Skip to main content

Rust

Connect directly to Foxglove or play back local data recorded with the Rust SDK.

Install the SDK​

Install foxglove from crates.io: https://crates.io/crates/foxglove

cargo add foxglove

If you want to try Foxglove with a new project, you can use these steps:

cargo new example --bin
cd example
cargo add foxglove

Live data​

Log messages from Rust​

Add the following to main.rs:

use std::{thread, time};

#[derive(foxglove::Encode)]
struct Message {
    elapsed: f64,
}

fn main() {
    foxglove::WebSocketServer::new()
        .start_blocking()
        .expect("Server failed to start");

    let start = time::SystemTime::now();
    loop {
        foxglove::log!(
            "/hello",
            Message {
                elapsed: start
                    .elapsed()
                    .expect("clock failed to elapse")
                    .as_secs_f64()
            }
        );
        thread::sleep(time::Duration::from_millis(30));
    }
}

Run the example​

From the project directory:

cargo run

Connect​

In Foxglove, select "Open connection" from the dashboard or left-hand menu.

Select open connection

Select "Foxglove WebSocket" in the "Open a new connection" dialog, then click "Open" to accept the default connection string:

Foxglove WebSocket dialog

Local data​

Recording data to a file​

The SDK can also log data to disk. Let's augment the example above to also produce an MCAP file which can later be opened in Foxglove:

use std::{thread, time};

#[derive(foxglove::Encode)]
struct Message {
    elapsed: f64,
}

fn main() {
    foxglove::WebSocketServer::new()
        .start_blocking()
        .expect("Server failed to start");

    // Keep a reference to the writer. It'll automatically flush and close when it's dropped,
    // or we could call `.close()` to close it manually.
    let _ = foxglove::McapWriter::new()
        .create_new_buffered_file("example.mcap")
        .expect("Failed to create writer");

    let start = time::SystemTime::now();
    loop {
        foxglove::log!(
            "/hello",
            Message {
                elapsed: start
                    .elapsed()
                    .expect("clock failed to elapse")
                    .as_secs_f64()
            }
        );
        thread::sleep(time::Duration::from_millis(30));
    }
}

Viewing data from a file​

Open your recording(s) directly from your computer by:

  • Dragging and dropping them into Foxglove
  • Using Cmd/Ctrl + o
  • Clicking Open local file(s) in the app

Local file dialog

note

When opening multiple files, Foxglove will display the data as a single merged timeline. The files must be of the same format.

Explore your data​

Your data is now available for exploring in Foxglove. Add some panels to begin visualizing what your robot is seeing and producing. Not sure where to start? Try adding a Raw Messages panel, Plot panel, or 3D panel.