Mk7 Controller Coding and Digital Nomenclature

Digital Numbering Systems used by Control Modules in Mk7 Golf

The basic building blocks for the coding strings in the mk7's control modules are based on the
following commonly used digital concepts:

Bit: basic unit of information in computing which can only have one of two
states; 1, or 0. A collection of Bits is called a Binary value.
Byte: A unit of digital information consisting of 8 Bits . A Byte was historically the
smallest unit of addressable memory. A Byte can be expressed as either a
Binary value or as a Hexadecimal value (see next paragraph).
As a Binary value, the separate digits (i.e. Bits) are known as Bit 0 to Bit 7.
The right-most digit in a Binary value is Bit 0 and the leftmost digit is Bit 7 -
this is like decimal numbers where the lower order digit in on the RHS
Hexadecimal: A numbering system in computing that has 16 possible states. Hex values
are the numbers 0 to 9 followed by the letters "A" to "F" (to represent the
values 10 to 15). The primary purpose of hexadecimal notation is as a
human-friendly representation of Binary values. Each Hexadecimal digit can
be represented as 4 x Bits. So, there are two Hexadecimal numbers (or a Hex
pair) in each Byte

Perhaps the best way to illustrate how the digital concepts above have been applied to the control
modules in a mk7 is via the Long Coding Helper screen shown below:

Figure 1

This is a typical Long Coding helper screen and in this case, the screen-shot was taken from the
BMC-Body Control Module (i.e. 09-Cent. Elect.) on a 103TSI - RoW model. The following
observations can be made from the picture above - note that at the extreme left most side
there are four row numbers, 1) to 4) in grey;

1. Row 1) shows the coding value for the BMC. This is the same coding value that is listed for
this controller in the auto-scan report. The numbering system that is used for the coding
value on this row is hexadecimal (notice the digits contain the numbers 0-9 and A-F).
 2. Row 2): is a basic instruction message - see later section for more information about
"Lcode" application.
3. Row 3) shows the same coding value as in row 1) except that the individual digits are
coupled together as hexadecimal pairs. There 29 of these pairs in Row 3) in Figure 1 and
each hex-pair constitutes a Byte (remember in the opening paragraph that a Byte can be
expressed as either a Hex pair, or as a Binary). The numbering standard for Bytes is:
• Byte 0, Byte 1, Byte 2 ............ with Byte 0 being the leftmost hexadecimal pair.

For illustration, the table below shows the Byte values in the boxes in record 3) together
with their corresponding Byte numbers.

Table 1

When any of the hex pairs in Row 3) is selected, the corresponding Byte number appears on
the second line. The screen shot in the Figure 3 shows Byte 7 which has a value of "Hex FB"

The Binary value for Byte 7 is shown in the box "Binary". As indicated in the opening
paragraph when a Byte is expressed as a Binary, it has 8 x bits, so there are eight digits in the
Binary box (remember that the right most digit is Bit 0 and the left most digit is Bit 7). For
illustration, Table 2 below shows the Bit values in record 2) together with their
corresponding Bit numbers.

Table 2

4. Row 4) shows what each Bit in Byte 7 does (in this case, Bit 0 and Bit 1 is not shown). Note
that for each Bit that has a value of "1" in the Binary box in record 3), the corresponding box
for that Bit in record 4) is ticked. Likewise, for Bit 2 which has a value of "0", the
corresponding box in row 4) is not-ticked. When a tweak is implemented that adds, or
removes a tick in row 4), a change is made to the corresponding Bit value in the Binary box.
As will be explained in the next section a change in the value in the Binary box also has the
subsequent effect of changing the value of the Hex-pair for that Byte.

Hexadecimal to Binary Conversion - Manual Method

Although not overtly stated in the Long Coding Helper screen in Figure 1, the Hexadecimal value of
Byte 7 as depicted in the first line of row 3) is equivalent to the Binary value shown in the second
line in row 3).

Hexadecimal values (i.e. 0-9 & A-F) can be converted to Binary values and vice-a-versa. As stated
previously, each Bit can have two values (i.e. 1 and 0). So, since Hexadecimal numbers can have 16
possible values, the equivalent Binary value must have 4 x Bits. This is so because 16 = 24 .
The conversion table between Hexadecimal and Binary is shown below;

Table 3
As an example of how to use the conversion table, consider Byte 7 in Figure 1 which has a
Hexadecimal value of FB. From table 3 above, the Binary equivalent for F = 1111 (this is known as the
"high nibble") and the binary equivalent for B =1011 (this is known as the "low nibble"). So, the
Binary value of Byte 7 is the concatenation of the two, 4-Bit values (or the two nibbles): 11111011.
This is equivalent to HexFB.

Hexadecimal to Binary Conversion -Automatic Method

When the Long Coding Helper is activated, an application called Lcode.exe is initiated. Reference to
this application is made in row 2) of the Long Coding Helper screenshot in Figure 1 above. Amongst
other things, LCode.exe is responsible for the Graphical User Interface in the Long Coding Helper
screen and it also converts Hexadecimal to Binary values.

Cable users can separately activate Lcode.exe to perform Hexadecimal to Binary conversions.
Lcode.exe can be found in the folder: Ross-Tech\VCDS (or Beta-VCDS). When Lcode.exe is initiated
by the user, a vacant version of the Long Coding Helper appears with all data boxes blank. (as shown
in the Figure 2 below).

Figure 2
To use Lcode.exe to perform conversions, simply write the Hex value or copy the coding string from
a module controller into row 1). Tick the Bit boxes in row 4) and the Binary and Hexadecimal values
will be automatically calculated.

For illustrative purposes, I have populated row 1) in Figure 2 with the coding string from the BCM
that has been used throughout this document and I have selected Byte 7 in the same manner as
Figure 1 above. The result is shown in figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Notice that values in the boxes for row 1) and row 3) in Figure 3 are identical to those in Figure 1.
However, row 4) in Figure 3 now has all of the 8 x Bit boxes depicted albeit none of the boxes have
descriptors. These descriptors are added when an .XPL file is attached to the screen in Figure 3 -but
this is another topic.

DV52 (sept 2014)