Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.m
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.m	(revision 20972)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.m	(revision 20973)
@@ -122,5 +122,5 @@
 
 			if(num_independent_objects),
-				names=zeros(num_independent_objects,1);
+				names=cell(num_independent_objects,1);
 				types=zeros(num_independent_objects,1);
 
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@
 					indep=self.independents{i};
 
-					names(i)=StringToEnum(indep.name);
+					names{i}=indep.name;
 					types(i)=indep.typetoscalar();
 				end
-				WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',names,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_names','format','IntMat','mattype',3);
+				WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',names,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_names','format','StringArray');
 				WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',types,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_types','format','IntMat','mattype',3);
 			end
Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.py	(revision 20972)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/classes/autodiff.py	(revision 20973)
@@ -122,12 +122,12 @@
 
 		if num_independent_objects:
-			names=numpy.zeros(num_independent_objects)
+			names=[None] * num_independent_objects
 			types=numpy.zeros(num_independent_objects)
 
 			for i,indep in enumerate(self.independents):
-				names[i]=StringToEnum(indep.name)[0]
+				names[i]=indep.name
 				types[i]=indep.typetoscalar()
 
-			WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',names,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_names','format','IntMat','mattype',3)
+			WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',names,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_names','format','StringArray')
 			WriteData(fid,prefix,'data',types,'name','md.autodiff.independent_object_types','format','IntMat','mattype',3)
 		#}}}