The element /package/generators/generator specifies a tool or utility that is used to generate and/or configure software (source code, header files, configuration files, etc.) in the context of a project. For this purpose, a generator package description file (GPDSC) needs to be created (see <gpdsc>). The GPDSC file details the selected device, components, project files and conditions, as well as information about the generator and how it can be launched again for iterative development cycles. A GPDSC file follows the same schema as a static PACK. However, the files generated by the utility are not installed and managed centrally in the PACK folder, but locally within the project folder.

A generator can be associated with a component by it's name. Selecting the component will automatically include the files provided by the generator in the project. If the specified GPDSC file is not present, the generator command is executed by the environment to generate the files and GPDSC. In this way project specific configurations can be made, files being generated and included and maintained as part of the project.

Example Generator Section

<generators>
  <generator id="STM32CubeMX" Gvendor="STMicroelectronics" Gtool="STM32CubeMX" Gversion="4.10.0">
    <description>STM32CubeMX Environment</description>
    <select Dname="STM32F746NGHx" Dvendor="STMicroelectronics:13"/>
    <command>$SMDK/CubeMX/STM32CubeMXLauncher</command>
    <workingDir>$PRTE/Device/STM32F746NGHx</workingDir>
    <project_files>
      <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/main.c" />
      <file category="header" name="STCubeGenerated/Inc/stm32f7xx_it.h"/>
      <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/stm32f7xx_it.c"/>
    </project_files>
  </generator>
</generators>

Example Generator Package Description File (gpdsc)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!-- ******************************************************************************
   File Name   : FrameworkCubeMX.gpdsc
   Date        : 02/09/2015 14:27:06
   Description : Generator PDSC File generated by STM32CubeMX (DO NOT EDIT!)
                                                                                -->
<package xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" schemaVersion="1.0" xs:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="PACK.xsd">
  <vendor>Keil</vendor>
  <name>FrameworkCubeMX</name>
  <description>STM32CubeMX generated pack description</description>
  <url>project-path</url>
  <releases>
    <release version="1.0.0">
     - Generated: 02/09/2015 14:27:06
    </release>
  </releases>
  <generators>
    <generator id="STM32CubeMX" Gvendor="STMicroelectronics" Gtool="STM32CubeMX" Gversion="4.10.0">
      <description>STM32CubeMX Environment</description>
      <select Dname="STM32F746NGHx" Dvendor="STMicroelectronics:13"/>
      <command>$SMDK/CubeMX/STM32CubeMXLauncher</command>
      <workingDir>$PRTE/Device/STM32F746NGHx</workingDir>
      <project_files>
        <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/main.c" />
        <file category="header" name="STCubeGenerated/Inc/stm32f7xx_it.h"/>
        <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/stm32f7xx_it.c"/>
      </project_files>
    </generator>
  </generators>
  <taxonomy>
    <description Cclass="Device" Cgroup="STM32Cube Framework" generator="STM32CubeMX">STM32Cube Framework</description>
  </taxonomy>
  <conditions>
    <condition id="STCubeMX">
      <description>Condition to include CMSIS core and Device Startup components</description>
      <require Dvendor="STMicroelectronics:13" Dname="STM32F7*"/>
      <require Cclass="CMSIS"  Cgroup="CORE"          Csub=""/>
      <require Cclass="Device" Cgroup="Startup"/>
      <require Cclass="Device" Cgroup="STM32Cube HAL" Csub="Common"/>
      <require Cclass="Device" Cgroup="STM32Cube HAL" Csub="GPIO"/>
    </condition>
  </conditions>
  <components>
    <component generator="STM32CubeMX" Cvendor="Keil" Cclass="Device" Cgroup="STM32Cube Framework" Csub="STM32CubeMX" Cversion="1.0.0" condition="STCubeMX">
      <description>Configuration via STM32CubeMX</description>
      <RTE_Components_h>
        #define RTE_DEVICE_FRAMEWORK_CUBE_MX
      </RTE_Components_h>
      <files>
        <file category="header" name="MX_Device.h"/>
        <file category="header" name="STCubeGenerated/Inc/stm32f7xx_hal_conf.h"/>
        <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/stm32f7xx_hal_msp.c"/>
      </files>
    </component>
  </components>
</package>

/package/generators

Grouping element for generators. Only one such group can exist in a PACK.

Parent	Chain
package	/package
Child Elements	Description	Type	Occurrence
generator	Description of the generator and the related files	GeneratorType	1..*

The following variables can be used in the elements <command>, <workingDir>, <argument>, <gpdsc>:

Variable	Description
$P	PATH to current project
#P	PATH and name of the current project
$S	PATH to PACK folder containing the Device description used by the current project
$D	Name of the device configured in the current project

/package/generators/generator

The generator section is used to provide the details about the tool that has been used to create the GPDSC file. At least one generator element must exist.

Parent	Chain
generators	/package/generators
Attributes	Description	Type	Use
id	Identifier of the generator tool. Can be used by other elements to determine the generator.	xs:string	required
Gvendor	Vendor name of the generator tool.	xs:string	optional
Gtool	Plain text name of the generator.	xs:string	optional
Gversion	Version of the generator tool.	xs:string	optional
Child Elements	Description	Type	Occurrence
description	Briefly describes the generator tool.	xs:string	0..1
select	Complex type specifying the configured device. A device is uniquely identified by vendor, name or variant and processor name in case of devices with multiple processors.	GeneratorSelectType	0..1
workingDir	Directory to be set as current directory before launching the `<command>`. This is either an absolute or relative path to PDSC or GPDSC file. If not specified, the current directory is the directory of the project configured by the environment.	xs:string	0..1
command	Invocation command for the generator tool (for an example see top of the page). Command line options should be passed via `arguments`.	xs:string	0..1
arguments	Section for command line arguments of the format `<argument` `switch="-data">myFileName</argument>`. Path information for files can be specified absolute or relative to the location (path) of the GPDSC file.	GeneratorCommandArgumentsType	0..1
gpdsc	Path and name of the GPDSC that the generator creates and updates. The path is either absolute or relative to the working directory. If no explicit gpdsc file is provided a gpdsc file named after the project with extension gpdsc in the working directory is assumed (`<project>`.gpdsc).	xs:string	0..1
project_files	Grouping element for all project files generated by the tool.	group	0..1
files	Grouping element for generator tool files.	group	0..1
extensions	Generator vendor specific section ignored by other tools	N/A	0..1

/package/generators/generator/select

This element contains information about the vendor and device the GPDSC file has been generated for. Only one such element can exist in <generators>.

Example:

<generators>
  <generator id="STM32CubeMX" Gvendor="STMicroelectronics" Gtool="STM32CubeMX" Gversion="4.10.0">
    <select Dname="STM32F746NGHx" Dvendor="STMicroelectronics:13"/>
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Chain
generator	/package/generators/generator
Attributes	Description	Type	Use
Dvendor	Vendor name of the targeted device. Use predefined values as listed in the table Device Vendor.	DeviceVendorEnum	required
Dname	Name of the targeted device. If no Dvariant is specified this tag is required	xs:string	optional
Dvariant	Name of the targeted device variant. If a variant is specified, the device name will be ignored and the variant rules. If no Dname is specified, this tag is required.	xs:string	optional
Pname	Name of the targeted processor of a device with multiple processors. For devices with multiple processors this tag is required.	xs:string	optional

/package/generators/generator/arguments

This element contains information about the arguments passed along the <command> string.

Example:

<generators>
  <generator id="DAVE3">
    ...
    <command>%DAVE3%/eclipse/DAVE-3.1.6.exe</command>
    <arguments>
      ...
    </arguments>
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Chain
generator	/package/generators/generator
Child Elements	Description	Type	Occurrence
argument	Arguments passed along with the `<command>`.	GeneratorCommandArgumentType	required

/package/generators/generator/arguments/argument

This element describes a single command line argument passed along with <command> for launching the generator. The argument is split up in a switch value pair. The switch is passed as an attribute and the value as the element value. Both switch and element values are of type xs:string.

Example

<generators>
  <generator id="STM32CubeMX">
    <arguments>
      <argument switch="-data">$PRTE/Device/STM32F746NGHx</argument>
      ...
    </arguments>
    ...
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Element Chain
arguments	/package/generators/generator/arguments
Current	Description	Type
argument	value of argument without command line switch	xs:string
Attributes	Description	Type	Use
switch	Specifies the command line switch separated from the argument value.	xs:string	optional

/package/generators/generator/project_files

The group project_files specifies all files that are required for the project setup. Only one such group can exist.

Example

<generators>
  <generator id="STM32CubeMX" Gvendor="STMicroelectronics" Gtool="STM32CubeMX" Gversion="4.10.0">
    <description>STM32CubeMX Environment</description>
    <select Dname="STM32F746NGHx" Dvendor="STMicroelectronics:13"/>
    <command>$SMDK/CubeMX/STM32CubeMXLauncher</command>
    <workingDir>$PRTE/Device/STM32F746NGHx</workingDir>
    <project_files>
      <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/main.c" />
      <file category="header" name="STCubeGenerated/Inc/stm32f7xx_it.h"/>
      <file category="source" name="STCubeGenerated/Src/stm32f7xx_it.c"/>
    </project_files>
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Element Chain
generator	/package/generators/generator
Child Elements	Description	Type	Occurrence
file	Frame for files created by the generator and used in a project.	group	0..1

/package/generators/generator/files

The group files specifies files that are required by the generator tool. Only one such group can exist.

Example

<generators>
  <generator id="MyGenerator">
    <files>
      ...
    <files>
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Element Chain
generator	/package/generators/generator
Child Elements	Description	Type	Occurrence
file	Frame for files used by the generator.	group	0..1

/package/generators/generator/files/file

This element contains information about files used by a generator.

Example

<generators>
  <generator id="MyGenerator">
    <files>
      <file category="generator" name="Main.c"/>
      <file category="you_name_it" name="database/connection.odbc" version="1.2.3"/>
      ...
    <files>
  </generator>
</generators>

Parent	Element Chain
files	/package/generators/generator/files
Attributes	Description	Type	Use
condition	Reference using the name of the respective condition specified in the conditions section of this package (/package/conditions). If the condition resolves to false, then the element will be ignored and treated as if not present.	xs:string	optional
category	Describes the file type (for example: doc, header, library). You can use predefined values as listed in the table File Categories, however, this is not mandatory.	xs:string	required
name	Can consist of the path (relative to the PACK base directory) and the file name with extension.	xs:string	required
version	File-specific version information. The version format is described in Version Type.	VersionType	optional