can_tools

can_tools is a Rust library for parsing DBC files used in automotive applications to describe CAN network messages and signals.

It provides a clean and easy-to-use API to read .dbc files, inspect messages, signals, and nodes, and access comments and value tables.

✨ Features

Parses complete .dbc files into structured Rust types
Reads:
- Version information
- Bit timing
- Nodes
- Messages
- Signals
- Comments
- Value tables
Case-insensitive search utilities for messages, signals, and nodes
Simple API: one call to parse produces a ready-to-use Database

📦 Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
can_tools = "0.1.7"

🚀 Example

use can_tools::file::parse;

fn main() -> Result<(), String> {
    // Parse the DBC file
    let db = parse("path/to/file.dbc")?;

    println!("DBC Version: {}", db.version);
    println!("Messages: {}", db.messages.len());

    // Find a message by name
    if let Some(msg) = db.get_message_by_name("Motor_01") {
        println!("Message ID: {}", msg.id_hex);
        println!("Signals: {}", msg.signals.len());
    }

    Ok(())
}

📊 Data Model

┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│               Database                │
│───────────────────────────────────────│
│ version: String                       │
│ bit_timing: String                    │
│ nodes: Vec<Node>                      │
│ messages: Vec<Message>                │
└───────────────────────┬───────────────┘
                        │
                        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│               Message                 │
│───────────────────────────────────────│
│ id: u64                               │
│ id_hex: String                        │
│ name: String                          │
│ byte_length: usize                    │
│ sender_nodes: Vec<Node>               │
│ signals: Vec<Signal>                  │
└───────────────────────┬───────────────┘
                        │
                        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
│                Signal                 │
│───────────────────────────────────────│
│ name: String                          │
│ bit_start: usize                      │
│ bit_length: usize                     │
│ endian: usize                         │
│ sign: usize                           │
│ factor: f64                           │
│ offset: f64                           │
│ min: f64                              │
│ max: f64                              │
│ unit_of_measurement: String           │
│ receiver_nodes: Vec<Node>             │
│ value_table: HashMap<i32, String>     │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘

Node: represents a CAN ECU (sender or receiver)

📚 Main Types

Database
Holds the parsed DBC file structure, including version, bit timing, all Nodes, and Messages.
Message
Represents a CAN message. Contains message ID, name, sender nodes, and its list of Signals.
Signal
Represents a data field within a CAN message, including bit position, length, scaling factor, unit, receiver nodes, and optional value descriptions.
Node
Represents a CAN network node (ECU) that can send or receive messages.

📜 License

Licensed under the MIT License.

can_tools 0.1.8