def getcompress(self):
        """Retrieves info about dataset compression type and mode.

        Args::

          no argument

        Returns::

          tuple holding:

          - compression type (one of the SDC.COMP_xxx constants)
          - optional values, depending on the compression type
              COMP_NONE       0 value    no additional value
              COMP_SKPHUFF    1 value  : skip size
              COMP_DEFLATE    1 value  : gzip compression level (1 to 9)
              COMP_SZIP       5 values : options mask,
                                         pixels per block (2 to 32)
                                         pixels per scanline,
                                         bits per pixel (number of bits in the SDS datatype)
                                         pixels (number of elements in the SDS)

                                         Note: in the context of an SDS, the word "pixel"
                                         should really be understood as meaning "data element",
                                         eg a cell value inside a multidimensional grid.
                                         Test the options mask against constants SDC.COMP_SZIP_NN
                                         and SDC.COMP_SZIP_EC, eg :
                                           if optionMask & SDC.COMP_SZIP_EC:
                                               print "EC encoding scheme used"

        An exception is raised if dataset is not compressed.

        .. note::
            Starting with v0.8, an exception is always raised if
            pyhdf was installed with the NOCOMPRESS macro set.

        C library equivalent: SDgetcompress
                                                           """

        status, comp_type, value, v2, v3, v4, v5 = _C._SDgetcompress(self._id)
        _checkErr('getcompress', status, 'no compression')
        if comp_type == SDC.COMP_NONE:
            return (comp_type,)
        elif comp_type == SDC.COMP_SZIP:
            return comp_type, value, v2, v3, v4, v5
        else:
            return comp_type, value
Retrieves info about dataset compression type and mode.

        Args::

          no argument

        Returns::

          tuple holding:

          - compression type (one of the SDC.COMP_xxx constants)
          - optional values, depending on the compression type
              COMP_NONE       0 value    no additional value
              COMP_SKPHUFF    1 value  : skip size
              COMP_DEFLATE    1 value  : gzip compression level (1 to 9)
              COMP_SZIP       5 values : options mask,
                                         pixels per block (2 to 32)
                                         pixels per scanline,
                                         bits per pixel (number of bits in the SDS datatype)
                                         pixels (number of elements in the SDS)

                                         Note: in the context of an SDS, the word "pixel"
                                         should really be understood as meaning "data element",
                                         eg a cell value inside a multidimensional grid.
                                         Test the options mask against constants SDC.COMP_SZIP_NN
                                         and SDC.COMP_SZIP_EC, eg :
                                           if optionMask & SDC.COMP_SZIP_EC:
                                               print "EC encoding scheme used"

        An exception is raised if dataset is not compressed.

        .. note::
            Starting with v0.8, an exception is always raised if
            pyhdf was installed with the NOCOMPRESS macro set.

        C library equivalent: SDgetcompress