rqt_controller_manager: Add more information to details-window

[christophfroehlich]

Background

Since #2126 we have information about the update rate and async setting in the CLI. Would be great to have that also in the rqt_controller_manager.

Instructions

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[ShravanDeva5327]

Hey, I'm looking to get started with open source contributions. I saw this "good-first-issue" and it seems like a great opportunity. I'd like to claim it and work on it.

[christophfroehlich]

Great!

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Hi @ShravanDeva5327 327, I saw you claimed this good first issue #2166 a couple of weeks ago and were assigned. Are you still actively working on it or planning to submit a PR soon?

I'm also new to open source contributions (currently learning ROS 2 Humble through projects) and looking for my first issue to tackle. This one seems like a perfect fit with the excellent instructions provided by @christophfroehlich .

(Big thanks for putting that detailed guide together, @christophfroehlich ! I've seen your helpful comments and issues around while searching, and it's really encouraging for newcomers.)

If you've become busy or decided not to pursue this specific issue anymore, @ShravanDeva5327 327, I would be very interested in taking it on.

@christophfroehlich , if #2166 is still being worked on by ShravanDeva5327, or perhaps in addition, if you know of any other similar beginner-friendly tasks or areas within ros2 (or related projects you maintain) where help might be needed, I'd be very grateful for any pointers! I'm eager to contribute.

Please let me know the status of #2166 when you have a moment. Thanks!

[ShravanDeva5327]

Hey @ShahazadAbdulla. I did start looking into this issue but ran into some setup problems on my laptop and couldn’t make much progress. On top of that, I got busy with my coursework and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to update here — really sorry about that!

Please feel free to take over this issue. @christophfroehlich, apologies for the delay and any confusion caused.

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Thanks for the update @ShravanDeva5327 327, and no worries at all – setup issues and coursework happen! I really appreciate you letting me know.

I'll go ahead and take on this issue now.

@christophfroehlich , could you please assign issue #2166 to me? I'm looking forward to working through the steps you outlined!

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Hi @christophfroehlich

Following up on the assignment for #2166: I've successfully set up the environment on Humble, built the code, and modified the RQT plugin (popup_info.ui and controller_manager.py) to try and fetch the update_rate and is_async parameters for the selected controller using call_get_parameters.

However, when testing with the standard rrbot demo (ros2_control_demo_example_1) on Humble, I found that the /controller_manager node does not expose per-controller parameters like <controller_name>.update_rate or <controller_name>.is_async. The ros2 param list /controller_manager output only shows a global update_rate parameter and no is_async parameter at all.

This means the RQT plugin cannot fetch the per-controller data as requested on the Humble branch. It also seems to confirm that ShravanDeva327's merged PR #1 (commit ed4ccb0), which addressed this issue previously, likely targeted a different branch (e.g., master) where these parameters are available, and the changes haven't been backported to Humble.

Given this, it seems impossible to complete issue #2166 on the Humble branch as the required data isn't available.

I'm still very eager to contribute! @christophfroehlich, could you perhaps point me towards another "good first issue" in ros2_control that is suitable for the Humble distribution? or can you help me complete this.

Thanks for the guidance through this investigation!

[christophfroehlich]

In general, we only accept new features targeting the master branch. Then we triage to do backports to e.g., humble. I suggest that you establish a suitable workflow for you to develop on rolling branch, for example with the provided docker containers in this repository.

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Hi @christophfroehlich ,

Thanks for assigning this issue to me! and Thanks for the advice about targeting the master/rolling branch for new features and setting up a suitable workflow. BUT While exploring the code and related PRs (like #2126), I discovered that ShravanDeva5327 actually already submitted and merged a PR (referenced as #1 from his fork context, merged commit ed4ccb0 into master about 3 weeks ago) that implements exactly this feature (adding update rate and async properties to the RQT GUI, using table columns and the popup tree view).

It looks like the work for this issue (#2166) is already completed in the codebase on the master branch!

Could you please clarify on that matter.

Could you perhaps point me towards what I should do about this or if its already done then could please point me to another "good first issue" in ros2_control (maybe one targeting master/rolling) where I could help out?

Thanks again!

[christophfroehlich]

There hasn't been any merge w.r.t. to this issue? https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/commits/master/rqt_controller_manager/rqt_controller_manager
and I don't find any commit in the fork of ShravanDeva5327 https://github.com/ShahazadAbdulla/ros2_control/commits/master/rqt_controller_manager/rqt_controller_manager

Can you clarify what you mean by that?

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Hi @christophfroehlich,

Ah, thank you so much for the clarification and for checking the history! My apologies for the confusion. I completely misinterpreted the status of a Pull Request I saw on @ShravanDeva5327's fork specifically,
ShravanDeva5327#1.
I mistakenly thought the "Merged" status there meant it had been merged into ros-controls/ros2_control, but I understand now it was likely merged within his own fork's branches.

Thanks for confirming that issue #2166 is indeed still open!

I would definitely still like to work on it. Based on your previous advice, I will:

1. Set up a ROS 2 Rolling development environment (likely using Docker).
2. Ensure my local fork is up-to-date with the latest ros-controls/ros2_control master branch.
3. Create a new feature branch based off master.
4. Implement the changes to add the update rate and async status to the RQT GUI (fetching the parameters as discussed).
5. Submit a Pull Request targeting the ros-controls/ros2_control master branch.

Does that sound like the correct plan? Please let me know if there's anything else I should consider. Thanks again for your patience and guidance!

[christophfroehlich]

Sry, I also had a look in the wrong fork (in yours, instead of that of @ShravanDeva5327).
This is a good plan. You can use the commit that you have already found as a starting point, test and improve it. (cherry-pick it, then the original author will be retained)

[ShahazadAbdulla]

Hi @christophfroehlich ,

Ah, thanks a million for clearing that up about the fork vs. upstream merge – totally my mistake reading that PR status! Appreciate you checking.

Got it. Plan is now:

1. Set up a Rolling/Docker dev environment.
2. Sync with upstream/master.
3. Create a new branch.
4. git cherry-pick @ShravanDeva5327's original commit(s) from his PR (Add update rate and async controller properties to rqt_controller_manager ShravanDeva5327/ros2_control#1) as you suggested – great idea!
5. Test thoroughly on Rolling, fix/improve if needed.
6. Submit a new PR targeting master, referencing this issue and crediting the original commit.

Starting on the Rolling setup now. Thanks again for steering me right!