ASN1C V6.4.x README

This file contains release notes on the latest release of the ASN1C compiler (version 6.4.x).

Contents

Introduction

Thank you for downloading this release of the ASN1C software. ASN1C is a powerful ASN.1 compiler capable of parsing and generating C, C++, C#, or Java source code for the most advanced ASN.1 syntax.

This package contains the ASN1C compiler executables and run-time libraries. Documentation is available online at http://www.obj-sys.com/docs/documents.shtml

Release Notes

This release of ASN1C adds the following new capabilities:
Support Added for the Medical Device Encoding Rules (MDER)

Run-time libraries and code generation logic has been added for all supported languages for the Medical Device Encoding Rules (MDER) as documented in IEEE 11073.

Support Added for the Octet Encoding Rules (OER)

C run-time libraries and code generation logic has been added for the Octet Encoding Rules (OER) as documented in NTCIP 1102:2004.

Improved Table Constraint Code Generation in Java and C#

Additional helper methods are now generated to assist users in working with code that uses table constraints.

Improved Java/C# error information

A new feature called element tracking has been introduced. The encode/decode buffer/streams contain a context (Asn1Context) on which you can invoke enableElementTracking(). An exception handler can later invoke getCurrentElement() on the context to get a name representing the element on which the failure occured. The name will be hierarchical (e.g. mypdu.address.street).

Improved naming of Table Constraint Selector Constants in C/C++

The format of constants generated in C/C++ for items in Information Object Sets referenced in Table Constraints has been improved to not use embedded sequential numbers. See our blog post which describes the changes.

Addition of the <alias> configuration item

Related to the table constraint constant change above, the capability to configure shorter code names was added via the introduction of the <alias> configuration element. This allows an alternate name to use used in generated code that is different than the ASN.1 name. The primary reason for adding it is because the new selector names were found to be rather long in some instances. This is a way to shorten them. Note that in this release, aliases can only be specified for Module and Object Set names (these are the components used in the selector constants).

Capability to generate HTML representation of ASN.1

The -html switch was added to provide generation of HTML files from the ASN.1 input sources based on what the compiler sees and supports. These files contain hyperlinks to items referenced within the specification making it easier to navigate between components.

Output file selection for C#

In previous versions of ASN1C, C# output files worked the same as Java - one file was generated for each component in an ASN.1 source file. This led to the creation of large numbers of files in some cases. In this release, the -csfile command-line option has been added which makes it possible to specify a single output file or one output file per ASN.1 file be generated. If the value specified with this option is a specific .cs file, all generated C# code will be written to that file. If the value is "*.cs", one .cs file will be created for each ASN.1 module.

Support added for Visual Studio 2010

Run-time libraries built with Visual Studio 2010 are now included in Windows packages. In addition, the capability to generate a visual Studio 2010 project file has also been added.

Compatibility

In an ongoing effort to improve the product, changes have been made in how code is generated in some cases. The following are known areas where differences with the previous version exist:
  1. The C/C++ union selector constants generated for table constraint support if the -table-unions command-line switch is specified will be different than in prior versions. This was done to address a shortcoming caused by the use of embedded sequential numeric values.

Documentation

Documentation for release is available online at the following web-link:

http://www.obj-sys.com/asn1c-manuals.shtml

Windows Installation

The steps to install ASN1C on a Windows system are as follows:

  1. Download the ASN1C package that is of interest to you. Packages are available online for C/C++, C#, and Java. The C/C++ package contains run-time libraries built with the Microsoft Visual C++ v6.0, Microsoft .NET 2005, 2008, and 2010 compilers, Borland v5.5 C++ compiler, and GNU Cygwin gcc 3.3.1 compiler.
  2. ASN1C 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 from that point.
  3. After installation is complete, the license file must be installed to allow the product to operate. 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 compiler can find it. This can be done in one of the following ways:
    a. The file can be copied to the same directory that the ASN1C compiler executable file is located in. This is in the bin subdirectory located under the top-level install directory. This is the preferred option as it keeps the license separate from other similar license files that may be present on a given computer system.
    b. The file can be copied into any of the directories specified within your PATH environment variable (copying to the c:\windows directory works on most systems), or
    c. The file can be copied to a different directory and an environment variable named OSLICDIR created to point at this directory location.

    The compiler should now be operational. The following command can be executed:

    <rootdir>\bin\asn1c

    to verify operation.

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):

Base Compiler Package

<installdir>\bin\asn1c.exe

The command-line compiler executable file. This is invoked on ASN.1 or XSD source files to generate C, C++, C#, or Java encode/decode classes and functions. It is recommended you modify your PATH environment variable to include <installdir>\bin to allow the compiler executable to be run from anywhere.

<installdir>\bin\asn1cGUI.exe

The compiler graphic user interface (GUI) wizard executable file. This GUI guides a user through the process of specifying ASN.1 or XSD source files and options. This is the program invoked from the start menu or desktop icon.

<installdir>\bin\berfdump.exe
<installdir>\bin\ber2def.exe
<installdir>\bin\ber2indef.exe

Utility programs for operating on BER-encoded files. The first program allows a file to be dumped in a human-readable format. The other two utilities convert files from the use of indefinite to definite length encoding and vice-versa.

<installdir>\bin\dumpasn1.exe

A public-domain ASN.1 BER/DER encoded data dump tool. Thanks to Peter Gutmann for making this available for public use. The full source code for this program can be found in the utils subdirectory of the installation.

<installdir>\bin\xsd2asn1.exe

XSD-to-ASN.1 translation program executable file. This program translates an XSD file to its ASN.1 equivalent as per the ITU-T X.694 standard.

<installdir>\doc

This directory contains documentation files. Note that the bulk of the documentation items are now available online (see the Documentation section above).

<installdir>\scripts

This directory contains Perl script files for doing source code editing and other transformations. The rtport.pl script is included in this release to port existing C/C++ applications that use ASN1C generated code from version 5.8 or lower to be compatible with the latest release of the product.

<installdir>\utils

This directory contains the source code and build makefile for some of the utility programs included in the bin subdirectory.

<installdir>\xsd\lib\asn1.xsd

This directory contains the common XML schema definitions (XSD) library. This contains type mappings for built-in ASN.1 types that do not have an equivalent types defined in XSD.

<installdir>\xsd\sample

This directory contains sample programs related to the conversion of ASN.1 to XML Schema. It also contains the XSD.asn ASN.1 specification which contains the XSD ASN.1 module that is sometimes referenced in ASN.1 files that are the result of an XSD-to-ASN.1 translation.

C/C++ run-time libraries and source files

<installdir>\c\lib\* (Visual C++ 6.0)
<installdir>\c_vs2005\lib\* (Visual C++ 8 / .NET 2005)
<installdir>\c_vs2008\lib\* (Visual C++ 9 / .NET 2008)
<installdir>\c_vs2010\lib\* (Visual C++ 10 / .NET 2010)
<installdir>\c_gnu\lib\*.a (GNU gcc 3.3.1)

The ASN1C C run-time library files. These contain BER/DER, PER, XER, and XML run-time functions. For each encoding rules type, there is a dynamic link library (.dll) and standard library file (.lib) for linking with the DLL. There is also a static library for direct linkage to the object modules (this is the library file with the '_a.lib' suffix). The static library included in the evaluation version that is built with VC++ 6.0 is not thread-safe. The licensed version of the product also contains a thread-safe static library (compiled with -MT option) and a DLL-ready library (compiled with -MD option) for building your own value-added DLL's. Also note that the evaluation and development libraries are not fully optimized (they contain diagnostic tracing and are not compiled with compiler optimization turned on). The deployment libraries are fully optimized.

<installdir>\cpp\lib\*.lib (Visual C++ 6.0)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2005\lib\* (Visual C++ 8 / .NET 2005)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2008\lib\* (Visual C++ 9 / .NET 2008)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2010\lib\* (Visual C++ 10 / .NET 2010)
<installdir>\cpp_borland\lib\*.a (Borland C++ v5.5)
<installdir>\cpp_gnu\lib\*.a (GNU g++ 3.3.1)

The ASN1C C/C++ run-time library files. These are the same as the C run-time libraries above except they contain run-time C++ classes as well as C run-time functions.

<installdir>\c*\lib_opt\*
<installdir>\cpp*\lib_opt\*

The optimized version of the ASN1C run-time libraries. This version has all diagnostic messages, error stack trace and text, and non-essential status checks removed. (Note: these libraries are only available in the licensed deployment version of the product. If you wish to do performance testing, please contact us and we will make them available to you).

<installdir>\c*\lib_debug\*
<installdir>\cpp*\lib_debug\*

The debug DLL versions of the ASN1C run-time libraries. These are the same as the DLL C/C++ run-time libraries above except they are linked with debug versions of Standard C Run-time DLLs. (Note: these libraries are only available in the licensed development version of the product (SDK)).

<installdir>\c\sample_*
<installdir>\cpp\sample_*

The sample directories contain sample programs demonstrating the use of the compiler. There are a set of sample programs that correspond to each encoding rule set supported by ASN1C. Most sample programs are broken down into a writer and a reader. The writer encodes a sample data record and writes it to a disk file. The reader reads the encoded message from the file, decodes it, and then prints the results of the decode operation.

<installdir>\rtsrc\*
<installdir>\rtxsrc\*

Run-time source directories containing common type and class definitions used by all encoding rules. The installation run-time source directories contain the header files required to compile the compiler generated code. The C or C++ source files will also be located here if the run-time source code kit option was selected.

<installdir>\rt*ersrc\*

Run-time source directories for various ASN.1 encoding rules. These contain common code for encoding and decoding using the specific rules. Directories are currently present for BER/DER/CER, PER, MDER, OER, and XER rules.

<installdir>\rtxmlsrc\*

XML specific run-time source directory. These contain common code for encoding/decoding XML messages.

<installdir>\expatsrc\*

The XML parser run-time source directories contain the source files for the Expat C XML parser.

<installdir>\libxml2src\*

The LibXML2 parser run-time source directories contain the source files for the GNOME libxml2 C XML parser.

Java run-time libraries

<installdir>\java\asn1rt.jar

ASN.1 Java run-time libraries. These contain the low-level BER, PER, and/or XER encode/decode classes. The asn1rt.jar file contains classes compatible with the Java 5 JRE.

<installdir>\java\sample_ber
<installdir>\java\sample_der
<installdir>\java\sample_per
<installdir>\java\sample_xer
<installdir>\java\sample_xml

Sample programs illustrating the use of the Java version of ASN1C. As was the case for C/C++, most have a writer and a reader. Some contain support code used by other samples (for example, SimpleROSE contains the ROSE headers used by CSTA).

<installdir>/java/doc/*

The ASN.1 Java run-time libraries documentation files. These are html files generated with the javadoc documentation tool. To view the documentation, open the index.html file with a web browser and follow the hyperlinks.

<installdir>/java/xerces/*

The Apache Xerces Java XML parser implementation. This parser is used in the generated XER and XML decode classes.

C# run-time libraries

<installdir>\csharp\asn1rt.dll

The ASN.1 C# run-time library DLL. This contains the low-level BER, PER, and/or XER encode/decode classes. It supports .NET 2002 through 2005 versions.

<installdir>\csharp\sample_ber
<installdir>\csharp\sample_der
<installdir>\csharp\sample_per
<installdir>\csharp\sample_xer
<installdir>\csharp\sample_xml

Sample programs demonstrating the use of the C# version of ASN1C. As was the case for C/C++, most have a writer and a reader. Some contain support code used by other samples (for example, SimpleROSE contains the ROSE headers used by CSTA).

<installdir>/csharp/doc/*

The ASN.1 C# run-time libraries documentation files. Documentation is contained within the ASN1CLibrary.chm file. This is in Microsoft help format.

Getting Started with C or C++

The compiler can be run using either the GUI wizard or from the command line. To run the GUI wizard, launch the application and follow these steps. To run a simple test from the command line, do the following:
  1. Open an MS-DOS or other command shell window.

Getting Started with Java

The compiler can be run using either the GUI wizard or from the command line. To run the GUI wizard, launch the application and follow the steps. To run a simple test from the command line, do the following:
  1. Open an MS-DOS or other command shell window.
  2. Change directory (cd) to one of the employee sample directories (for example, java/sample_ber/Employee).
  3. Execute the build batch file:

    build

    This will cause the ASN1C compiler to be invoked to compile the employee.asn sample file. It will then invoke the Java compiler (javac) to compile all generated java files and the reader and writer programs (Note: JDK 1.4 was used to build all the run-time library classes). It will also automatically execute the writer and reader programs. These programs will produce a writer.log and reader.log file respectively.

    Note: a makefile is also available for use if you have a make utility program available. The makefile is compatible with the GNU make utility and with the Microsoft Visual C++ make utility (nmake).

  4. View the writer and reader log files. The writer.log file will contain a dump of the encoded message contents. The reader.log file will contain a printout of the decoded data.

Getting Started with C#

The compiler can be run using either the GUI wizard or from the command line. To run the GUI wizard, launch the application and follow the steps. To run a simple test from the command line, do the following:
  1. Make sure Microsoft .NET 2003, 2005, or 2008 is installed on your system.
  2. Open the Visual Studio .NET command prompt (This can be found using: Start->Programs->Microsoft Visual Studio .NET->Visual Studio .NET Tools)
  3. Execute the nmake command to run the complete sample program. The makefile will invoke the ASN1C compiler to generate C# code for the ASN.1 definition and then compile the generated C# code.
  4. Execute writer.exe to encode a binary message and write it to a file.
  5. Execute reader.exe to read the file containing encoded binary message and decode it.

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 writer and reader and indicate where in the code 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. Please let us know how it works out for you - either good or bad.