Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
The HDF5 Tools
We'll be creating a number of files in later chapters, and it's nice to have an independent
way of seeing what they contain. It's also a good idea to inspect files you create profes‐
sionally, especially if you'll be using them for archiving or sharing them with colleagues.
The earlier you can detect the use of an incorrect data type, for example, the better off
you and other users will be.
HDFView
HDFView is a free graphical browser for HDF5 files provided by the HDF Group. It's a
little basic, but is written in Java and therefore available on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
There's a built-in spreadsheet-like browser for data, and basic plotting capabilities.
Figure 2-2. HDFView
Figure 2-2
shows the contents of an HDF5 file with multiple groups in the left-hand
pane. One group (named “1”) is open, showing the datasets it contains; likewise, one
dataset is opened, with its contents displayed in the grid view to the right.
HDFView also lets you inspect attributes of datasets and groups, and supports nearly
all the data types that HDF5 itself supports, with the exception of certain variable-length
structures.
