[Spawner] Allow arguments per controller instead of global args (#2895)

(cherry picked from commit cb9a983)

Author: saikishor

controller_manager/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -236,6 +236,19 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
     test_spawner_unspawner
     PRIVATE PARAMETERS_FILE_PATH="${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/test/")
 
+  ament_add_gmock(test_advanced_spawner
+    test/test_advanced_spawner.cpp
+    TIMEOUT 180
+  )
+  target_link_libraries(test_advanced_spawner
+    controller_manager
+    test_controller
+    ros2_control_test_assets::ros2_control_test_assets
+  )
+  target_compile_definitions(
+    test_advanced_spawner
+    PRIVATE PARAMETERS_FILE_PATH="${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/test/")
+
   ament_add_gmock(test_hardware_spawner
     test/test_hardware_spawner.cpp
     TIMEOUT 120

controller_manager/controller_manager/launch_utils.py

@@ -148,3 +148,91 @@ def generate_load_controller_launch_description(
         controller_params_files=controller_params_files,
         extra_spawner_args=extra_spawner_args,
     )
+
+
+def generate_spawner_launch_description(controller_info_dict: dict, extra_spawner_args=[]):
+    """
+    Generate launch description for loading a controller using spawner.
+
+    controller_info_dict: dict
+        A dictionary with the following info:
+        - controller_name: str
+            The name of the controller to load as the key
+        - controller_specific_args: dict
+            A dictionary of extra arguments to pass to the controller spawner
+            The supported keys are:
+            - param_file: str or list or None
+                The path to the controller parameter file or a list of paths to multiple parameter files
+                or None if no parameter file is needed as the value of the key
+                If a list is passed, the controller parameters will be overloaded in same order
+            - load_only: bool
+                Whether to load the controller but not start it
+            - inactive: bool
+                Whether to configure the controller but not activate it
+            - ros_args: str
+                Extra arguments to pass to the controller spawner
+    extra_spawner_args: list
+        A list of extra arguments to pass to the controller.
+        Supported items are only the global arguments supported by the spawner.
+    """
+    if not type(controller_info_dict) is dict:
+        raise ValueError(f"Invalid controller_info_dict type parsed {controller_info_dict}")
+    controller_names = list(controller_info_dict.keys())
+    spawner_arguments = []
+    for controller_name in controller_names:
+        controller_specific_args = ["--controller", controller_name]
+
+        controller_params_file = controller_info_dict[controller_name].get("param_file", None)
+        if controller_params_file:
+            if type(controller_params_file) is list:
+                for param_file in controller_params_file:
+                    controller_specific_args.append("--param-file")
+                    controller_specific_args.append(param_file)
+            elif type(controller_params_file) is str:
+                controller_specific_args.append("--param-file")
+                controller_specific_args.append(controller_params_file)
+            else:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Invalid controller_params_file type parsed in the dict {controller_params_file}. Expected str or list, got {type(controller_params_file)}."
+                )
+        if "load_only" in controller_info_dict[controller_name]:
+            load_only_arg = controller_info_dict[controller_name]["load_only"]
+            if type(load_only_arg) is not bool:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Invalid load_only type parsed in the dict {load_only_arg}. Expected bool, got {type(load_only_arg)}."
+                )
+            if load_only_arg:
+                controller_specific_args.append("--load-only")
+        if "inactive" in controller_info_dict[controller_name]:
+            inactive_arg = controller_info_dict[controller_name]["inactive"]
+            if type(inactive_arg) is not bool:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Invalid inactive type parsed in the dict {inactive_arg}. Expected bool, got {type(inactive_arg)}."
+                )
+            if inactive_arg:
+                controller_specific_args.append("--inactive")
+        if "ros_args" in controller_info_dict[controller_name]:
+            ros_args = controller_info_dict[controller_name]["ros_args"]
+            if type(ros_args) is not str:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f"Invalid ros_args type parsed in the dict {ros_args}. Expected str, got {type(ros_args)}."
+                )
+            controller_specific_args.append("--controller-ros-args")
+            controller_specific_args.append(ros_args)
+        spawner_arguments.extend(controller_specific_args)
+
+    spawner_arguments.extend(extra_spawner_args)
+
+    spawner = Node(
+        package="controller_manager",
+        executable="spawner",
+        arguments=spawner_arguments,
+        shell=True,
+        output="screen",
+    )
+
+    return LaunchDescription(
+        [
+            spawner,
+        ]
+    )