Setup Development Environment

Setup Development Environment#

Setting up PyCRAM with PyCharm#

Setting up PyCharm with packages that rely on rospy is non trivial. Follow this guide to get correct syntax highlighting for the PyCRAM project.

Install PyCharm Professional#

First, install PyCharm Professional.

Create a JetBrains account and verify it for educational purpose. Normally, a school email address would suffice, otherwise you would have to upload your student/employee id card. The verification process typically takes 1~2-week time, so until then please use Trial version. Once your account is verified, you can unlock the PyCharm Professional features in PyCharm.

The next step will set up the virtual Python environment, so it can be used as a project interpreter in PyCharm.

Set up virtualenv#

The virtualenvwrapper allows to manage virtual Python environments, where additional packages can be installed without the risk of breaking the system-wide Python configuration. Install virtualenvwrapper via pip and set it up.

sudo pip3 install virtualenvwrapper

(Optional but recommended) Set virtualenvwrapper’s WORKON_HOME env variable, of which the default value is ~/.virtualenvs

echo "export WORKON_HOME=~/envs" >> ~/.bashrc
mkdir -p $WORKON_HOME

Activate virtualenvwrapper at terminal start

echo "source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Create a virtual env based on the workspaces libraries (see build-ws_) and add the –system-site-packages to get them properly. The env will be registered in $WORKON_HOME.

source ~/workspace/ros/devel/setup.bash
mkvirtualenv pycram --system-site-packages
ls $WORKON_HOME

Check if the ROS libraries are available in the virtual env.

workon pycram
python -c "import rospy"

If it complains about python, install the following, to set python to Python 3 by default.

sudo apt install python-is-python3

If it finds python but complains about missing packages, make sure that the workspace is sourced before creating the virtual env. Also remember to create the virtual env with the –system-site-packages flag.

If this returns no errors, you can be sure that rospy is usable in your virtual environment. Next you have to build the ros workspace including pycram and source it as described in build-ws_.

Configure PyCharm#

Always start PyCharm from the terminal via

pycharm-professional

or

~/pycharm/bin/pycharm.sh

Select File | Open and select the root folder of the PyCRAM package. Next go to File | Settings | Project: pycram | Python Interpreter and set up your virtual environment with rospy and the sourced workspace available as the python interpreter.

Finally, go to File | Settings | Project: pycram | Project Structure and mark the src folder as Sources, the test folder as Tests and the resources as Resources.

To verify that it works, you can execute any Testcase.

Useful tips

  • Keyboard shortcuts

    • Keymap, which can be configured in Settings | Keymap. The default is GNOME.

  • Python interpreter

  • Python packages

  • Python console

  • View | Active Editor | Soft-wrap: wrap text inside the editor view

  • View | Tool Windows | Structure: display structure window for easy content navigation

  • F12: Open terminal

  • Double Shift: Quick file search

  • Alt + Shift + 1: Reveal/Select current file in Project View

  • Ctrl F/R: Find/Replace text in current file

  • Ctrl Shift F/R: Find/Replace text in the whole project, module, directory, scope

  • Settings | Editor | Inspections | Code is compatible with specific Python versions: Enable/Disable Python version-specific warnings

Using IPython as REPL#

If you want to use a REPl with PyCRAM you can use IPython for that. IPython can be installed via the Ubunutu package manager.

sudo apt install ipython3

Enable autoreload#

To use changes made in the Python file while the Repl is running you need to enable the iPython extension autoreload. This can be done using the iPython startup files, these are files which are always run if iPython is started. First run ipython profile create to create a default profile. Then you will find the startup files located in ~/.ipython/profile_default/startup along with a README file which explains the usage of the startup files. In this directory create a file called 00-autoreload.ipy and enter the following code to the file.

%load_ext autoreload
%autoreload 2

The first line loads the extension to iPython and the second line configures autoreload to reload all modules before the code in the shell is executed.

Run scripts#

IPython allows to run Python files and enables the access to created variables. This can be helpful if you want to create a setup script which initializes things like the BulletWorld, Objects and imports relevant modules.

To execute a Python script simply run run filename.py in the IPython shell.

Here is an example how a setup script can look like.

from pycram.bullet_world import BulletWorld, Object
from pycram.designators.action_designator import *
from pycram.designators.motion_designator import *
from pycram.designators.location_designator import *
from pycram.designators.object_designator import *
from pycram.process_module import simulated_robot
from pycram.pose import Pose
from pycram.enums import ObjectType

world = BulletWorld()

robot = Object("pr2", ObjectType.ROBOT, "pr2.urdf")
kitchen = Object("kitchen", ObjectType.ENVIRONMENT, "kitchen.urdf")
cereal = Object("cereal", ObjectType.BREAKFAST_CEREAL, "breakfast_cereal.stl", pose=Pose([1.4, 1, 0.95]))