Dashboard Inputs

Like the robot's hardware, data retrieved from NetworkTables must be isolated and treated as input data. For example, the following call will NOT function correctly in replay:

var flywheelSetpoint = SmartDashboard.getNumber("FlywheelSpeed", 0.0);

AdvantageKit provides several solutions to deal with this issue:

• For subsystems that use NT input data (reading from coprocessors), we recommend treating the NetworkTables interaction as a hardware interface using an IO layer. See 6328's 2022 vision subsystem as an example.
• When reading dashboard inputs from NT (auto selector, tuning values, etc) AdvantageKit includes the following classes which correctly handle periodic logging and replay:
  • LoggedDashboardChooser - Replaces SendableChooser with equivalent functionality. See the example below.
  • LoggedNetworkNumber - Simple number field
  • LoggedNetworkString - Simple string field
  • LoggedNetworkBoolean - Simple boolean field

Example use of LoggedDashboardChooser for auto routines in a command-based project:

private final LoggedDashboardChooser<Command> autoChooser = new LoggedDashboardChooser<>("Auto Routine");

public RobotContainer() {
    // ...
    autoChooser.addDefaultOption("Do Nothing", new InstantCommand());
    autoChooser.addOption("My First Auto", new MyFirstAuto());
    autoChooser.addOption("My Second Auto", new MySecondAuto());
    autoChooser.addOption("My Third Auto", new MyThirdAuto());
}

public Command getAutonomousCommand() {
    return autoChooser.get();
}

A LoggedDashboardChooser can also be constructed using an existing SendableChooser, which allows for compatibility PathPlanner's AutoBuilder API:

private final LoggedDashboardChooser<Command> autoChooser;

public RobotContainer() {
    // ...

    // buildAutoChooser() returns a SendableChooser
    autoChooser = new LoggedDashboardChooser<>("Auto Routine", AutoBuilder.buildAutoChooser());
}