BSP Developer's Guide

6
Components
6.1 Introduction
Tornado 2.x introduces a new configuration method better suited to handling the
increasing complexity of the VxWorks environment. This method uses Tornado
2.x’s graphical configuration tool, the project facility, to provide users with a view
into the configurable world of VxWorks. The project facility workspace displays a
hierarchically organized list of optional software components that can easily be
configured into VxWorks using point-and-click technology. (For Tornado 2.x,
downloadable applications do not use components.)
For most users, this GUI-level view of the configurable system is enough to satisfy
their development needs. However, the project facility includes an API and a
language, the Component Description Language (CDL), that are used to define
components, their parameters, their dependencies, and their relationships with
other components. This chapter discusses how to use these building blocks, the
API and the CDL, to create or modify the software components that, when
selected, are configured into your VxWorks system image or application.
Components are a high-level means of grouping code and configuration data into
units of functionality, such as “message logging.” Bootable projects are collections
of components, their configuration parameter values, and their build options. In
Tornado 2.x, using the project facility is the only way to manipulate projects; in
other words, projects cannot be configured from the command line. (For more
information about how to use the project facility, see the Tornado User’s Guide:
Projects.)
The traditional approach for configuring VxWorks, based on configuration header
files, has become less and less effective coping with the rapidly increasing
complexity of the software. When VxWorks 5.0 was released, there were about
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