Label File Redirection
Posted  05 Jun. 2009

Original method, introduced in version 306.0:

Sometimes ECUs with the same root part number (eg. 038 906 019) will correspond to different kind of engines when you consider the suffix.

For instance 038 906 019 AF will be a 100HP PD-TDI engine, whereas
038  906 019 AQ will be a 150HP PD-TDI engine, with different spec values. In the case of the 038 906 019 part number, there are well over 100 possible suffixes, so creating as many files with different names (eg 038-906-019-AF.LBL, 038-906-019-AQ.LBL, 038-906-019-CL.LBL  and so on) makes no sense.

This is why we implemented redirection tables, so that  people creating label files who have access to parts catalogues can tell VCDS which part number goes with which kind of engine. If we follow the previous example, only 6 label files (out of 100+ part numbers) are needed:

• 038-906-019-090.LBL for the 90 HP TDI PD engine

• 038-906-019-100.LBL for the 100 HP TDI PD engine

• 038-906-019-115.LBL for the 115 HP TDI PD engine

• 038-906-019-130.LBL for the 130 HP TDI PD engine

• 038-906-019-150.LBL for the 150 HP TDI PD engine

• 038-906-019.LBL containing the redirection table and generic label info.

The redirection table in 038-906-019.LBL looks like this:

REDIRECT,038-906-019-090.LBL,AB,FB,LP,Q; ANU  engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-100.LBL,AF,AG,BL,CM,CN,DD,DE,DF,DL,FF,FJ,GC,HQ; ATD engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-100.LBL,BM,CL,CP,EA,EB,EJ,EK,EL,EM,FN,GG;AVB engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-100.LBL,AT,CR,FH,FS,HR,JM,KR,LC,MQ; AXR engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-115.LBL,A,AN,BR,BS,CD,CE,CJ,H; AJM engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-115.LBL,AJ,BK; ATJ engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-115.LBL,AR,ET,FC,J,LQ; AUY engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-130.LBL,BH,BP,CK,DQ,E,FG,FR,FT,HJ,KJ,LA; ASZ engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-130.LBL, BN,DS,DT,EN,EP,EQ,GD,GE,GF,GQ,GR,GT,JE,JL,JS; AVF engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-130.LBL,CF,CG,EG,EH,ER,FP,GE,GS,JD,JQ,KE; AWX engine
REDIRECT,038-906-019-150.LBL,AQ,CL,FE,FK,HH,HK,KG,MS; ARL engine

Note that everything after the semicolon ';' is comments. So let's say VAG-COM connects to an engine controller with p/n 038 906 019 BH. First it's going to look for a specific file called 038-906-019-BH.LBL . This file does not exist, that's the purpose. Then it looks for a generic file, that's 038-906-019.LBL . This file exists. Now VCDS looks for a redirection table (specified \ by the word "REDIRECT" at the beginning of the lines) inside this file. VCDS finds it, and looks for the "BH" suffix inside it. Since BH exists in here, VCDS is now going to load the associated file - that's 038-906-019-130.LBL, the file specific to the 130HP PD engines. Note that if VCDS does not find the suffix in the redirection table, it will load the info from the generic file 038-906-019.LBL.

The format of the redirection table is:

REDIRECT,specificlabelfilenameA,suffixA1,suffixA2,suffixA3,...,suffixAn;
REDIRECT,specificlabelfilenameB,suffixB1,suffixB2,suffixB3,...,suffixBn;
...
REDIRECT,specificlabelfilenameZ,suffixZ1,suffixZ2,suffixZ3,...,suffixZn;

New method, added in 408.0:

If VAG-COM can't find a label file with a conventional name, it looks for one with the name XX-AA.LBL, where XX are the first two letters of the control module's part number (typically the car's chassis code) and AA is the address of the control module.   For example, on a Mk.4 Golf Instrument cluster, VCDS will open 1J-17.LBL.    In this type of file, a new re-direction method is possible.  We'll use that file as an example to explain how this method works.  The 1J-17.LBL file contains the following statements:

REDIRECT,1J0-919-xxx.LBL,1J0-919-???-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx0.LBL,1J0-920-??0-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx0.LBL,1J0-920-??1-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx0.LBL,1J0-920-??2-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx0.LBL,1J?-920-??5-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx6.LBL,1J?-920-??6-???
REDIRECT,1J0-920-xx7.LBL,1J?-920-??7-???

VCDS looks at the first line and checks to see if the control module's part number matches 1J0-919-???-???.   The question marks are "wild cards", in other words the module's part number may have any character in that position and be considered a match.   If the control module part number matches this pattern, VCDS will load and use the label file associated with it, in this case, 1J0-919-xxx.LBL.   If the control module's part number does not match this pattern, then VCDS will continue to look in subsequent Redirect statements for a match.

This method has allowed the label data for all known Mk.4 instrument clusters to be consolidated into just 5 label files (including the master redirection file which contains no actual label info) using 7 redirection statements.    

This method is also the only way to produce label files for certain control modules such as Mk.5 instrument clusters which report precisely the same part number at two different addresses (17 and 25) but have completely different functions (instrument cluster and Immobilizer) at those addresses.  

Note:

The name of the file being redirected to is limited to 20 characters in total length (including the '.lbl').

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