GradleRIO and third-party libraries

[19lmyers]

Starting with the 2017 update to WPILib, classes such as CANTalon are no longer provided as a part of the library. In addition, the only way I've found to restore functionality such as CANTalon usage is to install a CTR library via a EXE installer. I am reasonably confident that this method is not directly compatible with GradleRIO.

How could I use these third-party libraries with GradleRIO?

[JaciBrunning]

By taking a quick look at the CTRE libraries, they are available in two forms, as an exe installer, and as a zip archive. It is currently possible to use both of these to install 3rd party libs to GradleRIO. Until I push an update out which will make this more streamlined, you can use the following methods to link the 3rd party libs.

On the CTRE Tools Website, choose either the CTRE Toolsuite Installer, or the CTRE Toolsuite (no installer) package. Either will do, but for now I would recommend the installer one.

Add the following line to your build.gradle's dependencies { } block.

compile fileTree(dir: "<tooldir>", include: '**/*.jar')

Depending on which binary you downloaded, you will substitute <tooldir> with a different string.

If you downloaded the installer, replace <tooldir> with ${new File(System.getProperty("user.home"), "wpilib/user/java/lib").absolutePath}

If you downloaded the non-installer package, replace <tooldir> with <extraction_path>/java/lib, where <extraction_path> is where you extracted the zip archive to.

This will compile against the CTRE Jar for your robot program. If you're using stock-standard GradleRIO, this will build into your final .jar. If you're using Toast, it will require a little bit of extra setup to include it in your binary (since toast doesn't build fat jars). I will discuss this in a followup comment.

The problem now is that CTRE actually doesn't link their .so file (their native code for the roborio) into the .jar, so you'll have to install that, too. Add the following lines to the bottom of your build.gradle, it's best if you don't ask how this part works. Substitute <tooldir> with whatever you substituted it with before.

fileTree(dir: "<tooldir>", include: '**/*.so').each { File f ->
    gradlerio.deployers += [ to: "/usr/local/frc/lib/${f.name}.jar", from: f.file ]
}

[JaciBrunning]

If you ARE using TOAST, you will need to follow all the steps above with some extra setup:
In your dependencies {} block, add the following line, substituting <tooldir> for whatever you substituted it with above.

toastLibrary fileTree(dir: "<tooldir>", include: '**/*.jar')

[JaciBrunning]

As a guide, your build.gradle should look a little something like this

[JaciBrunning]

Closed for #17