minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time #145

codebot · 2016-12-01T22:59:38Z

No description provided.

wjwwood · 2016-12-08T00:54:58Z

rclcpp/minimal_composition/compose_at_run_time.cpp

+  rclcpp::executors::SingleThreadedExecutor exec;
+  std::vector<std::shared_ptr<rclcpp::Node>> nodes;  // save shared pointers !
+  std::vector<std::string> lib_names;
+  char * ament_prefix_path = getenv("AMENT_PREFIX_PATH");


This isn't portable to Windows I think. Also, in general this code to iterate over the AMENT_PREFIX_PATH and stuff should be in a function somewhere and not something we expect the user to copy-paste and modify.

@dirk-thomas is this handle in part or completely by the ament_index_cpp package?

I am not sure what this code is supposed to do. It seems to take AMENT_PREFIX_PATH (which contains a list of paths) and concat it with "/lib/...". That is not only a platform specific issue but doesn't even work conceptionally on Linux.

lol come on man, it works!

ok Deanna has enlightened me as to why this is not the best idea I've ever had. We'll fix this up.

@codebot Btw. you should really compile the code with --isolated locally which you seem to be not doing.

In the very specific case on Linux where everything is built from source in the same incantation of "ament build", the result is a setup.bash file which sets AMENT_PREFIX_PATH to a single path, and you can just jam on /lib/ at the end and start grabbing libraries. It works! It's super simple! But alas, I agree, it's fragile, not cross-platform, and it's not the best idea to recommend as a usage pattern 😢

I think the idea is to iterate (even if it's not doing it here) over the AMENT_PREFIX_PATH and search for the library in question. I think ament_index_cpp should at least be able to get the AMENT_PREFIX_PATH or perhaps metadata about the libraries such that iterating over the APP is not necessary.

The complete logic is currently only implement in the existing demo and not exposed through a header: https://github.com/ros2/demos/blob/master/composition/src/api_composition.cpp

wjwwood · 2016-12-09T23:18:56Z

rclcpp/minimal_composition/publisher_node.cpp

+{
+  publisher_ = create_publisher<std_msgs::msg::String>("topic");
+  timer_ = create_wall_timer(
+    500_ms, std::bind(&PublisherNode::on_timer, this));


This line is under 100 characters without wrapping it.

my non-sentient editor operates in an 80-character terminal 😃

wjwwood · 2016-12-09T23:20:21Z

rclcpp/minimal_composition/subscriber_node.cpp

+    "topic",
+    [](std_msgs::msg::String::UniquePtr msg) {
+    printf("Subscriber: [%s]\n", msg->data.c_str());
+  });


I'd run this through uncrustify, because I would have formatted it as:

SubscriberNode::SubscriberNode() : Node("subscriber_node") { subscription_ = create_subscription<std_msgs::msg::String>( "topic", [](std_msgs::msg::String::UniquePtr msg) { printf("Subscriber: [%s]\n", msg->data.c_str()); }); }

I was surprised as well; when I first wrote it, I used the same indentation as you suggested. But ament_uncrustify seems to prefer the syntax included in this branch at the moment; it flags the indentation as being incorrect when I add that extra indent for the printf()

I hate uncrustify sometimes because of how it reacts to lambda's.

wjwwood · 2016-12-09T23:23:05Z

rclcpp/minimal_composition/visibility.h

+    #define VISIBILITY_LOCAL
+  #endif
+
+  #define VISIBILITY_PUBLIC_TYPE


These macros should really use the package's name in the macro name, i.e. MINIMAL_COMPOSITION_PUBLIC instead of VISIBILITY_PUBLIC. They need to be unique to the package (actually even to the shared library) in which they are used to avoid collisions when using headers from other packages and libraries. This is the same reason that we cannot provide a generic, reusable "visibility control" header for people to use.

yeah. the bummer is that the macros get long, but I understand the point.

What if we provide a package called "visibility" or something concise that provides this header, and namespaces it appropriately? Or if we put a header like this into rclcpp so that the macros are concise like RCLCPP_PUBLIC or something? Then packages wouldn't have to basically copy this file and change the prefixes.

As I tried to explain these macros need to be unique to the library they are used in and therefore you cannot have a single generic header for this.

You could have a header that only provides the definition for "import" (a.k.a. on Windows dllimport) and "export" (a.k.a. on Windows dllexport), but not the switching define "public".

I don't understand why they need to be unique to the library. To the naive user (me), it looks just like a few ifdefs and defines. Any compilation unit can include them and they will expand accordingly, or so it would seem (?).

The cucial function of these macros is determined by the definition of VISIBILITY_DLL. It is only set when you build your package. And not set when other packages use your headers. That is the basic reason why the macros need to be package specific.

You can search on stackoverflow for very lengthy descriptions of this with lots of details.

Thank you for the feedback. I have learned much about this. To summarize for anybody driving by in the future: the reason why every library has to have its own prefix for the visibility flags is for the (potentially common) case where you want to write a shared library that imports symbols from another shared library. If they are using the same visibility symbols, it will be impossible for the compiler/linker to export a symbol from one library while importing that same symbol to the other library. This typically only happens on Windows, since unix-like OS'es commonly export all symbols as public.

Given all this complexity, I'm going to remove compose_at_run_time.cpp from this example package, since it's not simple and will most likely be implemented by a truly generic solution in the future.

Thanks everyone! Cheers 🎉

dhood · 2016-12-09T23:41:40Z

rclcpp/minimal_composition/compose_at_run_time.cpp

+  rclcpp::executors::SingleThreadedExecutor exec;
+  std::vector<std::shared_ptr<rclcpp::Node>> nodes;  // save shared pointers !
+  std::vector<std::string> lib_names;
+  char * ament_prefix_path = getenv("AMENT_PREFIX_PATH");


the ament_prefix_path might contain multiple paths even if you have built everything at once, but you sourced a local_setup.bash (or use an overlay workspace, etc).
You can use a method from ament_index_cpp to work with resource files without knowing the install paths. (there's more info about the ament resource index here but it's a bit hard to find). Maybe check ros2/demos#84 for examples on registering/accessing the appropriate markers for this example

codebot · 2016-12-10T00:47:24Z

ok, version 0.0.2 of this package has now been submitted. Thanks everybody for the patience 😃

wjwwood · 2016-12-16T00:59:25Z

Since we're going to hold off on #149, I'd suggest merging this.

codebot · 2016-12-16T02:25:28Z

🎉

minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time

8e81da4

codebot added in progress Actively being worked on (Kanban column) in review Waiting for review (Kanban column) and removed in progress Actively being worked on (Kanban column) labels Dec 1, 2016

mikaelarguedas assigned codebot Dec 5, 2016

wjwwood reviewed Dec 9, 2016

View reviewed changes

dhood reviewed Dec 9, 2016

View reviewed changes

super huge mega fix to basically everything in this package

8d7e06c

tfoote added in progress Actively being worked on (Kanban column) in review Waiting for review (Kanban column) and removed in review Waiting for review (Kanban column) in progress Actively being worked on (Kanban column) labels Dec 13, 2016

wjwwood approved these changes Dec 16, 2016

View reviewed changes

codebot merged commit 0e438da into master Dec 16, 2016

codebot removed the in review Waiting for review (Kanban column) label Dec 16, 2016

This was referenced Dec 16, 2016

minimalist example of creating a library + node #142

Closed

Create ultra minimalist set of examples #129

Closed

mikaelarguedas deleted the minimal_composition_example branch September 29, 2017 19:03

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time #145

minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time #145

codebot commented Dec 1, 2016

wjwwood Dec 8, 2016

dirk-thomas Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

dirk-thomas Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

dirk-thomas Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

wjwwood Dec 9, 2016

codebot Dec 9, 2016

dirk-thomas Dec 10, 2016 •

edited

codebot Dec 10, 2016

dhood Dec 9, 2016

codebot commented Dec 10, 2016

wjwwood commented Dec 16, 2016

codebot commented Dec 16, 2016

minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time #145

minimal example of how to compose nodes at compile or run time #145

Conversation

codebot commented Dec 1, 2016

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

dirk-thomas Dec 10, 2016 • edited

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

codebot commented Dec 10, 2016

wjwwood commented Dec 16, 2016

codebot commented Dec 16, 2016

dirk-thomas Dec 10, 2016 •

edited