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- Fairchild AFB, WA
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- 2023 Maverick XLT Hybrid Lux
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- #1
So a little side project that I'm (slowly) working on is picking apart the AB file using my programming language of choice - VBA (yes, yes, people may mock it, but it's all I have available in my work environment where I normally use it).
Anyways, my end goal here will be to take the entirety of the Livnitup spreadsheets and whip up a tool that'll let me feed the AB file into it, reconfigure it as I want according to the various rules set, then build up a file I can push back into the truck via FORScan, or at the very least give me the per address code blocks required complete with the correct checksum in the last two positions. Or some quick adjustments like change all MPH references to KPH, 1-click setup of various mods (TSR/SSR, unlocking the MyView screens, etc.), or some fast QOL items like disabling speed lockouts on menus where we've figured out how to do so. Or maybe a compare tool so I can bump the AB vs a FORScan ABT if I can figure out how the ABT files are put together. Or even a way to "sanitize" an AB (i.e. stripping key parts out of the VIN that are encoded throughout the modules) for sharing. I'm mainly doing this as an exercise in learning how to manipulate XML files with VBA, but in case anyone else wanted to play with the AB file as well I figured I'd share what I have to start.
At this point, I'm just setting up a framework that will let me read the labels and the individual code blocks, eventually this will balloon into an Access based utility with a more user-friendly interface. Right now it'll just dump the contents of the AB file to the Immediate window, but that should be enough for anyone to get started on their own project.
BONUS POINTLESS MATH LESSON:
If anyone was curious how the checksums are calculated, drop the last 2 positions off the code blocks (i.e. if the code is 0000 0020 0018, drop the 18 at the end), then put together the input string as "0 & [address] & [code blocks]" (ex - 6F0-01-01: 0000 0020 0018 -> 06F001010000002000). Next, split into 5/7/9 bytes of 2 characters each (in this case, 9 bytes - 06 F0 01 01 00 00 00 20 00) then convert each byte from hexadecimal to decimal and sum up the result (6+240+1+1+0+0+0+32+0=280) and then find the modulo of that with 256 as the modulus (280 mod 256 = 24) or in layman's terms divide the sum by 256 and get the remainder. Convert that from decimal back to hexadecimal and there's your checksum (24 dec = 18 hex). Interesting? Maybe. Useful? Only if you're tweaking AB values and don't want FORScan yelling at you. Definitely recommend setting up a table in your spreadsheet software of choice to handle all the number crunching, because it is stupidly tedious by hand.
Anyways, my end goal here will be to take the entirety of the Livnitup spreadsheets and whip up a tool that'll let me feed the AB file into it, reconfigure it as I want according to the various rules set, then build up a file I can push back into the truck via FORScan, or at the very least give me the per address code blocks required complete with the correct checksum in the last two positions. Or some quick adjustments like change all MPH references to KPH, 1-click setup of various mods (TSR/SSR, unlocking the MyView screens, etc.), or some fast QOL items like disabling speed lockouts on menus where we've figured out how to do so. Or maybe a compare tool so I can bump the AB vs a FORScan ABT if I can figure out how the ABT files are put together. Or even a way to "sanitize" an AB (i.e. stripping key parts out of the VIN that are encoded throughout the modules) for sharing. I'm mainly doing this as an exercise in learning how to manipulate XML files with VBA, but in case anyone else wanted to play with the AB file as well I figured I'd share what I have to start.
At this point, I'm just setting up a framework that will let me read the labels and the individual code blocks, eventually this will balloon into an Access based utility with a more user-friendly interface. Right now it'll just dump the contents of the AB file to the Immediate window, but that should be enough for anyone to get started on their own project.
Code:
Function ImportAB()
'Requires the following references:
'- Microsoft Office 16.0 Object Library
'- Microsoft XML, v6.0
Dim fdialog As Office.FileDialog
Dim selfile
Dim xDoc As MSXML2.DOMDocument60
Dim xnode As MSXML2.IXMLDOMNode
Dim PCMNode As MSXML2.IXMLDOMNode
Dim BCENode As MSXML2.IXMLDOMNode
Dim codeint As Integer
Dim codetxt As String
Set xDoc = New MSXML2.DOMDocument60
Set fdialog = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker)
With fdialog
.AllowMultiSelect = False
.Title = "Select AS BUILT file to import"
.Filters.Clear
.Filters.Add "Ford OEM AS BUILT Data", "*.ab"
.Filters.Add "All Files", "*.*"
If .Show = True Then
selfile = .SelectedItems(1)
End If
End With
'codeint below is used as a counter for which of the 3 code blocks is currently being looked at
xDoc.async = False
If xDoc.Load(selfile) Then
For Each PCMNode In xDoc.getElementsByTagName("PCM_MODULE")
If PCMNode.ChildNodes.Length <> 0 Then
For Each cnode In PCMNode.ChildNodes
codeint = 0
codetxt = cnode.Attributes(0).NodeValue & ": "
For Each xnode In cnode.ChildNodes
codeint = codeint + 1
codetxt = codetxt & xnode.Text & " "
Next
codetxt = Trim(codetxt)
Debug.Print codetxt
Next
End If
Next
For Each BCENode In xDoc.getElementsByTagName("BCE_MODULE")
If BCENode.ChildNodes.Length <> 0 Then
For Each cnode In BCENode.ChildNodes
codeint = 0
codetxt = cnode.Attributes(0).NodeValue & ": "
For Each xnode In cnode.ChildNodes
codeint = codeint + 1
codetxt = codetxt & xnode.Text & " "
Next
codetxt = Trim(codetxt)
Debug.Print codetxt
Next
End If
Next
End If
Set xDoc = Nothing
End FunctionIf anyone was curious how the checksums are calculated, drop the last 2 positions off the code blocks (i.e. if the code is 0000 0020 0018, drop the 18 at the end), then put together the input string as "0 & [address] & [code blocks]" (ex - 6F0-01-01: 0000 0020 0018 -> 06F001010000002000). Next, split into 5/7/9 bytes of 2 characters each (in this case, 9 bytes - 06 F0 01 01 00 00 00 20 00) then convert each byte from hexadecimal to decimal and sum up the result (6+240+1+1+0+0+0+32+0=280) and then find the modulo of that with 256 as the modulus (280 mod 256 = 24) or in layman's terms divide the sum by 256 and get the remainder. Convert that from decimal back to hexadecimal and there's your checksum (24 dec = 18 hex). Interesting? Maybe. Useful? Only if you're tweaking AB values and don't want FORScan yelling at you. Definitely recommend setting up a table in your spreadsheet software of choice to handle all the number crunching, because it is stupidly tedious by hand.
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