# Fail to read attribute data
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [March 24, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874 "2020-03-24T15:11:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/1 "2020-03-24T15:11:11Z")
I have created an H5 file that stores two variables. One I can view in paraview and the other I can’t because it fails to read attribute data. Error copied below.
I am able to supply a short file that shows the problem for me if that would help.
Thanks,
Francis
```
ERROR: In /home/buildslave/dashboards/buildbot/paraview-pvbinsdash-linux-shared-release_superbuild/build/superbuild/paraview/src/VTK/IO/Xdmf2/vtkXdmfHeavyData.cxx, line 1215
vtkXdmfReader (0x674f610): Failed to read attribute data
```
---
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/2 "2020-03-24T15:12:56Z")
[QG\_1L.h5](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/vb810rl8BU4uMkP4Lkn5XSDQk4V.h5) (1.8 MB) [QG\_1L.xdmf](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/short-url/ymzc4yWlOzaj7lW2JWzDGgFl8HA.xdmf) (4.4 KB)
These are the files that I used.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 1:11am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/3 "2020-03-25T01:11:44Z")
Seems to be able to read it in ParaView 5.8
---
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/4 "2020-03-25T01:39:41Z")
Thank you for trying it.
I was using ParaView 5.7 but have since upgraded to 5.8.
With the latest version I can say that the field, qr, looks correct. However, the pr field is weird after the initial plot and gives me a warning. Did you try both fields?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/5 "2020-03-25T01:41:57Z")
Please explain what is weird about it with a screenshot and copy the error here.
---
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/6 "2020-03-25T01:48:39Z")
First, you can see the error message on the left.
Second, the field should be pr but it says pr?.
Third, the image does not look correct. It is very different from the first image.
Fourth, after I switch to qr then pr seems to disappear.
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/7 "2020-03-25T02:07:06Z")
Indeed, in your case, the data is not read correctly.
However I do not reproduce your error.
ParaView 5.8.0 binary release, ArchLinux.
---
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/8 "2020-03-25T02:13:44Z")
I get the same thing for the first snapshot. But when I advance to the subsequent ones is when things go batty. Could you please try advancing to see if you get the same problem as I do?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/9 "2020-03-25T02:24:05Z")
I do reproduce when I change the timesteps.
---
### Author:  [@fpoulin](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/fpoulin)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/10 "2020-03-25T02:26:21Z")
Thanks for verifying that. Any idea what might be wrong with the datafile and how I might fix it?
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/fail-to-read-attribute-data/3874/11 "2020-03-30T04:33:51Z")
You may want to validate your Xdmf file :
[https://gitlab.kitware.com/xdmf/xdmf/blob/master/Xdmf.dtd](https://gitlab.kitware.com/xdmf/xdmf/blob/master/Xdmf.dtd)