Changelog

All notable changes to DBC Utility, following the project changelog in the sibling repository.

Changelog

All notable changes to DBC Utility will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[1.0.3] - 2026-03-14

Added

DBC Comparison Tool (New)

  • Side-by-side diff view with editable panels, line numbers, and character-level change highlighting
  • Unified diff view with +/- markers and "only changes" filter
  • Structured (semantic) comparison view showing messages, signals, and properties in synchronized side-by-side trees
  • Color-coded diff status: added (green), removed (red), modified (yellow), unchanged
  • Per-line directional copy arrows (push model) for copying individual lines between panels
  • Right-click context menus in structured view for Add, Edit, Copy, Delete of messages and signals
  • Swap primary/secondary files
  • Ignore whitespace option for text comparison
  • Previous/Next change navigation
  • Undo/Redo with keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y) and toolbar buttons
  • Save Primary / Save Secondary buttons with dirty-state tracking
  • Asterisk (*) indicator next to filenames when unsaved changes exist
  • Save confirmation dialog on successful file save
  • Refresh button to reload files from disk (with unsaved-changes prompt)
  • Debounced live re-diff on edit with cursor position preservation
  • Editor integration: save-review flow from Edit tab to Compare tab

Multiplexer Support

  • Full multiplexed signal handling across the entire application
  • Signal classification: multiplexer, multiplexed, regular
  • Multiplexer filter dropdowns in both View and Edit tabs
  • Multiplexer fields in Signal Edit dialog (Is Multiplexer, Multiplexer IDs, Multiplexer Signal)
  • Mux indicator badges in signal lists ([M], [m0x5], etc.)
  • Mux validation with warnings for common configuration issues
  • Graceful handling of overlapping multiplexed signals (strict=False fallback in cantools)

Message Signal Layout Visualizer

  • Bit-level grid visualization of CAN/CAN FD message layouts (up to 64 bytes)
  • Color-coded signal blocks with Material Design palette (16 colors)
  • Support for both Little-endian (Intel) and Big-endian (Motorola) byte orders
  • Signal name, bit position, and length annotations per cell
  • Message header with name, bus type, frame type, length, frame ID, signal count
  • Multiplexer filter for multiplexed messages
  • Accessible from both View and Edit tabs

Home Screen

  • Landing screen with app logo, title, and navigation buttons (View DBC, Edit DBC, CAN Bus Viewer)
  • Recent files manager with QSettings persistence (up to 50 files)
  • Double-click or select-and-open workflow for recent files
  • About dialog with app info, version, creator, website, and GitHub links

Editor Enhancements

  • Duplicate Message and Duplicate Signal buttons with auto-unique naming
  • Move Message Up/Down and Move Signal Up/Down buttons for reordering
  • Value Table (Choices) editor in Signal Edit dialog with add/remove rows
  • Sectioned checkable dropdown for senders and receivers
  • Bus Type selector (CAN / CAN FD) in Message Edit dialog
  • Save-review flow: editor changes go through a diff review before saving

Icons

  • Migrated all icons to QtAwesome (scalable vector font icons) throughout the application
  • Removed all legacy .ico icon files (except app_icon.ico/png for window and logo)
  • Consistent white icons on green buttons in the editor
  • Semantic icons for tabs, buttons, tree items, and context menus

Changed

  • Renamed comparison labels from "File A" / "File B" to "Primary" / "Secondary"
  • Project structure expanded with new modules: dbc_comparator.py, dbc_comparator_ui.py, multiplex_support.py, message_layout_visualizer.py, home_screen.py, about_dialog.py, resource_utils.py
  • Compare DBC tab added to main tabbed interface with fa6s.code-compare icon
  • Dependencies: added QtAwesome>=1.4.1
  • Version reading from pyproject.toml at runtime (no hardcoded version strings)

Fixed

  • Multiplexed signal saving no longer fails with "overlapping signals" error
  • Cursor position preserved during live diff updates (logical line tracking)
  • Trailing blank lines preserved correctly in text comparison
  • Comment extraction handles various cantools formats (string, dict, callable)

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[1.0.2] - 2025-11-10

Changed

  • Changed to UV package manager
  • Added button to create a new DBC file
  • Added buttons to reorder messages and signals
  • Binded the Edit message and Edit signals to double click
  • Added Buttons to duplicate Message and duplicate signals

Fixed

  • Version label at the bottom is using the real version (from pyproject.toml)

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[1.0.1] - 2025-01-29

Changed

  • Updated paths for Linux installation to use _internal/icons/ directory
  • Updated Refresh button UI for better user experience
  • Removed unused main.spec to avoid confusion and maintain cleaner project structure

Fixed

  • Linux installation script now correctly copies icons from PyInstaller's _internal folder
  • Desktop entry icon paths now reference system icon directory for proper display
  • Removed unnecessary PIL/Pillow dependency as it was not being used by the application

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[1.0.0] - 2025-01-27

Added

  • Initial release of DBC Utility
  • DBC file viewer with hierarchical tree structure
  • DBC file editor with full CRUD operations for messages and signals
  • Advanced search functionality with real-time filtering across messages, signals, and frame IDs
  • PyQt5-based modern GUI with tabbed interface
  • Icon support for all buttons and tabs
  • File management: load, save, and save-as functionality
  • Backup file creation during save operations with automatic cleanup
  • Comprehensive contribution guidelines, Code of Conduct, and Security Policy
  • GPL v3 license compliance for PyQt5 compatibility
  • Project structure with src/ and scripts/ separation
  • Windows and Linux build scripts (PyInstaller, AppImage)
  • Release scripts for creating versioned distribution packages

Fixed

  • None type handling for signal attributes (minimum, maximum, scale, offset, start_bit, length)
  • Icon loading issues in PyInstaller executables
  • Application icon consistency between executable and taskbar

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Contributing to the Changelog

When contributing to DBC Utility, please update this changelog by:

  1. Adding your changes under the appropriate section
  2. Using the correct format and categories
  3. Including issue numbers when applicable
  4. Following the existing style and structure

Categories

  • Added: New features
  • Changed: Changes in existing functionality
  • Deprecated: Soon-to-be removed features
  • Removed: Removed features
  • Fixed: Bug fixes
  • Security: Security-related changes