Password field in loading XML files can be empty

[TatianaBurek]

Describe the Problem

This issue arose via METplus Discussions dtcenter/METplus#2291.

Currently if the password field in loading XML file is empty,

  <user>tatiana.burek</user>
    <password></password>

METdbLoad script throws an error:

METdataio/METdbLoad/ush/read_load_xml.py

Line 242 in 2c35b04

if ((not self.connection['db_user']) or

In reality, password field can be empty - example the environment on AWS.
Because of this restriction, users can't load their data to AWS databases.

Recommend that Binbin Zhou and Ho-Chun Huang test and verify this fix.

Expected Behavior

The check the empty password field should be removed

Environment

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Post relevant sample data following these instructions:
https://dtcenter.org/community-code/model-evaluation-tools-met/met-help-desk#ftp

Relevant Deadlines

Needs to be fixed, included in a 2.1.1 bugfix release, and redeployed on NOAA AWS no later than August 29, 2023.
This is critical for NOAA AQM plotting.

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[bikegeek]

@TatianaBurek , should we still keep this check, except log a WARNING so non-cloud users still get notification of a missing password? (And continue without erroring out)

[TatianaBurek]

I don't think so.
If the connection to the database was unsuccessful we can print an error message that would include the warning. But with the successful database connection it is irrelevant.