silverdb_format.md

SilverDB Format

"Silver" is the codename of much of the iPod's UI framework. Every SilverDB database contains multiple types of resources, henceforth referenced as "sections". Every section contains multiple of a resource, referred to as "content". You identify content based on its ID - for example, 0x0dad06d8.

(This may or may not be the correct terminology used, but it seems close enough.)

File Format

All known databases have a version of 3. Immediately following the header, section metadata is present. All data is little endian.

Although sections define an offset to resource metadata, resource metadata is immediately followed by section metadata.

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	Database Header	Defines section count.
0xc	Section Metadata	Repeats for as many sections as defined.
...	Resource metadata	Repeats for as many resource entries defined in sections.
...	Resource contents	All data offsets are relative to this.

Database Header

All known firmware versions ensure a database version of 3.

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u32	Version
0x4	u32	Header length
0x8	u32	Section count

Section Metadata

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u32	Section type.
0x4	u32	Amount of resource entries this section contains
0x8	u32	Whether resource IDs jump around, or increase by one.
0xc	u32	Offset to where this section's resource metadata array begins, relative to the file's start (0x0).

Resource Metadata

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u32	ID of this resource
0x4	u32	Offset to this resource's data, relative to file contents (proceeding resource metadata entries)
0x8	u32	Resource size

Section types

This section should not be considered exhaustive, as its information is largely focused on the 5th generation iPod nano. Some descriptions may be wrong - please feel free to create a pull request and expand or elaborate on section types!

Some section types have contents which represent an array of elements within. In these situations, the first two bytes (a uint16_t) represent the amount of elements within.

Natively, section types are stored in little-endian format. The names of sections are presented in big-endian for readability (i.e. BMap is paMB in firmware).

Name	Magic	Description
AALI	0x41414c49
ACST	0x41435354	Possibly "animation controller string", as contents have names similar to TPhotosAppCntlr.
AEVT	0x41455654
ANIM	0x414e494d
BMap	0x70614d42	Bitmap imagery, commonly found in SilverImagesDB.LE.bin.
CEVT	0x43455654
CLov	0x434c6f76
COLR	0x434f4c52	Defines colors used in UI elements.
CLKH	0x434c4b48	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
CSov	0x43536f76
CWBM	0x4357424d	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
DECO	0x4445434f	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
EEEE	0x45454545
FONT	0x464f4e54
ITEM	0x4954454d
LDTm	0x4c44546d	Referenced as TLocaleDateTimeResource within firmware.
MASt	0x4d415374
PVCD	0x50564344	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
PVCL	0x5056434c	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
PVCR	0x50564352	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
SANI	0x53414e49
SCRN	0x5343524e
SCRT	0x53435254
SCST	0x53435354	Possibly "Silver/UI controller string", as contents match C++ class names (like TTrainer_Cntlr_ConfirmationAlert).
SEVT	0x53455654
SLst	0x534c7374
SORC	0x534f5243
SRVL	0x5352564c
SStr	0x53537472
SUse	0x53557365
StBM	0x5374424d	Bitmap images for use within the status bar.
Str	0x53747220	Strings used within various UI components. Translations can be found within SilverDB.xx_XX.LE.bin.
StrT	0x53747254	Base descriptions of view text (i.e. PhotosSettingsSlideshowMusic_Screen_Nested_Default or PhotosGL_Camera_Delete_All_Confirmation_Alt)
T10N	0x5431304e
TEVT	0x54455654
TLIP	0x544c4950
TLOP	0x544c4f50
TMLT	0x544d4c54
TMap	0x544d6170	Seen within an iPod nano 7G's internal ROM.
TVCL	0x5456434c	Table view cell?
TVCS	0x54564353	Table view cell "from Silver"?
TrIN	0x5472494e
TrIO	0x5472494f
TrOO	0x54724f4f
TrOU	0x54724f55
VCvs	0x56437673
VLyt	0x564c7974
VSlt	0x56536c74
View	0x56696577

TODO: What's StSt, and how is it utilized? It's referenced in a few areas, yet seemingly not present.