ARINC661 Definition File

The GUI definition of the Cockpit Display System interface is defined in a binary file called Definition File (or DF) defining the structure of the graphical interface tree. The GUI tree is instantiated at initialization time (called the Definition Phase in the standard) in the CDS, using the definition contained in the DF.

A DF is composed of two parts:

• an optional symbol definition library (SDL),
• and a list of Layers definition (each Layer is a top-level container of widgets

Definition File properties

The main property of a Definition File is its Application ID. All the Layers in this Definition File will share this same Application ID. Note that XML Definition Fields also have a name.

Definition File encoding

It is possible to specify the encoding of the Definition File, which specifies how Strings will be encoded.

• ASCII_EXTENDED (the default): Strings will be encoded in ASCII. Some non ASCII characters have specific codes in addition to the ASCII codes. For example the degree character (which is not an ASCII character) will be coded by the code 0x00B0
• UTF8: String will be encoded in UTF8

Example

The following XML Definition File example present a label with the text "HELLO WORLD" under a Panel.

      <a661_df name="default" library_version="0" supp_version="2">
         <model>
            <prop name="ApplicationId" value="1" />
         </model>
         <a661_layer name="MyLayer" >
            <model>
               <prop name="LayerId" value="1" />
               <prop name="ContextNumber" value="0" />
               <prop name="Height" value="10000" />
               <prop name="Width" value="10000" />
            </model>
            <a661_widget name="panel" type="A661_PANEL">
               <model>
                  <prop name="WidgetIdent" value="1" />
                  <prop name="Enable" value="A661_TRUE" />
                  <prop name="Visible" value="A661_TRUE" />
                  <prop name="PosX" value="0" />
                  <prop name="PosY" value="0" />
                  <prop name="SizeX" value="10000" />
                  <prop name="SizeY" value="10000" />
                  <prop name="StyleSet" value="0" />
               </model>
               <a661_widget name="label" type="A661_LABEL">
                  <model>
                     <prop name="WidgetIdent" value="2" />
                     <prop name="Anonymous" value="A661_FALSE" />
                     <prop name="Visible" value="A661_TRUE" />
                     <prop name="PosX" value="3527" />
                     <prop name="PosY" value="3721" />
                     <prop name="SizeX" value="2978" />
                     <prop name="SizeY" value="1000" />
                     <prop name="RotationAngle" value="0.0" />
                     <prop name="StyleSet" value="0" />
                     <prop name="MaxStringLength" value="20" />
                     <prop name="MotionAllowed" value="A661_TRUE" />
                     <prop name="Font" value="t2" />
                     <prop name="ColorIndex" value="red" />
                     <prop name="Alignment" value="A661_CENTER" />
                     <prop name="LabelString" value="HELLO WORLD" />
                  </model>
               </a661_widget>
            </a661_widget>
         </a661_layer>
      </a661_df>

XML Definition Files

There are two grammars for XML Definition Files:

• A strict grammar, which is specified for the ARINC 661 standard since supplement 6
• A loose grammar, which is used by default for the Server and UA