diff --git a/libsigrok.h b/libsigrok.h
index 4601f60b..bf0b8b29 100644
--- a/libsigrok.h
+++ b/libsigrok.h
@@ -368,27 +368,141 @@ struct sr_input_format {
int (*loadfile) (struct sr_input *in, const char *filename);
};
+/** Output (file) format struct. */
struct sr_output {
+ /**
+ * A pointer to this output format's 'struct sr_output_format'.
+ * The frontend can use this to call the module's callbacks.
+ */
struct sr_output_format *format;
+
+ /**
+ * The device for which this output module is creating output. This
+ * can be used by the module to find out probe names and numbers.
+ */
struct sr_dev_inst *sdi;
+
+ /**
+ * An optional parameter which the frontend can pass in to the
+ * output module. How the string is interpreted is entirely up to
+ * the module.
+ */
char *param;
+
+ /**
+ * A generic pointer which can be used by the module to keep internal
+ * state between calls into its callback functions.
+ *
+ * For example, the module might store a pointer to a chunk of output
+ * there, and only flush it when it reaches a certain size.
+ */
void *internal;
};
struct sr_output_format {
+ /**
+ * A unique ID for this output format. Must not be NULL.
+ *
+ * It can be used by frontends to select this output format for use.
+ *
+ * For example, calling sigrok-cli with -O hex
will
+ * select the hexadecimal text output format.
+ */
char *id;
+
+ /**
+ * A short description of the output format. Must not be NULL.
+ *
+ * This can be displayed by frontends, e.g. when selecting the output
+ * format for saving a file.
+ */
char *description;
+
int df_type;
+
+ /**
+ * This function is called once, at the beginning of an output stream.
+ *
+ * The device struct will be available in the output struct passed in,
+ * as well as the param field -- which may be NULL or an empty string,
+ * if no parameter was passed.
+ *
+ * The module can use this to initialize itself, create a struct for
+ * keeping state and storing it in the internal
field.
+ *
+ * @param o Pointer to the respective 'struct sr_output'.
+ *
+ * @return SR_OK upon success, a negative error code otherwise.
+ */
int (*init) (struct sr_output *o);
- /* Obsolete, use recv() instead. */
+
+ /**
+ * Whenever a chunk of data comes in, it will be passed to the
+ * output module via this function. The data_in
and
+ * length_in
values refers to this data; the module
+ * must not alter or g_free() this buffer.
+ *
+ * The function must allocate a buffer for storing its output, and
+ * pass along a pointer to this buffer in the data_out
+ * parameter, as well as storing the length of the buffer in
+ * length_out
. The calling frontend will g_free()
+ * this buffer when it's done with it.
+ *
+ * IMPORTANT: The memory allocation much happen using a glib memory
+ * allocation call (not a "normal" malloc) since g_free() will be
+ * used to free the memory!
+ *
+ * If there is no output, this function MUST store NULL in the
+ * data_out
parameter, so the caller knows not to try
+ * and g_free() it.
+ *
+ * Note: This API call is obsolete, use recv() instead.
+ *
+ * @param o Pointer to the respective 'struct sr_output'.
+ * @param data_in Pointer to the input data buffer.
+ * @param length_in Length of the input.
+ * @param data_out Pointer to the allocated output buffer.
+ * @param length_out Length (in bytes) of the output.
+ *
+ * @return SR_OK upon success, a negative error code otherwise.
+ */
int (*data) (struct sr_output *o, const uint8_t *data_in,
uint64_t length_in, uint8_t **data_out,
uint64_t *length_out);
- /* Obsolete, use recv() instead. */
+
+ /**
+ * This function is called when an event occurs in the datafeed
+ * which the output module may need to be aware of. No data is
+ * passed in, only the fact that the event occurs. The following
+ * events can currently be passed in:
+ *
+ * - SR_DF_TRIGGER: At this point in the datafeed, the trigger
+ * matched. The output module may mark this in some way, e.g. by
+ * plotting a red line on a graph.
+ *
+ * - SR_DF_END: This marks the end of the datafeed. No more calls
+ * into the output module will be done, so this is a good time to
+ * free up any memory used to keep state, for example.
+ *
+ * Any output generated by this function must have a reference to
+ * it stored in the data_out
and length_out
+ * parameters, or NULL if no output was generated.
+ *
+ * Note: This API call is obsolete, use recv() instead.
+ *
+ * @param o Pointer to the respective 'struct sr_output'.
+ * @param event_type Type of event that occured.
+ * @param data_out Pointer to the allocated output buffer.
+ * @param length_out Length (in bytes) of the output.
+ *
+ * @return SR_OK upon success, a negative error code otherwise.
+ */
int (*event) (struct sr_output *o, int event_type, uint8_t **data_out,
uint64_t *length_out);
+
GString *(*recv) (struct sr_output *o, const struct sr_dev_inst *sdi,
const struct sr_datafeed_packet *packet);
+
int (*cleanup) (struct sr_output *o);
};
diff --git a/output/output.c b/output/output.c
index 91fdf388..39dfc7dd 100644
--- a/output/output.c
+++ b/output/output.c
@@ -31,6 +31,20 @@
*
* Output file/data format handling.
*
+ * libsigrok supports several output (file) formats, e.g. binary, VCD,
+ * gnuplot, and so on. It provides an output API that frontends can use.
+ * New output formats can be added/implemented in libsigrok without having
+ * to change the frontends at all.
+ *
+ * All output modules are fed data in a stream. Devices that can stream data
+ * into libsigrok live, instead of storing and then transferring the whole
+ * buffer, can thus generate output live.
+ *
+ * Output modules are responsible for allocating enough memory to store
+ * their own output, and passing a pointer to that memory (and length) of
+ * the allocated memory back to the caller. The caller is then expected to
+ * free this memory when finished with it.
+ *
* @{
*/