ros2-assignments/doc/ConfigManager.md

ConfigManager (assignments::one::ConfigManager)

Overview

The ConfigManager class is used to be able to store configuration values in a TOML file making it possible to change project settings without the need of recompiling the codebase.

The toml++ library is used to parse TOML configuration files and provides type-safe access to configuration parameters. It is automatically installed using the FetchContent_Declare macro inside of the CMakeLists.txt.

Implementation Details

Dependencies

• toml++: Modern header-only C++17 TOML parser and serializer
• rclcpp: ROS2 C++ client library for logging
• filesystem: C++17 filesystem library for file operations
• DatabaseConfig: Custom data structure for database configuration

Key Components

Constructor

ConfigManager(rclcpp::Logger logger)

• Initializes the configuration manager making use of a ROS2 logger
• Calls find_config_file() and load_config() for automatic setup
• Automatically attempts to locate and load configuration from a list of pre-defined paths.

Configuration Loading

bool load_config(const std::string& config_file_path)

Returns true on successful load, false on failure

• Uses toml::parse_file()
• Loads TOML configuration from specified file path
• Validates file existence before attempting to parse
• Error handling for:
  • File not found errors
  • TOML parsing errors
  • General I/O exceptions
• Updates internal loaded_ state flag

std::string find_config_file() const

Returns first found configuration file path Returns empty string if no configuration file is found

• Automatically searches for configuration files in predefined locations
• Search paths (in order):

std::vector<std::string> default_config_paths_ = {
    "config.toml",
    "./src/config.toml",
    "../config.toml",
    "../../config.toml",
    "../../../config.toml",
    "../../../../config.toml",
    "/etc/ros2_grade_calculator/config.toml"
};

Configuration Access

std::optional<DatabaseConfig> get_database_config() const

Returns std::optional<DatabaseConfig> for safe null handling Returns std::nullopt if:

• Configuration is not loaded
• Database section is missing
• Parsing fails due to invalid format

• Calls parse_database_config() for actual parsing

bool is_loaded() const

Returns true if configuration has been successfully loaded and parsed

• Getter for configuration load status
• Used by other components to verify configuration availability

Configuration Parsing

DatabaseConfig parse_database_config(const toml::table& config) const

• parser for database configuration section
• Extracts all database-related parameters with defaults

Default Values and Fallbacks

• host: "localhost" - Local database server
• port: 5432 - Standard PostgreSQL port
• dbname: "grades" - Application-specific database
• user: "postgres" - Default PostgreSQL user
• password: "postgres" - Default PostgreSQL password
• timeout: 30 seconds - connection timeout
• ssl: false - Disabled by default for development
• min_connections: 1 - Minimal connection pool
• max_connections: 10 - connection pool limit

Logging

• Uses ROS2 logger with [CFG] prefix for configuration operations
• Includes file paths in log messages

Usage Examples

Automatic Configuration Loading

// ConfigManager automatically finds and loads configuration
ConfigManager config_manager(node->get_logger());

if (config_manager.is_loaded()) {
    auto db_config = config_manager.get_database_config();
    if (db_config.has_value()) {
        // Use database configuration
        DatabaseManager db_manager(db_config.value());
    }
}

Configuration File Format

Example complete TOML configuration:

# Database connection settings
[database]
host = "localhost"
port = 5432
dbname = "grades"
user = "postgres"
password = "postgres"
timeout = 30
ssl = false

[database.pool]
min_connections = 1
max_connections = 10