Re: Mixing ASCII and Binary in files

["Liam E. Gumley" <Liam.Gumley(at)ssec.wisc.edu>]

Ben Tupper wrote:
> I have a question regarding mixing ASCII data (as a header) with binary
> data (as data following the header).  This is a desirable format for our
> purposes for a number of reasons.  I have come across such files
> generated in the DOS environment from Sea-Bird Electronics devices.
> 
> I am able to read and write such files in MacOS using IDL without
> difficulty; I am unable to do the same in Windows.

Ben, did you try using the OPEN keywords /BINARY and /NOAUTOMODE in
Windows (I believe these keywords are no longer required in IDL 5.4).

> From within IDL, is it possible to write such a file so that it is
> readable across all platforms?  If so, how?

BINWRITE and BINREAD are designed for this sort of thing. If you want to
include a string, convert it to BYTE type before writing it, and then
convert back to STRING type after reading it.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/~gumley/binarytools.html

Of course if you want to go full steam on this, you may want to consider
netCDF or HDF.

Cheers,
Liam.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/~gumley