About This FileX User Guide
This guide contains comprehensive information about FileX, the high-performance, real-time embedded file system from Eclipse Foundation. To gain the most from this guide, you should be familiar with standard real-time operating system functions, FAT file system services, and the C programming language.
Organization
Chapter 1 - Introduces FileX
Chapter 2 - Gives the basic steps to install and use FileX with your ThreadX application
Chapter 3 - Provides a functional overview of the FileX system and basic information about FAT file system formats
Chapter 4 - Details the application's interface to FileX
Chapter 5 - Describes the supplied FileX RAM driver and how to write your own custom FileX drivers
Chapter 6 - Describes the FileX Fault Tolerant Module
Appendix A - FileX Services
Appendix B - FileX Constants
Appendix C - FileX Data Types
Appendix D - ASCII Chart
Guide Conventions
Italics - Typeface denotes book titles, emphasizes important words, and indicates variables.
Boldface - Typeface denotes file names, key words, and further emphasizes important words and variables.
Note: Information symbols draw attention to important or additional information that could affect performance or function.
Important: Warning symbols draw attention to situations that developers should avoid because they could cause fatal errors.
FileX Data Types
In addition to the custom FileX control structure data types, there is a series of special data types that are used in FileX service call interfaces. These special data types map directly to data types of the underlying C compiler. This is done to ensure portability between different C compilers. The exact implementation is inherited from ThreadX and can be found in the tx_port.h file included in the ThreadX distribution.
The following is a list of FileX service call data types and their associated meanings.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| UINT | Basic unsigned integer. This type must support 8-bit unsigned data; however, it is mapped to the most convenient unsigned data type. |
| ULONG | Unsigned long type. This type must support 32-bit unsigned data. |
| VOID | Almost always equivalent to the compiler's void type. |
| CHAR | Most often a standard 8-bit character type. |
| ULONG64 | 64-bit unsigned integer data type. |
Additional data types are used within the FileX source. They are located in either the tx_port.h or fx_port.h files.
Troubleshooting
For troubleshooting, be sure to collect the following information.
A detailed description of the problem, including frequency of occurrence and whether it can be reliably reproduced.
A detailed description of any changes to the application and/or FileX that preceded the problem.
The contents of the _tx_version_id and _fx_version_id strings found in the tx_port.h and fx_port.h files of your distribution. These strings will provide valuable information regarding your run-time environment.
The contents in RAM of the following ULONG variables. These variables will give information on how your ThreadX and FileX libraries were built:
_tx_build_options
_fx_system_build_options1
_fx_system_build_options2
_fx_system_build_options3