Renamed h52table.m and table2h5.m as read_hdf5_as_table.m and save_table_as_hdf5.m. These reflect the scripts' functionality.

import/read_hdf5_as_table.m

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+function output_table = load_hdf5_as_table(filename,exclude_var_set)
+% receives a h5 file written with function table2h5.
+% reduced_var_set (cell of character_vectors), not usable yet.
+
+
+% Last update: 14.08.2023
+% By: Juan F. Florez Ospina
+% Email: juan.florez-ospina@psi.ch
+
+if ~iscellstr(exclude_var_set) 
+    disp("exclude_var_set needs to be a cell of character vectors, e.g, {'var1','var2'} to be excluded.")
+    disp("To proceed, exclude_var_set was set to {}. So vars will be excluded.")
+    exclude_var_set = {};
+end
+
+INFO = h5info(filename);
+
+num_rows = length(INFO.Groups);
+
+num_attr1 = length(INFO.Groups(1).Datasets);
+num_attr2 = length(INFO.Groups(1).Attributes);
+num_cols = num_attr1  +  num_attr2;
+sz = [num_rows,num_cols];
+
+% Extract group level attributes, they align for all
+% groups/measurements/rows of the table in filename .h5
+group_columns = {INFO.Groups(1).Attributes.Name};
+
+dataset_columns = {};
+for j = 1 : num_attr1
+    dataset_columns{j} = INFO.Groups(1).Datasets(j).Attributes.Value;
+end
+
+%TODO: Implement feature to exclude varibales/columns as well as rows at
+%reading time. This requires propagating modifications 
+% % % Select group and dataset columns to be loaded from hdf5 file, which are
+% % % those not in the exclude_var_set.
+% % if ~isempty(exclude_var_set)
+% %     for j = 1 : length(exclude_var_set)        
+% %         % keep all vars except exclude_var_set{j}
+% %         var_filter = ~strcmp(exclude_var_set{j},group_columns);
+% %         group_columns = group_columns(var_filter);
+% %         if sum(var_filter) > 0
+% %             exclude_var_set(j) = [];
+% %         end
+% %     end
+% % 
+% %     for j = 1 : length(exclude_var_set)        
+% %         % keep all vars except exclude_var_set{j}
+% %         var_filter = ~strcmp(exclude_var_set{j},dataset_columns);
+% %         dataset_columns = dataset_columns(var_filter);
+% %         if sum(var_filter) > 0
+% %             exclude_var_set(j) = [];
+% %         end
+% %     end
+% % end
+
+
+% Construct cell array with table data, where each row denotes a group, and
+% the columns are either datasets or attributes in the given group.
+tmp = {};
+for i = 1 : num_rows
+    disp(['Begin construction of row:',INFO.Groups(i).Name])
+
+    for j = 1 : num_cols
+        if j <= num_attr1
+            ds_name = [INFO.Groups(i).Name '/' INFO.Groups(i).Datasets(j).Name];
+            %disp(ds_name)
+            tmp{i,j} = h5read(filename,ds_name); 
+        end
+        if j > num_attr2
+            disp(INFO.Groups(i).Attributes(j-num_attr2).Name)
+            tmp{i,j} = h5readatt(filename,INFO.Groups(i).Name,INFO.Groups(i).Attributes(j-num_attr2).Name); 
+
+        end
+
+    end
+    disp(['Ends construction of row:',INFO.Groups(i).Name])
+
+end
+% TODO: how can we keep the original ordering of the columns if required by
+% Thorsten.
+varNames = [dataset_columns,group_columns];
+output_table = array2table(tmp, 'VariableNames', varNames);
+

import/save_table_as_hdf5.m

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+function success = save_table_as_hdf5(input_table, filename)
+
+% This function takes input_table (of table type), structured with
+% Thorsten's FileTable format, and stores it as .h5 file with name
+% filename. Each row is treated as a group, where columns can be attributes
+% of the group or datasets inside the group. 
+
+% Last update: 11.08.2023
+% By: Juan F. Florez Ospina
+% Email: juan.florez-ospina@psi.ch
+
+if istable(input_table)
+    column_names = input_table.Properties.VariableNames;
+else
+    success = 0;
+    return
+end
+
+% Divide input_table into tables with numeric and cellstr variables/columns
+numeric_table = input_table(:,vartype('numeric')); % group attributes of a timestamped measurement
+cellstr_table = input_table(:,vartype('cellstr')); % group datasets of a timestamped measurement
+
+numeric_columns = numeric_table.Properties.VariableNames;
+str_columns = cellstr_table.Properties.VariableNames;
+
+% Based on homogeneous columns/cell arrays, we identify the remaining columns
+% with possibly heterogeneous entries. Ideally, these should store numeric
+% n-dimensional arrays/datasets.
+
+rest_columns = {};
+cntr = 1;
+for i = 1 : length(input_table.Properties.VariableNames)
+    variable = input_table.Properties.VariableNames{i};
+
+    is_str = sum(strcmp(variable,str_columns))>0;
+    is_num = sum(strcmp(variable,numeric_columns))>0;
+    if ~(is_num || is_str)
+        rest_columns{cntr} = variable;
+        disp(variable)
+        cntr = cntr + 1;
+    end
+end
+
+% Create an hdf5 file, where rows are seen as measurements/groups with
+% attributes given by numeric and str variables and datasets given by the 
+% remaining variables as long as they are numeric n-dimensional arrays.
+
+cell_table = input_table(:,rest_columns);
+[rows, cols] = size(input_table);
+
+for i = 1 : rows
+    group_name = strcat("/MEAS",string(i),"/");
+    for j = 1 : length(rest_columns)
+        dataset_name = strcat("DS",string(j));
+
+        % Some table entries do not provide direct access to the object
+        % of interest, but may contain either {object} or {{object}}. 
+        % The following loop solves that problem. TODO: is this generic enough? 
+
+        data = cell_table{i,rest_columns{j}}{1};%{1};
+        while iscell(data)
+            data = data{1};
+        end
+        % when there is no data, we still need to provide a valid size
+        if ~isempty(data)
+            sz = size(data);
+        else
+            sz = [1,1];
+        end
+        %%%%
+        % Group's dataset: Create dataset of size sz in a certain group 
+        h5create(filename, strcat(group_name,dataset_name),sz);
+        % Dataset's attribute: Add attribute with dataset_name equal to column_name
+        attr = "column_name";        
+        attr_value = rest_columns{j};
+        h5writeatt(filename,strcat(group_name,dataset_name),attr,attr_value)
+        % Assign 'data' to the dataset. 'data' has to be of admissible type. 
+        try            
+            h5write(filename,strcat(group_name,dataset_name),data)
+        catch exception
+            disp(exception)
+            %h5write(filename,strcat(group_name,dataset_name),cell_table{i,rest_columns{j}})
+        end
+    end
+
+    % Group's attribute: Assign group attributes
+    for attr_idx = 1 : max([length(numeric_columns),length(str_columns)])
+
+        if attr_idx <= length(numeric_columns)
+            attr = numeric_columns{attr_idx};
+            attr_value = numeric_table{i,numeric_columns{attr_idx}};
+            h5writeatt(filename,group_name,attr,attr_value)
+        end
+
+        if attr_idx <= length(str_columns)
+            attr = str_columns{attr_idx};
+            attr_value = cellstr_table{i,str_columns{attr_idx}};
+            h5writeatt(filename,group_name,attr,attr_value)
+        end
+
+    end
+    %h5create(filename,"/g2/DS2",[20 Inf],"Chunksize",[5 5]);
+end
+
+success = 1;