Abstract plugin base translating between VLink payloads and visualisation backends. More...

#include <convert_plugin_interface.h>

Collaboration diagram for vlink::ConvertPluginInterface:

Classes
struct	FrontendChannel
	Frontend-advertised channel description used by inbound conversion hooks. More...

struct	PublishInfo
	VLink publish destination resolved from an inbound frontend channel. More...

struct	SchemaInfo
	Backend channel schema metadata returned by `get_schema()`. More...

Public Types
enum class	Target : uint8_t { kFoxglove = 0 , kRerun = 1 }
	Visualisation backend identifier carried by every conversion hook. More...

Public Member Functions
virtual bool	init (const std::string &config)=0
	Initialises the plugin with an opaque configuration string. More...

virtual bool	can_convert (const std::string &ser_type, Target target)=0
	Reports whether this plugin handles a (serialisation, target) pair. More...

virtual bool	get_schema (const std::string &ser_type, Target target, SchemaInfo &schema_info)=0
	Provides schema metadata for an accepted (serialisation, target) pair. More...

virtual bool	convert (const std::string &ser_type, const Bytes &raw, Target target, Bytes &payload)=0
	Converts a single raw VLink payload to the backend-specific representation. More...

virtual int64_t	get_timestamp (const std::string &ser_type, const Bytes &raw, Target target)
	Optionally extracts a per-message timestamp from the raw payload. More...

virtual bool	can_publish (const FrontendChannel &channel, Target target)
	Inbound counterpart of `can_convert()` for frontend-published channels. More...

virtual bool	get_publish (const FrontendChannel &channel, Target target, PublishInfo &publish_info)
	Resolves the VLink publish destination for an inbound frontend channel. More...

virtual bool	convert_publish (const FrontendChannel &channel, const Bytes &raw, Target target, Bytes &payload)
	Converts a frontend-published payload into a raw VLink payload. More...

Protected Member Functions
	ConvertPluginInterface ()=default

virtual	~ConvertPluginInterface ()=default

Detailed Description

Abstract plugin base translating between VLink payloads and visualisation backends.

Loaded via Plugin::load<ConvertPluginInterface>(). The plugin must be thread-safe: convert() and the inbound convert_publish() hooks may run concurrently from multiple ProxyAPI worker threads. A plugin that only supports one backend should return false from can_convert() / can_publish() for the others.

Member Enumeration Documentation

◆ Target

enum vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::Target : uint8_t

strong

Visualisation backend identifier carried by every conversion hook.

Allows a single plugin to support multiple backends from one binary – the plugin branches on this value to produce the appropriate payload format.

Enumerator
kFoxglove	Foxglove Studio (WebSocket transport, FlatBuffers/Protobuf payloads).
kRerun	Rerun Viewer (gRPC + Arrow IPC; plugin payload is UTF-8 JSON).

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ ConvertPluginInterface()

vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::ConvertPluginInterface ( )

protecteddefault

◆ ~ConvertPluginInterface()

virtual vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::~ConvertPluginInterface ( )

protectedvirtualdefault

Member Function Documentation

◆ can_convert()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::can_convert	(	const std::string &	ser_type,
		Target	target
	)

pure virtual

Reports whether this plugin handles a (serialisation, target) pair.

Polled during channel discovery for each new VLink type. A true answer commits the plugin to subsequent get_schema() and convert() calls for that pair.

Parameters

ser_type	VLink serialisation type name (e.g. `"proto.VehiclePose"`).
target	Visualisation backend asking about the conversion.

Returns: true when the plugin can produce a payload for target.

◆ can_publish()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::can_publish	(	const FrontendChannel &	channel,
		Target	target
	)

inlinevirtual

Inbound counterpart of can_convert() for frontend-published channels.

Default implementation returns false; override to opt in to clientPublish-style command flows.

◆ convert()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::convert	(	const std::string &	ser_type,
		const Bytes &	raw,
		Target	target,
		Bytes &	payload
	)

pure virtual

Converts a single raw VLink payload to the backend-specific representation.

Invoked once per incoming message on accepted types. Must be thread-safe.

Parameters

[in]	ser_type	VLink serialisation type name.
[in]	raw	Raw serialised VLink payload.
[in]	target	Visualisation backend.
[out]	payload	Output buffer that receives the backend payload.

Returns: true on success.

◆ convert_publish()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::convert_publish	(	const FrontendChannel &	channel,
		const Bytes &	raw,
		Target	target,
		Bytes &	payload
	)

inlinevirtual

Converts a frontend-published payload into a raw VLink payload.

Invoked once per inbound message after get_publish() routed the channel. Default implementation returns false.

◆ get_publish()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::get_publish	(	const FrontendChannel &	channel,
		Target	target,
		PublishInfo &	publish_info
	)

inlinevirtual

Resolves the VLink publish destination for an inbound frontend channel.

Returning true allows the host to provision the required VLink publishers ahead of time. Default implementation returns false.

◆ get_schema()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::get_schema	(	const std::string &	ser_type,
		Target	target,
		SchemaInfo &	schema_info
	)

pure virtual

Provides schema metadata for an accepted (serialisation, target) pair.

Called once per accepted pair when registering the frontend channel. Outputs differ per target:

kFoxglove: fill schema_info with type, encoding and schema bytes (typically the bytes of a compiled BFBS file).
kRerun: fill schema_info.type_name with the archetype name and schema_info.encoding with "json"; schema payload fields are unused.

Parameters

[in]	ser_type	VLink serialisation type name.
[in]	target	Visualisation backend.
[out]	schema_info	Backend channel schema metadata.

Returns: true on success.

◆ get_timestamp()

virtual int64_t vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::get_timestamp	(	const std::string &	ser_type,
		const Bytes &	raw,
		Target	target
	)

inlinevirtual

Optionally extracts a per-message timestamp from the raw payload.

Called after convert() so the frontend can prefer a sensor or content timestamp over the proxy transport timestamp. The default implementation returns -1, causing the host to fall back to the transport-level timestamp.

Parameters

[in]	ser_type	VLink serialisation type name.
[in]	raw	Raw serialised VLink payload.
[in]	target	Visualisation backend.

Returns: Timestamp in nanoseconds since epoch, or -1 when unavailable.

◆ init()

virtual bool vlink::ConvertPluginInterface::init ( const std::string & config )

pure virtual

Initialises the plugin with an opaque configuration string.

Called once after the plugin is loaded; the config string may be a file path, JSON document or anything the plugin defines. Returning false causes the host to unload the plugin.

Parameters

config Configuration payload; may be empty.

Returns: true on success.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

include/vlink/extension/convert_plugin_interface.h

Classes

Public Types

Public Member Functions

Protected Member Functions

Detailed Description

Member Enumeration Documentation

◆ Target

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

◆ ConvertPluginInterface()

◆ ~ConvertPluginInterface()

Member Function Documentation

◆ can_convert()

◆ can_publish()

◆ convert()

◆ convert_publish()

◆ get_publish()

◆ get_schema()

◆ get_timestamp()

◆ init()