DHAP

XML Schema

The xml schema developed for DHAP has several different tags. These tags do not need to be placed in any particular order in an xml file. However, some of the tags must be placed within another tag as a child or subchild.

The general structure for any XML schema can be seen below.

<root>
  <child>
    <subchild>.....</subchild>
  </child>
</root>
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Full examples of device layout XML can be found in the Device Examples reference page.

The first thing that should be included in the device XML file is an XML prolog as seen below. This prolog outlines the XML version and the character encoding used.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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device

The device tag is the root tag. All other tags must be placed within this tag.


 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  ...
</device>
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group

The group tag defines a collection of GUI elements.

A group tag must have an attribute id. This is a unique identifier for a group and should be an integer value.

As an option, the group tag can also have a frame attribute which will draw a box around the group as well as an orientation attribute which will orientate the elements in this group vertically or horizontally. The frame attribute can have the values true and false. The default value is false if the attribute is not specified. The orientation attribute can have the values vertical and horizontal. The default value is horizontal if the attribute is not specified.

There is no limit to the number of groups you can have in a device.



 

 


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1" frame="false" orientation="vertical">
  ...
  </group>
</device>
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gui_element

The gui_element tag is used to describe a component of the devices user interface. This tag will contain several child tags that describe the type and content of this component. This tag should be placed in a group tag as a child.

A gui_element tag must have an attribute id. This is a unique identifier for a gui_element in a group and should be an integer value. gui_element tags can have duplicate id values if they are in different group tags.

There can be multiple gui_element tags in a group.




 

 



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1">
    <gui_element id="1">
    ...
    </gui_element>
  </group>
</device>
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type

The type tag is the main descriptor of a GUI element. The contents of this tag will determine which GUI element this gui_element tag describes. There are several predefined element types and a full list can be found in the Elements reference page.

There should only be 1 type tag in a gui_element.





 




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1">
    <gui_element id="1">
      <type>...</type>
    </gui_element>
  </group>
</device>
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disp_settings

The disp_settings tag describes the element specific settings of this GUI component. The value in this tag will contain a list of comma separated values that are unique to each element. The meaning of these values can be seen in the relevant section of the Elements reference page for any specific element.

There should only be 1 disp_settings tag in a gui_element.






 




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1">
    <gui_element id="1">
      <type>...</type>
      <disp_settings>...</disp_settings>
    </gui_element>
  </group>
</device>
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status_location

The status_location tag contains an integer value that determines the index of state value of this element in a status update packet. Status update packets contain a list of comma separated values. The value in this tag will be used to determine which value in that list relates to this specific gui_element.

The value in this tag must be unique to all gui_element tags. i.e no two elements should have the same status location value.

There should only be 1 status_location tag in a gui_element.

The index values for the status location begin at 1. Therefore the first status_location value must be 1, the second 2, third 3 and so on. The gui_elements do not need to be listed in the XML in order of status location. However, the values in the status_location must not skip any values. For example, if there is a total of 8 gui_elements in a device description. The status_location values must range from 1 to 8 with no duplicate values.







 




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1">
    <gui_element id="1">
      <type>...</type>
      <disp_settings>...</disp_settings>
      <status_location>...</status_location>
    </gui_element>
  </group>
</device>
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comment

The comment tag contains a short description of this GUI element.

There should only be 1 comment tag in a gui_element.








 




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<device>
  <group id="1">
    <gui_element id="1">
      <type>...</type>
      <disp_settings>...</disp_settings>
      <status_location>...</status_location>
      <comment>...</comment>
    </gui_element>
  </group>
</device>
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