rcl  master
C API providing common ROS client library functionality.
Classes | Typedefs | Functions
publisher.h File Reference
#include "rosidl_generator_c/message_type_support_struct.h"
#include "rcl/macros.h"
#include "rcl/node.h"
#include "rcl/visibility_control.h"
Include dependency graph for publisher.h:
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Classes

struct  rcl_publisher_t
 Structure which encapsulates a ROS Publisher. More...
 
struct  rcl_publisher_options_t
 Options available for a rcl publisher. More...
 

Typedefs

typedef struct rcl_publisher_t rcl_publisher_t
 Structure which encapsulates a ROS Publisher. More...
 
typedef struct rcl_publisher_options_t rcl_publisher_options_t
 Options available for a rcl publisher. More...
 

Functions

rcl_publisher_t rcl_get_zero_initialized_publisher (void)
 Return a rcl_publisher_t struct with members set to NULL. More...
 
rcl_ret_t rcl_publisher_init (rcl_publisher_t *publisher, const rcl_node_t *node, const rosidl_message_type_support_t *type_support, const char *topic_name, const rcl_publisher_options_t *options)
 Initialize a rcl publisher. More...
 
rcl_ret_t rcl_publisher_fini (rcl_publisher_t *publisher, rcl_node_t *node)
 Finalize a rcl_publisher_t. More...
 
rcl_publisher_options_t rcl_publisher_get_default_options (void)
 Return the default publisher options in a rcl_publisher_options_t. More...
 
rcl_ret_t rcl_publish (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher, const void *ros_message)
 Publish a ROS message on a topic using a publisher. More...
 
rcl_ret_t rcl_publish_serialized_message (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher, const rcl_serialized_message_t *serialized_message)
 Publish a serialized message on a topic using a publisher. More...
 
const char * rcl_publisher_get_topic_name (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Get the topic name for the publisher. More...
 
const rcl_publisher_options_trcl_publisher_get_options (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Return the rcl publisher options. More...
 
rmw_publisher_trcl_publisher_get_rmw_handle (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Return the rmw publisher handle. More...
 
rcl_context_trcl_publisher_get_context (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Return the context associated with this publisher. More...
 
bool rcl_publisher_is_valid (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Return true if the publisher is valid, otherwise false. More...
 
bool rcl_publisher_is_valid_except_context (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher)
 Return true if the publisher is valid except the context, otherwise false. More...
 
rmw_ret_t rcl_publisher_get_subscription_count (const rcl_publisher_t *publisher, size_t *subscription_count)
 Get the number of subscriptions matched to a publisher. More...
 

Typedef Documentation

◆ rcl_publisher_t

Structure which encapsulates a ROS Publisher.

◆ rcl_publisher_options_t

Options available for a rcl publisher.

Function Documentation

◆ rcl_get_zero_initialized_publisher()

rcl_publisher_t rcl_get_zero_initialized_publisher ( void  )

Return a rcl_publisher_t struct with members set to NULL.

Should be called to get a null rcl_publisher_t before passing to rcl_publisher_init().

◆ rcl_publisher_init()

rcl_ret_t rcl_publisher_init ( rcl_publisher_t publisher,
const rcl_node_t node,
const rosidl_message_type_support_t *  type_support,
const char *  topic_name,
const rcl_publisher_options_t options 
)

Initialize a rcl publisher.

After calling this function on a rcl_publisher_t, it can be used to publish messages of the given type to the given topic using rcl_publish().

The given rcl_node_t must be valid and the resulting rcl_publisher_t is only valid as long as the given rcl_node_t remains valid.

The rosidl_message_type_support_t is obtained on a per .msg type basis. When the user defines a ROS message, code is generated which provides the required rosidl_message_type_support_t object. This object can be obtained using a language appropriate mechanism.

Todo:
TODO(wjwwood) write these instructions once and link to it instead

For C, a macro can be used (for example std_msgs/String):

#include <rosidl_generator_c/message_type_support_struct.h>
#include <std_msgs/msg/string.h>
const rosidl_message_type_support_t * string_ts =
ROSIDL_GET_MSG_TYPE_SUPPORT(std_msgs, msg, String);

For C++, a template function is used:

#include <rosidl_typesupport_cpp/message_type_support.hpp>
#include <std_msgs/msg/string.hpp>
const rosidl_message_type_support_t * string_ts =
rosidl_typesupport_cpp::get_message_type_support_handle<std_msgs::msg::String>();

The rosidl_message_type_support_t object contains message type specific information used to publish messages.

The topic name must be a c string which follows the topic and service name format rules for unexpanded names, also known as non-fully qualified names:

See also
rcl_expand_topic_name

The options struct allows the user to set the quality of service settings as well as a custom allocator which is used when initializing/finalizing the publisher to allocate space for incidentals, e.g. the topic name string.

Expected usage (for C messages):

#include <rcl/rcl.h>
#include <rosidl_generator_c/message_type_support_struct.h>
#include <std_msgs/msg/string.h>
rcl_ret_t ret = rcl_node_init(&node, "node_name", "/my_namespace", &node_ops);
// ... error handling
const rosidl_message_type_support_t * ts = ROSIDL_GET_MSG_TYPE_SUPPORT(std_msgs, msg, String);
ret = rcl_publisher_init(&publisher, &node, ts, "chatter", &publisher_ops);
// ... error handling, and on shutdown do finalization:
ret = rcl_publisher_fini(&publisher, &node);
// ... error handling for rcl_publisher_fini()
ret = rcl_node_fini(&node);
// ... error handling for rcl_deinitialize_node()

Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory Yes
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in,out]publisherpreallocated publisher structure
[in]nodevalid rcl node handle
[in]type_supporttype support object for the topic's type
[in]topic_namethe name of the topic to publish on
[in]optionspublisher options, including quality of service settings
Returns
RCL_RET_OK if the publisher was initialized successfully, or
RCL_RET_NODE_INVALID if the node is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ALREADY_INIT if the publisher is already initialized, or
RCL_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT if any arguments are invalid, or
RCL_RET_BAD_ALLOC if allocating memory fails, or
RCL_RET_TOPIC_NAME_INVALID if the given topic name is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.

◆ rcl_publisher_fini()

rcl_ret_t rcl_publisher_fini ( rcl_publisher_t publisher,
rcl_node_t node 
)

Finalize a rcl_publisher_t.

After calling, the node will no longer be advertising that it is publishing on this topic (assuming this is the only publisher on this topic).

After calling, calls to rcl_publish will fail when using this publisher. However, the given node handle is still valid.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory Yes
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in,out]publisherhandle to the publisher to be finalized
[in]nodehandle to the node used to create the publisher
Returns
RCL_RET_OK if publisher was finalized successfully, or
RCL_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT if any arguments are invalid, or
RCL_RET_PUBLISHER_INVALID if the publisher is invalid, or
RCL_RET_NODE_INVALID if the node is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.

◆ rcl_publisher_get_default_options()

rcl_publisher_options_t rcl_publisher_get_default_options ( void  )

Return the default publisher options in a rcl_publisher_options_t.

The defaults are:

◆ rcl_publish()

rcl_ret_t rcl_publish ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher,
const void *  ros_message 
)

Publish a ROS message on a topic using a publisher.

It is the job of the caller to ensure that the type of the ros_message parameter and the type associate with the publisher (via the type support) match. Passing a different type to publish produces undefined behavior and cannot be checked by this function and therefore no deliberate error will occur.

Todo:
TODO(wjwwood): The blocking behavior of publish is a still a point of dispute. This section should be updated once the behavior is clearly defined. See: https://github.com/ros2/ros2/issues/255

Calling rcl_publish() is a potentially blocking call. When called rcl_publish() will immediately do any publishing related work, including, but not limited to, converting the message into a different type, serializing the message, collecting publish statistics, etc. The last thing it will do is call the underlying middleware's publish function which may or may not block based on the quality of service settings given via the publisher options in rcl_publisher_init(). For example, if the reliability is set to reliable, then a publish may block until space in the publish queue is available, but if the reliability is set to best effort then it should not block.

The ROS message given by the ros_message void pointer is always owned by the calling code, but should remain constant during publish.

This function is thread safe so long as access to both the publisher and the ros_message is synchronized. That means that calling rcl_publish() from multiple threads is allowed, but calling rcl_publish() at the same time as non-thread safe publisher functions is not, e.g. calling rcl_publish() and rcl_publisher_fini() concurrently is not allowed. Before calling rcl_publish() the message can change and after calling rcl_publish() the message can change, but it cannot be changed during the publish call. The same ros_message, however, can be passed to multiple calls of rcl_publish() simultaneously, even if the publishers differ. The ros_message is unmodified by rcl_publish().


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe Yes [1]
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes

[1] for unique pairs of publishers and messages, see above for more

Parameters
[in]publisherhandle to the publisher which will do the publishing
[in]ros_messagetype-erased pointer to the ROS message
Returns
RCL_RET_OK if the message was published successfully, or
RCL_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT if any arguments are invalid, or
RCL_RET_PUBLISHER_INVALID if the publisher is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.

◆ rcl_publish_serialized_message()

rcl_ret_t rcl_publish_serialized_message ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher,
const rcl_serialized_message_t serialized_message 
)

Publish a serialized message on a topic using a publisher.

It is the job of the caller to ensure that the type of the serialized message parameter and the type associate with the publisher (via the type support) match. Even though this call to publish takes an already serialized serialized message, the publisher has to register its type as a ROS known message type. Passing a serialized message from a different type leads to undefined behavior on the subscriber side. The publish call might be able to send any abitrary serialized message, it is however not garantueed that the subscriber side successfully deserializes this byte stream.

Apart from this, the publish_serialized function has the same behavior as rcl_publish expect that no serialization step is done.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe Yes [1]
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes

[1] for unique pairs of publishers and messages, see above for more

Parameters
[in]publisherhandle to the publisher which will do the publishing
[in]serialized_messagepointer to the already serialized message in raw form
Returns
RCL_RET_OK if the message was published successfully, or
RCL_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT if any arguments are invalid, or
RCL_RET_PUBLISHER_INVALID if the publisher is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.

◆ rcl_publisher_get_topic_name()

const char* rcl_publisher_get_topic_name ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Get the topic name for the publisher.

This function returns the publisher's internal topic name string. This function can fail, and therefore return NULL, if the:

  • publisher is NULL
  • publisher is invalid (never called init, called fini, or invalid node)

The returned string is only valid as long as the rcl_publisher_t is valid. The value of the string may change if the topic name changes, and therefore copying the string is recommended if this is a concern.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the publisher
Returns
name string if successful, otherwise NULL

◆ rcl_publisher_get_options()

const rcl_publisher_options_t* rcl_publisher_get_options ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Return the rcl publisher options.

This function returns the publisher's internal options struct. This function can fail, and therefore return NULL, if the:

  • publisher is NULL
  • publisher is invalid (never called init, called fini, or invalid node)

The returned struct is only valid as long as the rcl_publisher_t is valid. The values in the struct may change if the options of the publisher change, and therefore copying the struct is recommended if this is a concern.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the publisher
Returns
options struct if successful, otherwise NULL

◆ rcl_publisher_get_rmw_handle()

rmw_publisher_t* rcl_publisher_get_rmw_handle ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Return the rmw publisher handle.

The handle returned is a pointer to the internally held rmw handle. This function can fail, and therefore return NULL, if the:

  • publisher is NULL
  • publisher is invalid (never called init, called fini, or invalid node)

The returned handle is made invalid if the publisher is finalized or if rcl_shutdown() is called. The returned handle is not guaranteed to be valid for the life time of the publisher as it may be finalized and recreated itself. Therefore it is recommended to get the handle from the publisher using this function each time it is needed and avoid use of the handle concurrently with functions that might change it.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the rcl publisher
Returns
rmw publisher handle if successful, otherwise NULL

◆ rcl_publisher_get_context()

rcl_context_t* rcl_publisher_get_context ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Return the context associated with this publisher.

This function can fail, and therefore return NULL, if the:

  • publisher is NULL
  • publisher is invalid (never called init, called fini, etc.)

The returned context is made invalid if the publisher is finalized or if rcl_shutdown() is called. Therefore it is recommended to get the handle from the publisher using this function each time it is needed and avoid use of the handle concurrently with functions that might change it.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the rcl publisher
Returns
context if successful, otherwise NULL

◆ rcl_publisher_is_valid()

bool rcl_publisher_is_valid ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Return true if the publisher is valid, otherwise false.

The bool returned is false if publisher is invalid. The bool returned is true otherwise. In the case where false is to be returned, an error message is set. This function cannot fail.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe No
Uses Atomics No
Lock-Free Yes
Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the rcl publisher
Returns
true if publisher is valid, otherwise false

◆ rcl_publisher_is_valid_except_context()

bool rcl_publisher_is_valid_except_context ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher)

Return true if the publisher is valid except the context, otherwise false.

This is used in clean up functions that need to access the publisher, but do not need use any functions with the context.

It is identical to rcl_publisher_is_valid except it ignores the state of the context associated with the publisher.

See also
rcl_publisher_is_valid()

◆ rcl_publisher_get_subscription_count()

rmw_ret_t rcl_publisher_get_subscription_count ( const rcl_publisher_t publisher,
size_t *  subscription_count 
)

Get the number of subscriptions matched to a publisher.

Used to get the internal count of subscriptions matched to a publisher.


Attribute Adherence
Allocates Memory No
Thread-Safe Yes
Uses Atomics Maybe [1]
Lock-Free Maybe [1]

[1] only if the underlying rmw doesn't make use of this feature

Parameters
[in]publisherpointer to the rcl publisher
[out]subscription_countnumber of matched subscriptions
Returns
RCL_RET_OK if the count was retrieved, or
RCL_RET_INVALID_ARGUMENT if any arguments are invalid, or
RCL_RET_SUBSCRIPTION_INVALID if the subscription is invalid, or
RCL_RET_ERROR if an unspecified error occurs.