ASN1C V6.8.x README

This file contains release notes on the latest release of the ASN1C compiler (version 6.8.x).

Contents

Introduction

Thank you for downloading this release of the ASN1C software. ASN1C is an ASN.1 compiler (code generator) 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/support/asn1c-manuals.php

Release Notes

This release of ASN1C adds the following new capabilities:
New and Improved ASN1C GUI

The ASN1C GUI interface has been improved to include ASN.1 schema editing, validation, and compilation. Tree-based navigation similar to our ASN1VE product has been added making it easy to jump to definitions in complex schemas. The error log also contains links back into the source code to make it easier to find the location of syntax errors.

Generation of Java and C# Methods to Get Metadata

Methods to get some metadata related to ASN.1 constraints is now available in Java. When the –genmetadata command-line option is used, isRequired and getValueRange methods are generated for SEQUENCE and SET types that provide information about whether elements are required or optional, and what value range constraints have been applied to them.

Addition of Java Run-time Base Classes for SEQUENCE/SET

Generic Java base classes have been added for SEQUENCE and SET constructs. These are extended with specific compiler generated classed for these types of constructs. They allow getting the count of elements or getting specific element names or values using the element index.

Addition of Java print-to-string Methods

When –prtToStr is specified on the command-line, new methods for printing to a Java StringBuilder type have been added. These are considerably more efficient than the old methods that depended on using a PrintWriter.

Configuration Parameter Added to Skip Elements

The <skip/> configuration directive was added to allow elements to be decoded or to be skipped completely. This is similar to deferred decoding except in this case, the data in the encoded message is skipped completely instead of being saved in an open type variable for decoding later.

Capability to Generate Makefiles to Build DLL's

The capability to generate makefiles that can build DLL's was added. This is accomplished using the -makedll command-line argument.

Capability to Create a Project Directory Hierarchy

The –prjdir command-line option has been added which will create a complete project directory hierarchy consiting of bin, lib, src, and obj subdirectories.

Improved Default Value Handling

Code generation for handling default values has been streamlined and improved to avoid unnecessary duplication and memory allocations.

Compatibility

In version 6.8.x, we made a minor change that will affect ABI compatibility in generated code for users who are upgrading from previous versions.

In particular, we changed the signatures of our generated copy functions in C/C++ to return an integer status instead of returning void. This change was adopted to signal when a copy function failed due, for example, to an invalid memory allocation.

We expect the impact of such a change to be rather minimal, but users distributing dynamic libraries should be advised that the exported symbols will probably change.

Documentation

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

http://www.obj-sys.com/support/asn1c-manuals.php

Windows Installation

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

  1. Download the ASN1C SDK which contains the compiler (code generator) and run-times for C/C++, Java, and C#. The C/C++ run-time contains libraries built with the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2013 compilers, the Cygwin gcc compiler, and the Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) compiler.
  2. ASN1C for Windows is packaged in a self-extracting executable file format. To install, all that is necessary is to double-click the file after downloading and then following the setup wizard instructions from that point.
  3. After installation is complete, the license for the product must be installed. This can come in two forms - as a license file or a license key value:
    If a license file was provided either on the user's download page or as an E-mail attachment, this file should 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.
    Alternately, a license key value may have been provided for product activation. This can be used either through the GUI interface by following the on-screen instructions, or by running ASN1C from the command-line using the -lickey switch.

    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\asn2xsd.exe

ASN.1 to XML Schema (XSD) translation tool.

<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>\specs

This directory contains ASN.1 specifications from many standards that have been pre-compiled and tested. In some cases, syntax errors that may have existed in the original standards were fixed.

<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++ 10 / .NET 2010)
<installdir>\c_vs2008\lib\* (Visual C++ 9 / .NET 2008)
<installdir>\c_vs2012\lib\* (Visual C++ 11 / .NET 2012
<installdir>\c_vs2012\lib\* (Visual C++ 12 / .NET 2013
<installdir>\c_gnu\lib\*.a (Cygwin GNU gcc)
<installdir>\c_mingw\lib\*.a (MinGW gcc)

The ASN1C C run-time library files. These contain low-level run-time functions for the various encoding rules supported by ASN1C. 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 licensed version of the product also contains 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\* (Visual C++ 10 / .NET 2010)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2008\lib\* (Visual C++ 9 / .NET 2008)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2012\lib\* (Visual C++ 11 / .NET 2012)
<installdir>\cpp_vs2013\lib\* (Visual C++ 12 / .NET 2013)
<installdir>\cpp_gnu\lib\*.a (Cygwin GNU g++)
<installdir>\cpp_mingw\lib\*.a (MinGW g++)

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>\rtjsonsrc\*

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

<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 encode/decode classes for the various encoding rules supported by ASN1C. The asn1rt.jar file contains classes compatible with the Java 5 JRE.

<installdir>\java\sample_*

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, built with Visual Studio 2010. This contains the low-level BER, PER, and/or XER encode/decode classes.

<installdir>\csharp\vs2008\asn1rt.dll

The ASN.1 C# run-time library DLL, built with Visual Studio 2008. This contains the low-level BER, PER, and/or XER encode/decode classes.

<installdir>\csharp\sample_*

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 a Windows Command Prompt (Start -> Accessories -> Command Prompt) or other command shell window. If using Visual Studio, it is best to open a command prompt window for that version under the Visual Studio Tools group of the main menu pulldown item.

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 a 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 6 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 2008 or 2010 is installed on your system.
  2. Open the appropriate Visual Studio command prompt (VS 2010 or VS 2008).
  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.