Mechanism for failed init()

[galou]

The function init() has prototypevoid ros_control_boilerplate::GenericHWInterface::init(). There is thus no way to specify a failed hardware initialization other than throwing an exception. Is this the intended way to do it? Maybe a bool ros_control_boilerplate::GenericHWInterface::init() would make sense?

[davetcoleman]

Good point. For code this low level, though, is there any error handling you would do if you received a false? Could you not just add a loop inside init() that continued to attempt to reconnect to your hardware until you got the response you wanted?

[galou]

I don't need an error handling outside the init() function but from what you say, the standard way to do it is to loop inside the init() function, probably better with a ROS_WARNING, until the connection to the hardware is successful.
If I understand the philosophy, the only way one should go out of the init() function is after success in connecting to the hardware.

[davetcoleman]

I'm not certain I'm right or wrong, and there probably isn't a standard philosophy at this point. Are you saying you really want a bool return value?