Re: [avrdude-dev] Re: [avr-chat] RFC: Unified Microcontroller Programming File

[Richard Urwin]

On Tuesday 19 Apr 2005 1:18 am, Colin O'Flynn wrote:
> [snip]
> I know nothing about XML - how hard would the parser be to implement?

Hard. But there are FOSS libraries out there that we could use.

> Would we need real XML or could we fake it so to speak, just catching
> onto key phrases...

If you fake it then someone, somewhere is sure to find a case you 
haven't coded for. The chances are that you'd have to keep coding until 
you had an almost complete but messy parser.

> I forgot all about the extra files, but actually it would be good if
> we could have multiple files in the archive. Although I'm getting
> ahead of myself, It would be nice to even have this thing setup as a
> "system" programming file.
>
> So for example if you've got an AVR and a FPGA, both files are stored
> in one spot. This eliminates the problem with such a system (or any
> system with more than one programmable device) where you go "oh
> crap... firmware 1.23 on the AVR only works with firmare 0.12, not
> with 0.15.. which version is this!?".

You could make the file format recursive, so it can hold files in the 
same format as itself.

Something like:

<file type="uep" path="fpga.uep" />
<file type="uep" path="avr.uep" />

(BTW, I don't like using element text for anything but free text.)

Then fpga.uep (and avr.uep) could be dedicated entirely to the one 
device, which would make the program logic and the XML file a lot 
simpler. Of course a program that scanned or listed the contents of 
such an archive would be more complex, but that's probably a good place 
for the complexity; above all the nitty-gritty details and out of the 
way of the create-consume toolchain.

> [snip]

-- 
Richard Urwin