improve message generation

package.json
- renamed binary script to `generate-ros-messages`

generate_messages.js
- minor change in console.log message

README.md
- updated to reference the generate-ros-messages script and how to run
it using `npx`

test-generate-messages-bin.js
- added test to run `generate-ros-messages` using `npx`

test-interactive.js
- fixed minor lint issues.

fix #776

Author: wayneparrott

README.md

@@ -99,19 +99,18 @@ rclnodejs.init().then(() => {
 });
 ```
 
-The benefits of using TypeScript become evident when working with more complex use-cases. ROS messages are defined in the `types/interfaces.d.ts` module. This module is updated as part of the `generate-messages` process described in the next section.
+The benefits of using TypeScript become evident when working with more complex use-cases. ROS messages are defined in the `types/interfaces.d.ts` module. This module is updated as part of the `generate-ros-messages` process described in the next section.
 
 ## ROS2 Interface Message Generation (important)
 
 ROS components communicate by sending and receiving messages described
 by the interface definition language (IDL). ROS client libraries such as
 rclnodejs are responsible for converting these IDL message descriptions
 into source code of their target language. For this, rclnodejs provides
-the `generate-messages` npm script that reads in the IDL
-messages files of a ROS environment and generates corresponding JavaScript
+the npm binary`generate-ros-messages` script that reads the IDL
+message files of a ROS environment and generates corresponding JavaScript
 message interface files. Additionally, the tool generates the TypeScript
-`interface.d.ts` file containing declarations for every IDL message file
-processed.
+`interface.d.ts` file containing declarations for each IDL message file.
 
 Learn more about ROS interfaces and IDL [here](https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-ROS-Interfaces/).
 
@@ -127,25 +126,15 @@ stringMsgObject.data = 'hello world';
 
 Message files are generated as a post-install step of the rclnodejs
 installation process. Thereafter, you will need to manually run the
-message generation script when new ROS message packages are installed
+rclnodejs message generation script when new ROS message packages are installed
 for which your ROS2-nodejs project has a dependency.
 
-### Running `generate-messages` Utility
+### Running `generate-ros-messages` Utility
 
-To use `generate-messages` from your Nodejs package, create an npm
-script entry in your package.json file as shown:
+To run the `generate-ros-messages` script from your Nodejs package, use the `npx` utility included in your Nodejs installation.
 
 ```
-"scripts": {
-  "generate-messages": "generate-messages"
-  // your other scripts here
-}
-```
-
-To run the script use `npm` as follows:
-
-```
-npm run generate-messages
+npx generate-ros-messages
 ```
 
 The newly generated JavaScript files can be found at

package.json

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     "format": "clang-format -i -style=file ./src/*.cpp ./src/*.hpp && prettier --write \"{lib,rosidl_gen,rostsd_gen,rosidl_parser,types,example,test,scripts,benchmark}/**/*.{js,md,ts}\" ./*.{js,md,ts}"
   },
   "bin": {
-    "generate-messages": "./scripts/generate_messages.js"
+    "generate-ros-messages": "./scripts/generate_messages.js"
   },
   "authors": [
     "Minggang Wang <[email protected]>",

scripts/generate_messages.js

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ const generator = require('../rosidl_gen/index.js');
 const tsdGenerator = require('../rostsd_gen/index.js');
 
 async function main() {
-  console.log('Start JavaScript message generation...');
+  console.log('Start generation of ROS2 JavaScript messages...');
 
   try {
     await generator.generateAll(true);

test/test-generate-messages-bin.js

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const path = require('path');
 const rclnodejs = require('../index.js');
 
 const GEN_FOLDER = 'generated';
-const SCRIPT_NAME = 'generate-messages';
+const SCRIPT_NAME = 'generate-ros-messages';
 
 describe('rclnodejs generate-messages binary-script tests', function () {
   let cwd;
@@ -87,14 +87,14 @@ describe('rclnodejs generate-messages binary-script tests', function () {
     fs.rmdirSync(this.tmpPkg, { recursive: true });
   });
 
-  it('test generate-messages script installation', function (done) {
+  it('test generate-ros-messages script installation', function (done) {
     // confirm script is installed at <pgk>/node_modules/.bin/<script>
     let script = createScriptFolderPath(this.tmpPkg);
     assert.ok(fs.existsSync(script));
     done();
   });
 
-  it('test generate-messages script operation', function (done) {
+  it('test generate-ros-messages script operation', function (done) {
     let script = createScriptFolderPath(this.tmpPkg);
     childProcess.spawnSync(script, [], { stdio: 'inherit', shell: true });
 
@@ -109,6 +109,25 @@ describe('rclnodejs generate-messages binary-script tests', function () {
     );
     done();
   });
+
+  it('test npx generate-ros-messages script operation', function (done) {
+    childProcess.spawnSync('npx', [SCRIPT_NAME], {
+      stdio: 'inherit',
+      shell: true,
+      cwd: this.tmpPkg,
+    });
+
+    let generatedFolderPath = createGeneratedFolderPath(this.tmpPkg);
+    assert.ok(
+      fs.existsSync(generatedFolderPath),
+      'No generated message folder found'
+    );
+    assert.ok(
+      fs.existsSync(path.join(generatedFolderPath, 'std_msgs')),
+      'std_msgs folder found'
+    );
+    done();
+  });
 });
 
 function createGeneratedFolderPath(pkgFolder) {

test/test-interactive.js

@@ -35,22 +35,18 @@ describe('rclnodejs interactive testing', function () {
       const RclString = 'std_msgs/msg/String';
       var publisher = childProcess.fork(`${__dirname}/publisher_setup.js`);
       var destroy = false;
-      var subscription = node.createSubscription(
-        RclString,
-        'topic',
-        function (msg) {
-          assert.deepStrictEqual(typeof msg, 'object');
-          assert.ok('data' in msg);
-          assert.deepStrictEqual(msg.data, 'Greeting from publisher');
+      var subscription = node.createSubscription(RclString, 'topic', (msg) => {
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(typeof msg, 'object');
+        assert.ok('data' in msg);
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(msg.data, 'Greeting from publisher');
 
-          if (!destroy) {
-            publisher.kill('SIGINT');
-            node.destroy();
-            destroy = true;
-            done();
-          }
+        if (!destroy) {
+          publisher.kill('SIGINT');
+          node.destroy();
+          destroy = true;
+          done();
         }
-      );
+      });
       rclnodejs.spin(node);
     });
   });