voltron_test_utils

Contains various utilities used to test our code. The different features included are listed below. Currently the only available features are TestPublisher and TestSubscriber:

TestPublisher

This is a templatized utility class to allow test cases to publish messages of any type to a topic.

Usage

First, make sure that you call rclcpp::init() and rclcpp::shutdown() in your code - the TestPublisher will not do that for you! To use, simply include the TestPublisher.hpp header in your code and instantiate it as TestPublisher<MyMessageType> my_publisher("my_topic_name");. You can then call `my_publisher.send_message(MyMessageType message) to publish messages - simple!

Notes

Do not try to call rclcpp::spin() on a TestPublisher - it is not a ROS node. Rather, it wraps a ROS node a spins when necessary.

TestSubscriber

The slightly more complex counterpart of TestPublisher, TestSubscriber allows your test cases to receive messages of any type on arbitrary topics.

Usage

Instantiate it the same way as TestPublisher: TestSubscriber<MyMessageType> my_subscriber("my_topic_name");. You can then call my_subscriber.has_message_ready() to see if any messages are in the queue, and my_subscriber.get_message() to get a pointer to the message.

Notes

Again, this is not a ROS node. Don’t try to call rclcpp::spin() on it. DO call rclcpp::init() and rclcpp::shutdown() before and after using!