Add signals to frames

pyDBC is a library for creating and editing automotive network description files, including:

• DBC (CAN Database) files for CAN bus systems
• LDF (LIN Description File) for LIN networks
• NCF (Network Configuration File) for vehicle network configurations

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Installation

pyDBC is hosted on Github, get the latest release: https://github.com/christoph2/pydbc

Using Poetry (recommended)

This project uses Poetry for dependency management and packaging. If you don't have Poetry installed, you can install it by following the instructions on the Poetry website.

# Install the package
poetry install

# Run the tests
poetry run pytest

Requirements

• Python >= 3.10
• SQLAlchemy >= 2.0.0
• Other dependencies are managed by Poetry

First steps

pyDBC provides high-level creational APIs for working with automotive network description files. These APIs make it easy to create and manipulate DBC, LDF, and NCF components.

Creating a CAN database (DBC)

from pydbc.api.dbc import DBCCreator

# Create a new DBC creator with an in-memory database
dbc = DBCCreator(":memory:")

# Create nodes (ECUs)
engine = dbc.create_node("Engine")
gateway = dbc.create_node("Gateway")

# Create a message
engine_data = dbc.create_message("EngineData", 100, 8, engine)

# Create signals
petrol_level = dbc.create_signal(
    "PetrolLevel", 8, byteorder=1, sign=1,
    formula_factor=1.0, formula_offset=0.0,
    minimum=0, maximum=255, unit="l"
)

# Add signals to messages
dbc.add_signal_to_message(engine_data, petrol_level, 24)

# Add signal receivers
dbc.add_node_as_receiver(petrol_level, gateway)

# Commit changes to the database
dbc.commit()

Creating a LIN network (LDF)

from pydbc.api.ldf import LDFCreator

# Create a new LDF creator with an in-memory database
ldf = LDFCreator(":memory:")

# Create a LIN network
network = ldf.create_network(
    "LINNetwork1",
    protocol_version="2.1",
    speed=19.2
)

# Create master and slave nodes
master = ldf.create_master_node("MasterECU", timebase=0.005, jitter=0.0001)
slave = ldf.create_slave_node("SlaveNode1", configured_NAD=1)

# Create signals and frames
signal = ldf.create_signal("MotorSpeed", signal_size=16, init_value=0, publisher=master)
frame = ldf.create_unconditional_frame("MasterFrame", frame_id=0x10, size=2, publisher=master)

# Add signals to frames
ldf.add_signal_to_frame(frame, signal, 0)

# Commit changes to the database
ldf.commit()

Creating a network configuration (NCF)

from pydbc.api.ncf import NCFCreator

# Create a new NCF creator with an in-memory database
ncf = NCFCreator(":memory:")

# Create a vehicle
vehicle = ncf.create_vehicle("TestVehicle")

# Create networks and ECUs
can_network = ncf.create_network("CANNetwork", protocol="CAN", speed=500)
engine_ecu = ncf.create_ecu("EngineECU")

# Add networks to vehicle
ncf.add_network_to_vehicle(vehicle, can_network)

# Add ECUs to vehicle
ncf.add_ecu_to_vehicle(vehicle, engine_ecu)

# Commit changes to the database
ncf.commit()

For more detailed examples, see the pydbc/examples/api_examples.py file.

Features

• High-level creational APIs for DBC, LDF, and NCF components
• SQLAlchemy-based database model for storing network configurations
• Support for all major components of automotive network description files
• Comprehensive examples demonstrating API usage

Documentation

The full documentation in GitHub‑Flavored Markdown is available in the docs/ folder:

• Documentation home
• Installation and quickstarts
• Step‑by‑step walkthrough
• Task‑oriented guides
• Ready‑to‑run examples
• API reference
• Using pyDBC with python-can (send/receive CAN frames)

License

GNU General Public License v2.0