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[ddlm-group] CIF header
- To: ddlm-group@iucr.org
- Subject: [ddlm-group] CIF header
- From: Joe Krahn <krahn@niehs.nih.gov>
- Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:19:49 -0400
IMHO, there should be some sort of header to distinguish CIF variants, sort of like the DOCTYPE line at the top of XML files. This will help deal with CIF1 files that are not CIF2 compliant, and could also better handle more extreme variants, like binary CIF. The current syntax suggests, but does not require, an initial comment line starting with #CIF. I proposed to the COMCIFS list that global_ could be used for this purpose. In this way, global_ would only be read by the parser, and not be considered as part of the actual CIF data. The idea is to use the existing STAR syntax instead of designing something new. The disadvantage is that the global_ section itself would have to maintain a restricted 7-bit ASCII format, and not allow any of the newer STAR/CIF syntax. So, the "simplicity" of just using the existing STAR syntax really is not there. Alternatively, the initial CIF comment line could be made a requirement rather than a suggestion, and also define a way to include additional file attributes in the form of param=value pairs. For example, a CIF2 file could add "binary=true" to indicate the presence of binary sections, rather than binary-CIF having to be a completely separate format. If extra file attributes seem like an unnecessary complication, then maybe at least the simple comment line could be made a requirement? Then, you can distinguish CIF2 files, and assume that any file without a comment is CIF1. Joe Krahn _______________________________________________ ddlm-group mailing list ddlm-group@iucr.org http://scripts.iucr.org/mailman/listinfo/ddlm-group
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