CDFControl is an event tracing tool geared towards capturing Citrix Diagnostic Facility (CDF) trace messages that are output from the various Citrix tracing providers. New in this Version Added the process name column to the trace viewing interface and CSV files. Just open the file with a reader, click the 'print' button, choose the virtual PDF printer and click 'print'. If you have a reader for the CDF file, and if the reader can print the file, then you can convert the file to a PDF. The FREE and easy to use PDF24 PDF printer can be downloaded from this page. A reader for data from Japan's Himawari satellite. This utility can load images, compute geopositions and solar data. It can either be linked to external programs or can output the data directly to a netCDF file. CDF library includes a suite of tools that allow users to manipulate CDF files Provide read/write interfaces for C, FORTRAN, Java, Perl, C#/Visual Basic, IDL, MATLAB (and user-supplied software, e.g., Python, Sybase, mySQL) More in Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ).
Last updated Friday 03rd December 1999Reading CDF files in Matlab
The CDF (Common Data Format) data file format is often used for distributing and storing STP spacecraft data.
Routines for reading CDF files in IDL are present in the standard CDF distribution. There is no comparable facility for Matlab, however.
I have written several Matlab functions which provide a primitive facility to access data in CDF files. One, cdfinfo lists variables in a CDF file and their properties. Another, cdfread returns data from named variables in the file. Finally, cdf2date,cdf2ep and cdf2time convert CDF Epoch times to Matlab date format, 1950.0 Epoch and [YY DD HH MM SS] format respectively.
Contents
More details
There are several programs, all of which are 'MEX' files - that is, they are compiled C programs that act like Matlab functions. They use v2.6 of the CDF library to retrieve information from CDF files. Once compiled, these programs act like any other M file.I have produced a distribution which contains SPARC Solaris executables of the programs, so if you use this platform you need not compile the programs. They are statically linked against the CDF library so you don't need to have this either. This distribution also contains source code.
If you do wish to compile the programs, you will need the Matlab v5.2 MEX compiler, which also needs a C compiler. Details vary from platform to platform: consult your Matlab documentation. You will also need the CDF library. There is a source-only distribution which is much smaller than the executable one. Compilation instructions are included in both distributions.
One advantage of compiling the programs yourself is that you can produce versions which are dynamically linked against the CDF library, making the executables much smaller (typically by a factor of about 10). Instructions on how to do this are also included in the distributions.
An example
A typical use of the programs is to extract some magnetic field data from a file and plot it. Here is an example Matlab session:Version numbers
| Program | Version | Date |
|---|---|---|
| cdfread | 0.42 | 03.11.99 |
| cdfinfo | 0.3 | 02.03.99 |
| cdf2date | 0.12 | 18.09.99 |
| cdf2ep | 0.2 | 29.04.99 |
| cdf2time | 0.2 | 29.04.99 |
| sizetest | 0.10 | 26.07.99 |
Downloading the CDF reader
This software is distributed under the GNU public license. This license imposes significant restrictions on the use of the software, in particular on its distribution. It also limits my legal liabilities. Please read the license carefully before using the software.Two files are available for download:
- Compiled programs for Solaris (updated 03.11.99)
- An archive containing executables, for SPARC Solaris 2.6 and Matlab 5.2. These may also work with different versions of Solaris. The executables are statically linked, which makes them rather large. If the CDF library is available on your system, if is better to download the source and re-compile the files with the CDF library dynamically linked. Unzip and untar the archive, then follow instructions in the ReadMe file.
- Source programs (updated 03.11.99)
- An archive containing source for the MEX files. To compile the programs, you will need a working Matlab installation with the MEX compiler and the CDF library distribution. Unzip and untar the archive, then follow instructions in the ReadMe file.
Mailing list
Cdf File Extension
If you use this software and would like to know when new versions are released (typically every month or two), please email t.horbury@ic.ac.uk and I will put you on an announcement mailing list.
Wolfram Cdf Player
