4. Configuration

Introduction

The messages on the eBUS and their content highly depend on the addressed bus participant. In order to convert these binary messages to/from human readable values, the structure of each message on the bus needs to be defined. This is done in CSV files as described below.

A set of historically grown configuration files can be found in the ebusd-configuration repository.

Files

The overall message configuration is usually split up into several files with each file describing the messages that may be sent to or by one particular device on the bus.

All of these files reside in the ebusd configuration directory (see Message configuration options). Each ".csv" file in that directory will be read by the daemon during start-up (and reloaded on request).

When using the "--scanconfig" option, the CSV files are picked automatically from a subdirectory in the configuration directory. See Automatic configuration for details.

There is one special file named "_templates.csv", which is supposed to contain field template definitions, that may be used elsewhere. All other CSV files contain message definitions or defaults for messages.

Details

Details on how to use the CSV files are split up into the following chapters:

1. Message definition
   Describes the principal structure of a message definition together with field definitions.

2. Defaults
   Describes the usage of defaults in a message definition file.

3. Builtin data types
   The list of ebusd builtin data types.

4. Field templates
   Describes how to extend the available data types and combine several fields together.

5. Conditions
   Describes the use of definitions on a message level, e.g. for enabling a message for a particular variant of a device.

6. Scanning
   The Scan command optionally uses explicitly named message definitions for getting a more complete scan result.

7. Automatic configuration
   Describes the use of the "--scanconfig" option that allows ebusd to automatically pick the right CSV files.

8. Probing the configuration
   Describes how to probe a newly created CSV file for validity.

9. Instructions
   Describes the use of instructions within a CSV file (e.g. for including another file).