Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] proto tree

From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:14:03 -0700
Amit Paliwal wrote:

Thanks a lot for your response it really give more insight into it, I just want to ask one more thing is it like for each protocol we have all its attribute at one level like suppose ethernet, so all ethernet attributes at one level than in next level all IP attributes like that.

Not necessarily.

A packet for a protocol might have a data structure inside it, and Wireshark might display a summary of the data structure at level N, with the individual fields of that structure at level N+1. It's up to the author of the disssector for the protocol.

There will be an entry at level 1 (or, if you're a C or C++ programmer, level 0 :-)) for Ethernet or IP or TCP or..., and all attributes for Ethernet will be underneath the level 1 entry for Ethernet, but they might be at level 2, or level 3, or....