[esp-r] Re: [Core_developers] opinions requested about backwardcompatibilityin ESP-r results libraries

[Ferguson, Alex]

Phylroy said:

"What I would like to see is that developers could ADD data easily to
this zonal information contained in the RES database, without have to
worry about corrupting other data ,the size of the record, etc.
Something like the "add_to_xml" function that CETC put together.  Also
consider that some may be temporal data, but some may not (daylight
luminace factors for example which would follow a more geometrical
result using shocc and daysim) ."

I want to echo this comment. Our unfamiliarity with the res database,
(combined with our fears of corrupting it) led us away from res and
towards the xml output. Binary data formats are intrinsically opaque,
and lack of understanding of res library formats is the major reason why
few (or no?) developers outside of ESRU have undertaken res development.


Res functionality would be much more accessible to developers if new
procedures could attach data to res libraries without writing the data
directly into the file (that is, via an "add_to_xml"-like call), and if
res could discover and report this data without requiring modification. 

- Alex