Value Specifications

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The compiler can parse any type of ASN.1 value specification, but will only generate code for certain types. In this release of the compiler, the following types of value specifications will result in generated code:

• BOOLEAN
• INTEGER
• ENUMERATED
• Binary String
• Hexadecimal String
• Character String
• OBJECT IDENTIFER

All value types except INTEGER cause an "extern" statement to be generated in the header file and a global value assignment to be added to the C or C++ source file. INTEGER value specifications cause #define statements to be generated.

INTEGER Value Specification

The INTEGER type causes a #define statement to be generated in the header file of the form `ASN1V_<valueName>' where <valueName> would be replaced with the name in the ASN.1 source file. The reason for doing this is the common use of INTEGER values for size and value range constraints in the ASN.1 specifications. By generating #define statements, the symbolic names can be included in the source code making it easier to adjust the boundary values on the fly.

For example, the following declaration:

ivalue INTEGER ::= 5
 

will cause the following statement to be added to the generated header file:

#define ASN1V_ivalue 5
 

The reason the ASN1V_ prefix is added is to prevent collisions with INTEGER value declarations and other declarations such as enumeration items with the same name.

BOOLEAN Value Specification

A BOOLEAN value causes an "extern" statement to be generated in the header file and a global declaration of type ASN1BOOL to be generated in the C or C++ source file. The mapping of ASN.1 declaration to global C or C++ value declaration is as follows:

    ASN.1 production:   <name> BOOLEAN ::= <value>
 

 
    Generated code:    ASN1BOOL <name> = <value>;
 

Binary and Hexadecimal String Value Specification

These value specifications cause two global C variables to be generated: a `numocts' variable describing the length of the string and a `data' variable describing the string contents. The mapping for a binary string is as follows (note: BIT STRING can also be used as the type in this type of declaration):

    ASN.1 production:  <name> OCTET STRING ::= `<bstring>'B
 

 
    Generated code:    ASN1UINT  <name>_numocts = <length>;
 
                        ASN1OCTET <name>_data[]  = <data>; 
 

Hexadecimal string would be the same except the ASN.1 constant would end in a `H'.

Character String Value Specification

A character string declaration would cause a C or C++ char* declaration to be generated:

    ASN.1 production:   <name> <string-type> ::= <value>
 

 
    Generated code:     ASN1ConstCharPtr <name> = <value>;
 

In this definition, <string-type> could be any of the standard 8-bit characters string types such as IA5String, PrintableString, etc. (note: this version of the compiler does not contain support for value declarations of larger character string type such as BMPString). The ASN1ConstCharPtr type used in the generated code is a type defined in asn1type.h designed to be a char* type for C or const char* type for C++.

Object Identifier Value Specification

Object identifier values are somewhat different in that they result in a structure being populated in the C or C++ source file.

    ASN.1 production:   <name> OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= <value>
 

 
    Generated code:   ASN1OBJID <name> = <value>;
 

For example, consider the following declaration:

oid OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= { ccitt b(5) 10 }
 

This would result in the following definition in the C or C++ source file:

ASN1OBJID oid = {
 
   3,
 
   { 0, 5, 10 }
 
} ;
 

To populate a variable in a generated structure with this value, the rtSetOID utility function can be used (see the section in the run-time API guide for a full description of this function). In addition, the C++ base type for this construct (ASN1TObjId) contains constructors and assignment operators that allow direct assignment of values in this from to the target variable.