This project includes library and converter tools for converting raw MDF4 log files. These converters are designed for use with the CANedge CAN bus data loggers from CSS Electronics.
IMPORTANT: Going forward, you can find the latest converter releases in the MF4 converter docs. The source code in this repository matches release v1.4.0, but does not reflect the latest updates.
1. Drag & drop log files to produce popular output formats
1. Drag & drop folders to easily batch convert files
2. Support for e.g. .csv, .asc (Vector), .trc (PEAK), .txt (CLX000) and more
3. Optionally use in any programming language for batch scripted processing
4. Optionally use via CLI for advanced options (e.g. folder conversion)
5. Open source - easily create your own converters or tweak existing ones
6. Windows/Linux support
The overall structure is as follows:
- The library that handles finalization and sorting is found in
Library - The generic tools utilising the library are found in
ToolsASCcontains an exporter to ASCII format for e.g. Vector toolsCLX000contains an exporter to the raw log file format for CLX000 CAN loggersCSVcontains an exporter to comma separated filesFinalizercontains a tool for finalization & optional sorting of the MDF4 filesPCAPcontains an exporter to the PCAP-NG format for import into WiresharkSharedcontains a base class library for all the other toolsSocketCANcontains an exporter to the log format from the SocketCAN utilities in Linux
All the tools support drag-and-drop, where the default values are used to convert the data from the MDF4 file into
each tool's respective format. Additional options are present for all tools, which can be seen by running the tool in the
command line and passing either no arguments or --help.
For details on using the converters, see the CANedge Intros and the README.md in the Tools/ folder.
Major dependencies are expected to be present on the system already. These include:
- Boost
- Botan
- fmt
If publishing any of the build artifacts, remember to change the "Company Name" in Tools/CMakeLists.txt, since the
information is embedded in the executable targets.
If not present, they can be installed using vcpkg. The build uses a local overlay in External\vcpkg-overlay and requires the following targets:
- boost-bimap
- boost-filesystem
- boost-iostreams
- boost-log
- boost-dll
- boost-program-options
- botan
- fmt
- heatshrink
- neargye-semver
All targets are build using static linking. Select the matching triplet for the target system:
x64-windows-staticx86-windows-staticx64-linux
Checkout vcpkg commit xyz and bootstrap it, such that it exists as a sub-folder in the project root.
Create a new folder for out-of-source building:
mkdir build
cd build
Run CMake with the desired configuration and the correct vcpkg triplet.
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=$BUILD-TYPE -DVCPKG_OVERLAY_PORTS=../External/vcpkg-overlay -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=$SELECTED-TRIPLET -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\vcpkg.cmake ..
$BUILD-TYPE world normally be Release, but any other normal CMake build type can be inserted. Example:
cmake -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=x64-linux -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=/path/to/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
If all dependencies are found, make help should provide a list of targets.
If the Python extension is to be build, build the PyCXX_fecth target first.
make PyCXX_fetct
rm CMakeLists.txt
And then re-run the CMake command to use the added files. Next, the wheel can be build using:
make mdf_iter_wheel
The resulting wheel file will be placed in /path/to/mdf4-converters/Python/Distribution_Iterator/dist.
If building the converters, either build the individual converter, or all using the ToolsRelease target.
make ToolsRelease
The project uses the following external libraries, apart from the standard library for C++20:
- Boost - Boost license
- Botan - Simplified BSD license
- fmt - Custom license, see repository for details
- heatshrink - ISC license
In the project the following header-only libraries are used and distributed:
Copyright Beman Dawes, Daniel Frey, David Abrahams, 2003-2004. Copyright Rene Rivera 2004-2005. Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.