Service

Source code.

A service is a communication consisting requests and responses. There are a server and clients for a service as follows.

graph TD;
    Server--response-->Client1;
    Server--response-->Client2;
    Server--response-->Client3;
    Client1--request-->Server;
    Client2--request-->Server;
    Client3--request-->Server;

A client sends a request and the server replies the request. In this tutorial, we will describe how to implement a client and a server in Rust by using safe_drive.

Create Base Files

In this tutorial, we prepare 3 Rust's projects and 1 C's project. The following table shows the directories we use.

srvmsg is a ROS2's project to define a user defined type for a service we implement.

$ mkdir -p srvtest/src
$ cd srvtest/src
$ cargo new server
$ cargo new client
$ ros2 pkg create --build-type ament_cmake srvmsg

In addition to that, create the workspace's Cargo.toml as follows.

srvtest/src/Cargo.toml

[workspace]
members = [ "client", "server"]

Define Protocol

First of all, let's define a protocol for a service. ROS2 provides a special format to define a protocol, and it should be described in a .srv file.

Usually, .srv files are placed in a srv directory. So, we create srv directory as follows.

$ cd srvtest/src/srvmsg
$ mkdir srv

Create srvmsg/srv/AddTwoInts.srv

Then, create AddTwoInts.srv file in which a protocol is specified as follows.

uint32 x
uint32 y
---
uint32 result

uint32 x and uint32 y above -- are types which must be included in a request, and uint32 result is a type which must be included in a response. We will implement a server which takes 2 integer values and returns the summation of the values.

Edit srvmsg/CMakeLists.txt

To generate shared libraries from AddTwoInts.srv, CMakeLists.txt must be updated as follows.

# srvtest/src/srvmsg/CMakeLists.txt
find_package(rosidl_default_generators REQUIRED)

rosidl_generate_interfaces(${PROJECT_NAME}
  "srv/AddTwoInts.srv"
)

Edit srvmsg/package.xml

In addition to that, the following lines must be added to package.xml.

srvtest/src/srvmsg/package.xml

<build_depend>rosidl_default_generators</build_depend>
<exec_depend>rosidl_default_runtime</exec_depend>
<member_of_group>rosidl_interface_packages</member_of_group>

Server

A server can be implemented in a straightforward way.

Edit server/Cargo.toml

To generate Rust types from .srv files, we have to edit Cargo.toml as follows.

[dependencies]
safe_drive = "0.3"
srvmsg = { path = "/tmp/safe_drive_tutorial/srvtest/srvmsg" }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

[package.metadata.ros]
msg = ["srvmsg"]
msg_dir = "/tmp/safe_drive_tutorial/srvtest"
safe_drive_version = "0.3"

Create server/package.xml

package.xml is also required as follows.

srvtest/src/server/package.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-model href="http://download.ros.org/schema/package_format3.xsd" schematypens="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"?>
<package format="3">
  <name>server</name>
  <version>0.0.0</version>
  <description>Server in Rust</description>
  <maintainer email="yuuki.takano@tier4.jp">Yuuki Takano</maintainer>
  <license>Apache License 2.0</license>

  <test_depend>ament_lint_auto</test_depend>
  <test_depend>ament_lint_common</test_depend>

  <depend>srvmsg</depend>

  <export>
    <build_type>ament_cargo</build_type>
  </export>
</package>

Don't forget <depend>srvmsg</depend>.

Generate Types

AddTwoInts.srv will be translated to struct AddTwoInts as follows.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct AddTwoInts;

impl ServiceMsg for AddTwoInts {
    type Request = AddTwoInts_Request;
    type Response = AddTwoInts_Response;
    fn type_support() -> *const rcl::rosidl_service_type_support_t {
        unsafe {
            rosidl_typesupport_c__get_service_type_support_handle__srvmsg__srv__AddTwoInts()
        }
    }
}
}

struct AddTwoInts implements ServiceMsg trait. ServiceMsg::Request and ServiceMsg::Response are types of request and response, respectively. AddTwoInts_Request and AddTowInts_Response are as follows.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
#[repr(C)]
#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct AddTwoInts_Request {
    pub x: u32,
    pub y: u32,
}

#[repr(C)]
#[derive(Debug)]
pub struct AddTwoInts_Response {
    pub result: u32,
}
}

Edit server/src/main.rs

You have to create a server by create_server() method and register a callback function to a selector as follows.

use safe_drive::{context::Context, error::DynError, logger::Logger, pr_error, qos::Profile};
use srvmsg_rs::srvmsg::srv::{AddTwoInts, AddTwoInts_Response};

fn main() -> Result<(), DynError> {
    // Create a context.
    let ctx = Context::new()?;

    // Create a node.
    let node = ctx.create_node("server_node", None, Default::default())?;

    // Create a server.
    let server = node.create_server::<AddTwoInts>("my_service", Some(Profile::default()))?;

    // Create a selector.
    let mut selector = ctx.create_selector()?;

    // Create a logger.
    let logger = Logger::new("server");

    selector.add_server(
        server,
        Box::new(move |msg, _header| {
            let mut response = AddTwoInts_Response::new().unwrap();
            pr_error!(logger, "recv: {:?}", msg);
            response.result = msg.x + msg.y;
            response
        }),
    );

    loop {
        selector.wait()?; // Spin.
    }
}

Let's dig into detail.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// Create a server.
let server = node.create_server::<AddTwoInts>("my_service", Some(Profile::default()))?;
}

AddTwoInts of create_server::<AddTwoInts> indicates the protocol of the server. The arguments of "my_service" and Some(Profile::default()) are the service name and QoS. If you pass None instead of Some(Profile::default()), Profile::default() is used.

The callback was passed as follows.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
selector.add_server(
    server,
    Box::new(move |msg, _header| {
        let mut response = AddTwoInts_Response::new().unwrap();
        pr_error!(logger, "recv: {:?}", msg);
        response.result = msg.x + msg.y;
        response
    }),
);
}

The callback function must take a message sent by a client and a header including sequence number, time, etc. msg's types is AddTwoInts_Request and a value of AddTwoInts_Response, which is a response, must be returned.

Client

Edit client/Cargo.toml

safe_drive, and tokio must be added to Cargo.toml as follows.

srvtest/src/client/Cargo.toml

[dependencies]
safe_drive = "0.3"
srvmsg = { path = "/tmp/safe_drive_tutorial/srvtest/srvmsg" }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

[package.metadata.ros]
msg = ["srvmsg"]
msg_dir = "/tmp/safe_drive_tutorial/srvtest"
safe_drive_version = "0.3"

Create client/package.xml

package.xml is also required as follows.

srvtest/src/client/package.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-model href="http://download.ros.org/schema/package_format3.xsd" schematypens="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"?>
<package format="3">
  <name>client</name>
  <version>0.0.0</version>
  <description>Client in Rust</description>
  <maintainer email="yuuki.takano@tier4.jp">Yuuki Takano</maintainer>
  <license>Apache License 2.0</license>

  <test_depend>ament_lint_auto</test_depend>
  <test_depend>ament_lint_common</test_depend>

  <depend>srvmsg</depend>

  <export>
    <build_type>ament_cargo</build_type>
  </export>
</package>

Don't forget <depend>srvmsg</depend>.

Edit client/src/main.rs

We recommend to use async/await to implement a client, because a client wait a response, but when the response is replied is unpredictable. In this tutorial, we use Tokio, which is the most popular asynchronous library of Rust.

use safe_drive::{
    context::Context, error::DynError, logger::Logger, pr_error, pr_info, pr_warn, qos::Profile,
};
use srvmsg_rs::srvmsg::srv::{AddTwoInts, AddTwoInts_Request};
use std::time::Duration;
use tokio::time::timeout;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), DynError> {
    // Create a context and a node.
    let ctx = Context::new()?;
    let node = ctx.create_node("client", None, Default::default())?;

    let logger = Logger::new("client");

    // Create a client.
    let mut client = node.create_client::<AddTwoInts>("my_service", Some(Profile::default()))?;

    let mut n = 0;
    loop {
        let mut request = AddTwoInts_Request::new().unwrap();
        request.x = n;
        request.y = n + 1;
        n += 1;

        // Send a request.
        let client_rcv = client.send(&request)?;

        // Receive a request.
        let mut receiver = client_rcv.recv();

        match timeout(Duration::from_secs(1), &mut receiver).await {
            Ok(Ok((c, response, _header))) => {
                pr_info!(logger, "received {:?}", response);
                client = c;
            }
            Ok(Err(e)) => {
                pr_error!(logger, "error: {e}");
                return Err(e);
            }
            Err(elapsed) => {
                pr_warn!(logger, "timeout: {elapsed}");
                client = receiver.give_up();
            }
        }

        tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1)).await;
    }
}

Because a response will be never returned, we use tokio::time::timeout to receive a response. timeout(Duration::from_secs(1), &mut receiver).await takes a duration and a awaitable future. The awaitable future can be taken by client_rcv.recv().

Note that it uses tokio::time::sleep instead of std::thread::sleep because to avoid calling blocking functions.

client.send() consumes client and it returns client_recv to receive a response. client_rcv.recv() consumes client_recv and client_rcv.recv().await returns new client, a response, and a header. The new client must be used to send next request.

This means that you cannot ignore receiving a response. If you forget to receive a response, you cannot send any request again, because you need to get a new client by receiving a response.. Otherwise, you encountered compilation errors.

Execution

First of all, you have to compile it and execute a server as follows.

$ cd srvtest
$ colcon build --cargo-args --release
$ . ./install/setup.bash
$ ros2 run server server

Then, in another terminal, execute a client as follows.

$ cd srvtest
$ . ./install/setup.bash
$ ros2 run client client
[WARN] [1659604527.720730018] [client]: timeout: deadline has elapsed
[INFO] [1659604528.722220697] [client]: received AddTwoInts_Response { result: 3 }
[INFO] [1659604529.723525686] [client]: received AddTwoInts_Response { result: 5 }
[INFO] [1659604530.724820326] [client]: received AddTwoInts_Response { result: 7 }

Nicely done! We used async/await for the client, and it can be used for the server as follows.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
async { server.recv().await };
}