Importing and Exporting Data (Development Environment)

Development Environment

Overview of MATLAB HDF Support

The NCSA organizes the routines in the HDF library into collections, called Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Each API works with particular type of data. For example, the HDF Scientific Data (SD) API works with multidimensional arrays of numeric data. Table , , lists all the HDF APIs supported by MATLAB (listed alphabetically by acronym). The table includes a MATLAB specific API made up of utility functions.

In addition to these standard HDF APIs, MATLAB also supports the EOS extension to HDF. HDF-EOS provides functions to store, manage, and retrieve multidimensional arrays of numeric data, point data, and swath data. See the HDF-EOS documentation for more information.

Note MATLAB supports the version 4.1r3 of the NCSA multifile APIs to HDF data. The multifile APIs replace the original NCSA APIs. MATLAB does not support HDF version 5.0, which is a completely new format and is not compatible with version 4.1r3.

Table 6-9: Supported HDF Application Programming Interfaces (APIs
Application Programming Interface
Acronym
Description

Annotations
AN

Stores, manages, and retrieves text used to describe an HDF file or any of the data structures contained in the file.

General Raster Images
DF24 DFR8

Stores, manages, and retrieves raster images, their dimensions and palettes. It can also manipulate unattached palettes.
Note: Use the MATLAB high-level functions imread and imwrite with HDF raster image formats.

HDF Utilities
H, HD, and HE

Provides functions to open and close HDF files and handle errors.

MATLAB HDF Utilities
ML

Provides utility functions that help you work with HDF files in the MATLAB environment.

Scientific Data
SD
Stores, manages, and retrieves multidimensional arrays of character or numeric data, along with their dimensions and attributes.

V Groups
V
Creates and retrieves groups of other HDF data objects, such as raster images or V data.

V Data
VS VF VH
Stores, manages, and retrieves multivariate data stored as records in a table.

Table 6-9: **Supported HDF Application Programming Interfaces (APIs**
Application Programming Interface	Acronym	Description
Annotations	`AN`	Stores, manages, and retrieves text used to describe an HDF file or any of the data structures contained in the file.
General Raster Images	`DF24 DFR8`	Stores, manages, and retrieves raster images, their dimensions and palettes. It can also manipulate unattached palettes. Note: Use the MATLAB high-level functions `imread` and `imwrite` with HDF raster image formats.
HDF Utilities	`H, HD`, and `HE`	Provides functions to open and close HDF files and handle errors.
MATLAB HDF Utilities	`ML`	Provides utility functions that help you work with HDF files in the MATLAB environment.
Scientific Data	`SD`	Stores, manages, and retrieves multidimensional arrays of character or numeric data, along with their dimensions and attributes.
V Groups	`V`	Creates and retrieves groups of other HDF data objects, such as raster images or V data.
V Data	`VS VF VH`	Stores, manages, and retrieves multivariate data stored as records in a table.

Working with HDF Data MATLAB HDF Function Calling Conventions