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Go backward to 2 The DODS GUI Menu Reference
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The following buttons are available on the main screen of the OPeNDAP Matlab GUI. (See the figure.) They are roughly arranged by function.
Before a query can be made to a dataset, the dataset and variables must be selected, and a range must be selected in space and time. If you are looking at the graphical view, you can click this button, and then select an area in any of the selection windows (global location, time, and depth) by clicking and dragging the left mouse button.
You can also enter the boundaries of the selected range by hand. Simply switch to the text view with the View Text button, and enter the values in the entry windows provided.
Use this button to examine any of the displayed axes more closely. When the zoom operation is in effect, the left mouse button zooms in to a closer view, while the right mouse button zooms out to a more distant view. If you click and drag, the enclosed area will be enlarged to fill the selection window. (This is the standard Matlab "zoom" function.)
NOTE: Zooming in on the map, time line, or depth line does not select a region. In order to submit a request for data, you must select a range with the Set Data Range button.
Once you have selected a dataset, variables, and range, you can click the Get Details button for information about the volume and location of the data in the dataset. For example, if you select the Reynolds Weekly Sea Surface Temperature dataset, Get Details will produce an asterisk at each time within the selected time range where there is data. If you zoom in on these asterisks, you will see one of them every seven days. If multiple asterisks appear in the range you have selected, you might choose to refine your range to make a smaller request before you submit the data request. Of course, you can request data from several times, in which case there will be multiple accesses to the remote dataset. Each request will be interned separately into the Matlab workspace.
Use this button to submit a request for data from the remote server. If your data range contains several data points, your data may be returned in several Matlab arrays, or in a multi-dimensional array that will need to be subsampled to display. A message box will announce the names under which the data are to be stored.
For very large requests, a warning window may appear to remind you that the request you are about to make is a large one. Press "OK" to confirm you still want the request to be submitted. See here for more information.
This button only appears when you've plotted many variables at once. You can use this button to flip through the plots, one at a time, until the end.
Selecting this button displays a text window containing text describing the source and authors of the dataset currently selected. You can use this text to cite the source of the data, should you end up using it in a context where this is appropriate, such as a publication. If you make data products available to other scientists using this data, it is also considered good form to include this citation with that data in some way.
The text version of the main GUI window allows you to type the boundaries of the data range, and displays the dataset comments, which contain detailed descriptions of the datasets.
Press this button if you are looking at the graphic version of the main window and you want to be looking at the text version.
The graphic version of the main GUI window allows you to select the search boundaries by pointing and dragging with the mouse. This is also where you can see the displayed results of a search.
Press this button if you are looking at the text version of the main window and you want to be looking at the graphic version.
This button clears all the selections you have made: data range, variable and dataset. The Datasets and Variables menu windows are restored to their initial conditions.
This button terminates the browser. Matlab continues running after the browser finishes; you have to type quit at the Matlab prompt to end your Matlab session.