vspec export is a tool to export a given vss model into another format.
For the most up do date usage information, please call the tool help via:
vspec export --help
Usage: vspec export [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
╭─ Options ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --help Show this message and exit. │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Commands ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ apigear Export to ApiGear. │
│ binary Export to Binary. │
│ csv Export as CSV. │
│ ddsidl Export as DDSIDL. │
│ franca Export as Franca. │
│ graphql Export as GraphQL. │
│ id Export as IDs. │
│ json Export as JSON. │
│ jsonschema Export as a jsonschema. │
│ protobuf Export as protobuf. │
│ yaml Export as YAML. │
│ tree Export as Tree. │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯A complete example call with the json exporter and its output could look like this:
vspec export json --vspec spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec --output vss.json
[16:40:03] INFO Added 29 quantities from __init__.py:895
/Users/Foo/workspace/vehicle_signal_specification/spec/quantities.
yaml
INFO Added 62 units from __init__.py:923
/Users/Bar/workspace/vehicle_signal_specification/spec/units.yaml
INFO Loading vspec from spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec... utils.py:81
[16:40:04] INFO Check type usage __init__.py:117
INFO Generating JSON output... json.py:142
INFO Serializing compact JSON... json.py:148
Here is a list of more in depth Explanations of the arguments. Please note that not all arguments are available for all exporters. That is either a technical limitation of the exported format or has just not implemented yet.
Controls the verbosity of the output the tool generates. The default is "INFO" which
will print things interesting for most users. If you want to hide those you can pass
--log-level WARNING which will hide debug and info prints and will print warnings and errors.
Also writes log messages into the given file. Note that the format used for writing into a file is slightly different.
Terminates parsing when an unknown attribute is encountered, that is an attribute that is not defined in the VSS standard catalogue, and not whitelisted using the extended attribute parameter -e (see below).
Note
Here an attribute refers to VSS signal metadata such as "datatype", "min", "max", ... and not to the VSS signal type attribute
Terminates parsing, when the name of a signal does not follow VSS Naming Conventions for the VSS standard catalog.
Enables --aborts unknown-attribute and --aborts name-style
By default all tools expand instance information so that instance information like "Row1" become a branch just like any other branch. If this argument is used and the exporter supports it no expansion will take place. Instead instance information will be kept as additional information for the branch.
See section on overlays below
COVESA supports a number of pre-defined types, see VSS documentation. In addition to this COVESA is introducing a concept to support user-defined types. This is currently limited to specifying struct-types. For more information on syntax see VSS documentation.
Warning
Struct support is not yet supported by all exporters, currently supported by JSON; CSV, Yaml and Protobuf exporters!
To use user-defined types the types must be put in a separate file and given to the tool with the --types/-t argument.
When a signal is defined the tooling will check if the datatype specified is either a predefined type or
a user-defined type. If no matching type is found an error will be given.
It is possible to use --types/-t <file> multiple times. Any additional files after the first one is then treated similar
to overlay files, i.e. they are merged into previous file and it is if needed possible to redefine already defined types.
Depending on exporter, type definitions may either be transformed to a separate file with structure similar to the
"normal" output file, or integrated into the "normal" output file. If type output is given to a separate file then
the name of that file can be specified by the --types-output argument.
Below is an example using user-defined types for JSON generation. Please see test cases for more details.
vspec export json --pretty --types VehicleDataTypes.vspec --types-output VehicleDataTypes.json --vspec test.vspec --output out.jsonCurrent status for exporters:
- CSV, JSON, YAML, Protobuf: Supported!
- All other exporters: Not supported!
The export format is similar to the export format of VSS signals. The below table illustrates the exporting of the new nodes introduced in the data type tree:
| Data | CSV | JSON | YAML |
|---|---|---|---|
| Struct Node Attribute | Column | Key | Key |
| Property Node Attribute | Column | Key | Key |
The YAML exporter maintains the file structure of the vspec file being exported.
NOTE: For YAML and JSON, if a separate output file is not provided, the complex data types are exported under the key - ComplexDataTypes. See the snippets below for illustration.
CSV snippet
"Node","Type","DataType","Deprecated","Unit","Min","Max","Desc","Comment","Allowed","Default"
"<BranchName>","branch","","<Deprecation>","","","","<Description>","<Comment>","",""
"<StructName>","struct","","<Deprecation>","","","","<Description>","<Comment>","",""
"<PropertyName>","property","<DataType>","<Deprecation>","<Unit>","<Min>","<Max>","<Description>","<Comment>","<Allowed values>","<Default Value>"
JSON snippet (data types are exported to a separate file)
{
"VehicleDataTypes": {
"children": {
"<Branch>": {
"children": {
"<Struct>": {
"children": {
"<Property>": {
"type": "property",
"datatype": "<Data Type>",
"description": "<Description",
...
}
},
"description": "<Description>",
"type": "struct"
}
}
"description": "<Description>",
"type": "branch"
}
}
}
}JSON snippet (signals and data types are exported to a single file)
{
"Vehicle": {
"type": "branch"
// Signal tree
},
"ComplexDataTypes": {
"VehicleDataTypes": {
// complex data type tree
"children": {
"<Branch>": {
"children": {
"<Struct>": {
"children": {
"<Property>": {
"type": "property",
"datatype": "<Data Type>",
"description": "<Description",
// ...
}
},
"description": "<Description>",
"type": "struct"
}
}
"description": "<Description>",
"type": "branch"
}
}
}
}
}The tooling verifies that only pre-defined units are used, like kPaand percent.
COVESA maintains a unit file for the standard VSS catalog.
It is possible to specify your own unit file(s) by the --units/-u <file> parameter.
--units/-u can be used multiple times to specify additional files like in the example below:
vspec export csv -I ./spec -u vss-tools/vspec/config.yaml -u vss-tools/vspec/extra.yaml --vspec ./spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec --output output.csvWhen deciding which units to use the tooling use the following logic:
- If
--units/-u <file>is used then the specified unit files will be used. Default units will not be considered. - If
--units/-uis not used the tool will check for a unit file in the same directory as the root*.vspecfile.
See the FAQ for more information on how to define own units.
For units it is required to define quantity, previously called domain.
COVESA maintains a quantity file for the standard VSS catalog.
When deciding which quantities to use the tooling use the following logic:
- If
--quantities/-q <file>is used then the specified quantity files will be used. Default quantities will not be considered. - If
--quantities/-q <file>is not used the tool will check for a file calledquantities.yamlin the same directory as the root*.vspecfile.
As of today use of quantity files is optional, and tooling will only give a warning if a unit use a quantity not specified in a quantity file.
The generator framework allows composition of several overlays on top of a base vspec, to extend the model or overwrite certain metadata. Check VSS documentation on the concept of overlays.
Overlays are in general injected before the VSS tree is expanded. Expansion is the process where branches with instances are transformed into multiple branches.
An example is the Vehicle.Cabin.Door branch which during expansion get transformed into Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Left, Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Right, Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row2.Leftand Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row2.Right.
If you in an overlay for example wants to add a new signal to all door instances but only wants to specify the new signal once, then you could create an overlay like below and inject it using the -l or --overlay parameter.
Vehicle.Cabin.Door.NewSignal:
datatype: int8
type: sensor
unit: km
description: A new signal for all doors.
This will result in that the following new signals are created
Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Left.NewSignalVehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Right.NewSignalVehicle.Cabin.Door.Row2.Left.NewSignalVehicle.Cabin.Door.Row2.Right.NewSignal
If you only want to add the new signal to one of the doors, then you can create an overlay like below.
Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Left.NewSignal:
datatype: int8
type: sensor
unit: km
description: A new signal for the left door on first row.
The tooling will recognize that Row1.Left refers to an instance of Door and will not expand the signal.
Even if a row not existing in standard instantiation is used (like Row5) the tool will recognize it as an "already expanded"
signal and not expand it further. If using an overlay to redefine a specific signal then data specified in overlays for extended signals
(like Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Left.IsChildLockActive) has precedence over data specified for not yet extended signals
(like Vehicle.Cabin.Door.IsChildLockActive).
Note: If using --no-expand together with overlays for specific instances then the result will be a combination
of expanded and unexpanded paths. For the example above Vehicle.Cabin.Door.Row1.Left.NewSignal will be expanded
but all other signals in Vehicle.Cabin.Door will remain unexpanded!
It is possible to use -l multiple times, e.g.
vspec export yaml --vspec ../spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec -l o1.vspec -l o2.vspec -l o3.vspec -l o4.vspec --output result.ymlYou can also use overlays to inject custom metadata not used in the standard VSS catalog, for example if your custom VSS model includes source and quality metadata for sensors.
As an example consider the following overlay.vspec:
#
# Example overlay
#
Vehicle:
type: branch
Vehicle.Speed:
quality: 100
source: "ecu0xAA"This will give a warning about unknown attributes, or even terminate the parsing when --strict or --aborts unknown-attribute is used.
vspec export json -I spec --vspec spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec --strict -l overlay.vspec --output test.json
Output to json format
Known extended attributes:
Loading vspec from spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec...
Applying VSS overlay from overlay.vspec...
Warning: Attribute(s) quality, source in element Speed not a core or known extended attribute.
You asked for strict checking. Terminating.You can whitelist extended metadata attributes using the -e / --extended-attributes argument.
vspec export json -I spec -s spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec -e quality -e source -l overlay.vspec -o test.json
vspec export json -I spec --vspec spec/VehicleSignalSpecification.vspec --extended-attributes quality --extended-attributes source --overlays overlay.vspec --output test.jsonNote
A comma separated list of attributes can no longer be used to specify extended attributes!
Instead of using for example -e a1,a2 you must use -e a1 -e a2!
In this case the expectation is, that the generated output will contain the whitelisted extended metadata attributes, if the exporter supports them.
Warning
Not all exporters (need to) support (all) extended metadata attributes!
Currently, the yaml and json exporters support arbitrary metadata.
Lets the exporter generate all extended metadata attributes found in the model. By default the exporter is generating only those given by the -e/--extended-attributes parameter.
If the parameter is set it will pretty-print the JSON output, otherwise you will get a minimized version
Lets the exporter generate all extended metadata attributes found in the model. By default the exporter is generating only those given by the -e/--extended-attributes parameter. This will also add unconverted VSS standard attributes into the schema using the following attributes
| VSS attribute | in schema |
|---|---|
| type | x-VSStype |
| datatype | x-datatype |
| deprecation | x-deprecation |
| aggregate | x-aggregate |
| comment | x-comment |
Not that strict JSON schema validators might not accept jsonschemas with such extra, non-standard entries.
Do not allow properties not defined in VSS tree, when elements are validated against the schema, what this basically does is setting
"additionalProperties": falsefor all defined objects. See: https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/json-schema-core#additionalProperties
Require all elements defined in VSS tree for a valid object, i.e. this populates the required list with all children. See: https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/json-schema-validation#name-required
If the paramter is set it will pretty-print the JSON output, otherwise you will get a minimized version
Lets the exporter generate all extended metadata attributes found in the model. By default the exporter is generating only those given by the -e/--extended-attributes parameter.
Will also generate non-payload const attributes such as unit/datatype. Default is not to generate them/comment them out because at least Cyclone DDS and FastDDS do not support const. For more information check the DDS-IDL exporter docs.
Add additional fields to the nodes in the graphql schema. use: <field_name>,. Can be used more than once.
Just have a look at current implementations of exporters.
Start by copy pasting the def cli(). Think about parameters the exporter supports.