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Overview

pytouchosc is a package for manipulating and loading .touchosc files. It features a Python library for parsing layout files that are created by the TouchOSC Editor. It also has a command-line script for displaying details of layout files, as well as a script and node for loading layout files to a compatible device.

For more information on TouchOSC and layouts, check out the touchosc_bridge package documentation.

Node

There are two ways of creating a layoutserver_node, either with a single file, or a path and a list of files. For more information on loading layout files to devices, check out the TouchOSC Basics Tutorial.

layoutserver_node

ROS wrapper to the pytouchosc layout server

Parameters

~name (string, default: OSC Server)

• Name that TouchOSC clients will see in the "Add Layout" screen

~port (int, default: 9658)

• Port that layout files will be hosted on, useful for creating more than one layout server on the same computer

~layout_path or layout_path (string, default: None)

• A path to a group of layout files to create TouchOSC layout servers for.

~layouts or layouts (list, default: None)

• A list of layout files to create TouchOSC layout servers for.

~layout_file or layout_file (path, default: None)

• Path (including filename) of a layout to create a TouchOSC layout server for.

Example Launch File for Single Layout Server

This will create a single layout server on port 9658.

<launch>
    <param name="layout_file" 
           value="$(find rososc_tutorials)/layouts/ROS-Demo-iPad.touchosc "/>
    <node pkg="pytouchosc" type="layoutserver_node" name="layoutserver"/>
</launch>

Example Launch File for Multiple Layouts

This will create a layout server hosting rososc_tutorials/layouts/ROS-Demo-iPad.touchosc on port 9658, and a second layout server hosting rososc_tutorials/layouts/ROS-Demo-iPhone.touchosc on port 9659.

In this case, two "Found Hosts" will appear in the "Add Layout" screen of TouchOSC, with the name of their respective layouts as a listing.

<launch>
    <param name="layout_path" value="$(find rososc_tutorials)/layouts"/>
    <rosparam param="layouts">
        [ "ROS-Demo-iPad.touchosc", "ROS-Demo-iPod.touchosc" ]
    </rosparam> 
    <node pkg="pytouchosc" type="layoutserver_node" name="layoutserver"/>
</launch>

Helper Scripts

In addition to the layout server node, and the Python pytouchosc module, there are a few scripts to help interact with TouchOSC layouts.

layoutserver.py

A command line (ROS not needed) utility to spawn a layout server.

Example:

rosrun pytouchosc layoutserver.py ~/teleop.touchosc

Available command line options:

Usage: layoutserver.py [options] /path/to/layout.touchosc

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p PORT, --port=PORT  Port that the layout server will host on.
  -n NAME, --name=NAME  Name that will appear in TouchOSC's Server List
  --log=LOGGING         Set logging level

inspectLayout

A command line utility for inspecting the tabpages and controls in a given layout file.

Example:

rosrun pytouchosc inspectLayout -tc slider-ipad.touchosc 
************************************************************
Layout Filename               slider-ipad.touchosc          
Layout Location                                             
************************************************************
Version                       11                            
Orientation                   vertical                      
Mode (Device)                 1-iPad                        
************************************************************
Number of Tabpages            1                             
     1                             
/1/multifader                 MultiDial 

Usage:

rosrun pytouchosc inspectLayout --help
Usage: inspectLayout [options]

Options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  -t          List tabpages in this layout
  -c          List controls addresses and types in this layout

Code API

If you wish to utilize the pytouchosc module in your own package or stack, it is suggested that you read over the API Docs.

The major components of the API are:

pytouchosc.bonjour

Wrapper to pybonjour to provide Zero Configuration hostname browsing and resolution for clients. This is the protocol used by TouchOSC to identify layout servers and osc servers in the local network.

pytouchosc.layout

Class for creating and loading existing layouts.

pytouchosc.layoutserver

Script (and class) for creating a layout server for TouchOSC devices in a local network.

pytouchosc.tabpage

Class for interacting whith TouchOSC tabpages.

pytouchosc.controls

Listing of all of the available TouchOSC controls. Also responsible for creating the message dictionaries used to interact with the default tabpage handler in the touchosc_bridge package.

For detailed information on all of the controls, consult the TouchOSC Controls Reference.