Hello, I'm Mati and I'm new to RTI Connext DDS, so I apologize if some of my questions are trivial.
I have a few questions regarding the community's rticonnextdds-connector for node.js.
So far, I've successfully got the package to work in a testing project and I'm able to read Squares published by the
Shapes Demo.
I got myself familiar with the connector's javascript part of the code and it seems it's just covers the most basics
for reading and writing. The documentation also states that it's primary purpose is for rapid prototyping.
I'm looking for much more comprehensive api for node.js that would offer full functionality of DDS, just as the java and .NET apis do.
1. Why is librti_dds_connector.so is provided in binary only? Does it covers most of RTI's api calls? What does it exactly do?
2. Should I wrap functions that I need by myself with ffi calls? Like getting liveliness, waiting for historical data?
3. Why in the reading example you don't return_loan (which is not even exposed), does the connector does it for us?
4. Why in the example the for loop only works from 1 and not from 0? When I've used the .NET api it was zero based index
5. What are the future plans for the connector? Is it planned to cover more functions and make it flexible for development?
To conclude, I'm looking for a way to use RTI Connext from node.js as if it were a java or .NET wrapper with all it's functionallity and not just
for prototyping, what best approach do you suggest?
Thanks,
-Mati O
Hello Mati,
This is Gianpiero from RTI. Thanks for trying out RTI Connext DDS Connector for nodejs. I will try to answer to your questions in order:
The connector library only exposes a subset of the RTI APIs. We purposely called it ‘connector’ to differentiate it from the full DDS API. The general idea is that the system is set up using XML files (QoS, types, participant and so on) and then you can interact with it using scripting (lua, nodejs, python) with a limited set of api.
The intent with the Connector is to keep the api limited. That said, one thing we are thinking of doing is to add an api that will allow the user to get the pointer to the native object (e.g: datawriter) and then, using that pointer, one could call any DDS api using ffi.
You are correct: the loan should be returned automatically by the connector library. If you are experiencing issue with that, it could be a bug. Please let me know and i will try to help you.
The connector was originally designed for Lua (see RTI Prototyper with Lua): in lua ppl start counting from 1.. so it stayed like that for other connector based languages (Node and python)
Right now we the develpment of the Connector is fundend under the Reseach group. The plan is to gather feedback from customers and early adopters (like yourself) and to understand in which direction we should go with this technologies.
I am happy that the Connector with nodejs are an interesting technology for you. I will suggest to schedule a call to better understand what is your use case and to see how we can work together to accomplish what is needed. Please contact your local RTI representative to arrange a call. If you don't know who that is, you can contact me at gianpiero@rti.com and I can arrange it.
Best Regards,
Gianpiero
Thanks Gianpiero,
Regarding return_loan, I don't see currently an issue with it, the memory consumption does not increase over time, though I tried it on small scale only. I'll report back if anything odd will come up.
It may take me some time, but as soon as I will get the hang of it and gather more feedback and requirements I will contact our local representative.
Thanks again!
-Mati
Thanks Mati,
If anything esle comes up feel free to write again: I will be happy to help!
Best,
Gianpiero