usage for rviz_common::VisualizationManager function

[JaehyunShim]

Hi,

There has been a change in the input arguments for the rviz_common::VisualizationManager function (rviz::VisualizationManager in ROS1) and now the following three have to be passed over to the function when called.

ros_integration::RosNodeAbstractionIface::WeakPtr
rclcpp::Clock::SharedPtr
WindowManagerInterface* 

so I did as follows.

(... for rviz_render_panel_ )
auto rviz_ros_node = std::make_shared<rviz_common::ros_integration::RosNodeAbstraction>("rviz");
rviz_common::WindowManagerInterface * wm;
auto clock = rviz_ros_node->get_raw_node()->get_clock();
rviz_manager_ = new rviz_common::VisualizationManager(rviz_render_panel_, rviz_ros_node, wm, clock);

but it fails when

rviz_render_panel_->initialize(rviz_manager_);
rviz_manager_->initialize();

The relevant tutorial for that function hasn't been written for ROS2 yet. Any advice about what to pass over to the function when using it?

Thanks in advance,
Jaehyun

[mjeronimo]

@JaehyunShim I took a look for similar code in rviz and found this: https://github.com/ros2/rviz/blob/ros2/rviz_common/src/rviz_common/visualization_frame.cpp#L325-L350

I suggest that you review that code for differences. Otherwise, you can submit a test case that can be used to reproduce the issue.

[JaehyunShim]

@mjeronimo Thank you for your comment.

I copypasted the code in this guy's comment and tested it but it didn't work. The program dies when running the function (setEnable) I mentioned in this comment.

If visualization_manager is going to be added to Rviz2 for the next distro anyway (as you can see it here) and there are already use cases of the feature (to be migrated to ROS2) out there, I think verifying that it works without issues this time is not a bad idea.

Thank you for your help in advance!
Jaehyun

[JaehyunShim]

@mjeronimo ping

[mjeronimo]

@JaehyunShim I've used the code as a starting point and have reproduced the failure (I'm getting a double free error). I need some time to debug to see if I can get to the root cause. Output should be a running example.

[JaehyunShim]

@mjeronimo Thanks! I will wait for your next comment then

[JaehyunShim]

@mjeronimo Kind reminder~.

Also, I would like to ask if your team can reconsider blooming in foxy the latest version of this repository which is with the visualization_frame.hpp and visualization_manager.hpp files. It takes quite a lot of time to compile the entire rviz every build. I believe the Moveit working group will also need it for their setup assistant. If you release it in the next distro, we have to wait for not only rviz, but also other dependencies, and considering G distro is not an LTS version, I am worried many distributors might even skip the non-LTS version.

[mjeronimo]

@JaehyunShim Here's the code I've been working on: https://github.com/mjeronimo/rviz_embed_test. I haven't been able to get it working yet and could use some help debugging what's going on.

Regarding releasing the latest code for Foxy: we should be able to do that. @jacobperron any issues with this?

[MartiBolet]

Hey @JaehyunShim @mjeronimo ,
I managed to get a working implementation of a custom Qt5 Application with a RenderPanel. I had to create a function in the source code of rviz2 and maybe it's not the best option but it works. I have the solution in this repo. Any feedback is apreciated.

[JaehyunShim]

@MartiBolet Awesome! I will test it and let you know if it works now. It will be even more helpful if you send a pull request to https://github.com/ros-visualization/visualization_tutorials/tree/ros2/librviz_tutorial from your repo, then other users in the community can also see and use your code.

[JaehyunShim]

@MartiBolet

OK, so I read your code and it seems what you did is

1. instantiate a frame (which is a QMainWindow actually)
2. get the render panel from that frame
3. add that render panel to your QMainWindow

but my question here is about how to make a frame after initializing and using a manager & renderpanel.

[MartiBolet]

Hey @JaehyunShim ,
Yes that's what it does. Since the error is the instantiation of the VisualizationManager, when there is a window event and tries to resize it, from this comment, I tried to instantiate the VisualizationManager in the same way the rviz2 app does it. However, I couldn't get it work, so the way I found was retrieving the RenderPanel from the VisualizationFrame as a last resort, so yes, I didn't solve that problem i just found a workaround to make a functional version.

[JaehyunShim]

@MartiBolet Yeah, I will wait for help from @mjeronimo a bit more. Thanks very much though!

[mjeronimo]

@MartiBolet Thanks for letting us know about your work! I'll have a look at the repo you've provided.