be specified (if desired) or else the CDF will be created in the default/current directory.

<data-encoding>
The data encoding of the CDF. When specifying a data encoding to the SkeletonCDF program, the following encodings are valid: HOST, NETWORK, VAX, ALPHAVMSd, ALPHAVMSg, SUN, SGi, DECSTATION, ALPHAOSF1, IBMRS, HP, IBMPC, MAC, and NeXT. When a skeleton table is created by SkeletonTable, all of the above encodings with the exception of HOST are possible. Data encoding is described in Section 2.2.8.

<variable-majority>
The variable majority of the CDF. This may be either ROW or COLUMN. Variable majority is described in Section 2.3.12.

<cdf-format>
The format of the CDF. This may be either SINGLE or MULTI. CDF formats are described in Section 2.2.7. Note that this line is optional. Skeleton tables created by SkeletonTable in CDF V2.0 did not have this line because the single-file option did not exist. To allow SkeletonCDF to read skeleton tables created with SkeletonTable in CDF V2.0, this line was made optional. If omitted, SkeletonCDF will create a CDF with the default format for your CDF distribution. Consult your system manager to determine this default. SkeletonTable (in CDF V2.1 and beyond) always generates this line regardless of the version of the CDF being read.

<rVars>
The number of rVariables in the CDF. SkeletonTable always places the correct number here. However, when SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this value is ignored (but a place holder is necessary). The number of rVariables created is determined by the number of rVariable definitions in the rVariable definitions section.

<zVars>
The number of zVariables in the CDF. SkeletonTable always places the correct number here. However, when SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this value is ignored (but a place holder is necessary). The number of zVariables created is determined by the number of zVariable definitions in the zVariable definitions section.

<gAttrs>
The number of gAttributes in the CDF. SkeletonTable always places the correct number here. However, when SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this value is ignored (but a place holder is necessary). The number of gAttributes created is determined by the number of definitions in the gAttributes section.

<vAttrs>
The number of vAttributes in the CDF. SkeletonTable always places the correct number here. However, when SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this value is ignored (but a place holder is necessary). The number of vAttributes created is determined by the number of definitions in the vAttributes section.

<n-recs>
The (maximum) number of rVariable records in the CDF. SkeletonTable always places the correct number here. However, when SkeletonCDF reads a skeleton table, this value is ignored (but a place holder is necessary). The number of records written to the CDF depends on whether or not any values are specified for variables. NRV variables are described in Section 2.3.10.

<n-dims>
The number of dimensions for the rVariables in the CDF.

<dim-sizes>
The dimension sizes for the rVariables in the CDF --- one value per dimension. If the rVariables have zero (0) dimensions, this field would be left blank.

An example header section for a CDF with 2-dimensional rVariables follows:

#header

                  CDF NAME: sample2
             DATA ENCODING: NETWORK
                  MAJORITY: ROW
                    FORMAT: SINGLE

! Variables G.Attributes V.Attributes Records  Dims   Sizes
! --------- ------------ ------------ -------  ----  -------
    14/0         18            4        1/z      2   180 360

If the rVariables had zero dimensions, the header section would be as follows:

#header

                  CDF NAME: sample0
             DATA ENCODING: NETWORK
                  MAJORITY: ROW
                    FORMAT: SINGLE

! Variables G.Attributes V.Attributes Records  Dims  Sizes
! --------- ------------ ------------ -------  ----  -----
    14/0         18            4        1/z      0

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Next: A.3 gAttributes Section Up: A Skeleton Table Format Previous: A.1 Introduction

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