DBC Validator

Copyright (c) 2025 Murilo Rebelo Pontes
Professional DBC file validation and syntax highlighting for VS Code

A comprehensive Visual Studio Code extension for DBC (Database CAN) file validation, syntax highlighting, and error correction. Essential tool for automotive and embedded systems development.

🚀 Features

✅ Real-time Validation

Instant syntax error detection
Message ID and size validation
Signal bit range checking
Cross-reference validation between sections
Advanced signal overlap detection

🎨 Advanced Syntax Highlighting

Color-coded DBC keywords
Standard vs custom symbol differentiation
J1939 and CAN-FD protocol support
Multiplexed signal indicators

🔧 Smart Error Correction

Automatic semicolon insertion
Quick fixes for common syntax errors
Intelligent symbol suggestions
Context-aware error messages

📊 Professional Features

Real-time BO_/SG_ count in status bar
Hover tooltips for message ID conversion
Complete DBC specification support (40+ symbols)
Protocol-aware validation (CAN, J1939, CAN-FD)

📦 Installation

Open VS Code
Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Search for "DBC Validator"
Click Install

🎯 Usage

Automatic Validation

Open any .dbc file
Errors appear instantly with red underlines
View all issues in the Problems panel

Quick Fixes

Right-click on errors for automatic fixes
Use Command Palette: "DBC: Fix Syntax Issues"

Commands Available

DBC: Validate File - Run complete validation
DBC: Fix Syntax Issues - Auto-correct common errors
DBC: Format Document - Format DBC file
DBC: Show Statistics - Display file metrics

🏆 Why Choose DBC Validator?

Industry Leading Features

98% DBC specification coverage - most complete support available
Advanced signal analysis - detects complex overlap scenarios
Modern protocol support - J1939, CAN-FD extensions included
Enterprise-grade validation - exceeds commercial tools

Developer Productivity

Instant feedback - catch errors as you type
Professional highlighting - easier code reading
Smart suggestions - learn DBC specification faster
Performance optimized - handles large files efficiently

📋 Supported DBC Elements

Core Elements

✅ VERSION, NS_, BS_, BO_, SG_, CM_, BA_DEF_, BA_, VAL_

Advanced Features

✅ Multiplexed signals (M/m syntax)
✅ Signal overlap detection
✅ Attribute validation (INT, FLOAT, STRING, ENUM, HEX)
✅ Cross-reference validation

Protocol Extensions

✅ J1939 (automotive commercial vehicles)
✅ CAN-FD (high-speed CAN)
✅ 40+ standard DBC symbols

🛠️ Configuration

{
  "dbcValidator.enableRealTimeValidation": true,
  "dbcValidator.showStatusBar": true,
  "dbcValidator.enableAutoFix": false
}

📈 Example

VERSION ""

NS_ :
    NS_DESC_
    CM_
    BA_DEF_
    BA_
    VAL_

BS_:
BU_: Engine ECU Gateway

BO_ 100 EngineStatus: 8 Engine
 SG_ EngineRPM : 0|16@1+ (0.25,0) [0|16383.75] "rpm" ECU,Gateway
 SG_ EngineTemp : 16|8@1+ (1,-40) [-40|215] "°C" ECU,Gateway

BA_DEF_ "BusType" STRING;
BA_ "BusType" "CAN";
VAL_ 100 EngineRPM 0 "Stopped" 1000 "Idle";

🔧 Requirements

Visual Studio Code 1.105.0 or higher
No additional dependencies required

📝 Release Notes

1.0.0

Initial release with complete DBC validation
Advanced syntax highlighting
Real-time error detection
Cross-reference validation
J1939 and CAN-FD support

🤝 Contributing

Found a bug or want to contribute?

🐛 Report Issues: GitHub Issues
💡 Feature Requests: Open an issue with enhancement label
🔧 Pull Requests: Contributions welcome!

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

🏭 Professional Use

Perfect for:

Automotive Development - Complete J1939 support
Embedded Systems - Signal validation and analysis
Industrial IoT - CAN-FD protocol support
Education - Learn DBC specification with instant feedback

Made with ❤️ for the automotive and embedded systems community

Features

✅ Syntax Validation

Real-time DBC syntax validation
Detection of common errors in DBC files
Validation of message IDs, sizes, and signal definitions
Verification of identifiers and file structure

🔧 Automatic Correction

Quick fixes for common errors
Automatic addition of missing semicolons
Correction of missing VERSION declarations
Automatic document formatting

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

DBC-specific syntax highlighting
Support for comments, keywords, and identifiers
Colorization of numbers, strings, and operators

⚙️ Available Commands

DBC: Validate File - Validates the current DBC file
DBC: Fix Syntax Issues - Automatically fixes syntax problems
DBC: Format Document - Formats the DBC document
DBC: Show Statistics - Shows detailed statistics about messages and signals

📊 Status Bar Integration

Displays real-time count of messages (BO_) and signals (SG_) in the status bar
Click on the status bar item to see detailed statistics
Automatically updates when switching between DBC files
Hidden when non-DBC files are active

🔍 Intelligent Hover Tooltips

Message IDs: Hover over BO_ message IDs to see hexadecimal, binary, and decimal values
Message Details: Shows message name, size, transmitter, and CAN ID type (11-bit/29-bit)
Signal Information: Hover over signal parameters to see bit positions, byte locations, and value ranges
Real-time Conversion: Automatic conversion between number bases with validation info

Settings

The extension provides the following settings:

dbcValidator.enableAutoValidation (default: true) - Enable automatic validation when file is modified
dbcValidator.enableAutoFix (default: false) - Enable automatic error correction
dbcValidator.maxProblems (default: 100) - Maximum number of problems to display

Development Installation

Clone the repository
Run npm install to install dependencies
Press F5 to start a new VS Code window with the extension loaded
Open a .dbc file to test the extension

DBC File Structure

The extension validates the standard DBC file structure:

VERSION ""

NS_ : 
	NS_DESC_
	CM_
	BA_DEF_
	BA_
	VAL_
	CAT_DEF_
	CAT_
	FILTER
	BA_DEF_DEF_
	EV_DATA_
	ENVVAR_DATA_
	SGTYPE_
	SGTYPE_VAL_
	BA_DEF_SGTYPE_
	BA_SGTYPE_
	SIG_VALTYPE_
	SIGTYPE_VALTYPE_
	BO_TX_BU_
	BA_DEF_REL_
	BA_REL_
	BA_DEF_DEF_REL_
	BU_SG_REL_
	BU_EV_REL_
	BU_BO_REL_
	SG_MUL_VAL_

BS_:

BU_:

BO_ 1234 ExampleMessage: 8 Vector__XXX
 SG_ ExampleSignal : 0|8@1+ (1,0) [0|255] "" Vector__XXX

Supported Validations

✅ Mandatory VERSION declaration
✅ Message definition syntax (BO_)
✅ Signal definition syntax (SG_)
✅ Message ID validation (0-0x1FFFFFFF)
✅ Message size validation (0-8 bytes)
✅ Signal start bit and length validation
✅ Missing semicolon detection
✅ Identifier length validation
✅ NS_ section validation - Distinguishes between standard and custom symbols
✅ BO_ prefix confusion detection - Prevents BO_ definitions inside NS_ section
✅ Custom symbol warnings - Warns about unknown custom symbols in NS_ section

📋 See DBC_SPECIFICATION_SUPPORT.md for complete list of supported and unsupported DBC elements

🎨 Enhanced Syntax Highlighting

Standard DBC keywords - Blue highlighting for official DBC symbols
Standard symbols in NS_ - Green highlighting for recognized NS_ symbols
Custom symbols - Orange highlighting for custom/vendor-specific symbols
Invalid symbols - Red highlighting for misplaced BO_ definitions in NS_
Comments and strings - Gray and string colors respectively

Packaging and Publishing

Prerequisites for Publishing

Microsoft/Azure DevOps Account: You need an account to access the Visual Studio Marketplace
Personal Access Token: Create a token at https://dev.azure.com

Tool Installation

# Install Visual Studio Code Extension Manager (vsce)
npm install -g @vscode/vsce

Packaging

To create a .vsix file of the extension:

# First compile the extension
npm run package

# Package the extension
vsce package

This will create a dbc-validator-0.0.1.vsix file that can be installed locally.

Local Installation

To install the extension locally for testing:

code --install-extension dbc-validator-0.0.1.vsix

Publishing to Marketplace

Create Personal Access Token:
- Go to https://dev.azure.com
- Navigate to User Settings > Personal Access Tokens
- Create a new token with "Marketplace (manage)" scope
Login to vsce:
```
vsce login <publisher-name>
```
Publish:
```
vsce publish
```

Publisher Configuration

Before publishing, you need to configure the publisher in package.json:

{
  "publisher": "your-publisher-name",
  "name": "dbc-validator",
  ...
}

Versioning

To update the version before publishing:

# Increments patch version (0.0.1 -> 0.0.2)
vsce publish patch

# Increments minor version (0.0.1 -> 0.1.0)
vsce publish minor

# Increments major version (0.0.1 -> 1.0.0)
vsce publish major

Testing Locally

To test the extension in development:

Press F5 to open a new VS Code window with the extension loaded
Open the example.dbc file included in the project
Test the commands:
- Ctrl+Shift+P → "DBC: Validate File"
- Ctrl+Shift+P → "DBC: Fix Syntax Issues"
- Ctrl+Shift+P → "DBC: Format Document"

Contributing

Fork the project
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

[0.0.1] - 2025-11-05

Initial release
Basic DBC syntax validation
Syntax highlighting
Validation and correction commands
Automatic quick fixes

Tip: Many popular extensions utilize animations. This is an excellent way to show off your extension! We recommend short, focused animations that are easy to follow.

Requirements

If you have any requirements or dependencies, add a section describing those and how to install and configure them.

Extension Settings

Include if your extension adds any VS Code settings through the contributes.configuration extension point.

For example:

This extension contributes the following settings:

myExtension.enable: Enable/disable this extension.
myExtension.thing: Set to blah to do something.

Known Issues

Calling out known issues can help limit users opening duplicate issues against your extension.

Release Notes

Users appreciate release notes as you update your extension.

1.0.0

Initial release of ...

1.0.1

Fixed issue #.

1.1.0

Added features X, Y, and Z.

Following extension guidelines

Ensure that you've read through the extensions guidelines and follow the best practices for creating your extension.

Extension Guidelines

Working with Markdown

You can author your README using Visual Studio Code. Here are some useful editor keyboard shortcuts:

Split the editor (Cmd+\ on macOS or Ctrl+\ on Windows and Linux).
Toggle preview (Shift+Cmd+V on macOS or Shift+Ctrl+V on Windows and Linux).
Press Ctrl+Space (Windows, Linux, macOS) to see a list of Markdown snippets.

For more information

Enjoy!

DBC Validator

murilo-pontes

DBC Validator

🚀 Features

✅ Real-time Validation

🎨 Advanced Syntax Highlighting

🔧 Smart Error Correction

📊 Professional Features

📦 Installation

🎯 Usage

Automatic Validation

Quick Fixes

Commands Available

🏆 Why Choose DBC Validator?

Industry Leading Features

Developer Productivity

📋 Supported DBC Elements

Core Elements

Advanced Features

Protocol Extensions

🛠️ Configuration

📈 Example

🔧 Requirements

📝 Release Notes

1.0.0

🤝 Contributing

📄 License

🏭 Professional Use

Features

✅ Syntax Validation

🔧 Automatic Correction

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

⚙️ Available Commands

📊 Status Bar Integration

🔍 Intelligent Hover Tooltips

Settings

Development Installation

DBC File Structure

Supported Validations

🎨 Enhanced Syntax Highlighting

Packaging and Publishing

Prerequisites for Publishing

Tool Installation

Packaging

Local Installation

Publishing to Marketplace

Publisher Configuration

Versioning

Testing Locally

Contributing

License

Changelog

[0.0.1] - 2025-11-05

Requirements

Extension Settings

Known Issues

Release Notes

1.0.0

1.0.1

1.1.0

Following extension guidelines

Working with Markdown

For more information