3. PsyProbe Configuration

PsyProbe architecture

PsyProbe is Psyclone's built-in HTTP interface: point any browser at the main port (http://localhost:10000/ by default) and you get a live, self-updating view of every node, space and component. It serves static HTML/JS from a web root, and answers a small set of dynamic API endpoints backed by the running system.

The <psyprobe> element

<psyprobe location="otherdir/html" port="8080" defaultport="no">
  <alias name="robot" location="/somedir/html" default="index.html" />
  <post name="TestMove" type="Robot.Command.Move.Forward" />
</psyprobe>

Custom subsites

<alias name="robot" location="/somedir/html" default="index.html" /> maps http://host:port/robot/anydir/anyfile to /somedir/html/anydir/anyfile — any local path can be published under the PsyProbe port. This is the simplest way to ship a complete custom operator UI (the CoCoMaps robots served their whole control panel this way). Alternatively, just drop files into the web-root tree and load http://localhost:10000/mycustompage.html.

Creating custom tabs

Every component page in PsyProbe has standard tabs (Performance, Activity, Subscriptions, Log, Data). A component can add its own tab by pointing at an HTML element template in the web root:

api->addPsyProbeCustomView("Stored Messages", "elements/whiteboardmessages.html");

api.addPsyProbeCustomView("Stored Messages", "elements/whiteboardmessages.html")

A template is a plain HTML fragment with a script implementing two functions; PsyProbe instantiates it per component:

<script>
var TemplateCompID;    // set by PsyProbe
var TemplateCompName;

function loadTemplate($target, compID) {
    // called once; componentMap[compID] holds the component record
}
function updateTemplate($target, compID) {
    // called every update cycle; refresh the view
}
</script>

The bundled elements/ directory of the web root is the reference library: elements/whiteboardmessages.html (the Whiteboard's own Stored Messages tab) is the canonical example to copy, and the other elements/*.html templates show the same pattern for performance panes, dataflow views and hierarchical diagrams. Custom tabs can also be declared in the spec with a <customview name=".." template=".."> child on the component.

Working with private data

Any component can publish binary or textual blobs as private data; give it a mimetype and it appears in the component's Data tab and becomes fetchable over HTTP:

// component side
api->setPrivateData("My Data", str.c_str(), str.length(), "application/json");

// browser / AJAX side
GET /api/getcomponentdata?compid=15&name=My%20Data&format=json

# component side
api.setPrivateData("My Data", str, "application/json")

# browser / AJAX side
GET /api/getcomponentdata?compid=15&name=My%20Data&format=json

Supported formats on the GET are text, xml, json, html and binary (e.g. image/bmp data renders as an image). You need the component ID, the entry name and the stored format. This is extension path number two: a custom page polling getcomponentdata can visualise anything a module chooses to expose.

RequestStore: serving live messages over HTTP

The RequestStore catalog subscribes to messages system-wide, keeps the most recent, and serves parts or whole messages via the web API — the standard way to feed custom dashboards without writing any C++ on the web side:

<catalog name="RequestStore" type="RequestStore">
  <trigger name="VideoFrame" type="robot.sensor.video" />
  <trigger name="Status" type="Robot.Status" />
  <setup>
    <store name="VideoFrame" trigger="VideoFrame" datatype="raw" mimetype="image/bmp" />
    <store name="Status" trigger="Status" mimetype="application/json" maxkeep="1" />
    <store name="StatusTime" trigger="Status" key="timetext" mimetype="text" />
  </setup>
</catalog>

GET /api/query?from=RequestStore&query=VideoFrame
GET /api/query?from=RequestStore&query=Status

Custom visualisers: putting it together

The four extension paths, in increasing effort:

• Custom subsite / plain page — static HTML in the web root or an alias; fetches data with AJAX.
• RequestStore — declare stores in the spec; the page polls /api/query. No native code.
• Private data — the module computes exactly what to show (JSON, bitmap…) and publishes it; the page polls /api/getcomponentdata.
• Custom tab — an element template registered via addPsyProbeCustomView or <customview>; integrates into PsyProbe's own component pages and update cycle.