Index: frmts/netcdf/netcdfdataset.cpp
===================================================================
--- frmts/netcdf/netcdfdataset.cpp	(revision 23937)
+++ frmts/netcdf/netcdfdataset.cpp	(working copy)
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 CPL_CVSID("$Id$");
 
 #include <map> //for NCDFWriteProjAttribs()
+#include <algorithm>
 
 /* Internal function declarations */
 
@@ -3799,6 +3800,9 @@
 
     CPLString    osSubdatasetName;
     int          bTreatAsSubdataset;
+    char         szVarName[NC_MAX_NAME];
+    CPLString    osBandNumbers;
+    std::vector<int> oBandNumbers;
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 /*      Does this appear to be a netcdf file?                           */
@@ -3817,53 +3821,108 @@
     netCDFDataset 	*poDS;
     poDS = new netCDFDataset();
 
-    poDS->SetDescription( poOpenInfo->pszFilename );
-    
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 /*       Check if filename start with NETCDF: tag                       */
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
     if( EQUALN( poOpenInfo->pszFilename,"NETCDF:",7) )
     {
-        char **papszName =
+        char **papszFields =
             CSLTokenizeString2( poOpenInfo->pszFilename,
                                 ":", CSLT_HONOURSTRINGS|CSLT_PRESERVEESCAPES );
-        
+        int nFieldCount = CSLCount(papszFields);
         /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
         /*    Check for drive name in windows NETCDF:"D:\...                    */
         /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
-        if ( CSLCount(papszName) == 4 &&
-             strlen(papszName[1]) == 1 &&
-             (papszName[2][0] == '/' || papszName[2][0] == '\\') )
+        if ( ( nFieldCount == 4 || nFieldCount == 5 ) &&
+             strlen(papszFields[1]) == 1 &&
+             (papszFields[2][0] == '/' || papszFields[2][0] == '\\') )
         {
-            poDS->osFilename = papszName[1];
+            poDS->osFilename = papszFields[1];
             poDS->osFilename += ':';
-            poDS->osFilename += papszName[2];
-            osSubdatasetName = papszName[3];
+            poDS->osFilename += papszFields[2];
+            osSubdatasetName = papszFields[3];
             bTreatAsSubdataset = TRUE;
-            CSLDestroy( papszName );
+            if( nFieldCount == 5 )
+                osBandNumbers = papszFields[4];
+            CSLDestroy( papszFields );
         }
-        else if( CSLCount(papszName) == 3 )
+        else if( nFieldCount == 3 || nFieldCount == 4 )
         {
-            poDS->osFilename = papszName[1];
-            osSubdatasetName = papszName[2];
+            poDS->osFilename = papszFields[1];
+            osSubdatasetName = papszFields[2];
             bTreatAsSubdataset = TRUE;
-            CSLDestroy( papszName );
+            if( nFieldCount == 4 )
+                osBandNumbers = papszFields[3];
+            CSLDestroy( papszFields );
     	}
-        else if( CSLCount(papszName) == 2 )
+        else if( nFieldCount == 2 )
         {
-            poDS->osFilename = papszName[1];
-            osSubdatasetName = "";
+            poDS->osFilename = papszFields[1];
             bTreatAsSubdataset = FALSE;
-            CSLDestroy( papszName );
+            CSLDestroy( papszFields );
     	}
         else
         {
-            CSLDestroy( papszName );
+            CSLDestroy( papszFields );
             delete poDS;
             CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined,
-                      "Failed to parse NETCDF: prefix string into expected 2, 3 or 4 fields." );
+                      "Failed to parse NETCDF: prefix string into expected 2, 3 or 4 fields.\n" 
+                      "e.g. NETCDF:<file.nc> | NETCDF:<file.nc>:<varname> | NETCDF:file.nc:<varnum> | \n"
+                      "     NETCDF:<file.nc>:<varname>:<bandnums> (<bandnums>=i,j-k"  );
             return NULL;
         }
+
+        /* parse band numbers like <1,2,5-6> */
+        if ( osBandNumbers.size() > 0 ) {
+            char **papszTokens = NULL;
+            char **papszTokens2 = NULL;
+            int nTemp1=-1, nTemp2=-1;
+            papszTokens = CSLTokenizeString2( osBandNumbers.c_str(), ",", CSLT_STRIPLEADSPACES |
+                                              CSLT_STRIPENDSPACES );
+            for ( int i = 0; papszTokens && papszTokens[i]; i++ )  {
+                papszTokens2 = CSLTokenizeString2( papszTokens[i], "-", CSLT_STRIPLEADSPACES |
+                                                   CSLT_STRIPENDSPACES );
+                if ( CSLCount(papszTokens2) == 1 ) {
+                    nTemp1 = atoi(papszTokens2[0]);
+                    if ( CPLGetValueType(papszTokens2[0])!=CPL_VALUE_INTEGER ||
+                         nTemp1<1 ) {
+                            CPLError( CE_Warning, CPLE_AppDefined, 
+                                      "[%s] is not a positive integer",papszTokens2[0] );
+                    }
+                    else
+                        oBandNumbers.push_back(nTemp1);
+                }
+                else if ( CSLCount(papszTokens2) == 2 ) {
+                    if ( CPLGetValueType(papszTokens2[0])==CPL_VALUE_INTEGER )
+                        nTemp1=atoi(papszTokens2[0]);
+                    if ( CPLGetValueType(papszTokens2[1])==CPL_VALUE_INTEGER )
+                        nTemp2=atoi(papszTokens2[1]);
+                    if ( (nTemp1 < 1) || (nTemp2 < 1) || (nTemp1 > nTemp2) ) {
+                        CPLError( CE_Warning, CPLE_AppDefined, 
+                                  "[%s] is not a supported integer sequence",papszTokens[i] );
+                    }
+                    else {
+                        for ( int j=nTemp1; j<=nTemp2; j++ )
+                            oBandNumbers.push_back(j);
+                    }
+                }
+                else 
+                    CPLError( CE_Warning, CPLE_AppDefined, 
+                              "[%s] is not a supported integer sequence",papszTokens[i] );
+                CSLDestroy( papszTokens2 );
+            }
+            std::sort(oBandNumbers.begin(), oBandNumbers.end());
+            if ( oBandNumbers.empty() ) {
+                delete poDS;
+                CPLError( CE_Failure, CPLE_AppDefined,
+                          "Did not parse any valid values from [%s]",
+                          osBandNumbers.c_str() );
+                CSLDestroy( papszTokens );
+                return NULL;
+            }
+            CSLDestroy( papszTokens );
+        }
+
         /* Identify Format from real file, with bCheckExt=FALSE */ 
         GDALOpenInfo* poOpenInfo2 = new GDALOpenInfo(poDS->osFilename.c_str(), GA_ReadOnly );
         poDS->nFormat = IdentifyFormat( poOpenInfo2, FALSE );
@@ -3881,6 +3940,10 @@
         poDS->nFormat = nTmpFormat;
     }
 
+    /* disable PAM if requested a subset of bands, because any stats will be invalid */
+    if ( ! oBandNumbers.empty() ) 
+        poDS->nPamFlags |= GPF_DISABLED; 
+
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 /*      Try opening the dataset.                                        */
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
@@ -3942,7 +4005,23 @@
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
     if( bTreatAsSubdataset )
     {
-        status = nc_inq_varid( cdfid, osSubdatasetName, &var);
+        /* detect integer value, convert to actual variable value */
+        if ( CPLGetValueType(osSubdatasetName.c_str())==CPL_VALUE_INTEGER ) {
+            var = atoi( osSubdatasetName.c_str() );
+            status = nc_inq_varname( cdfid, var, szVarName );
+            if( status == NC_NOERR ) { 
+                CPLDebug( "GDAL_netCDF", 
+                          "parsed variable number %d corresponding to variable name %s", 
+                          var, szVarName );
+                osSubdatasetName = szVarName;
+                status = NC_NOERR;
+            }
+        }
+        /* get varid from name */
+        else {
+            status = nc_inq_varid( cdfid, osSubdatasetName, &var);
+        }
+        
         if( status != NC_NOERR ) {
             CPLError( CE_Warning, CPLE_AppDefined, 
                       "%s is a netCDF file, but %s is not a variable.",
@@ -4025,8 +4104,6 @@
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
     if( !bTreatAsSubdataset ) // nCount must be 1!
     {
-        char szVarName[NC_MAX_NAME];
-
         nc_inq_varname( cdfid, nVarID, szVarName);
         osSubdatasetName = szVarName;
     }
@@ -4152,26 +4229,34 @@
     }
     i=0;
 
+    
     for ( unsigned int lev = 0; lev < nTotLevCount ; lev++ ) {
-        netCDFRasterBand *poBand =
-            new netCDFRasterBand(poDS, var, nDim, lev,
-                                 panBandZLev, panBandDimPos, 
-                                 paDimIds, i+1 );
-        poDS->SetBand( i+1, poBand );
-        i++;
+        if ( oBandNumbers.empty() || 
+             std::find (oBandNumbers.begin(), oBandNumbers.end(), lev+1) != 
+             oBandNumbers.end() ) {
+            netCDFRasterBand *poBand =
+                new netCDFRasterBand(poDS, var, nDim, lev,
+                                     panBandZLev, panBandDimPos, 
+                                     paDimIds, i+1 );
+            poDS->SetBand( i+1, poBand );
+            i++;
+        }
     } 
 
+    poDS->nBands = i;
+
     CPLFree( paDimIds );
     CPLFree( panBandDimPos );
     CPLFree( panBandZLev );
     
-    poDS->nBands = i;
 
     // Handle angular geographic coordinates here
 
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 /*      Initialize any PAM information.                                 */
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+    poDS->SetDescription( poOpenInfo->pszFilename );   
+
     if( bTreatAsSubdataset )
     {
         poDS->SetPhysicalFilename( poDS->osFilename );
@@ -5604,3 +5689,4 @@
 
     return dfNoData;
 } 
+