ASN2XML v2.1 README

This file contains release notes on the ASN2XML 2.1 release.

Contents

Introduction

ASN2XML (ASN.1 to XML translator) is a command-line program that is used to translate data encoded using any of the ASN.1 binary encoding rules into XML format. The transalation of BER/DER/CER encoded data to XML can be done either with or without the aid of an associated ASN.1 schema file.

Release Notes

A dynamic link library (DLL) version of the program is now available. This allows a user to embed the ASN2XML functionality in their own applications programs. A possible use case would be to create a GUI version of the tool.

The following new command-line options were added:

Documentation

Documentation for this release is provided in the doc subdirectory of the installation.

Windows Installation

The steps to install ASN2XML on a Windows system are as follows:

  1. Download the ASN2XML package distribution file.
  2. ASN2XML for Windows is packaged in a self-extracting executable file format. To install, all that should be necessary is to double-click this file after downloading and then following the setup wizard instructions.
  3. The free edition of ASN2XML is now ready. To use the Pro version options, a license file must be installed. This was sent in the osyslic.txt file that was attached to the E-mail message that was sent at the time the product was downloaded. If you did not receive a license file, please contact us.

  4. The osyslic.txt file must be copied to a location where the ASN2XML application can find it. This can be done in one of three ways:
  5.  
    a. The file can be copied into <ASN2XML installation directory>/bin directory, or
     
    b. The file can be copied into any of the directories specified within your PATH environment variable, or
     
    c. The file can be copied to a different directory and an environment variable named OSLICDIR created to point at this directory location.

  6. ASN2XML should now be operational. Refer to the ASN2XML User's Guide document in the doc subdirectory for instructions on how to run the program.

Contents of the Release

The following subdirectories contain the following files (note: <installdir> refers to the installation directory that was specified during the installation process):
<installdir>\bin\asn2xml.exe
The asn2xml program executable file.

<installdir>\lib\asn2xml.dll
<installdir>\lib\asn2xml.lib
The asn2xml dynamic link library files.

<installdir>\asn2xmlsrc\Asn2Xml.h
<installdir>\rtxsrc\*.h
Header files for use in compiling programs to work with the DLL.

<installdir>\doc
This directory contains the ASN2XML User's Guide file asn2xml.pdf file.

<installdir>\asn1specs
This directory contains a collection of common ASN.1 specification files from existing standards that have been used with the tool.

<installdir>\sample
This directory contains sample programs containing encoded BER/DER message files (these files have a '.dat' or '.bin' extension) and corresponding ASN.1 schema files (these have extension '.asn'). ASN2XML can be used to translate these files to XML. A perl script (asn2xml.pl) is provided to test the translation of all files to XML.
<installdir>\sample_per
This directory contains sample programs containing encoded PER message files and corresponding ASN.1 schema files. The message files generally have an '_a' suffix for aligned PER or '_u' for unaligned PER messages. A perl script (asn2xml.pl) is provided to test the translation of all files to XML.
 

Reporting Problems

Report problems you encounter by sending E-mail to support@obj-sys.com. The preferred format of example programs is the same as the sample programs. Please provide a message file and an ASN.1 syntax file (if it exists) and also indicate where the problem occurs.

If you have any further questions or comments on what you would like to see in the product or what is difficult to use or understand, please communicate them to us. Your feedback is important to us.