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About-ROS-Interfaces.rst

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ROS Interfaces

1. Background

ROS applications typically communicate through interfaces of one of two types: messages and services. ROS uses a simplified description language to describe these interfaces. This description makes it easy for ROS tools to automatically generate source code for the interface type in several target languages.

In this document we will describe the supported types and how to create your own msg/srv files.

2. Message Description Specification

Messages description are defined in .msg files in the msg/ directory of a ROS package. .msg files are composed of two parts: fields and constants.

2.1 Fields

Each field consists of a type and a name, separated by a space, i.e:

fieldtype1 fieldname1
fieldtype2 fieldname2
fieldtype3 fieldname3

For example:

int32 my_int
string my_string

2.1.1 Field Types

Field types can be:

  • a built-in-type
  • names of Message descriptions defined on their own, such as "geometry_msgs/PoseStamped"

Built-in-types currently supported:

Type name C++ Python DDS type
bool bool builtins.bool boolean
byte uint8_t builtins.bytes* octet
char char builtins.str* char
float32 float builtins.float* float
float64 double builtins.float* double
int8 int8_t builtins.int* octet
uint8 uint8_t builtins.int* octet
int16 int16_t builtins.int* short
uint16 uint16_t builtins.int* unsigned short
int32 int32_t builtins.int* long
uint32 uint32_t builtins.int* unsigned long
int64 int64_t builtins.int* long long
uint64 uint64_t builtins.int* unsigned long long
string std::string builtins.str string

Every built-in-type can be used to define arrays:

Type name C++ Python DDS type
static array std::array<T, N> builtins.list* T[N]
unbounded dynamic array std::vector builtins.list sequence
bounded dynamic array custom_class<T, N> builtins.list* sequence<T, N>
bounded string std::string builtins.str* string

All types that are more permissive than their ROS definition enforce the ROS constraints in range and length by software

Example of message definition using arrays and bounded types:

int32[] unbounded_integer_array
int32[5] five_integers_array
int32[<=5] up_to_five_integers_array

string string_of_unbounded_size
string<=10 up_to_ten_characters_string

string[<=5] up_to_five_unbounded_strings
string<=10[] unbounded_array_of_string_up_to_ten_characters each
string<=10[<=5] up_to_five_strings_up_to_ten_characters_each

2.1.2 Field Names

Field names must be lowercase alphanumeric characters with underscores for separating words. They must start with an alphabetic character, they must not end with an underscore and never have two consecutive underscores.

2.1.3 Field Default Value

Default values can be set to any field in the message type. Currently default values are not supported for string arrays and complex types (i.e. types not present in the built-in-types table above, that applies to all nested messages)

Defining a default value is done by adding a third element to the field definition line, i.e:

fieldtype fieldname fielddefaultvalue

For example:

uint8 x 42
int16 y -2000
string full_name "John Doe"
int32[] samples [-200, -100, 0, 100, 200]

Note:

  • string values must be defined in single ' or double quotes "
  • currently string values are not escaped

2.2 Constants

Each constant definition is like a field description with a default value, except that this value can never be changed programatically. This value assignment is indicated by use of an equal '=' sign, e.g.

constanttype CONSTANTNAME=constantvalue

For example:

int32 X=123
int32 Y=-123
string FOO="foo"
string EXAMPLE='bar'

Note: Constants names have to be UPPERCASE

3. Service Description Specification

Services description are defined in .srv files in the srv/ directory of a ROS package.

A service description file consists of a request and a response msg type, separated by '---'. Any two .msg files concatenated together with a '---' are a legal service description.

Here is a very simple example of a service that takes in a string and returns a string:

string str
---
string str

We can of course get much more complicated (if you want to refer to a message from the same package you must not mention the package name):

#request constants
int8 FOO=1
int8 BAR=2
#request fields
int8 foobar
another_pkg/AnotherMessage msg
---
#response constants
uint32 SECRET=123456
#response fields
another_pkg/YetAnotherMessage val
CustomMessageDefinedInThisPackage value
uint32 an_integer

You cannot embed another service inside of a service.