Feedback from AutoCore team

[moelang]

Hello zenoh-flow team,

We use zenoh-flow in our project, this framework is great and meets our expectations!

In the process of project development, we have met some scenarios and can't find a suitable solution.

Feedback is here and we look forward to discussing suitable solutions with you.

1. In graph node configuration, the current state is that a key can only have one value:

configuration:
  key1: value1
  key2: value2
  key3: value3

But we need more fields to describe a key:

configuration:
  - id: key1
    foo: value
    bar: value
    baz: value
  - id: key2
    foo: value
    bar: value
    baz: value

or:

configuration:
  key1: 
    foo: value
    bar: value
    baz: value
  key2:
    foo: value
    bar: value
    baz: value

2. Development path of dynamic library are different with deployment path, we expect to change the default global graph args when runtime starting:

args:
  release_path: /opt/release/bin
  default_input_id: Input
  default_output_id: Output
  default_config_foo: foo
operators:
  - id : MyOperator
    uri: file://{{release_path}}/libmy_operator.so
    inputs:
      - id: {{default_input_id}}
        type: i32
    outputs:
      - id: {{default_output_id}}
        type: i32
    configuration:
      config_foo: {{default_config_foo}}

and launch with development path:

$ runtime --graph-file demo.yaml --runtime foo --release_path './build/bin'

More feedback will be updated after the demo test, looking forward to your reply：）

[J-Loudet]

Hi @moelang, we are glad to hear that Zenoh Flow is meeting your expectations and thank you for your feedback!

Speaking of feedback, here is our take on what you pointed out:

But we need more fields to describe a key:

configuration:
 - id: key1
   foo: value
   bar: value
   baz: value
 - id: key2
   foo: value
   bar: value
   baz: value

See @gabrik’s answer below, the changes have been merged!

---

Development path of dynamic library are different with deployment path, we expect to change the default global graph args when runtime starting:

args:
  release_path: /opt/release/bin
  default_input_id: Input
  default_output_id: Output
  default_config_foo: foo
operators:
  - id : MyOperator
    uri: file://{{release_path}}/libmy_operator.so
    inputs:
      - id: {{default_input_id}}
        type: i32
    outputs:
      - id: {{default_output_id}}
        type: i32
    configuration:
      config_foo: {{default_config_foo}}

We propose a slightly different approach: instead of having the args in the same YAML file, we suggest to have in a separate "configuration" file.
With what we propose you would:

1. Create the configuration file:

   # We assume this is file ~/dataflow-config.yaml
   release_path: /opt/release/bin
   default_input_id: Input
   default_output_id: Output
   default_config_foo: foo

2. Start the dataflow providing this configuration:

   runtime --graph-file demo.yaml --runtime foo --configuration ~/dataflow-config.yaml

3. If you want to replace/provide some arguments with the command line, you would do so:

   runtime --graph-file demo.yaml --runtime foo --configuration ~/dataflow-config.yaml --arg release_path='./build/bin'

---

Would these changes satisfy your team?

[gabrik]

Hi @moelang, first thank you for your useful feedbacks.

Regarding the 1st point, we explored serde_json::Value and seems that it both covers your use-case and it is easy to use.
So we decided to implement the support for it (see PR #40).
This means that the Node API will break and that we need to adapt also the C++ API.

[moelang]

@gabrik @J-Loudet Thanks, very useful. I understand your design.