MavLink_M — MAVLink → AdHoc converter demo

Translates MAVLink message-definition XML files into modern AdHoc protocol-description .cs files. The intent is to demonstrate the AdHoc data-modelling capabilities on a non-trivial real-world protocol (the standard drone telemetry / command format used by ArduPilot, PX4, QGroundControl, and many other open-source flight-control stacks).

The converter is a single Java SAX walker. It reads each XML dialect, maps every <message>, <enum>, <entry>, <param> to its AdHoc equivalent, captures the canonical MAVLink message IDs into an AdHoc Dashboard, and emits a self-contained .cs per dialect — ready to be fed to AdHocAgent for code generation in Java / C# / C++ / TypeScript / Go / Rust.

Layout

Path	Contents
msgs/*.xml	21 MAVLink dialect XMLs synced from upstream master
src/org/unirail/MavLink2AdHoc.java	The converter (~1k lines, single class, SAX-based)
out/	IntelliJ build output (gitignored / ephemeral)

What gets generated per dialect

For each <dialect>.xml, the converter writes <dialect>.cs containing, in order:

1. Dashboard block — alphabetised <see cref='Pack' id='N'/> entries that lock every pack to its canonical MAVLink message ID. AdHocAgent honours these IDs across regenerations, so wire compatibility with stock MAVLink endpoints is preserved.
2. Pack classes — every <message> becomes class <Name> { … } with field types translated (table below). <deprecated/> and <wip/> notes are inlined into the doc-comment block as **DEPRECATED** since=… replaced_by=…: <body> markers.
3. Enums — every <enum> becomes enum <Name> { … }. Bit-flag enums (every value is 0 or a power of two) get the canonical AdHoc [Flags] attribute. Enums whose values overflow int are emitted as enum <Name>:long { … }.
4. SI_Unit Constants Container — a struct of nested constant strings (time / distance / temperature / angle / electricity / magnetism / energy / power / force / mass / pressure / ratio / digital / flow / volume), mirrored from the MAVLink XSD schema.
5. MAV_CMD enum — the unified command enum (one entry per <entry> inside the XML <enum name="MAV_CMD">).
6. struct MAV_CMD_PARAMS — a non-transmittable Constants Container that documents each command's parameter conventions. Nested struct param_N blocks hold label, units, Enum, decimalPlaces, increment, minValue, maxValue, reserved, Default as const string constants.
7. Hosts — struct GroundControl : Host { } and struct MicroAirVehicle : Host { }.
8. Channel — interface CommunicationChannel : Connects<GroundControl, MicroAirVehicle> with a single [_____lr_____<@<Dialect>>] struct Start { } non-transitional state. Either side may send any pack; the FSM never transitions.

Demo topology

MAVLink itself defines no network topology — packets carry only system_id and component_id addresses. The demo invents a two-host system to exercise AdHoc's Connects<> model:

Host	Role
GroundControl	Operator-side station (laptop / phone with QGC-like UI)
MicroAirVehicle	The drone / vehicle running the autopilot

In the generated descriptor, every dialect's packs are registered in a single bidirectional _____lr_____ branch. If you need finer-grained routing (e.g. only the vehicle sends HEARTBEAT-style telemetry; only the operator sends commands), edit the generated file and replace the single Start state with explicit l____________ / ____________r branches.

Type mapping

MAVLink	AdHoc / C#	Notes
uint8_t	byte
int8_t	sbyte
uint8_t_mavlink_version	byte	The auto-injected protocol-version magic byte
uint16_t	ushort
int16_t	short
uint32_t	uint
int32_t	int
uint64_t	ulong
int64_t	long
float	float
double	double
char	char
<T>[N]	[D(N)] <T>[]	Fixed-size array; <T> is the translated scalar
char[N]	[D(+N)] string	Null-padded fixed-length string (variable up to N chars)
<enum> field	<enum> reference	<field type="..." enum="EnumName"> resolves to EnumName

Tag handling

XML tag	Behaviour
<include>	Recursively parsed; included packs / enums / dashboard entries merge into the parent
<message>	Emit class <name> { … } + Dashboard <see cref id/> entry
<enum>	Emit enum <name> { … }; auto-detects bit flags → [Flags]; long-value → enum X:long
<entry>	Emit <NAME> = <value>, inside the enum body
<param>	Emit public struct param_<index> { … } inside MAV_CMD_PARAMS; deduped by index
<description>	Inlined as a /** … */ doc-comment block above the parent class / enum / field
<deprecated>	Appended to the parent's doc as **DEPRECATED** since=… replaced_by=…: <body>
<wip>	Appended to the parent's doc as **WIP**: <body>
<extensions/>	Silently ignored (MAVLink-2 extension marker has no AdHoc-level analogue)
<version>	Ignored (not part of the protocol description)
<dialect>	Ignored

Build & run

Java 17+ JDK required.

# 1. Compile
javac -d out src/org/unirail/MavLink2AdHoc.java

# 2. Run — argument is the directory containing MAVLink XML files.
#    Output is written to <cwd>/AdHoc/<dialect>.cs.
mkdir -p AdHoc
java -cp out org.unirail.MavLink2AdHoc msgs

# 3. Feed any generated descriptor to AdHocAgent for cross-language code generation:
AdHocAgent.exe AdHoc/common.cs

To target a different output location, run from a directory whose AdHoc/ subdirectory is where you want the files. For example:

mkdir -p D:/AdHocStuff/mavlink2adhoc/AdHoc
cd D:/AdHocStuff/mavlink2adhoc
java -cp /path/to/out org.unirail.MavLink2AdHoc D:/AdHoc/MavLink_M/msgs

Refreshing the XML dialects

The msgs/ directory mirrors https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink/tree/master/message_definitions/v1.0. To pull the latest:

cd msgs
for f in ASLUAV AVSSUAS all ardupilotmega common csAirLink cubepilot development \
         icarous loweheiser marsh matrixpilot minimal paparazzi python_array_test \
         standard stemstudios storm32 test uAvionix ualberta; do
    curl -sSf -o "${f}.xml" \
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mavlink/mavlink/master/message_definitions/v1.0/${f}.xml"
done

If upstream adds new dialects, append their bare names to the list above.