Enhance MET to parse the set_attr options prior reading data from gridded data files

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Describe the Enhancement

This enhancement request arose via GitHub discussion dtcenter/METplus#2507. The user provided a NetCDF file where the grid information is formatted in a way that MET does not expect. The set_attr options, including set_attr_grid are provided to enable the user to override the metadata defined in the input gridded data files. However, the current order of processing logic makes them less useful than they could be.

Please see a sample input file in seneca:/d1/projects/METplus/discussions/2507/phyf000.nc. Running this through plot_data_plane with file_type=NETCDF_NCCF; produces this error message:

ERROR  : NcCfFile::read_netcdf_grid() -> Couldn't figure out projection from information in netCDF file.

Adding the set_attr_grid option to explicitly define the grid for the data still produces the same error message.

This issue is to update the processing logic for reading data from gridded input file. Currently, MET opens the file, parses the metadata, and then updates the metadata based on the set_attr options. If errors are encountered when parsing the metadata from the file, MET exits with bad status prior to handling the set_attr options. Modify this logic so that if set_attr options are defined, the code doesn't even try to parse that metadata from the file.

Of course, such data could also be handled via Python embedding. But supporting it via the set_atttr options may be easier for some users.

Time Estimate

3 days?

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