Smartdashboard connection error

[Nathan Powell]

I have downloaded the SmartDashboard for the Driver Station. When the DS is set to C++, the SmartDashboard opens up automatically as normal. However, even when the DS has connection to the robot, the SmartDashboard does not receive the connection. I have looked at the guides on the FIRST website, but have failed to find an answer. Can anyone offer assistance?

[BradAMiller]

Can you confirm that the team number is set correctly in the SmartDashboard preferences? You can find the preferences on the File menu, then click Preferences.

Brad

[Nathan Powell]

It's funny you mention that--I discovered that we did put the team number in wrong before making this thread. But yes, the team number is correct. That allowed the SD to come up automatically when the DS was set on "C++".

[BradAMiller]

So when you say that the SmartDashboard doesn't "receive the connection", what exactly do you mean? Are you sending values but they aren't showing up?

Maybe you could try running it manually from a command line to see if there are any exceptions or error messages coming out of the SmartDashboard. Use cmd.exe in windows and type the command:

java -jar smartdashboard.jar

will run it. Let us know what you see.

Brad

[Nathan Powell]

Forgive me, I was not clear. I meant by "not receiving the connection" that the connection indicator on the SD is red even when the DS is connected the the robot. No widgets appear on the screen (we currently have one potentiometer, a victor, a talon, and a gearbox attached). And when I put your command in the cmd.exe, it responded:

Error: Unable to access jarfile smartdashboard.jar

Perhaps I did not install it correctly, and left out some files?

[Nathan Powell]

I tried reinstalling the driver station, but with no success. The smartdashboard comes up when i bring up the DS, but it does not receive any connection from the cRIO. Has anyone else found this problem, or is it an isolated case?

[virtuald]

The SD works fine for me. Are you actually sending values to the SD? Nothing will show up unless you do... *including* the connection, as it isn't initialized by default.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Nathan Powell

And when I put your command in the cmd.exe, it responded:

Error: Unable to access jarfile smartdashboard.jar

You need to navigate to the directory where the smartdashboard.jar is located before running it.

[Nathan Powell]

Check that--the SD just connected to the robot. the Connection indicator is green now. I used a code I found (and modified slightly) from a 2011 thread on the SmartDashboard.

double value = 42.85
SmartDashboard::init();
SmartDashboard:PutNumber("Stuff!", value)

I guess the code, not the SmartDashboard itself, was the issue. Huh. I ws sure we checked it before uploading...ah well. Live and learn. Thanks to everyone who offered their advice!