Wireshark · Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Re-use of header fields

[Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Benjamin M Stocks wrote:

> I have a question on the mechanics of the header fields in Wireshark. I 
> am developing a dissector for a protocol where a specific data format 
> may repeat from 1 -> N times within the same payload. Can I reuse the 
> same header field identifier, registered with 
> proto_register_field_array,  for each of the individual data blocks
> within the same payload?

Yes.  There is nothing whatsoever that requires that only one instance 
of a particular registered field appear in a given protocol tree, and 
there are plenty of dissectors that put multiple instances of a field in 
a protocol tree if the packet has more than one of them.