The Table Section

As you would expect, the table section of the decoder contains a list of tables. Table values are always included in the protocol specification. Here is an example of a table taken from the IP decoder:

TABLE prec

{ 7 "Network Control"}

{ 6 "Internetwork Control"}

{ 5 "CRITIC / ECP"}

{ 4 "Flash Override"}

{ 3 "Flash"}

{ 2 "Immediate"}

{ 1 "Priority"}

{ 0 "Routine"}

{ Default "Unknown"}

ENDTABLE

This table lists the order of precedence of a packet. The table is bracketed by TABLE and ENDTABLE keywords with the former bearing the name of the table. Each entry in the table is written as a list of items in braces. The first item in an entry is the field value and the second is a string for display in the Summary Pane. Tables are usually ordered by field value, though this is not a requirement. We recommend that you follow this practice.

The last entry in this table has the value Default. This serves as a catchall for values that have no entries. We urge you to include a default entry for every table except perhaps for small tables that have an entry for every possible field value. One last reminder about tables: comments may not be interspersed with table entries.