Export module

Configuration

The export module can export timeseries for use in other systems. The configuration of the module is split into three sections:

• General: Specify file name, data type etc...
• metadata: Export specific settings
• timeseriesSets: actual data to export

In the sections below the different elements of the configuration are described

General

description

An optional description

exportTypeStandard

This type specifies which reader should be used to read the file. The type must be one from the enumeration. Presently (2007/02) only bfg and pi are included in this list.

exportType

This type specifies which reader should be used to read the file. It may be any string as long as this type is supported by the TimeSeriesExport module. The list of supported types is given below.

folder

Folder (directory) in which to store the exported files.

exportFileName

This elements describes how to construct the filename(s) of the exported file(s).

If only the name element is given a fixed name is used for each export. The prefix and suffix elements describe how to create a filename prefix and/or suffix. The temporaryPrefix is used to generate a prefix for the temporary file as it is being written. After that the fine is renamed.

validate

Optional element. Only applicable if the data are exported to the xml-file. This option activates the validation of the exported file against a XML schema.

idmapId

Id of IdMap to be used for parameterId and locationId mapping

unitConversionsId

Id of UnitConversions to be used for unit mapping

flagConversionsId

Id of flagConversions to be used for flag mapping

exportMissingValue/exportMissingValueString

Missing value definition for this time series. Either a string or a number. Defaults to NaN if not defined.

omitMissingValues

If set to true records with missing values are not exported

exportTimeZone

TimeZone in which to export the data. Can either be a string (timeZoneName) or an offset (timeZoneOffset).

convertDatum

Convert datum to local datum during import. The conversion will be done for all parameters which use datum (as configured in Parameters.xml) The local datum is defined in the z element in the locations.xml file.

exportManualChanges

If used, only manual changed to the data will be exported.

properties

Here properties for specific serializers can be configured. For example for the NetCDFSerializers the following properties will be taken into account:

<properties>
   <bool key="includeComments" value="true"/>
   <bool key="includeFlags" value="true"/>
   <bool key="includeTSProperties" value="true"/>
   <bool key="tryCompactingNetCDFData" value="true"/>
</properties>

includecomments

Export comment for each time step to NetCDF, default false

includeFlags 

Export flag for each time step to NetCDF, default false

includeTSProperties

Export time series properties for each time step to NetCDF, default false

tryCompactingNetCDFData

Depending on the difference between the minimum and maximum and the value resolution of a netcdf variable, try to use smaller sized integer variables like short or byte to compact the data. A scale factor and offset will be used to fit the data in the smaller sized variable and will added to the netCDF variable as attributes. All standard netCDF viewers will take these attributes into account automatically, but other tools and especially scripts might not. This property will be false by default.

metadata

Optional metadata that is written in the exported file. The options netcdfMapDPhase and alertMapDPhase are deprecated (do not use these). For the other options it is possible to use the following tags:
%TIME_ZERO% the T0 of this time series export run.
%CURRENT_TIME% the current time.
%MODULE_INSTANCE_ID% the id of this module instance.
%MODULE_INSTANCE_NAME% the name of this module instance.
%MODULE_INSTANCE_DESCRIPTION% the configured description of this module instance.
%WORKFLOW_ID% the id of the workflow in which this export runs.
%WORKFLOW_NAME% the name of the workflow in which this export runs.
%WORKFLOW_DESCRIPTION% the configured description of the workflow in which this export runs.
%USER_ID% the id of the user by which this export run is executed.

Configuration example of metadata:

<metadata>
	<title>title</title>
	<institution>  institution  </institution>
	<source>source</source>
	<history>Exported at time zero = %TIME_ZERO(yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss z)% in module instance %MODULE_INSTANCE_ID% as part of workflow %WORKFLOW_NAME% by user %USER_ID%.</history>
	<references>references</references>
	<comment>The actual time of writing was %CURRENT_TIME(yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss z)%</comment>
	<summary>A summary of the data</summary>
	<keyword>keyword1</keyword>
	<keyword>  keyword  with  lots  of  spaces  </keyword>
	<keyword>keyword 3</keyword>
	<customAttributes>
		<string key="emptyAttribute" value="    "/>
		<int key="  custom2  " value="123456"/>
		<string key="custom_3" value="This is a custom attribute with 'quotes' in it."/>
		<string key="    " value="attribute with empty key specified is not written"/>
		<float key="just_another_float" value="3.5"/>
		<bool key="truth" value="true"/>
	</customAttributes>
</metadata>

title

A short description of the dataset. Its value will be used by THREDDS opendap servers as the name of the dataset. It therefore should be human readable and reasonable to display in a list of such names.

institution

Specifies where the original data was produced.

source

The method of production of the original data. If it was model-generated, source should name the model and its version, as specifically as could be useful. If it is observational, source should characterize it (e.g. "surface observation" or "radiosonde").

history

Provides an audit trail for modifications to the original data. It should contain a separate line for each modification with each line including a timestamp, user name, modification name, and modification arguments. Its value will be used by THREDDS opendap servers as a history-type documentation. It is recommended that each line begins with a timestamp indicating the date and time of day at which the modification was performed.

references

Published or web-based references that describe the data or methods used to produce it.

comment

Miscellaneous information about the data or methods used to produce it.

summary

The "summary" attribute gives a longer description of the dataset. In many discovery systems, the title and the summary will be displayed in the results list from a search. It should therefore capture the essence of the dataset it describes. For instance, include information on the type of data contained in the dataset, how the data was created (e.g. instrument X or model X, run Y), the creator of the dataset, the project for which the data was created, the geospatial coverage of the data, and the temporal coverage of the data.

keyword

Optional one or more key words or phrases that are relevant to the dataset. The values in this list may be taken from a controlled list of keywords (e.g. the AGU Index list or the GCMD Science Keywords).

customAttributes

If you want to add an attribute that is not predefined in the schema, then you can add it as a custom attribute here.

timeseriesSet

Define the timeseriesset to be exported. Please note that not all exports support all timeseriestypes (e.g. csv only supports scalar type).