What is ASCII Table data?

ASCII Table data (or just Table data for short) is a generic term for column oriented ASCII data in Metview. Both Geopoints and CSV (Column Separated Values) files can be regarded as Table data. The detailed description of the format can be found on the ASCII Table overview page.

The Table icon

Table data files are represented by this icon in the user interface:

Examining Table files contents

The contents of a Table file can be inspected with the Code editor which can be started up from the user interface (right-click examine on the icon). But basically any text editor would be fine for that purpose.

Visualisation

Automatic visualisation of ASCII tables is not available in Metview but it is implemented via the Table Visualiser icon. With this icon we can specify the view type and the columns to generate the actual plot. Visualisation is supported both on maps and xy-charts for scalar and vector data.

Table Reader

ASCII Table files might not be automatically recognised in Metview's user interface. This problem can be overcome by the Table Reader icon, which is able to properly parse and interpret ASCII files as Table data.

Script language support

Metview provides full support for ASCII Tables from its Macro and Python interfaces. This includes:

• extracting header keys and values
• extracting column data

The list of available functions for ASCII Tables can be found on the Table Functions page.