Smart Dashboard - What do you think?

[Radical Pi]

I haven't had a chance to try this out yet (our cRIO should have gotten here yesterday ) but it looks like it'll be really useful! So much simpler than re-compiling a LV program every time the dashboard data changes.

Have you thought at all about implementing a dashboard-robot system for communication? I'd love being able to call SmartDashboard.update(pid_i) and have a edit box appear on the screen that lets me edit the value on the robot. If not, I may brush up on my java

[byteit101]

Originally Posted by Radical Pi

I'd love being able to call SmartDashboard.update(pid_i) and have a edit box appear on the screen that lets me edit the value on the robot.

You can sort of do this with ZomB ( you have to a tad more though), if you have AllTCP set, you can send stuff back to the robot via all the controls that support it (All that are obvious, drag the value meter for example)

[sircedric4]

We got it installed and working this evening, and I am already in love. Simple to add variables and when I heard the camera will show up too it was over. Bye bye Labview finally.

I haven't figured out the save mechanism yet. I rearranged the variables the way I liked them and saved them, but when I rebooted the robot after updating code, the variables all popped up again over my other ones. I assume I have to rearrange them every time I add another variable? Does it save the config between shutdowns? Also, how do you delete a variable on the screen that isn't being updated anymore?

Overall, I'll deal with "pretty" config issues anyday for how easy this was.

[pmalmsten]

Hi Everyone,

I'm pleased to announce that a new version of the Smart Dashboard client has been posted, version 0.6.0. Here are the release notes:

Smart Dashboard Client 0.6.0
============================

* Added Compass widget. This may be selected for use with any numerical
  data type.

* Added LinePlot widget. This may be selected for use with any numerical
  data type. It may be resized by changing its widget-specific preferences.

* Added snap-to-grid view option. When enabled via the "View" drop down menu,
  all subsequent widget dragging will "snap" to a grid to ease placement.

* Added logging to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file support.
	- This may be enabled via the GUI preferences dialog ("File" -> "Preferences").
	- Three values are logged: The time in milliseconds since the logging began, the name
	  of the field being logged, and the string representation of the field's value.
	- All timestamps are tallied according to the client computer's local clock (not the robot's
	  clock). Maximum sample time resolution is approximately 20 milliseconds. Samples sent more
	  frequently than this will be queued for transmission to the client and will therefore 
	  be marked with very similar timestamps.
	- Logging is automatically restarted when the dashboard is opened if it was previously
	  enabled. It will continue to record all key-value pairs until it is disabled
	  or the dashboard is closed.
	- When logging is enabled, the target file will be overwritten whenever the GUI
	  is restarted. If a particular log is important to you, copy it to somewhere
	  safe before restarting the dashboard!

* Fixed crash when video display is enabled when the robot camera is configured for high
  resolution video.

* Fixed bug where redundant fields are displayed on the dashboard GUI when a robot is
  restarted.
	
* Fixed bug where changing a widget to another widget type (such as TextBox to SimpleDial) would
  often cause it to be moved when it shouldn't have been.

* Reduced memory usage of robot video display feature.

*********************************************************
  Note: Save Files from Prior Versions are Incompatible
*********************************************************

Unfortunately, due to the current architecture of the profile saving and loading
routines, save files generated by a prior version of the dashboard are not compatible with
this version. We apologize for the inconvenience and plan to avoid this restriction in the
future. For the time being, however, please re-create any/all profiles with the newer
version of the client.

As usual, the latest version of the client can be download from the FirstForge page: http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/go/proj...tdashboard/frs

Radical Pi, I was just recently discussing that idea with some of my colleagues the other day. We will investigate that feature; it sounds quite promising.

Thanks for all of your feedback everyone! I'm pleased to have a release for you which delivers as many of your requested features as it does.

Enjoy,
~Paul Malmsten

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by pmalmsten

Smart Dashboard Client 0.6.0
============================

* Added Compass widget. This may be selected for use with any numerical
  data type.

* Added LinePlot widget. This may be selected for use with any numerical
  data type. It may be resized by changing its widget-specific preferences.

* Added snap-to-grid view option. When enabled via the "View" drop down menu,
  all subsequent widget dragging will "snap" to a grid to ease placement.

* Added logging to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file support.

...awesome...

Originally Posted by pmalmsten

* Fixed crash when video display is enabled when the robot camera is configured for high
resolution video.

Aha! I was having this issue and thought I would just wait until the next version, you have succeeded!