;***The function loadsmallcomma.pro reads comma delimited ascii data files.
;***It is designed to read small data files (<=20,000 lines) quickly.
;***
;***Use is as follows: 
;***             loadsmallcomma,'filename',variablename
;***
;***          Input:  filename - A string that is the filename of the
;***                             file where data is stored in ascii format
;***                             and is comma delimited.
;***                             Note: filename must be in quotes
;***
;***         Output:  variablename - Name of the variable you wish to
;***                                 contain the data from filename
;***
;***Written by BWBerger 11/12/99 based heavily on loadsmall.pro

pro loadsmallcomma,filename,variablename

print,'Loading '+filename

;open the data file
openr,f,filename,/get_lun,Error=err

if err ne 0 then begin ;check err to see if file was opened 
   print,'!!!WARNING!!!'
   print,'File does not exist or there are other problems.'
   print,'Load not executed.'
endif else begin
   first=''
   readf,f,first ;read first line and figure out how many columns there are
   first=strtrim(str_sep(strcompress(strtrim(first,2)),','),2)
                                                   ;string array of 1st line
   col=n_elements(first) ;no. of columns is no. of elements of string array
   variablename=fltarr(col,20000);initialize an array to hold data
   variablename(*,0)=float(first);1st line: convert string array to float

   dat=fltarr(col) ;temporary float array to hold data as it is read

   i=1L
   while not eof(f) do begin ;loop through each file line until eof reached
      readf,f,dat ;read line of file
      ;if file is too big discontinue loading, generate message.
      if i gt 19999L then begin
         print,'File is longer than 20,000 lines. Need to costomize load program.'
         variablename=-999.
         goto,fini
      endif
      variablename(*,i)=dat ;load output array
      i=i+1L
   endwhile
   print,'The variable is a '+strtrim(string(col),2)+' column X '+strtrim(string(i),2)+' row array.'

   ;trim the output array
   variablename=variablename(*,0:i-1)

   ;close file and free logical unit number
   close,f
   free_lun,f
endelse

fini:
return
end