Uwe Vogt, UV Software

Running CAN and CAN FD on Mac

The Kvaser CANlib SDK is a software development kit providing everything you need to develop software for the Kvaser CAN and LIN interfaces on Windows. For the realization of multi-vendor CAN applications UV Software provides a CAN API V3 compatible wrapper library build upon Kvaser´s CANlib DLL.

Download Sources (zip) Sources (tar.gz) @GitHub

CAN API V3 Wrapper

CAN API V3 is a wrapper specification by UV Software to have a uniform CAN Interface API for various CAN interfaces from different vendors running under multiple operating systems. The KvaserCAN wrapper library provides a CAN API V3 compatible API for Kvaser´s CANlib DLL on Windows.

The GitHub repository contains the source code for the KvaserCAN wrapper library and several alternatives to build dynamic link libraries, either as a C++ class library (uvKvaserCAN.dll), or as a CAN API V3 wrapper library (u3cankvl.dll), as well as some example programs and my beloved CAN utilities can_moni.exe and can_test.exe.

Note: UV Software also provides a CAN API V3 compatible Wrapper Library for macOS.

Features

Feature Supported Remarks
CAN 2.0 :heavy_check_mark: Classical CAN
CAN FD :heavy_check_mark: Flexible Data-rate CAN
Bit-rate, CAN 2.0 :heavy_check_mark: high speed: up to 1 Mbps
Bit-rate, CAN FD :heavy_check_mark: nominal: up to 1 Mbps
data phase: up to 8 Mbps
11-bit identifier (STD) :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 and CAN FD
29-bit identifier (XTD) :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 and CAN FD
Remote frames (RTR) :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 only
Error frames (ERR) :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 and CAN FD
Error indicator (ESI) :heavy_check_mark: CAN FD only
Bit-rate switching (BRS) :heavy_check_mark: CAN FD only
Silent operation (MON) :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 and CAN FD
Identifier filtering :heavy_check_mark: CAN 2.0 and CAN FD
Operation modes:    
- Monitor mode enable/disable (MON) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
- Error frames enable/disable (ERR) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
- Remote frames disable/enable (NRTR) :heavy_check_mark: enabled by default
- Extended frames disable/enable (NXTD) :heavy_check_mark: enabled by default
- Shared access enable/disable (SHRD) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
- Non-ISO CAN FD enable/disable (NISO) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
- Bit-rate switching enable/disable (BRSE) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
- CAN FD operation enable/disable (FDOE) :heavy_check_mark: disabled by default
Bit-rate settings:    
- Pre-defined bit-timing indexes :heavy_check_mark: acc. CiA CANopen specification
- BTR register values :heavy_check_mark: register fields:
- freq (clock frequency in [Hz])
- brp (bit-rate prescaler)
- tseg1 (time segment 1)
- tseg2 (time segment 2)
- sjw (synchronization jump width)
- sam (number of samples)
Message reception:    
- Message queue (FIFO) :heavy_check_mark: queue size depends on the hardware
- Polling :heavy_check_mark: return immediately
- Timed out :heavy_check_mark: wait up to 65’534 milliseconds
- Blocking read :heavy_check_mark: wait infinitely
Message transmission:    
- Acknowledged write :heavy_check_mark: wait up to 65’534 milliseconds
- Buffered write :heavy_check_mark: buffer size depends on the hardware
Software Development Kit:    
- CAN API V3 :heavy_check_mark: C API and C++ API by UV Software
- Dynamic link library :heavy_check_mark: u3cankvl.dll, uvKvaserCAN.dll
- Static library :heavy_check_mark: u3cankvl.lib, uvKvaserCAN.lib
- 32-bit version (x86) :heavy_check_mark: supported
- 64-bit version (x64) :heavy_check_mark: supported
- Source code :heavy_check_mark: BDS-2-Clause or GPL-3.0-or-later
- Python wrapper :heavy_check_mark: Python 3
- macOS wrapper :heavy_check_mark: macOS Driver and SDK
- Utilities :heavy_check_mark: CLI utilities can_moni and can_test
- Examples :heavy_check_mark: C, C++, Python

Change-log

Version 0.3.1 (Commit 7922988 of June 11, 2024):

  • Updated Kvaser canLib DLL (version 5.45)
  • Updated CAN API V3 sources to rev. 1312
  • Updated CAN API V3 testing sources to rev. 1336
  • Removed upper size limit of string properties
  • Reworked CAN API V3 return values (C vs. C++)
  • Optimized KvaserCAN wrapper (can_api.c)
  • Integrated generic CAN API V3 utilities (rev. 1323)
  • Updated release documents

Version 0.3 (Commit 1fe917a of April 24, 2024):

  • Added an unified version file
  • Recreated the library projects
  • Updated all MSBuild environments
  • Updated Kvaser canLib DLL (version 5.44)
  • Updated CAN API V3 sources to rev. 1270
  • Updated CAN API V3 testing sources to rev. 1273
  • Changed the resolution of CTimer to 64 bit
  • Implemented identifier acceptance filtering
  • Added test suites for acceptance filtering
  • Added filtering option to utility can_moni
  • Added option /LIST-BITRATES to the utilities
  • Implemented Kvaser-specific properties
  • Fixed a bug with flag ESI in TC05.20
  • Fixed a bug with Kvaser vs. CiA bit-rate settings
  • Fixed compiler warnings with legacy CAN 2.0 frame format
  • Updated the Python wrapper
  • Updated the examples

Version 0.2.5 (Commit b5157f3 of November 11, 2023):

  • Realized “Blocking Write” (CANlib canWriteWait)
  • Updated CAN API V3 testing sources to rev. 1219
  • Updated Kvaser CAN bit-rate defaults
  • Updated the utilities (class CTimer)
  • Updated the Python wrapper
  • Updated the trial program
  • Updated Doxygen configuration
  • Updated the deployment rules

Version 0.2.4 (Commit 0831da1 of September 10, 2023):

  • Migrated to VS 2022
  • Updated Kvaser canLib DLL to version 5.41
  • Updated CAN API V3 sources to rev. 1187 and applied the changes
    • Added old error code -40 as queue overrun error and renumbered error error frame received from -40 to -19
    • Removed unused error code CANERR_ERR_FRAME (note: the error code -19 is marked as reserved)
    • Removed flag fdoe and brse from struct can_speed_t (note: the flags are marked as reserved)
    • Integrated reworked module can_btr:
      • btr_check_bitrate: if FDOE w/o BRSE then check data phase field acc. OPTION_CANBTR_DATA_FIELDS
      • btr_bitrate2speed: no range checks anymore, calculation is done completely in float
      • btr_bitrate2index: returns the index if an index is given
      • btr_bitrate2string: no range checks anymore
      • btr_sja10002bitrate: set data phase field acc. OPTION_CANBTR_DATA_FIELDS
      • btr_compare_bitrates: comparision on basis of transmission rates (new function)
      • Removed flag fdoe and brse from struct btr_speed_t (standalone variant)
      • Documented all interface functions by Doxygen comments
      • Added header file CANBTR_Defaults.h
      • Reworked the bit-rate string scanner (btr_string2bitrate):
        • Return a flag if any data phase key is found
        • Return a flag if no. samp. key is found
        • Return BTRERR_ILLPARA on error
        • Removed the range checks
        • Set miminum frequency to 1
        • Checked for duplicated keys
        • Accept only case sensitive keys
      • Reworked the bit-rate string printer (btr_bitrate2string):
        • Added a parameter to output data phase keys
        • Added a parameter to output no. samp. key
        • Added a parameter for maximum buffer size
      • Fixed a bug with strtol if a correct value is outside the range of representable values (note: long is 32 bit wide for MS compilers and 64 bit for gcc based compilers!)
    • Added property values for transmit queue properties (note: values for filtering have been shifted by 8)
    • Fixed a bug with saturation of CAN FD DLC conversion
    • Updated description of compiler switches
    • Reworked formatting of message flags
  • Added CAN API V3 Tests with GoogleTest (rev. 1194)
  • Added Kvaser-specific bit-rate defaults
  • Reworked error frame handling
  • Fixed a bug when all channels torn down
  • Fixed a bug with bit-rate adjustment
  • Made the utilities more generic
  • Updated the examples

Version 0.2.3 (Commit e5504dc August 3, 2022):

  • Updated Kvaser canLib DLL (version 5.39)
  • Updated CAN API V3 sources to rev. 1082
  • Fixed a bug with transceiver off in function can_reset
  • Fixed a bug with field SAM in BTR0BTR1 register
  • Fixed a bug with Kvaser CAN bus params (noSamp)
  • Updated class CKvaserCAN (some property keys)
  • Updated the trial program
  • Updated the utilities

Version 0.2.2 (Commit 4971c3f of February 8, 2022):

  • Updated CAN API sources to rev. 1036
  • Fixed a bug with message flag sts on reception
  • Fixed a bug with getting properties from device
  • Fixed a bug with state of virtual CAN channels
  • Changed resolution of property GET_BUSLOAD
  • Added two operations to class CPeakCAN to query channel information
  • Updated the utilities to get the list of channels from the library

Version 0.2.1 (Commit c4bb537 of January 5, 2022):

  • Updated Kvaser canLib DLL (version 5.37)
  • Updated CAN API sources to rev. 1020 and applied the changes
  • Resolved firmware version vs. software version confusion
  • Fixed some bugs with getting properties from device and from library:
    • accept NULL pointer for SET_FIRST_CHANNEL and SET_NEXT_CHANNEL
    • getting device properties requires a valid handle
    • string values must be at least one byte in size
  • Fixed a bug with missing length for property CANPROP_GET_DEVICE_NAME
  • Fixed a possible build issue with outdated define CAN_20_ONLY
  • Updated Python examples (although they do not work under Windows)
  • Updated my beloved utilities

Version 0.2 (Commit 5799eff of June 3, 2021):

  • Migrated to Visual Studio 2019 and adapted the MSC build environments
  • Switched to a dual-license: BSD-2-Clause OR GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Updated to Kvaser´s CANlib SDK version 5.35
  • Realized class CKvaserCAN: public CCANAPI (uvKvaserCAN.dll)
  • Implemented operation mode NXTD and NRTR
  • Added a check for operation mode bit FDOE when bit BRSE is set
  • Added a check for valid identifier range in can_write
  • Added a check for operation capability in can_init
  • Fixed a mistake with channel name displayed instead of device name
  • Fixed an out-of-bound violation in companion module can_btr
  • Fixed a bug with wrong return values from kvaser_capacity
  • Fixed an unnecessary decl-specifier on can_boards[]
  • Added my beloved CAN utilities
  • Added two simple C++ examples
  • Added a Doxygen configuration

Version 0.1 (Commit bc8301d of January 19, 2021):

  • Last sources from subversion repo to build version 1.1 (old versioning scheme)

Supported Devices

For a list of supported device see Kvaser´s website.

Known Bugs and Caveats

For a list of known bugs and caveats see tab Issues in the GitHub repo.

CAN API V3 Reference

A generic documentation of the CAN API V3 application programming interface can be found here.

Dual-License

This work is dual-licensed under the terms of the BSD 2-Clause “Simplified” License and under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 (or any later version). You can choose between one of them if you use this work in whole or in part.

Trademarks

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
All other company, product and service names mentioned herein may be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective owners.

Hazard Note

If you connect your CAN device to a real CAN network when using this library, you might damage your application.