@BeginModule
@NewPage
@Name      = Importbinary
@Title     = Import binary data sets
@Section   = Import/Export
@Arguments = ifile ofile
@Operators = import_binary

@BeginDescription
This operator imports gridded binary data sets via a GrADS data descriptor file.
The GrADS data descriptor file contains a complete description of the binary data as well 
as instructions on where to find the data and how to read it. The descriptor file is an ASCII 
file that can be created easily with a text editor. The general contents of a gridded data 
descriptor file are as follows:
@BeginItemize
@Item = Filename for the binary data
@Item = Missing or undefined data value
@Item = Mapping between grid coordinates and world coordinates
@Item = Description of variables in the binary data set 
@EndItemize

A detailed description of the components of a GrADS data descriptor file can be found in @cite{GrADS}.
Here is a list of the supported components:
BYTESWAPPED, CHSUB, DSET, ENDVARS, FILEHEADER, HEADERBYTES, OPTIONS, TDEF, TITLE, 
TRAILERBYTES, UNDEF, VARS, XDEF, XYHEADER, YDEF, ZDEF
@EndDescription
@EndModule


@BeginOperator_import_binary
@Title     = Import binary data sets

@BeginDescription
@EndDescription
@EndOperator


@BeginNote
Only 32-bit IEEE floats are supported for standard binary files!
@EndNote


@BeginExample
To convert a binary data file to netCDF use:
@BeginVerbatim
   cdo -f nc import_binary ifile.ctl ofile.nc
@EndVerbatim
Here is an example of a GrADS data descriptor file:
@BeginListing
   DSET  ^ifile.bin
   OPTIONS sequential
   UNDEF  -9e+33
   XDEF 360 LINEAR -179.5 1
   YDEF 180 LINEAR  -89.5 1
   ZDEF   1 LINEAR 1 1
   TDEF   1 LINEAR 00:00Z15jun1989 12hr
   VARS   1
   param  1  99  description of the variable
   ENDVARS
@EndListing
The binary data file ifile.bin contains one parameter on a global 1 degree lon/lat 
grid written with FORTRAN record length headers (sequential).
@EndExample
