V4 DBD Statement Syntax

General Statements

include

include "filename"

where

filename

must be a valid filename

The file system search path that will be used to look for the file is determined external to the DBD file itself.

Question: Where is this allowed?

# comment

# anything

Anything on a line after a # character is a comment, and will be ignored. Comments may appear on a line by themselves, or at the end of another statement. They may not appear inside the parentheses belonging to another statement, but they are permitted inside braces. Inside a single- or double- quoted string the # character has no special meaning.

menu

A menu is an enumerated type where the choice strings are defined once for each IOC. Menus are defined like this:

menu(menuName) {
    choice(choiceName, "choiceValue")
    ...
}

where

menuName

Must be a valid, unique C identifier.

choiceName

Must be a valid, unique C identifier. By convention, every choiceName should start with the menuName it belongs to.

choiceValue

Can be any UTF-8 compatible string

Example:

menu(menuScan) {
    choice(menuScanPassive, "Passive")
    choice(menuScanEvent, "Event")
    choice(menuScanInterrupt, "Interrupt")
    choice(menuScan10second, "10 second")
    choice(menuScan5second, "5 second")
    choice(menuScan2second, "2 second")
    choice(menuScan1second, "1 second")
    choice(menuScan_5second, ".5 second")
    choice(menuScan_2second, ".2 second")
    choice(menuScan_1second, ".1 second")
}

Structures, Record types, Fields and Views

Structures and record types have significant commonality in that they both define a data structure type containing fields. The main difference is that you can't create or populate an instance of a structure outside of a record; only records can appear at the very top level. Record types also define views of the record, which is not possible for a structure.

struct

A structure is defined as follows:

struct(name) {
    field(fieldName, fieldType) {
        fieldAttribute(attributeValue)
        ...
    }
    ...
}

where

name

The structure name must be a valid, unique C identifier.

fieldName

Must be a valid C identifier, unique within the context of this particular structure.

fieldType

See fieldType below.

fieldAttribute and attributeValue

See fieldAttribute below.

record

A record type is defined as follows:

include "dbCommon.dbd"
record(name) extends iocRecord {
    field(fieldName, fieldType) {
        fieldAttribute(attributeValue)
        ...
    }
    ...
    view(viewName) {
        property(propName, fieldPath)
        ...
    }
    ...
}

name

The record type name. It must be a valid, unique C identifier.

extends iocRecord

This states that the record type extends the set of fields defined in iocRecord. It should be permissable to name other record types instead of iocRecord here, as long as the inheritance tree starts at iocRecord. Inheritance from multiple record types is not supported; you can only have one extends phrase.

fieldName

Must be a valid C identifier, unique within the context of this particular record type and its parents (extends ...).

fieldType

See fieldType below.

fieldAttribute and attributeValue

See fieldAttribute below.

viewName, propName and fieldPath

See Views of a record below.

field

Both struct and record define a field as:

    field(fieldName, fieldType) {
        fieldAttribute(attributeValue)
        ...
    }

The syntax for fieldType depends of the field type. For the more complex types the field definition needs additional information to be provided, which is given inside parentheses following the type name.

Numeric types, octet, and string

The following field types have no arguments: bool, int16, uint16, int32, uint32, int64, uint54, float32, float64, octet, and string.

Examples: field(description,string) field(value,float64)

enum

An enum field takes one argument after the type name:

enum(fieldName)

where fieldName is the name of another field in the same record that must be of type array(string[]). The value of this array at runtime defines the available choice strings for the enum.

Example:

field(choices, array(string[]) field(value, enum(choices))

menu

A menu field is defined like this: menu(menuName)

where menuName is the name of the menu.

Example: field(scan, menu(menuScan))

struct

A struct field has the definition: struct(structName)

where structName is the name of a struct which must have been previously defined.

Example: struct(point) { field(x, float64) field(y, float64) field(z, float64) } ... record(haspoint) extends iocRecord { ... field(point, struct(point)) }

array

An array has one of the following definitions:

array(arrayType[capacity])

1-dimensional array/vector

array(arrayType[capacityX, capacityY, ...])

multi-dimensional array

array(arrayType)

arbitrary dimensional array

• arrayType may be any fieldType except device or array, or may be omitted completely in which case the data type stored is determined by record instance. If the record instance defines the type, it can only be one of the types listed above under #Numeric types, octet, and string
• capacity is the array's size in each dimension, and must be specified for all dimensions or for none. If not specified by the record type, the record instance determines an array's dimensionality and capacities.

Examples: field(VAL1D,array(float64[])) #1d array with arbitrary capacity field(VAL2D,array(float64[,])) #2d array with arbitrary capacities field(anyTypeAnyD,array()) #arbitrary type,number of dimensions, and capacities

private

This is to allow "private" fields, i.e. fields not meant for use by database or channel access. The syntax is: private("typename") where typename is a valid C typename.

Example: field(asp, private("void *"))

The typename must not include a field name; the member name in the generated include file is taken from the field definition, and will be appended to the typename provided. This may require that a typedef be added if a suitable one does not already exist.

WHERE DO WE FIND THE TYPE DEFINITION? We could just add a parameter to the private() field type that allows us to #include a named header file, but we might want to make up a more flexible scheme to name header files for other purposes too.

link and device

These field types that can get or put data from/to some source outside of the record. Link fields replace the DBF_INLINK and DBF_OUTLINK fields from EPICS V3, other than INP or OUT which were special. A device field replaces the INP or OUT and DTYP fields from EPICS V3.

A link field's choices come from link definitions, and a device field from device definitions - see the link and device section below for more details. The main difference between links and devices is that iocCore and the record support communicate with all the link implementations via a standard link support interface, but communication with device support uses an explicitly named interface.

Q: Does the device also have to implement some standard device interface, and if yes how do we find that? If not, only the record type can talk to the device, so it has to get called to change a device address.

The syntax is:

link(linkDirection) device(linkDirection, deviceInterface)

where linkDirection is none, in, out, fwd, or inout. The direction none means there is no direction associated with this interface. For inout the direction is determined by the particular link or device that the record instance selects.

Examples: field(disableLink, link(in)) field(flnk, link(fwd)) field(inp, device(in, digitalIO))

fieldAttribute

Each field definition has several associated attributes, the values of which are set like this:

    default("fieldValue")
    readonly(yesNo)
    design(yesNo)
    special(yesNo)
    dynamic(yesNo)
    asl(securityLevel)

Marty things we should get rid of these two - anybody want to object?

    prompt("promptString")
    group("promptGroup")

The attribute parameter values have the following meanings:

default("fieldValue")

Default value for an instance of this field, using the record instance value syntax. If a default is not specified, the field will initialize to all zero bits.

If the field is itself a structure, the default value for the instance of the whole structure can override default values declared for individual fields inside that structure. This can occur at multiple levels.

readonly(yesNo)

Can this field be modified via channel access or database links? Takes the value No if not specified.

Q: Is this really an attribute of the view? No, this controls all access to the field. We might let a view be able to declare some fields/properties to be readonly that are modifyable through other views, but can't override this setting.

design(yesNo)

Should a Database Configuration Tool allow the field to be configured at design time? If No, values for the field cannot be set when loading record instance data at startup. Takes the value Yes if not specified.

special(yesNo)

Does the record have to take special action if the field is modified? If this is Yes, the record types special processing will be invoked to actually change the field value, which will allow it to perform value checks or additional processing. Takes the value No if not specified.

dynamic(yesNo)

Can the field change as a result of record processing? If Yes, then changes will be posted to channel access automatically. If No, only DB or CA puts can change the field, and these post monitors automatically.

asl(securityLevel)

Channel Access security level for this field, 0 or 1. Takes the value 1 if not specified.

Q: Is this really an attribute of the view? Not sure, it might be an attribute of both - this entry provides the ASL for the standard field view, other views may need to change it.

These attributes may disappear, see comment above...

prompt("promptString")

A description of this field for the database designer, this string will be displayed by a Database Configuration Tool. Empty if not specified. Not used within the IOC.

group("promptGroup")

A name that can be used by a Database Configuration Tool to group similar or related fields together. Empty if not specified. Not used within the IOC.

view

There needs to be more than one way to look at a record remotely (via Channel Access or some other similar network protocol). Often we just want to get the contents of the value field and some metadata associated with that value, but there are usually several fields which can share metadata - engineering units for example. We can't do metadata using structures because that would mean replicating this metadata, so we need an alternative

A view of a record provides a hierarchical mapping between some of the record's fields and a named Data Access property catalog that can be reached using Channel Access. Records automatically get a view named "field" that provides direct access to the individual public fields of the record, with no metadata. Beyond that, record types can declare additional hierarchical views and define the fields that appear in them inside the DBD file.

A simple view looks like this:

view(viewName) {
    property(propName) {
        property(propName, fieldPath)
        ...
    }
    property(propName, fieldPath)
    ...
}

viewName

The view name must be a valid C identifier, which must be unique in the context of the particular record type.

propName

A Data Access property name, which must be a valid C identifier.

fieldPath

The path to a field in this record type. To use a field inside a structure field, give the full path to that field: controlLimit.upper for example.

If fieldPath resolves to a structure, a property catalog containing the whole structure will be sent, with property names matching the structure's field names.

The fieldPath may be omitted as long as there is a subordinate property catalog below this property.

Example:

record(ao) extends iocRecord {
    field(value, float64) { ... }
    field(outValue, float64) { ... }
    field(rawValue, int32) { ... }
    field(units, string) { ... }
    field(displayLimit, struct(displayLimit)) { ... }
    ...
    view(value)
        property(value, value) {
            property(units, units)
            property(timeStamp, time)
            property(alarmSeverity, alarmSeverity)
            property(alarmStatus, alarmStatus)
            property(displayLimit, displayLimit)
        }
    }
    view(outValue)
        property(value, outValue) {
            property(units, units)
            property(timeStamp, time)
            property(alarmSeverity, alarmSeverity)
            property(alarmStatus, alarmStatus)
        }
    }
    view(rawValue)
        property(value, rawValue) {
            property(timeStamp, time)
        }
    }
    ...
}

link and device

A link statement describes an implementation of the generic link interface, which will be available for use in matching link field instances.

A device statement describes an implementation of a device choice for device fields.

The syntax for these is:

link(dir, choiceName, dataStruct)
device(dir, choiceName, interfaceName, dataStructName)

where

interfaceName

The name of an interface via which record support communicates with device support.

choiceName

UTF-8 string that describes the choice

dir

Must be one of none,in,out,fwd, or inout. Compatible checks are made to match the interface with a field.

Q: What are the rules?

It certainly doesn't seem to make sense to have a none or inout link for instance.

dataStructName

The name of a struct that the interface understands. This interface can contain data and configuration information. The struct must be defined before record instances can be created that assign values to it.

Need to rewrite this paragraph to clarify.