Parameters file

The schema-companion to the Define parameters & units task guide. For the why and the common patterns, read that; this page is the exhaustive field list, generated from the schema.

At a glance

Purpose : Declares the parameters — discharge, water level, precipitation — that every time series is measured in. The “what” of your data model.

Folder : Config/RegionConfigFiles/

Root element : <parameters> (version="1.0", optional)

Depends on : Nothing — parameters are foundational nouns referenced by id from imports, filters, and models.

Minimal example

Config/RegionConfigFiles/Parameters 1.00 default.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<parameters xmlns="http://www.wldelft.nl/fews" version="1.0">
  <parameterGroups>
    <parameterGroup id="Q">
      <parameterType>instantaneous</parameterType>
      <unit>m3/s</unit>
      <valueResolution>0.001</valueResolution>
      <usesDatum>false</usesDatum>
      <parameter id="Q.obs">
        <shortName>Q.obs</shortName>
        <description>Observed discharge</description>
      </parameter>
    </parameterGroup>
  </parameterGroups>
</parameters>

Tip

The parameterGroup carries the shared parameterType/unit/valueResolution; the parameter inside is the id you reference elsewhere. See the task guide for why the split matters and how parameterType affects aggregation.

Field reference

Auto-generated from parameters.xsd. Descriptions are the schema's own annotations.

Element <parameters>

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
version	optional	fixed: 1.0.

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
enumerations	TimeSeriesValueEnumerationsComplexType	optional	Since 2015.01. Enumerations that can be used instead of parameter unit
parametersCsvFile	ParametersCsvFileComplexType	optional · repeats	Since 2014.02
parameterGroups	ParameterGroupsComplexType	optional
parameterRootNode	ParameterNodeComplexType	optional
persistentIdsCsvFile	PersistentIdsCsvFileComplexType	required · repeats	A file that maps config ids to database ids. Only locations where the config id is different from the database are listed. Config ids can be changed as long the database id stays the same.
displayUnitConversionsId	string	optional	The unit conversions id to convert from the (internal) units to the display units. This id should be available in the UnitConversionsDescriptors. Only required when a user unit is specified for a parameter group
configUnitConversionsId	string	optional	The unit conversions id to convert from the units specified in config files to the internal units for this parameter. This id should be available in the UnitConversionsDescriptors. Only required when a user unit is specified for a thresholdValuesSet, validationRuleSet or ratingCurve
ratingCurveStageParameterId	idStringType	optional	This parameter is used to resolve the internal stage unit and display stage unit and the name (label) that is used for the rating curve stage axis/column in the user interface
ratingCurveDischargeParameterId	idStringType	optional	This parameter is used to resolve the internal discharge unit and display discharge unit and the name (label) that is used for the rating curve discharge axis/column in the user interface
chainageParameterId	idStringType	optional	SINCE 2016.01 This parameter is used to resolve the internal chainage unit and display chainage unit and the name (label) that is used for the chainage axis in user interface
tideNumberParameterId	idStringType	optional	SINCE 2022.02. The parameter of a time series (set) is replaced (behind the screens) with this parameter to find the tide number

TimeSeriesValueEnumerationsComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
enumeration	TimeSeriesValueEnumerationComplexType	required	Since 2015.01. Single enumeration that can be assigned to parameters by specifying its id

ParametersCsvFileComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
file	nonEmptyStringType	required	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. name of a csv file in the map layer files or a full absolute path to the csv file (*.csv).
charset	charsetEnumStringType	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. Character set of the text in the csv file. Specify only when the csv file contains non western characters. One of: US-ASCII, windows-1250, windows-1251, windows-1252, windows-1253, windows-1254, windows-1257, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2, ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-5, ISO-8859-7, ISO-8859-9, ISO-8859-13, ISO-8859-15, KOI8-R, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-16BE, UTF-16LE, windows-1255, windows-1256, windows-1258, ISO-8859-3, ISO-8859-6, ISO-8859-8, windows-31j, EUC-JP, x-EUC-JP-LINUX, Shift_JIS, ISO-2022-JP, x-mswin-936, GB18030, x-EUC-CN, GBK, ISCII91, x-windows-949, EUC-KR, ISO-2022-KR, x-windows-950, x-MS950-HKSCS, x-EUC-TW, Big5, Big5-HKSCS, TIS-620, Big5_Solaris, Cp037, Cp273, Cp277, Cp278, Cp280, Cp284, Cp285, Cp297, Cp420, Cp424, Cp437, Cp500, Cp737, Cp775, Cp838, Cp850, Cp852, Cp855, Cp856, Cp857, Cp858, Cp860, Cp861, Cp862, Cp863, Cp864, Cp865, Cp866, Cp868, Cp869, Cp870, Cp871, Cp874, Cp875, Cp918, Cp921, Cp922, Cp930, Cp933, Cp935, Cp937, Cp939, Cp942, Cp942C, Cp943, Cp943C, Cp948, Cp949, Cp949C, Cp950, Cp964, Cp970, Cp1006, Cp1025, Cp1026, Cp1046, Cp1047, Cp1097, Cp1098, Cp1112, Cp1122, Cp1123, Cp1124, Cp1140, Cp1141, Cp1142, Cp1143, Cp1144, Cp1145, Cp1146, Cp1147, Cp1148, Cp1149, Cp1381, Cp1383, Cp33722, ISO2022_CN_CNS, ISO2022_CN_GB, JISAutoDetect, MS874, MacArabic, MacCentralEurope, MacCroatian, MacCyrillic, MacDingbat, MacGreek, MacHebrew, MacIceland, MacRoman, MacRomania, MacSymbol, MacThai, MacTurkish, MacUkraine
attributeFile	parameterAttributeFileComplexType	optional · repeats	Links an extra csv file to the current shape file to import extra attributes. Optionally allows defining different values for different periods and multiple values (tables) per attribute
id	nonEmptyStringType	required	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. e.g. "%ID%", put the actual column name between %%.
name	idStringType	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
shortName	idStringType	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
description	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
simulatedHistoricalParameterId	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
group	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. All parameters that share the same group can share the same chart axis, they should all share the same unit. put the actual column name between %%
groupName	string	optional	Since 2016.02. Group name is used for the axis caption. By default the group (id) used. put the actual column name between %%
enumerationId	string	optional	Since 2016.02. Reference to one of the enumerations defined above. put the actual column name between %%
allowedValuesAttributeId	idStringType	optional	Since 2024.01. Reference to a location attribute to restrict the allowed input values.
parameterType	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
unit	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
displayUnit	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
valueResolution	floatStringType	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
valueResolutionUnit	unitStringType	optional	Should be the same as the system unit or the display unit
usesDatum	booleanStringType	optional	Since 2015.02. Put the actual column name between %%. Indicates if the parameter is to be converted when toggling between local and global datum. Value is either true or false. If the value is true, the elevation defined in the location is added to the time series in the database on conversion.
allowMissing	booleanStringType	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
standardName	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
standardNameModifier	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
cellMethod	string	optional	Since 2014.02. FEWS-10156. put the actual column name between %%
verticalPositiveDirection	string	optional	Since 2016.02. Put the actual column name between %%. Optional geospatial_vertical_positive attribute as defined in the netcdf DataDiscoveryAttConvention convention. This is currently only used for export to netcdf files when this parameter is used as domain parameter in a time series set. This attribute indicates which direction is positive (a value of "up" means that z increases up, like units of height, while a value of "down" means that z increases downward, like units of pressure or depth). The use of these further geospatial attributes is suggested. http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/thredds/current/netcdf-java/metadata/DataDiscoveryAttConvention.html
timeZoneOffset	timeZoneOffsetStringType	optional	Since 2018.01. Optional timeZoneOffset for the dateTime attributes. This offset is always relative to GMT. For example "+02:00" means GMT+02:00. If no offset specified, then time zone GMT is used by default.
dateTimePattern	nonEmptyStringType	optional	Since 2018.01. Optional pattern for the dateTime attributes. Default is yyyyMMdd, this is the internal format a dbf file is using when the column is of type 'D'.
attribute	AttributeComplexType	optional · repeats	Custom attribute that can be referenced from id maps, validation rules, thresholds, warning levels, transformations. e.g. "%EXTERNAL_ID%, put the actual column name between %%

ParameterGroupsComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
version	optional	fixed: 1.0.

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
description	string	optional
defaultSpectrumDomainParameterId	idStringType	optional	Obsolete. For a spectrum use as scalar time series set with a domain parameters
parameterGroup	ParameterGroupComplexType	required · repeats
displayUnitConversionsId	string	optional	The unit conversions id to convert from the (internal) units to the display units. This id should be available in the UnitConversionsDescriptors. Only required when a user unit is specified for a parameter group
configUnitConversionsId	string	optional	The unit conversions id to convert from the units specified in config files to the internal units for this parameter. This id should be available in the UnitConversionsDescriptors. Only required when a user unit is specified for a thresholdValuesSet, validationRuleSet or ratingCurve
ratingCurveStageParameterId	idStringType	optional	This parameter is used to resolve the internal stage unit and display stage unit and the name (label) that is used for the rating curve stage axis/column in the user interface
ratingCurveDischargeParameterId	idStringType	optional	This parameter is used to resolve the internal discharge unit and display discharge unit and the name (label) that is used for the rating curve discharge axis/column in the user interface
chainageParameterId	idStringType	optional	SINCE 2016.01 This parameter is used to resolve the internal chainage unit and display chainage unit and the name (label) that is used for the chainage axis in user interface
tideNumberParameterId	idStringType	optional	SINCE 2022.02. The parameter of a time series (set) is replaced (behind the screens) with this parameter to find the tide number

ParameterNodeComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
name	string	optional	Short name of parameter
description	string	optional	Long descriptive name of parameter node (tooltip) Description or description
parameterId	string	optional	Reference to parameter
parameterNode	ParameterNodeComplexType	optional
constraints	ConstraintsComplexType	required	SINCE 2014.02 build 59865. Add all parameters that fulfill the constraints to this node

PersistentIdsCsvFileComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
file	nonEmptyStringType	required	name of layer in the map layer files or a full absolute path to the csv file (*.csv).
charset	charsetEnumStringType	optional	Character set of the text in the csv file. Specify only when the csv file contains non western characters. One of: US-ASCII, windows-1250, windows-1251, windows-1252, windows-1253, windows-1254, windows-1257, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2, ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-5, ISO-8859-7, ISO-8859-9, ISO-8859-13, ISO-8859-15, KOI8-R, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-16BE, UTF-16LE, windows-1255, windows-1256, windows-1258, ISO-8859-3, ISO-8859-6, ISO-8859-8, windows-31j, EUC-JP, x-EUC-JP-LINUX, Shift_JIS, ISO-2022-JP, x-mswin-936, GB18030, x-EUC-CN, GBK, ISCII91, x-windows-949, EUC-KR, ISO-2022-KR, x-windows-950, x-MS950-HKSCS, x-EUC-TW, Big5, Big5-HKSCS, TIS-620, Big5_Solaris, Cp037, Cp273, Cp277, Cp278, Cp280, Cp284, Cp285, Cp297, Cp420, Cp424, Cp437, Cp500, Cp737, Cp775, Cp838, Cp850, Cp852, Cp855, Cp856, Cp857, Cp858, Cp860, Cp861, Cp862, Cp863, Cp864, Cp865, Cp866, Cp868, Cp869, Cp870, Cp871, Cp874, Cp875, Cp918, Cp921, Cp922, Cp930, Cp933, Cp935, Cp937, Cp939, Cp942, Cp942C, Cp943, Cp943C, Cp948, Cp949, Cp949C, Cp950, Cp964, Cp970, Cp1006, Cp1025, Cp1026, Cp1046, Cp1047, Cp1097, Cp1098, Cp1112, Cp1122, Cp1123, Cp1124, Cp1140, Cp1141, Cp1142, Cp1143, Cp1144, Cp1145, Cp1146, Cp1147, Cp1148, Cp1149, Cp1381, Cp1383, Cp33722, ISO2022_CN_CNS, ISO2022_CN_GB, JISAutoDetect, MS874, MacArabic, MacCentralEurope, MacCroatian, MacCyrillic, MacDingbat, MacGreek, MacHebrew, MacIceland, MacRoman, MacRomania, MacSymbol, MacThai, MacTurkish, MacUkraine
configId	nonEmptyStringType	required	config ids in the csv file. e.g. "H_%ID%", put the actual csv column name between %%.
persistentId	nonEmptyStringType	required	persistent ids in the csv file. e.g. "%DATABASE_ID%", put the actual csv column name between %%.

TimeSeriesValueEnumerationComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Since 2015.01. Enumeration Id. Parameter can have a reference to this Id instead of a unit

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
value	EnumerationValueComplexType	required · repeats	Since 2015.01. Literal enumeration text

parameterAttributeFileComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
description	nonEmptyStringType	optional	Description
csvFile	nonEmptyStringType	required	name of csv file in the map layer files or a full absolute path to the csv file.
charset	charsetEnumStringType	optional	Character set of the text in the csv file. Specify only when the dbf file contains non western characters. One of: US-ASCII, windows-1250, windows-1251, windows-1252, windows-1253, windows-1254, windows-1257, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2, ISO-8859-4, ISO-8859-5, ISO-8859-7, ISO-8859-9, ISO-8859-13, ISO-8859-15, KOI8-R, UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-16BE, UTF-16LE, windows-1255, windows-1256, windows-1258, ISO-8859-3, ISO-8859-6, ISO-8859-8, windows-31j, EUC-JP, x-EUC-JP-LINUX, Shift_JIS, ISO-2022-JP, x-mswin-936, GB18030, x-EUC-CN, GBK, ISCII91, x-windows-949, EUC-KR, ISO-2022-KR, x-windows-950, x-MS950-HKSCS, x-EUC-TW, Big5, Big5-HKSCS, TIS-620, Big5_Solaris, Cp037, Cp273, Cp277, Cp278, Cp280, Cp284, Cp285, Cp297, Cp420, Cp424, Cp437, Cp500, Cp737, Cp775, Cp838, Cp850, Cp852, Cp855, Cp856, Cp857, Cp858, Cp860, Cp861, Cp862, Cp863, Cp864, Cp865, Cp866, Cp868, Cp869, Cp870, Cp871, Cp874, Cp875, Cp918, Cp921, Cp922, Cp930, Cp933, Cp935, Cp937, Cp939, Cp942, Cp942C, Cp943, Cp943C, Cp948, Cp949, Cp949C, Cp950, Cp964, Cp970, Cp1006, Cp1025, Cp1026, Cp1046, Cp1047, Cp1097, Cp1098, Cp1112, Cp1122, Cp1123, Cp1124, Cp1140, Cp1141, Cp1142, Cp1143, Cp1144, Cp1145, Cp1146, Cp1147, Cp1148, Cp1149, Cp1381, Cp1383, Cp33722, ISO2022_CN_CNS, ISO2022_CN_GB, JISAutoDetect, MS874, MacArabic, MacCentralEurope, MacCroatian, MacCyrillic, MacDingbat, MacGreek, MacHebrew, MacIceland, MacRoman, MacRomania, MacSymbol, MacThai, MacTurkish, MacUkraine
parameterId	nonEmptyStringType	required	ids of the parameter in the csv file. e.g. "H_%ID%", put the actual column name between %%.
attribute	AttributeComplexType	optional · repeats	Custom attribute that can be referenced from id maps, validation rules, thresholds, warning levels, transformations. e.g. "%EXTERNAL_ID%, put the actual column name between %%

AttributeComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	optional	Id of the attribute, this id can be referenced from id maps, validation rules, thresholds, warning levels. An location/parameter/qualfier attribute is referenced from other config files by quoting the attribute id with @s, e.g. @HARD_MAX@.
name	optional	name of the attribute, the name will be used in the FEWS Gui. For example in the modifiers display

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
description	nonEmptyStringType	optional	Describes where and why this attribute is used
required	boolean	optional	When there is no value for the referenced column are config error is logged
number	nonEmptyStringType	required	Number that can be referenced from id maps, validation rules, thresholds, warning levels, transformations e.g. "%HARD_MAX% put the actual column name %% Expressions are allowed, eg %HARD_MAX%/1000 + %CONSTANT%
boolean	nonEmptyStringType	required	Can be used in transformations. In transformations 0=false and 1=true. t, T, y, Y are recognized as true in dbf, f, F, n, M are recognized as false in dbf. 0 and 1 is also allowed when you reference a number column instead of boolean column
dateTime	nonEmptyStringType	required	Since 2018.01. Can be used in modifiers and reports. e.g. "%EXTERNAL_ID%, put the actual column name between %% e.g. "%PARS%, when the PARS column in the csv file lists the date and time. e.g "1992-07-09T17:00".
text	nonEmptyStringType	required	Text that can be referenced from id maps, validation rules, thresholds, warning levels, transformations. e.g. "%EXTERNAL_ID%, put the actual column name between %% e.g. "%PARS%, when the PARS column in the dbf file lists the parameter. e.g "H Q.in" you can use the attributeTextContains constraint when defining a locations set to only include the locations that has Q.in
enumerationValue	nonEmptyStringType	required · repeats	When configured a config error will be logged when the attribute value do not equal one of the enumeration values. In the tabular config file viewer a dropdown list will appear when editable
regularExpression	nonEmptyStringType	required	When configured a config error will be logged when the attribute value does not match the expression

ParameterGroupComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required
name	optional

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
description	string	optional
parameter	ParameterComplexType	required · repeats
enumerationId	idStringType	required	Since 2015.01. Reference to one of the enumerations defined above
parameterType	parameterTypeEnum	required	One of: instantaneous, accumulative, mean
dimension	DimensionComplexType	optional	The dimension of the parameter used to indicate what quantity the values for this parameter represent. For example: time, mass, velocity, acceleration, discharge etc.
unit	unitStringType	required	The unit of the values internally stored in the data store. By specifying a display unit you can use another unit seen by the user
displayUnit	unitStringType	optional	Specify when the unit seen by the user is not the same as the unit of the values internally stored in the data store. Also specify displayUnitConversionsId above as first element in this config file. In this unit conversions the conversion from (internal) unit to display unit should be available
valueResolution	valueResolution	optional	Default accuracy (smallest increment between two values) of the calculated or measured values for all parameters in this group. Value resolution can also be specified for a single parameter (since stable build 2011.01). By default the resolution is dynamic and the values are stored as a 32 bit floating point with 6 significant digits. Floating points don't compress very well and are slow to decode. It is far more efficient to store a value as an integer with a scale factor (= value resolution). When an 8, 16 or 24 bit integer is not big enough to achieve the value resolution the default 32 bit floating point is used as a fallback. E.g. when the accuracy of a water level is half a centimeter, specify 0.005. When the accuracy of a discharge is 10 m3/s, specify 10.
valueResolutionUnit	unitStringType	optional	Should be the same as the system unit or the display unit
usesDatum	boolean	optional	Indicates if the parameters in the group are to be converted when toggling between local and global datum. Value is either true or false. If the value is true, the elevation defined in the location is added to the time series in the database on conversion.

ConstraintsComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
not	ConstraintComplexType	required
anyValid	ConstraintsComplexType	required
allValid	ConstraintsComplexType	required
idStartsWith	IdStartsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that starts with the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
idEndsWith	IdEndsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that ends with the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
idContains	IdContainsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that contains the specified text will be included
relatedLocationExists	RelatedLocationExistsComplexType	required	Only the locations where the related location for the specified location relation is not NULL (empty, only spaces or NaN) will be included.
attributeExists	AttributeExistsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers where the attribute value is not NULL (empty, only spaces or NaN) will be included
attributeTextStartsWith	AttributeTextStartsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations with attribute value start with the specified text will be included.
attributeTextEndsWith	AttributeTextEndsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value start with the specified text will be included.
attributeTextContains	AttributeTextContainsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value contains the specified text will be included.
attributeTextEquals	AttributeTextEqualsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
attributeTrue	AttributeTrueOrFalseComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals true will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored.
attributeFalse	AttributeTrueOrFalseComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals false will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored.

EnumerationValueComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
code	required	Since 2015.01. Integer code used to store this enum value as number in time series
label	required	Since 2015.01. Label used to represent the numerical code as text in dialogs and reports. The value can be made location/parameter/qualifier dependent by using attribute references (e.g. @ENUM1@). The enum value is filtered out when the attribute value is not available for the parameter, location, qualifier for the time series

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
description	string	optional	Since 2015.01. Description for this enum value

ParameterComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required
name	optional

Elements

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
shortName	string	required
description	string	optional	Long (descriptive) name of parameter (tool tip) or description
allowedValuesAttributeId	idStringType	optional	Since 2024.01. Obtains allowed values from the specified location attribute
simulatedHistoricalParameterId	idStringType	optional	Only required when different parameters are used for the forecast and historical period. The simulated historical update run, current at the moment the forecast is created, will be used for data before the start of the forecast. It is also required to configure the simulatedHistoricalModuleInstance for the forecast module instances When configured this parameter can only be used for simulated forecast time series.
valueResolution	valueResolution	optional	Since stable build 2011.01. Accuracy (smallest increment between two values) of the calculated or measured values. Value resolution can also be specified at once for all parameters in the parameter group. By default the resolution is dynamic and the values are stored as a 32 bit floating point with 6 significant digits. Floating points don't compress very well and are slow to decode. It is far more efficient to store a value as an integer with a scale factor (= value resolution). When an 8, 16 or 24 bit integer is not big enough to achieve the value resolution the default 32 bit floating point is used as a fallback. E.g. when the accuracy of a water level is half a centimeter, specify 0.005. When the accuracy of a discharge is 10 m3/s, specify 10.
valueResolutionUnit	unitStringType	optional	Should be the same as the system unit or the display unit
allowMissing	boolean	optional	Option to indicate if a time series of this parameter type is allowed to contain missing values when being used by a model or a transformation. When omitted this value will default to 'true'. If this is used for a transformation, then it is also required to set the option checkMissing in the inputVariable of the transformation to true.
cellMethod	cellMethodEnumStringType	optional	Optional cell method (for time dimension) as defined in the netcdf CF convention. This is currently only used for export to netcdf files. See https://cfconventions.org/cf-conventions/v1.6.0/cf-conventions.html#cell-methods One of: point, sum, maximum, median, mid_range, minimum, mean, mode, standard_deviation, variance
verticalPositiveDirection	verticalPositiveDirectionEnumStringType	optional	SINCE 2016.02. Optional geospatial_vertical_positive attribute as defined in the netcdf DataDiscoveryAttConvention convention. This is currently only used for export to netcdf files when this parameter is used as domain parameter in a time series set. This attribute indicates which direction is positive (a value of "up" means that z increases up, like units of height, while a value of "down" means that z increases downward, like units of pressure or depth). The use of these further geospatial attributes is suggested. http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/thredds/current/netcdf-java/metadata/DataDiscoveryAttConvention.html One of: up, down
standardName	nonEmptyStringType	required	Standard name defined by the netcdf CF convention. This is currently only used for export to netcdf files. The standard name has to be valid according to the list of standard names, version 57, see https://cfconventions.org/Data/cf-standard-names/57/build/cf-standard-name-table.html
standardNameModifier	standardNameModifierTypeEnum	optional	Standard name modifier defined by the netcdf CF convention. This is currently only used for export to netcdf files. See https://cfconventions.org/cf-conventions/v1.6.0/cf-conventions.html One of: detection_minimum, number_of_observations, standard_error, status_flag

DimensionComplexType

name="length" length="1" name="mass" mass="1" name="time" time="1" name="temperature" temperature="1" name="electricCurrent" electricCurrent="1" name="amountOfSubstance" amountOfSubstance="1" name="luminousIntensity" luminousIntensity="1" name="velocity" length="1" time="-1" name="frequency" time="-1" name="acceleration" length="1" time="-2" name="discharge" length="3" time="-1" name="momentum" mass="1" length="1" time="-1" name="force" mass="1" length="1" time="-2" name="pressure" mass="1" length="-1" time="-2" name="mass flux" mass="1" length="-2" time="-1" name="volumetric flux" length="1" time="-1" name="energy flux" mass="1" time="-3" name="surface tension" mass="1" time="-2" name="energy" mass="1" length="2" time="-2" name="power" mass="1" length="2" time="-3" name="mass density" mass="1" length="-3" name="viscosity" mass="1" length="-1" time="-1" name="area" length="2" name="volume" length="3" name="entropy" mass="1" length="2" time="-2" temperature="-1" name="electric charge" electricCurrent="1" time="1" name="electric field" mass="1" length="1" time="-3" electricCurrent="-1" name="magnetic field" mass="1" time="-2" electricCurrent="-1" name="dimensionless"

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
name	required
length	optional	default: 0.
mass	optional	default: 0.
time	optional	default: 0.
temperature	optional	default: 0.
electricCurrent	optional	default: 0.
amountOfSubstance	optional	default: 0.
luminousIntensity	optional	default: 0.

ConstraintComplexType

Element	Type	Cardinality	Description
not	ConstraintComplexType	required
anyValid	ConstraintsComplexType	required
allValid	ConstraintsComplexType	required
idStartsWith	IdStartsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that starts with the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
idEndsWith	IdEndsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that ends with the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
idContains	IdContainsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with an id that contains the specified text will be included
relatedLocationExists	RelatedLocationExistsComplexType	required	Only the locations where the related location for the specified location relation is not NULL (empty, only spaces or NaN) will be included.
attributeExists	AttributeExistsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers where the attribute value is not NULL (empty, only spaces or NaN) will be included
attributeTextStartsWith	AttributeTextStartsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations with attribute value start with the specified text will be included.
attributeTextEndsWith	AttributeTextEndsWithComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value start with the specified text will be included.
attributeTextContains	AttributeTextContainsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value contains the specified text will be included.
attributeTextEquals	AttributeTextEqualsComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals the specified text will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored
attributeTrue	AttributeTrueOrFalseComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals true will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored.
attributeFalse	AttributeTrueOrFalseComplexType	required	Only the locations/parameters/qualifiers with attribute value equals false will be included in the location set, other locations in the shape file or location sets are ignored.

RelatedLocationExistsComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
locationRelationId	required	Id of the location relation (eg. UPSTREAM)

AttributeExistsComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute

AttributeTextStartsWithComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute
prefix	required	The text the attribute value should start with

AttributeTextEndsWithComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute
postfix	required	The text the attribute value should end with

AttributeTextContainsComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute
contains	required	The text the attribute value should contain

AttributeTextEqualsComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute
equals	required	The text the attribute value should match
modifierDependent	optional	When true the location set can change dynamically when a attribute is changed by a modifier. Only allowed in workflows and in the modifiers display

AttributeTrueOrFalseComplexType

Attributes

Attribute	Use	Notes
id	required	Id of the attribute
modifierDependent	optional	When true the location set can change dynamically when a attribute is changed by a modifier. Only allowed in workflows and in the modifiers display

Gotchas

The consequential ones are covered in the task guide: wrong parameterType silently corrupts aggregation, unit mismatches on import, and confusing the group id with the parameter id. The version-suffix trap applies here too — see how FEWS finds a file.

See also

• Task guide: Define parameters & units
• Reference: Locations file — the other foundational noun
• Schema: parameters.xsd