Importing from CANdb File

CAN Measurement & Automation Explorer

Importing from CANdb File

MAX can import messages and channels from a CANdb (.dbc) file. Right-click on CAN Channels in Data Neighborhood and select Import from CANdb File. The operation starts with an Open File dialog box. After selecting a file and clicking on the Open button, the messages contained in the file are displayed alphabetically sorted in the list box.

For performance reasons, you should import only messages required for the application into MAX. To select a message in the list, click on the message name. Channels contained in the message are displayed on the right side. Selecting Import copies the message and associated channels into MAX. The dialog box remains open until you click on Done, so you can select and import multiple groups of messages.

Selecting Multiple Messages

Left-click the first message, hold down the mouse button, and move the cursor up or down to select several messages.

To select messages individually, hold down <Ctrl> and click on the messages.

Importing All Messages from the File

To import all messages, select Add all Messages and Channels.

Message Name Prefix

MAX does not allow defining two messages with the same name. If the selection contains messages with names already defined in MAX, a dialog box appears to resolve name conflicts before the messages are copied into MAX. Name conflicts are resolved by prepending a prefix to all imported messages. After entering the prefix, click on the Check button to check if the conflict has been resolved. The prefix is added to all imported messages, not only to the message that caused name conflicts.

If the name conflicts are not resolved when you click on the OK button, the existing messages are overwritten. The user is asked to overwrite every message or, by clicking on Yes to All, to allow all following messages to be overwritten without further questions.

Importing another CANdb File

By pressing the [...] button, you can load another CANdb file into the dialog box to import messages and channels from it without leaving the dialog box.