Inspect the ODB metadata

odb4py provides three main modules:

  • odb4py.core : Low-level functions interfacing Python with the ODB runtime libraries.

  • odb4py.convert: Reads ODB data and converts rows into other formats such as Sqlite.

  • odb4py.utils : Pure Python helper utilities to initialize the ODB environment, sanitize SQL queries, and manage auxiliary tasks.

To retrieve the general attributes of an ODB database, only the directory and metadata files are parsed. These attributes can be fetched individually or returned as a dictionary. In a Python script, a database object must first be instantiated using OdbObject (from the odb_ob.py module). The following methods can then be used to retrieve metadata attributes:

  • get_basename

  • get_size

  • get_pools

  • get_attrib

Example: An ODB database from RMI, ECMA.synop

from odb4py import OdbObject

# Create a 'db' object
db = OdbObject("/path/to/ECMA.synop")

# The  attributes are returned as a dict
db_attr  =db.get_attrib()

# print
for k, v in db_attr.items():
    # Doesn't align by default
    print( f"{k:<30}: {v}" )

name                           :  ECMA.synop
type                           :  ECMA
obstype                        :  synop
date_creation                  :  20240625 181148
last_modification              :  20240625 181155
observation_date               :  20211101 030000
number_pools                   :  4
odb_total_size                 :  792209 (Bytes)
Poolmask                       :  ['1', '2', '3', '4']
tables                         :  ['body', 'conv', 'conv_body', 'desc', 'errstat', 'hdr', 'index', 'modsurf', 'poolmask', 'timeslot_index', 'update_1', 'update_2', 'update_3']
ioassign_file                  :  samples/rmi/ECMA.synop/IOASSIGN
flags_file                     :  samples/rmi/ECMA.synop/ECMA.flags
iomap_file                     :  None
number_of_considered_tables    :  386
odb_software_release           :  43 0.000 1