SmartDashboard not connecting to robot.

[Stuart Hunt]

Our roboRIO is working fine, and we're able to wirelessly deploy Java code and drive it around, but the SmartDashboard won't connect to the robot. When we add a connection indicator, it just stays red. I tried un-installing the SmartDashboard and then reinstalling it by following the online instructions. The latest version I could find was 1.05, but it says it was created in 2013... After reinstalling it, somehow it did not prompt me for my team number, it remembered from last time. In addition, the preferences menu doesn't have an option that the instructions say it should have. It has no "use mDNS" checkbox. This makes me think that the preferences file didn't get deleted when I uninstalled it.
I also tied installing the SmartDashboard 2.0, but that didn't work either. None of the SmartDashboard code values would appear.
We were able to successfully use the SmartDashboard last year. Does anyone know what we can do to fix this?

[Joe Ross]

the latest versions of both SmartDashboard and sfx (SmartDashboard 2.0) are installed automatically by the plugins.

The location is referenced here: http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/26401/l/255407-getting-started-with-the-smartdashboard. SmartDashboard can also be launched from the wpilib menu in eclipse (sfx launching is currently broken using the wpilib menu).

[Ben Wolsieffer]

Where is the SmartDashboard.jar located? The new one should be located in "<USER_DIR>/wpilib/tools".

[Stuart Hunt]

That instructional page says to download the SmartDashboard here: http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/frs/do/listReleases/projects.smartdashboard/frs.installer
The latest version available there is from 2013.

We deleted every copy of the SmartDashboard we had in an attempt to reinstall it from scratch using that download page.

[Joe Ross]

That instructional page says to download the SmartDashboard here: http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/frs/do/listReleases/projects.smartdashboard/frs.installer
The latest version available there is from 2013.

We deleted every copy of the SmartDashboard we had in an attempt to reinstall it from scratch using that download page.

What page are you looking at? I think you're looking at the 2014 page, not the 2015 page I linked above.

[Ben Wolsieffer]

You shouldn't need to install anything separately. For me, it was installed when I installed the Eclipse plugins.

[Stuart Hunt]

I already have the eclipse plugins. Should I reinstall those?

The link you put above says this: "download the latest installer package from this page (http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/frs/do/listReleases/projects.smartdashboard/frs.installer)"

[Ben Wolsieffer]

I already have the eclipse plugins. Should I reinstall those?

The link you put above says this: "download the latest installer package from this page (http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/frs/do/listReleases/projects.smartdashboard/frs.installer)"

If you deleted the SmartDashboard.jar from the wpilib/tools folder, then I would reinstall the plugins.

You shouldn't download anything from the FIRSTForge site because everything on there is old now. I think the link on the Screensteps might be a mistake.

[Joe Ross]

I already have the eclipse plugins. Should I reinstall those?

Are you saying you deleted the version of SmartDashboard that was installed with the plugins while you were deleting SmartDashboard versions? If not, then it should not be necessary.

The link you put above says this: "download the latest installer package from this page (http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/frs/do/listReleases/projects.smartdashboard/frs.installer)"

Sorry, you're right. Ignore that sentence and follow the rest of the instructions. It tells of at least two ways to run SmartDashboard that was installed with the plugins. A third is to use the WPILib menu in eclipse.

[Stuart Hunt]

Yeah, it looks like we deleted the SmartDashboard version that came with the plugins. I'll try reinstalling the plugins, and I'll let you know if it doesn't work.
Thanks!

[fsilberberg]

Yeah, it looks like we deleted the SmartDashboard version that came with the plugins. I'll try reinstalling the plugins, and I'll let you know if it doesn't work.
Thanks!
The plugins check for the existence of the files that should be there on startup and restore anything missing, you should be able to just restart eclipse to get it back. I just tested removing the SmartDashboard jar and it came back on restart.

[BradAMiller]

You need to stop eclipse, delete the entire WPILib folder from your user home directory, and rerun eclipse. It will notice that the folder is missing and recreate it along with the tools directory. Inside there is SmartDashboard, sfx, and the other tools. Those will always be up to date (at least as up to date as the plugins) you are running.

[Stuart Hunt]

Well the good news is that now the SmartDashboard works. I deleted the wpilib folder and it was replaced with the latest SmartDashboard.jar. The sfx also works too.
The bad news is that now we can no longer deploy our code... I have no clue why this spontaneously doesn't work.
Buildfile: C:\Users\Developer\Dropbox\1Robotics\FRC2015\FRC20 15\build.xml

BUILD FAILED
C:\Users\Developer\Dropbox\1Robotics\FRC2015\FRC20 15\build.xml:28: Cannot find C:\Users\Developer\Dropbox\1Robotics\FRC2015\FRC20 15\${wpilib.ant.dir}\build.xml imported from C:\Users\Developer\Dropbox\1Robotics\FRC2015\FRC20 15\build.xml

Total time: 2 seconds

[Ben Wolsieffer]

Try setting the team number or tools version in the WPILib Preferences menu. This fixed the problem for us.

[Stuart Hunt]

Thanks, everything works now!
It had lost our team number.

[jtrv]

Might as well highjack this instead of making a new thread for a tiny question and its related to SmartDashboard.

If I have a display() method that just puts values on the Dashboard, ex:

public void display(){
SmartDashboard.putNumber("FrontLeft PWM:", Robot.eboard.frontLeftSlot);
SmartDashboard.putNumber("BackLeft PWM:", Robot.eboard.backLeftSlot);
SmartDashboard.putNumber("FrontRight PWM:", Robot.eboard.frontRightSlot);
SmartDashboard.putNumber("BackRight PWM:", Robot.eboard.backLeftSlot);
}

Do I need to constantly call that method throughout teleopPeriodic()? Or do I only need to call it once during teleopInit()? In other words, do I have to update Dashboard manually, or will it update automatically as time goes on?

ps i understand the pwm slots sure well aren't going to change its just an example of a display method that is only temporary...

[fsilberberg]

Based on your code there, where you're putting a number, you'll need to call that regularly. If you put smarter things to the dashboard such as Commands, they update their status on their own.

[jtrv]

what would an example of a command be?

if i put SmartDashboard.putNumber(encoder1.get()); will it auto update or is that a command?

[fsilberberg]

Commands are part of command-based programming, which is one of the WPILib-supported programming paradigms. See in the ScreenSteps here: http://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/13809/l/241892-what-is-command-based-programming.

[jtrv]

Oh, right. I always forget about Command based :cool:

thanks for your help ^^