---?image=assets/images/gitpitch-audience.jpg @title[Platform Build Win Lab]

UEFI & EDK II Training

UEFI HII Overview

UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)

tianocore.org Note: PITCHME.md for UEFI / EDK II Training UEFI HII Overview Pres

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@title[Lesson Objective]

<p align="center"Lesson Objective

@fa[certificate gp-bullet-green]  What is the Infrastructure for HII

@fa[certificate gp-bullet-cyan]  How Does HII Work

@fa[certificate gp-bullet-yellow]  Lab for HII

---?image=assets/images/binary-strings-black2.jpg @title[User Interface HII Overview Section]

UI HII Overview

User Interface HII Overview

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide4.JPG @title[Why HII]

Why?

Note:

Single window for full platform configuration
Avoid multiple hotkeys
Localization support
Unified look and feel
If driver supports any configuration, must be implemented using HII
Expose content to be seamlessly integrated in platform solutions

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide5.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide6.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts 02]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide7.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts 03]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide8.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts 04]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide9.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts 05]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide10.JPG

@title[HII: Key Concepts 02]

HII: Key Concepts

Note:

Solve problems from legacy BIOS …
- Different menus for BIOS setup & OpROM
- User has problems finding the right menu
- OEMs need a consistent user interface
UEFI Human Interface Infrastructure (HII)
- System firmware has a common setup browser
- Drivers don’t carry their own UI
- Single point for pre-OS setup interface
- Firmware & Drivers publish to a “database”

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide11.JPG @title[Design Discussions]

Design Discussions

Note:

The example on the right shows a basic platform configuration or “setup” model.
The drivers and applications install elements (such as fonts, strings, images and forms) into the HII Database, which acts as a central repository for the entire platform. The Forms Browser uses these elements to render the user interface on the display devices and receive information from the user via HID devices. When complete, the changes made by the user in the Forms Browser are saved, either to the EFI global variable storage—(GetVariable() and SetVariable()— or to variable storage provided by the individual drivers
TOP
- Platform and Standard User Interactions
Bottom
- There are various scenarios where a platform component must interact in some fashion with the user. Examples of this are when presenting a user with several choices of information (e.g. boot menu) and sending information to the display (e.g. system status, logo, etc).��

---?image=assets/images/binary-strings-black2.jpg @title[HII Components Section]

HII Components

User Interface HII Overview

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide13.JPG

@title[HII Components]

HII Components

Note:

Strings are represented by string tokens. They are listed in a table and referenced by a token number. This results in multiple language support. Depending the language, different tables are accessed.
Fonts
- Presumption of bitmap fonts for easier localization (GraphicsConsoleDxe).
Keyboard
- Keyboard Mapping (UsbKb)
Forms
- Describe user interface layout for ‘windowing’ interfaces
- An application that uses String and Font support
Package
- Self supporting data structure containing fonts, strings, and forms from a driver or set of drivers

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide14.JPG

@title[HII Components 02]

HII Components

Note:

Strings are represented by string tokens. They are listed in a table and referenced by a token number. This results in multiple language support. Depending the language, different tables are accessed.
Fonts
- Presumption of bitmap fonts for easier localization (GraphicsConsoleDxe).
Keyboard
- Keyboard Mapping (UsbKb)
Forms
- Describe user interface layout for ‘windowing’ interfaces
- An application that uses String and Font support
Package
- Self supporting data structure containing fonts, strings, and forms from a driver or set of drivers

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide15.JPG

@title[HII Components 03]

HII Components

Note:

Strings are represented by string tokens. They are listed in a table and referenced by a token number. This results in multiple language support. Depending the language, different tables are accessed.
Fonts
- Presumption of bitmap fonts for easier localization (GraphicsConsoleDxe).
Keyboard
- Keyboard Mapping (UsbKb)
Forms
- Describe user interface layout for ‘windowing’ interfaces
- An application that uses String and Font support
Package
- Self supporting data structure containing fonts, strings, and forms from a driver or set of drivers

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide16.JPG

@title[HII Components 04]

HII Components

Note:

Strings are represented by string tokens. They are listed in a table and referenced by a token number. This results in multiple language support. Depending the language, different tables are accessed.
Fonts
- Presumption of bitmap fonts for easier localization (GraphicsConsoleDxe).
Keyboard
- Keyboard Mapping (UsbKb)
Forms
- Describe user interface layout for ‘windowing’ interfaces
- An application that uses String and Font support
Package
- Self supporting data structure containing fonts, strings, and forms from a driver or set of drivers

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide17.JPG

@title[HII Components 05]

HII Components

Note:

Strings are represented by string tokens. They are listed in a table and referenced by a token number. This results in multiple language support. Depending the language, different tables are accessed.
Fonts
- Presumption of bitmap fonts for easier localization (GraphicsConsoleDxe).
Keyboard
- Keyboard Mapping (UsbKb)
Forms
- Describe user interface layout for ‘windowing’ interfaces
- An application that uses String and Font support
Package
- Self supporting data structure containing fonts, strings, and forms from a driver or set of drivers

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide18.JPG @title[HII Strings]

Strings

Note:

Strings stored in Unicode
- Real string encodings required for e.g. VT100
- Already the text standard in EFI today
Localization happens at the string level
- Caller externs and passes in language independent string token
- String support determines actual string from token and selected language
- Usage Model:
  - A string library supporting translations
  - Reduces translation costs and delays
  - Tools to extract strings depending on use by driver
  - Analysis of strings used to extract fonts

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide19.JPG @title[Token to String Mapping]

Token to String Mapping

Note:

Request: Print string with token 37
Currently selected language is as in UEFI 2.X. This is used to select between language data structures. (The structures indicate which language(s) they support).
The top part of the structure maps from token to string. The bottom part of the structure is the strings

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide20.JPG @title[String Example (.uni file)]

String Example (.uni file)

Note:

 #langdef   en-US  	"English"
 #langdef   fr-FR  	"Francais“
 #langdef   sv-SE	“Svenska”

 #string STR_FORM_SET_TITLE 
        #language en-US "Browser Testcase Engine"
        #language fr-FR "Navigateur Testcase Moteur”
        #language sv-SE "Webbläsare Testcase Motor”
 #string STR_FORM_SET_TITLE_HELP  
        #language en-US "This is a sample UEFI driver which is used to test the browser op-code operations. "
        #language fr-FR “Il s'agit d'une UEFI Driver échantillon qui est utilisé pour tester les navigateurs op-code opérations.“
        #language sv-SE ”Detta är ett exempel på UEFI-drivrutin som används för att testa webbläsaren op-kod operationer”

 #string STR_FORM1_TITLE
        #language en-US "My First Setup Page"
        #language fr-FR "Mi Primero Arreglo Página“ 
        #language sv-SE "Min första inställningssidan”

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide21.JPG @title[HII Fonts]

Fonts

Note:

One Standard Font for UEFI
- One font database accumulated during boot
Each Component Provides Its Fonts
- System provides ASCII and ISO Latin-1
- Fonts only required for characters in strings that may appear
  - If the firmware will never print “tractor” in Kanji, discard the bit image
- Result is a sparse array of characters indexed by the Unicode ‘weight’
Wide and Narrow glyphs supported

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide22.JPG @title[HII Keyboards]

Keyboards

Note:

Support varying keyboards
- UK and US keyboard layout are not the same. Certainly that is the case for US and Arabic, etc.
- Adding support of other modifiers (e.g. Alt-GR, Dead-keys, etc)
Keyboard Layout
- Allow for a standardized mechanism to describe a keyboard layout and add to system database.
- Allow for switching keyboard layouts.

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide23.JPG @title[HII Forms]

Forms

Note:

How a UEFI driver or application may present a forms (or dialogs) based interface. The forms-based interface assumes that each window or screen consists of some window dressing (title & buttons) and a list of questions. These questions represent individual configuration settings for the application or driver, although several GUI controls may be used for one question
The forms are stored in the HII database, along with the strings, fonts & images
Other applications may use the information within the forms to validate configuration setting values
The Forms Browser provides a forms-based user interface which understands
- how to read the contents of the forms
- interact with the user
- save the resulting values
The Forms Browser uses forms data installed by an application or driver during initialization in the HII database.

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide24.JPG @title[Visual Forms Representation (VFR)]

Visual Forms Representation (VFR)

Note:

VFR (Visual Forms Representation) is the development language used to create IFR (Internal Forms Representation). IFR is the compiled version of the control language. This language controls what the contents of each displayed page consists of, where the changed data gets saved, how pages are linked, and much more.
VFR source files will include a Unicode file(s) which contains the string definitions for the particular application. The Unicode file will contain both the displayed strings as well as the translations for all the supported languages for the particular application.
Language used to describe what a page layout would be in a browser as well as the op-codes and string tokens to display
Op-codes are defined for the following functions examples
- formSet and form definitions
- One of type questions with corresponding options (combo) fields

    checkbox 
    numeric 
    oneof 
    String

Boolean expressions in support of errors, suppress, and gray outs

  "disableif" 
  “suppressif“
  “grayoutif"

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide25.JPG @title[Form Example (.vfr file)]

Form Example (.vfr file)

Note:

formset
  guid     = FORMSET_GUID,
  title    = STRING_TOKEN(STR_FORM_SET_TITLE),
  help     = STRING_TOKEN(STR_FORM_SET_TITLE_HELP),
  classguid = EFI_HII_PLATFORM_SETUP_FORMSET_GUID,

 varstore   DRIVER_SAMPLE_CONFIGURATION, 
	name = MyIfrNVData,
	guid = FORMSET_GUID;

 form formid = 1,
       title  = STRING_TOKEN(STR_FORM1_TITLE);  

 oneof varid  = MyIfrNVData.MyVariableForOneofPrompt,
  prompt      = STRING_TOKEN(STR_ONE_OF_PROMPT),
   help       = STRING_TOKEN(STR_ONE_OF_HELP),
  option text = STRING_TOKEN(STR_ONE_OF_TEXT1), value = 0x0, flags = 0;
  option text = STRING_TOKEN(STR_ONE_OF_TEXT2), value = 0x1, flags = 0;
  option text = STRING_TOKEN(STR_ONE_OF_TEXT3), value = 0x2, flags = DEFAULT;
 endoneof;
                         • • •
 endform;
endformset;

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide26.JPG @title[Internal Forms Representation (IFR)]

Internal Forms Representation (IFR)

Note:

Internal Forms Representation created by VFR to IFR tool
Byte encoded operations (much smaller)
String references abstracted as tokens
Improved validation, visibility primitives
At better level of presentation control for firmware
- Tension between configuration driver and presentation driver over control of presentation format
Easy to
- Interpret for small Setup engine in desktop firmware
- Translate into XHTML or JavaScript or …

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide27.JPG

@title[Minimum Files for HII Driver]

Minimum Files for HII Driver

Note:

Driver source file
- Consumes HII protocols
- Produces EFI_HII_CONFIGURATION_ACCESS_PROTOCOL
Driver include file
- Defines data structures
Strings file
- Defines strings in different languages
Forms file
- Defines the layout of the screen
Pre-Make file

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide28.JPG

@title[Minimum Files for HII Driver 02]

Minimum Files for HII Driver

Note:

Driver source file
- Consumes HII protocols
- Produces EFI_HII_CONFIGURATION_ACCESS_PROTOCOL
Driver include file
- Defines data structures
Strings file
- Defines strings in different languages
Forms file
- Defines the layout of the screen
Pre-Make file

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide29.JPG

@title[Minimum Files for HII Driver 03]

Minimum Files for HII Driver

Note:

Driver source file
- Consumes HII protocols
- Produces EFI_HII_CONFIGURATION_ACCESS_PROTOCOL
Driver include file
- Defines data structures
Strings file
- Defines strings in different languages
Forms file
- Defines the layout of the screen
Pre-Make file

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide30.JPG

@title[Minimum Files for HII Driver 03]

Minimum Files for HII Driver

Note:

Driver source file
- Consumes HII protocols
- Produces EFI_HII_CONFIGURATION_ACCESS_PROTOCOL
Driver include file
- Defines data structures
Strings file
- Defines strings in different languages
Forms file
- Defines the layout of the screen
Pre-Make file

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide31.JPG

@title[EDK II HII]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide32.JPG

@title[EDK II HII 02]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide33.JPG

@title[EDK II HII 03]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide34.JPG

@title[EDK II HII 04]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide35.JPG

@title[EDK II HII 05]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide36.JPG

@title[EDK II HII 06]

EDK II HII

Note:

The EFI Configuration Driver is the program that reads the contents of the HII Database and interprets the data to present it to the user. This is also the program that takes the user input and provides for a mechanism to save the changes into an NVRAM location.
There is an assumption of having some type of NVRAM available so that settings that are changed by the user are able to be saved. How one gets to the NVRAM is based on whether it is system NV storage one is accessing, or NV storage local to a specific card. Both are supported.
With the exception of setting a system password, and system date and time, settings are not posted to NV storage until the user directs the infrastructure specifically to do so. As a rule of thumb, hardware configuration changes do not take place until a system reset has occurred.
HiiConfigAccess Protocol. Read/Write/CallBack().

---?image=assets/images/binary-strings-black2.jpg @title[How: UEFI HII Protocols Section]

How: UEFI HII Protocols

Sections 29-31 the UEFI 2.x Specification

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@title[HII Database Overview]

HII Database Overview

Note:

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide39.JPG

@title[HII Database Overview 02]

HII Database Overview

Note:

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide40.JPG

@title[HII Database Overview 03]

HII Database Overview

Note:

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide41.JPG

@title[HII Database Overview 04]

HII Database Overview

Note:

+++?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide42.JPG

@title[HII Database Overview 05]

HII Database Overview

Note:

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide43.JPG @title[UEFI HII Protocols]

UEFI HII Protocols

Note:

Font Protocol
- String to Image, Sting ID to Image, Get Glyph, Get Font Info
String Protocol
- New – Get – Set – String
- Get Language & 2nd Language
Image Protocol
- New – Get – Set Image
- Draw Image, Draw Image ID
Database Protocol
- New – Remove- Update – List – Export Lists – Get Handle Package
- Register, Unregister Package Notify
- Find- Get- Set Keyboard layout

---?image=/assets/images/slides/Slide44.JPG

@title[UEFI Driver Initialization Process ]