[gdal-dev] GetDescription method

[Frank Warmerdam]

Paul Selormey wrote:
> The GetDescription() method of the dataset object currently
> returns only the image file name. It this the objective or there
> is more to it? (It is currently not documented)

Paul,

Despite the apparent meaning of the call it has been "usurped" to hold
the filename when called on the GDALDataset object. Note that it isn't
guaranteed that the filename returned by GetDescription() is exactly
the same as what was passed to GDALOpen(), but it is supposed to be
guaranteed to result in opening the same dataset if given to GDALOpen().

> For the rasterband object, it is documented as returning the
> description of the band, but currently returns nothing! What type
> of information is really expected here?

Most formats have no band descriptions. A few (or one?) formats, notably
ENVI format, do support band descriptions and they are returned by
GetDescription(). OpenEV will also show these band descriptions in some
appropriate band dialogs.

Where there is no band specific name, we deliberately return an empty string
so applications can easiliy recognise that there is no meaningful band
description rather than "synthesising" one.

Best regards,

-- 
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------
I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at p...
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Programmer for Rent