Understanding the makeup of an XML .ev3p file

Question

When you unzip an .ev3 program, there are many txt and xml files that are inside. In particular, there is an xml file produced with the filename extension .ev3p, which seems to contain program instructions which the EV3 brick can then interpret and execute. I am interested in using these .ev3p files produced in order to analyze the correctness of programs.

To test this, I created two .ev3 programs: one which moves forward 3 cycles, one which moves forward 5 cycles. Upon text-comparing their respective .ev3p files, I found :

<ConfigurableMethodTerminal ConfiguredValue="3">

in the first file and

<ConfigurableMethodTerminal ConfiguredValue="5">

in the second file.

However, there are other small, unexplained differences between the respective .ev3p files. I need to know:

• Is there any documentation that is provided by National Instruments that can give me insight into how these .ev3p files are produced and how they can be interpreted.

Answer 1

I personally doubt that there is any publicly available documentation of the contents of these files. However, you may gain some insight from the documentation in the "EV3 Block Developer Kit" available on the LEGO MINDSTORMS Download page.

Tip: rather than using the outdated copy of the EV3 software included in the EV3 Block Developer Kit, I have found that you can create a file named MindstormsEV3.ini with the following contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<Tokens DeveloperMode="True" />

and save it in the LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 program directory to enable developer mode on any installed version of the software.