{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/4755","repository_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/4755/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/4755/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/4755/events","html_url":"https://github.com/astropy/astropy/issues/4755","id":145661316,"number":4755,"title":"Parse a votable with missing 'datatype' attribute?","user":{"login":"keflavich","id":143715,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/143715?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich","html_url":"https://github.com/keflavich","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/keflavich/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/labels/io.votable","name":"io.votable","color":"c7def8"}],"state":"closed","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":6,"created_at":"2016-04-04T11:47:28Z","updated_at":"2016-04-04T21:24:21Z","closed_at":"2016-04-04T21:24:21Z","body":"The following votable:\r\nhttp://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-script?submit=submit+script&script=votable+test1+%7BMAIN_ID+rv_value+rvz_error+%7D%0D%0Avotable+open+test1%0D%0Aquery+id+BD%2B44+4548%0D%0Aquery+id+*+eta+car%0D%0Avotable+close\r\n\r\ntruncates the `RVZ_ERROR` column to 1 character.  This is happening because the line\r\n```\r\n<FIELD ID=\"RVZ_ERROR\" name=\"RVZ_ERROR\" precision=\"3\" unit=\"km.s-1\">\r\n```\r\n\r\ngets parsed into\r\n```\r\n<FIELD ID=\"RVZ_ERROR\" arraysize=\"1\" datatype=\"char\" name=\"RVZ_ERROR\" precision=\"3\" unit=\"km / s\"/>\r\n```\r\n\r\ni.e., only 1 character is being read.  The \"correct\" data type is `float`.  So, two questions:\r\n * Is this a correctly specified VOTable, and astropy is making an incorrect default assumption?  Or is the votable invalid?\r\n * Given that such votables exist, is there a way to correctly parse them in astropy?\r\n\r\nActually, I can now answer the first.  From the [VOTable specifications](http://www.ivoa.net/documents/VOTable/20130920/index.html), section 4.1:\r\n```\r\n• The datatype, which expresses the nature of the data that is described as one of the permitted primitives (see Table 1 and their exact meaning in section 6). This attribute determines how data are read and stored internally; it is required.\r\n```\r\nso unless the default data type is floating point (it doesn't seem to be), the table is incorrectly specified."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/comments/205502900","html_url":"https://github.com/astropy/astropy/issues/4755#issuecomment-205502900","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/astropy/astropy/issues/4755","id":205502900,"user":{"login":"astrofrog","id":314716,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/314716?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog","html_url":"https://github.com/astrofrog","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/astrofrog/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2016-04-04T21:24:21Z","updated_at":"2016-04-04T21:24:21Z","body":"Ok, great! Let's close this since the workaround is no longer needed (and we should keep workarounds to a minimum)"}}