search for: var_desc

...the additional IOAPI metadata, ioapi::ncvar_add(...) would call ncdf4::ncvar_add(...), then (e.g.--not complete, strictly for illustration) * create global attr=VAR-LIST if it does not already exist * add properly-formatted variable name to VAR-LIST * add properly-formatted attrs longname, units, var_desc to the datavar if they do not already exist I've spent most of my codelife in Java, where one can decorate as above either * @ compile-time: simple inheritance. Brittle longterm, but gets the job done for now. * @ run-time: real Decorator Pattern ? la the Gang of Four. Not much harder, usual...