pynetworktables: python wrappers for NetworkTables

[virtuald]

The RobotPy project has a new github repo that contains SIP-based python wrappers for NetworkTables that will work on your PC. Currently only the server (robot) side of the wrappers work, but in theory the client side should work with a bit of patching. I won't be able to work on fixing that until next week.

https://github.com/robotpy/pynetworktables

Feedback and patches welcome.

[virtuald]

Ok, found the client bug in WPILib. The python wrappers now will do server and client mode, and there are samples included with the source code that demonstrate this functionality.

For the bug, see http://firstforge.wpi.edu/sf/go/artf...3589813396 74 .

[PaulDavis1968]

Originally Posted by virtuald

The RobotPy project has a new github repo that contains SIP-based python wrappers for NetworkTables that will work on your PC. Currently only the server (robot) side of the wrappers work, but in theory the client side should work with a bit of patching. I won't be able to work on fixing that until next week.

https://github.com/robotpy/pynetworktables

Feedback and patches welcome.

I am curious if I could do this with Python 2.7 (I know SIP supports it)?

I ask because I was thinking about using SimpleCV for vision and it would make life much easier.

[virtuald]

Originally Posted by PaulDavis1968

I am curious if I could do this with Python 2.7 (I know SIP supports it)?

I ask because I was thinking about using SimpleCV for vision and it would make life much easier.

I haven't tried it, but I don't have any reason to believe it wouldn't work.

[PaulDavis1968]

Use the following commands to build pynetworktables. Do the following on
Windows:

set ROBOTPY=c:\path\to\robotpy\src

What do you mean by src

Why is this different than the unix version?

[virtuald]

Originally Posted by PaulDavis1968

Use the following commands to build pynetworktables. Do the following on
Windows:

set ROBOTPY=c:\path\to\robotpy\src

What do you mean by src

Why is this different than the unix version?

Read it out loud. It is not meant to be a literal path. It is the path to the robotpy source directory. It is different from the unix one by accident.

[PaulDavis1968]

I did read it out loud being different is what confused me. Thanks I got it.

[virtuald]

Originally Posted by PaulDavis1968

I did read it out loud being different is what confused me. Thanks I got it.

Excellent. I've changed the documentation too, so it doesn't confuse anyone else

[tkbletsc]

Rookie team here, very confused.

First, is this necessary to use SmartDashboard from Python?

Second, RobotPy has a simple installable on firstforge which we used. Is there something comparable for this pynetworktables, or do I need to build from scratch?

Third, if I do have to build it, do I need to build+install robotpy from source too, or does the pynetworktables build process give me something I add on to my robotpy install?

Thanks!

[virtuald]

This allows you to use NetworkTables/SmartDashboard from python on your PC. This code does not run on the Robot.

This code would be useful if you had something on your driver station or programming laptop that wanted to communicate with your robot code via NetworkTables, or if you were running unit tests on your PC (using fake-wpilib) that use SmartDashboard.

There currently are no binary distributions of pynetworktables, so if you wanted to use it, then you would need to compile it yourself.

[tkbletsc]

Ah, so smart dashboard should work from stock robotpy without modification? ... then I have some debugging to do... :-)

Thanks!

[PaulDavis1968]

I am trying to build the network tables using the instructions on a ODROID-U2 ubuntu - linaro 12.3

linaro@linaro-ubuntu-desktop:~/pynetworktables$ ROBOTPY="/home/linaro/robotpy/" python setup.py build
running build
running build_ext
building 'pynetworktables' extension
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablescmodule.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablescmodule.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesEntryValue.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesEntryValue.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSmartDashboard.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSmartDashboard.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSendableChooser.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSendableChooser.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNamedSendable.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNamedSendable.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSendable.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesSendable.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesWriteManager.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesWriteManager.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesTransactionDirtier.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesTransactionDirtier.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesOutgoingEntryReceiver_NULL_t.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesOutgoingEntryReceiver_NULL_t.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntry.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntry.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesOutgoingEntryReceiver.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesOutgoingEntryReceiver.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesTableListenerManager.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesTableListenerManager.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesStringArray.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesStringArray.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNumberArray.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNumberArray.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntryTypeManager.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntryTypeManager.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntryType.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNetworkTableEntryType.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesBooleanArray.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesBooleanArray.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesArrayEntryType.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesArrayEntryType.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesComplexEntryType.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesComplexEntryType.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesArrayData.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesArrayData.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesComplexData.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesComplexData.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesPeriodicNTThread.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesPeriodicNTThread.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNTThread.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesNTThread.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -DNDEBUG -g -fwrapv -O2 -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -fPIC -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/src -I/home/linaro/pynetworktables/sip -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib -I/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib -I/usr/include/python2.7 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesDefaultThreadManager.cpp -o build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesDefaultThreadManager.o
cc1plus: warning: command line option ‘-Wstrict-prototypes’ is valid for Ada/C/ObjC but not for C++ [enabled by default]
/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib/networktables2/thread/DefaultThreadManager.h: In member function ‘virtual NTThread* sipDefaultThreadManager::newBlockingPeriodicThread (PeriodicRunnable*, const char*)’:
/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib/networktables2/thread/DefaultThreadManager.h:23:20: error: ‘virtual NTThread* DefaultThreadManager::newBlockingPeriodicThread(Pe riodicRunnable*, const char*)’ is private
build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesDefaultThreadManager.cpp:68:69: error: within this context
/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib/networktables2/thread/DefaultThreadManager.h: In function ‘PyObject* meth_DefaultThreadManager_newBlockingPeriodicThrea d(PyObject*, PyObject*)’:
/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib/networktables2/thread/DefaultThreadManager.h:23:20: error: ‘virtual NTThread* DefaultThreadManager::newBlockingPeriodicThread(Pe riodicRunnable*, const char*)’ is private
build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesDefaultThreadManager.cpp:95:100: error: within this context
/home/linaro/robotpy/Packages/wpilib/WPILib/networktables2/thread/DefaultThreadManager.h:23:20: error: ‘virtual NTThread* DefaultThreadManager::newBlockingPeriodicThread(Pe riodicRunnable*, const char*)’ is private
build/temp.linux-armv7l-2.7/sippynetworktablesDefaultThreadManager.cpp:95:143: error: within this context
error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1
linaro@linaro-ubuntu-desktop:~/pynetworktables$

Any Ideas?

Thanks,

Paul Davis

[virtuald]

You need the current git head of RobotPy to compile pynetworktables. RobotPy uses git submodules now, and if you don't check it out correctly then pynetworktables will not compile for you.

git clone https://github.com/robotpy/robotpy.git robotpy
cd robotpy
git submodule init
git submodule update

I've gotten it to work on Windows and Linux for Python 2 and 3.

[PaulDavis1968]

That explains allot. Thanks

[PaulDavis1968]

Originally Posted by virtuald

You need the current git head of RobotPy to compile pynetworktables. RobotPy uses git submodules now, and if you don't check it out correctly then pynetworktables will not compile for you.

git clone https://github.com/robotpy/robotpy.git robotpy
cd robotpy
git submodule init
git submodule update

I've gotten it to work on Windows and Linux for Python 2 and 3.

Thanks that worked.