Programming Considerations
This topic contains programming information. The following list identifies some programming tips to help you write a parser.
| Auto-installing your parser | Implement the ParserAutoInstallInfo function to automatically install your parser, and update the associated INI files. If you install your parser manually, you must update all associated INI files manually. |
| Parsing protocol properties | Implement the AttachProperties function to parse the protocol properties. Avoid using the AttachPropertyInstanceEx function when you attach a property instance, and use it for only non byte-aligned data, or data that must be decoded. Attaching properties refers to mapping a property instance to a specific location in a capture. |
| Parsing protocols that are split between frames | Assume that each piece of the protocol is complete within a frame, and assume that the user calls the Protocol Coalesce tool to combine the pieces into one protocol. Do not look back at a previous frame when parsing a protocol, and avoid trying to reconstruct a protocol that is split between frames. |
| Formatting displayed data | Call the FormatPropertyInstance function to use the generic formatter to format the data displayed in the details pane of the Network Monitor UI. Avoid writing a custom formatter for UI display data. However, you can call a custom formatter to create a summary property line for the protocol you are parsing. |
| Using CCAlloc | Use CCAlloc when you want Network Monitor to allocate data on a per-capture basis. Network Monitor does not specify the order that frames call the parser. |
| Keeping a parser stateless | Keep parser operation stateless because when Network Monitor parses a capture, it does not pass the frames to the parser in a specific order. For this reason, it is recommended that you do not retain global data. |