[Gearbox-users] API changes in hokuyo_aist, new Python bindings

[Geoffrey B. <geo...@ai...>]

I have just checked in a small change to the hokuyo_aist library's API. 
The following functions have been renamed:

unsigned int GetRanges (HokuyoData *data, double startAngle, double 
endAngle, unsigned int clusterCount = 1);
unsigned int GetNewRanges (HokuyoData *data, double startAngle, double 
endAngle, unsigned int clusterCount = 1);
unsigned int GetNewRangesAndIntensities (HokuyoData *data, double 
startAngle, double endAngle, unsigned int clusterCount = 1);

The new names are GetRangesByAngle, GetNewRangesByAngle and 
GetNewRangesAndIntensitiesByAngle, respectively. This resolves an 
ambiguity in the overloading of these functions and the functions used 
to retrieve range values by step rather than angle.

I have also added an initial version of Python bindings for this 
library. These will be built automatically if Python and Boost.Python 
are found. The shared module is installed to 
$PREFIX/lib/python/site-packages/, so this path must be in your 
PYTHON_PATH environment variable for the module to be located. An 
example is provided, installed to 
$PREFIX/share/gearbox/hokuyo_aist/example/. This example is a Python 
port of the C++ example.

Currently the full API is provided with two exceptions: the 
HokuyoSensorInfo object is not available in Python and the method of 
retrieving range and intensity values from a HokuyoData object is to ask 
for a single value each time using .Range (index) and .Intensity 
(index). These will be fixed in the future (near future, I hope).

Geoff