feat: add LifecycleNode support to ManagedNitrosPublisher/Subscriber (fix #68)

[eclipse0922]

Summary

Fixes #68 — ManagedNitrosPublisher and ManagedNitrosSubscriber previously required a raw rclcpp::Node*, which prevented them from being used inside rclcpp_lifecycle::LifecycleNode. This PR makes both classes work with any node type that exposes the standard ROS 2 node interfaces.

I noticed this is assigned to @yuanknv — happy to collaborate or have this superseded if there's already a WIP. Submitting here as a reference implementation in case it's useful.

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Approach

The core change is replacing the rclcpp::Node* constructor parameter with rclcpp::node_interfaces::NodeInterfaces<...>, which is a node-agnostic interface bundle accepted by both rclcpp::Node and rclcpp_lifecycle::LifecycleNode (and any custom node type).

A new NitrosNodeInterfaces type alias and MakeNitrosNodeInterfaces<NodeT>(node) template factory are introduced in nitros_node_interfaces.hpp. This keeps all interface extraction logic in one place and avoids duplicating the long template parameter list across files.

// New type alias — works with rclcpp::Node, LifecycleNode, or any node
using NitrosNodeInterfaces = rclcpp::node_interfaces::NodeInterfaces<
  NodeBaseInterface, NodeClockInterface, NodeGraphInterface,
  NodeLoggingInterface, NodeParametersInterface,
  NodeTimersInterface, NodeTopicsInterface, NodeWaitablesInterface>;

// Template factory — call site is unchanged for existing users
template<typename NodeT>
NitrosNodeInterfaces MakeNitrosNodeInterfaces(NodeT & node) {
  return rclcpp::node_interfaces::get_node_interfaces<...>(node);
}

ManagedNitrosPublisher and ManagedNitrosSubscriber now accept any NodeT* through a templated constructor and immediately capture the interfaces:

template<typename NodeT>
ManagedNitrosPublisher(NodeT * node, const std::string & topic, ...) 
  : node_ifaces_(MakeNitrosNodeInterfaces(*node)), ...

This is fully backwards-compatible: existing code passing rclcpp::Node* continues to work without changes.

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Changes

New file

• isaac_ros_nitros/include/isaac_ros_nitros/nitros_node_interfaces.hpp — NitrosNodeInterfaces type alias and MakeNitrosNodeInterfaces<NodeT> factory

Modified: core NITROS

File	Change
nitros_publisher_subscriber_base.hpp	Accept NitrosNodeInterfaces instead of rclcpp::Node*; store by value; add #include <utility>
nitros_publisher.hpp / .cpp	Same — propagate NitrosNodeInterfaces through constructor chain
nitros_subscriber.hpp / .cpp	Same — store NitrosNodeInterfaces; use node_ifaces_.get<NodeClockInterface>()->get_clock() for timer

Modified: managed wrappers

File	Change
managed_nitros_publisher.hpp	Templated NodeT* constructor → MakeNitrosNodeInterfaces; store NitrosNodeInterfaces
managed_nitros_subscriber.hpp	Same; add if (callback) null-guard before invoking user callback

New test

File	Description
test/src/nitros_empty_lifecycle_node.cpp	Minimal rclcpp_lifecycle::LifecycleNode component that creates a ManagedNitrosPublisher<NitrosEmpty> and ManagedNitrosSubscriber<NitrosEmptyView> in on_configure() and destroys them in on_cleanup() / on_shutdown()
test/isaac_ros_nitros_lifecycle_test_pol.py	Launch test that drives the node through configure → cleanup → configure to verify: (1) pub/sub construction in a lifecycle context, (2) clean teardown in on_cleanup(), (3) successful re-construction after cleanup

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Test Results

Tested inside the vision-platform:vision Docker image with GPU passthrough (--gpus all --ipc=host):

isaac_ros_nitros          9/9  ✓  (all pass, including runtime GPU tests)
isaac_ros_managed_nitros  8/8  ✓  (all pass, including new lifecycle test)

All linter checks pass: cpplint, uncrustify, flake8, pep257, xmllint.

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Backwards Compatibility

No breaking changes. Existing code that creates ManagedNitrosPublisher or ManagedNitrosSubscriber with an rclcpp::Node* continues to compile and run without modification. The internal NitrosPublisher / NitrosSubscriber APIs are not public, so their constructor signature change is not a user-facing break.

[AshishA26]

Hi @eclipse0922 and @yuanknv , I’m looking to use LifecycleNode support for ManagedNitrosPublisher/Subscriber in my own project and this PR perfectly addresses the limitation in #68. I was wondering if there are any plans to merge this PR in the near future? I would really appreciate it if possible, thank you!

[eclipse0922]

Rebased this branch onto the latest main (Isaac ROS 4.5, 82310fc).

Changes made during the rebase:

• Merged the LifecycleNode support with the new 4.5 GXF-free (IsNitrosBufferBased) code path in ManagedNitrosPublisher/ManagedNitrosSubscriber. The GXF-free path now uses rclcpp::create_publisher/create_subscription(node_ifaces_, ...), so it also works with rclcpp_lifecycle::LifecycleNode.
• Adopted the 4.5 subscriberCallback signature change (NitrosTypeBase& → std::shared_ptr<NitrosTypeBase>) and the handle < 0 buffer-based message branches in NitrosPublisher::publish.
• New commit a60cda9: the 4.5-introduced nitros_gxf_compat_traits.hpp assigns negotiatedPublishCallback/compatiblePublishCallback lambdas taking rclcpp::Node&, which no longer matches the NitrosNodeInterfaces-based NitrosFormatCallbacks signatures from this PR (broke isaac_ros_nitros_tensor_list_type compilation). Updated those lambdas to take NitrosNodeInterfaces.

Verification (against 4.5.0 binary packages, ROS 2 Jazzy):

• colcon build --packages-up-to isaac_ros_managed_nitros succeeds, including isaac_ros_nitros_tensor_list_type with its new nitros_tensor_list_gxf_compat.cpp.
• Lifecycle launch test (isaac_ros_nitros_lifecycle_test_pol.py) plus extended lifecycle tests (rapid toggle, multi-node independence, deactivate-during-data-flow, param+lifecycle, NITROS zero-copy reactivation on GPU, full pipeline reset) all pass: 49 tests, 0 failures.

[eclipse0922]

@AshishA26
Thanks for reaching out! Honestly, I’m not sure if NVIDIA will merge this PR since they rarely accept external PRs directly into Isaac ROS. However, I’m keeping this open as a working reference and fix for anyone who needs LifecycleNode support right away. Feel free to use or cherry-pick the commits for your own projects!

[AshishA26]

I appreciate your fast response @eclipse0922. Thank you letting me know and making it up-to-date as well!