Compiling SmartDashboard in NetBeans

[Ed Cohen]

I would like to compile SmartDashboard in NetBeans so I can experiment with it.

I can run SmartDashboard (after downloading it from the WPI site), I can compile and run other FRC Java programs in NetBeans.

As I am new to NetBeans, so it is possible/probable that I am missing something basic.

Any pointers are appreciated.

Thanks,
Ed

[F22Rapture]

Can you give us any insight as to what isn't working? Is there a compile error, do the programs not run once compiled, does it run but not function properly, etc?

If there's an error the best place to start would be to post the compile log.

[Ed Cohen]

I realize now that I should have been more specific.

I do not know what file/project to open to try to compile SmartDashboard.

The SmartDashboard install program put some files in "C:\Program Files\SmartDashboard\", but I don't see anything there to open. Am I supposed to do something with the .jar file?

"C:\Program Files\FRC Dashboard\Launcher.bat" works and launches SmartDashboard.

In NetBeans, I can use the menu to open a new project, but I don't see any files named SmartDashboard in any of the categories (such as FRC Java).

Thanks,
Ed

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Ed Cohen

I realize now that I should have been more specific.

I do not know what file/project to open to try to compile SmartDashboard.

The SmartDashboard install program put some files in "C:\Program Files\SmartDashboard\", but I don't see anything there to open. Am I supposed to do something with the .jar file?

"C:\Program Files\FRC Dashboard\Launcher.bat" works and launches SmartDashboard.

In NetBeans, I can use the menu to open a new project, but I don't see any files named SmartDashboard in any of the categories (such as FRC Java).

Thanks,
Ed

You need the source code?

The source code isn't included with the installer. It can be found here: http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/scm/do/...tdashboard/scm

First you need to set up a firstforge account. Then fire up netbeans and go to team>subversion>checkout

Paste http://firstforge.wpi.edu/svn/repos/smart_dashboard in as the "Repository URL" and put your firstforge username and info into the boxes.

Hit next, and then press "browse" next to the "Repository Folder" box. Press the expand icon next to "tags" and then select the 2012 folder. Click OK. Check the checkbox next to "Export a clean directory tree ..." and then "Finish."

Wait for it to download.

Open the project. It'll give you an error about a missing NetworkTables library. Click "Resolve" and find the directory where you put the project you downloaded. There's a "NetworkTables" folder right next to "smartdashboard." Select the "Client" folder inside of it and press OK.

Now, if you press the "Run" button in netbeans, it'll give you a working copy, sans 2 of the camera extensions. Right clicking on the project and then "Clean and Build" will compile it and output to the "dist" folder in the project directory. I haven't figured out how to turn that into an installer yet but if you have any questions post back.

[edit] If you want the source code for the camera extensions, they can be found in the trunk repository. Follow the same instructions as above except instead of selecting "tags" select "trunk." Haven't figured out how to attach that to the main project yet either though.

[Ed Cohen]

Thank you for the detailed reply. You were correct in that I had downloaded the project, not the source code. I appreciate that you took the time to describe many details which are tricky to verbalize.

By following your instructions, I was able to download, compile, and run the SmartDashboard without camera extensions. The only thing that I did differently than what you described was to 'Resolve', I had to select 'Trunk' (not 'Client'). Is that OK?

I would like to download and compile the Camera Extensions, but could not. I tried to follow your instructions, by Follow the same instructions as above except instead of selecting "tags" select "trunk."

Could you please more specific on this part? Were you able to compile and run SmartDashboard with the camera extensions? Should I be directing these questions to the First Forge folks?

Thanks for your help,
Ed

[F22Rapture]

Originally Posted by Ed Cohen

Could you please more specific on this part? Were you able to compile and run SmartDashboard with the camera extensions? Should I be directing these questions to the First Forge folks?

Thanks for your help,
Ed

No, I haven't compiled the camera extensions yet. If you look in the Program Files/ SmartDashboard folder the camera extensions are actually in a separate JAR file instead of being in the main SmartDashboard.jar, so I'm not even sure that they're supposed to be compiled inside the main project.

[Ed Cohen]

I have made some more progress (2729's Joe Doyle helped me through the next steps which I describe below).

I went to the smartdashboard\dist\ directory and created an Extensions directory (smartdashboard\dist\Extensions\). I placed WPICameraExtension.jar and the lib directory for WPICameraExtensions.

Now, when I start up SmartDashboard, FileSniffer.java runs and finds the camera extensions and they appear in the SmartDashboard menu (and they can display the camera video).

The next thing I'd like to do is to step through the camera video code. I'd like to modify the code to store an image every second or so.

Any ideas on how I can get to the camera code? I can step through the FileSniffer.java (which I think is in part of the WPICameraExtensions), but I don't know how to get to the camera code so I can set a breakpoint.

Thanks,
Ed