Add a .to_node method upstream

[TomNicholas]

We should add a to_node method to both dataset and DataArray (would require a name) upstream, as another way of creating a single node DataTree.

[TomNicholas]

pydata/xarray#7418 would close this by adding a .to_datatree method on both Dataset and DataArray.

[utkarsh-chaurasia]

Hello, I am an Outreachy participant and I would like to contribute to this @TomNicholas's question.

We should add a to_node method to both dataset and DataArray (would require a name) upstream, as another way of creating a single node DataTree.

Adding a to_node method to both Dataset and DataArray classes could be a useful addition to enable creating single node DataTree objects directly from these classes.

Assuming that you are using the xarray library, here's an example implementation of the to_node method for both Dataset and DataArray classes:

Python code :

import datatree
import xarray as xr

def to_node(self, name):
    return datatree.DataTree({
        name: self.to_dataset()
    })

xr.Dataset.to_node = to_node
xr.DataArray.to_node = to_node

This implementation defines a to_node method that takes a name argument and returns a single node DataTree object with the given name, containing the Dataset or DataArray object as its value.

With this implementation, you can now create a single nodeDataTreeobject directly from a Dataset or DataArray object as follows:

Python code:

ds = xr.Dataset({'foo': [1, 2, 3]})
tree = ds.to_node('my_node')

This will create a single node DataTree object named my_node with the Dataset object ds as its value.

Similarly, you can create a single node DataTree object from a DataArray object as follows:

Python code :

da = xr.DataArray([1, 2, 3])
tree = da.to_node('my_node')

This will create a single node DataTree object named my_node with the DataArray object da as its value.

[TomNicholas]

Hi @utkarsh-chaurasia , thanks for your interest.

Your suggestion would work as an implementation of .to_node, nice.

Normally we would then ask that you submit a pull request adding your implementation to the codebase. However in this case the issue requires changing xarray upstream (rather than changing xarray-datatree's code here). Because of that it might just be easier to wait until #7418 is merged.

Please look for other issues that you find interesting though!