Re: [Pytables-users] Adding an HDF5 Scalar dataset to a PyTables file

[Maarten S. <maa...@xs...>]

On 17 mrt 2010, at 18:21, Francesc Alted wrote:

> A Tuesday 16 March 2010 17:45:36 Maarten Sneep escrigué:
>> 
> 
>> What is the most convenient way of storing a configuration file like this
>> in a pytables file?
> 
> Well, I'd say the above (scalar Array) is good enough because it is compact 
> and can be larger than 64 KB (which is a limitation for HDF5 attributes).

Yes, from a technical point of view. But from a usability point of view a string array with elements of 64 kB each is more convenient. Most HDF viewers (well, at least hdfview ;) can show the text as text, not a byte array. I now use single element arrays (each atom a 64 kB string), with code to automatically split the file (on new-lines) over multiple arrays. Compression does the rest (I think). Actually formulating the question here already helped me to get an answer. Seeing what types came out of the HDF-EOS file was enough of an answer.

>> The natural naming scheme is more convenient, and will be employed in my
>> files.
> 
> Definitely.  But you can also retrieve the above node as:
> 
> ArchiveMetadata = h5file.getNode('/HDFEOS INFORMATION/ArchiveMetadata.0')
> 
> which is pretty much shorter.

Yes, but interactive use sometimes accesses items piece by piece in a hierarchy...

Best,

Maarten