\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c Copyright (c) 2022-2023, John Donoghue <john.donoghue@ieee.org>
@c Octave NetCDF - A NetCDF interface for Octave

@c For manually generating the documentation use
@c   LANGUAGE=en makeinfo --html --no-split octave-netcdf.texi

@c %*** Start of HEADER
@setfilename octave-netcdf.info
@settitle Octave NetCDF - A NetCDF interface for Octave
@afourpaper
@paragraphindent 0
@finalout
@set COPYRIGHT_DATE 2022-2023
@c @afourwide
@c %*** End of the HEADER

@include version.texi
@include macros.texi

@c %*** Start of TITLEPAGE
@titlepage
@c @center @image{octave-netcdf-logo}
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@title Octave NetCDF Toolkit @value{VERSION}
@subtitle NetCDF functions for @acronym{GNU} Octave.
@author John Donoghue
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
Copyright @copyright{} @value{COPYRIGHT_DATE} John Donoghue

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire
resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
into another language, under the same conditions as for modified versions.

@page
@heading Distribution
The @acronym{GNU} Octave NetCDF package is @dfn{free} software.
Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute,
study, change and improve the software.
This means that everyone is free to use it and free to redistribute it
on certain conditions.  The @acronym{GNU} Octave NetCDF package
is not, however, in the public domain.  It is copyrighted and there are
restrictions on its distribution, but the restrictions are designed to
ensure that others will have the same freedom to use and redistribute
Octave that you have.  The precise conditions can be found in the
@acronym{GNU} General Public License that comes with the @acronym{GNU}
Octave NetCDF package and that also appears in @ref{Copying}.

To download a copy of the @acronym{GNU} Octave NetCDF package, please visit
@url{http://octave.sourceforge.net/netcdf/}.

@end titlepage
@c %*** End of TITLEPAGE

@dircategory Math
@direntry
* NetCDF for Octave: (netcdf).         NetCDF Toolbox for Octave 
@end direntry

@c %*** Start of BODY
@contents
@ifnottex
@node Top
@top Introduction
The Octave NetCDF toolkit is a set of NetCDF routines for GNU Octave
@end ifnottex

@menu
* Installing and loading::    Installing and loading the toolkit
* Basic Usage Overview::      Basic Usage Overview
* Function Reference::        Toolkit functions
* Copying::                   Copying
* Index::                     Index
@end menu

@c -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node Installing and loading
@chapter Installing and loading
@cindex Installing and loading

The toolkit must be installed and then loaded to be used.

It can be installed in @acronym{GNU} Octave directly from the website,
or can be installed in an off-line mode via a downloaded tarball.

The toolkit has a dependency on the netcdf library (@url{https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/}),
so it must be installed in order to successfully install the toolkit.

The toolkit must be then be loaded once per each @acronym{GNU} Octave session in order to use its functionality.

@section Online Direct install
@cindex Online install
With an internet connection available, the package can be installed from
octave-forge using the following command within @acronym{GNU} Octave:

@example
pkg install -forge netcdf
@end example

The latest released version of the toolkit will be downloaded and installed.

@section Off-line install
@cindex Off-line install
With the toolkit package already downloaded, and in the current directory when running
@acronym{GNU} Octave, the package can be installed using the following command within @acronym{GNU} Octave:

@example
pkg install netcdf-@value{VERSION}.tar.gz
@end example

@section Loading
@cindex Loading
Regardless of the method of installing the toolkit, in order to use its functions,
the toolkit must be loaded using the pkg load command:

@example
pkg load netcdf
@end example

The toolkit must be loaded on each @acronym{GNU} Octave session.

@c -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node Basic Usage Overview
@chapter Basic Usage Overview
@cindex Basic Usage Overview

The toolkit provides high and level functionality for reading and
writing NetCDF format files.

@section High level functionality
@cindex  High level functionality

The toolkit provides the following high level functions:
@itemize @bullet
@item
nccreate     
@item
ncdisp       
@item
ncinfo       
@item
ncreadatt    
@item
ncread       
@item
ncwriteatt   
@item
ncwrite      
@item
ncwriteschema
@end itemize

@section Low level functionality
@cindex  Low level functionality

The package aims to implement the netcdf interface of MATLAB in GNU Octave, however @acronym{GNU} Octave
does not support the import function.

Functions can be used in netcdf_functionname format, or an emulated import can be done using the
import_netcdf script so that functions can be used in netcdf.functionname format.


@c -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node Function Reference
@chapter Function Reference
@cindex Function Reference

The functions currently available in the toolkit are described below;

@include functions.texi

@c -------------------------------------------------------------------------

@include gpl.texi

@c -------------------------------------------------------------------------
@node Index 
@unnumbered Index 
 
@printindex cp
 
@bye
