JBP Software has introduced a tool for technical writers called “Register Designer” for the Mac, available in the Mac App Store, to assist in creating data sheets, programming manuals, and technical specifications for processors, drivers, and other silicon and software products.
Joseph Bennett, CEO of JBP Software explained that in silicon products, registers have different bit fields to program a piece of silicon (for example, to set up an engine to run), or to relay status back to software (such as an interrupt or error condition). Typically a table describes these registers from “most significant bit” to “least significant bit”, and lists the bit number within the register, its default value, and its long name and symbol name.
Organizations often create technical documentation, such as IEEE specifications or company data sheets only for the most important registers, but the drawings are usually simplistic, are time consuming to produce, and littered with inconsistencies. Register Designer lets technical writers create a horizontal graphical representations of the registers, displaying fields marked with their bit names. This type of representation helps programmers writing a register or reading a register, to build the data in a “left to right” fashion.
With Register Designer, technical writers can quickly enter the entire register set for a component as a series of text fields, preview the register output, and copy and paste adds the PNG representation of the register as a figure in the documentation. Register Designer allows exporting and saving with a single menu click. The register representations are stored in simple XML files, for easy conversion of existing registers and bits into a format that Register Designer can read.
More information about Register Designer can be found at the Mac App Store, and additional queries can be sent to sales@jbpsoftware.com. Promo codes for Register Designer can be made available to interested parties.
