HDFView unable to export dataset

HDFView / Java HDF Object Package
1

Installed HDFView 3.1.1 on Windows 10, then tried “Export Dataset” on a HDF5 file. The following error message shows up when : “Unable to export dataset: Unable to open file”. Tried different save locations (on local HDD) and file names, different export data formats, verified folder permissions, etc – always get this error.

2

The file you opened might need to be R/W and not read-only.

Allen

3

Same for me with HDFView-3.1.3 on Mac OS.

It’s not a permission problem, because:
“Right-click in data tree -> Save to” will write a h5 file perfectly to disk.

However:
Right-click in data tree -> Export Data Set… will give the error "Unable to export dataset: Unable to open file”
Tried with Text and Binary formats. Fails with all tried file paths.

It seems that the Export data… function is broken.

Additional note: I have granted the app the “Full disk access” rights in System Preferences -> Security&Privacy

4

Same with windows version (3.1.3)

5

Well, not sure why, because on the systems I have the function does work.
The location you are writing to does not have spaces or extended characters?

Allen

6

Thanks for checking.

No, the paths do not contain spaces or extra stuff. I tried e.g. C:\temp\a.txt on windows or /tmp/a.txt on Macos.
In HDFView 2.14, the dataset export works without problems (in this a suitable workaround for me).

I think it’s the specific h5 file I am trying to export data from. It’s a NASTRAN output file.

When I create a new file in HFDView 3.1.3, and add data to it, the export works fine.

I notice that the icons in the tree view of the newly created file are different: In the NASTRAN file, the data sets appear with a small red “A” overlayed on them. In my newly created h5 file, the icons are “clean”. Does this make sense to you?

7

The “A” indicates that there is an attached attribute. There was an issue with exporting from an attribute, because they were not handled like a dataset. This is fixed in the curreent development, but I will double check exporting from an attribute.

8

I found a workaround:

Instead of "Right-click in data tree -> Export data set… " you can do
"Double-click in data tree -> Select table columns -> Menubar -> “Export data set…”

While the first option gives “unable to open file” (now confirmed by a colleague working with NASTRAN output files), the section option works fine in the newest version of HDFView.

9

Thanks - good information to have.
Allen