SALCommandSet Attributes

Below are the descriptions and content recommendations for SALCommandSet.xml attributes.

SALCommandSet

Data Type: commandSetType

This is a complex type for an abritrary set of SALCommand definitions

SALCommand

Data Type: commandType

This the complex type for the definition of a partcular command. It consists of a set of metatdata fields , plus an optional set of data item definitions.

SALCommandItem

Data Type: commandItemType

This is an optional element which may be used an arbitrary number of times to add data items to a command definition.

EFDB_Name

Data Type: string

This is the Engineering and Facility Database (EFD) column name used to store the historical record for this item. It is also used for the on-the-wire DDS topic field, and the item name in the SAL language specific API’s.

Description

Data Type: string

This is a brief description of the purpose of the command.

IDL_Type

Data Type: string

This is the Interface Definition Language (IDL) data type of the data item.

IDL_Size

Data Type: integer

For IDL string types this is used to specify the length in characters (UTF-8 ie bytes). A special case is IDL_Size=1, which is interpreted as variable/unlimited length string

Units

Data Type: string

This is used to specify the units (as supported by the astropy unit library), or unitless if it is not applicable.

Count

Data Type: integer

This is used to specify the length of numerical array data types. Arrays of string type are NOT supported.

commandType

Data Type: complexType

This is a complex type for an SALCommand definition with an optional set of data items.

Subsystem

Data Type: string

This is used to specify which subsystem the command is associated with.

EFDB_Topic

Data Type: string

This is the Engineering and Facility Database (EFD) table name used to store the historical record for this command. It is also used for the on-the-wire DDS topic name and type, and the structure name in the SAL language specific API’s.

Enumeration

Data Type: comma-delimited list of names, key, value pairs or a string

This is a list of either items which will be assigned enumerated values ie, 1,2,3…

OR

a list of item=value definitions, in which case the specified values will be assigned to each named item.

An Enumeration may be specific (internal) to a data field definition <item>, or if it appears outside of the <CommandSet>, it applies globally.