Custom messages Contents

ROS 2 custom messages are specified in ROS 2 package folders that contain a msg directory. The msg folder contains all your custom message type definitions. For example, the package example_b_msgs, within the custom folder, has the below folder and file structure.

The package contains one custom message type, Standalone.msg. MATLAB uses these files to generate the necessary files for using the custom messages contained in the package. For more information on message naming conventions, see ROS 2 Interface Definition.

In this example, you go through the procedure for creating ROS 2 custom messages in MATLAB®. You must have a ROS 2 package that contains the required msg file.

After ensuring that your custom message package is correct, note the folder path location, and then, call ros2genmsg with the specified path. The following example provided three messages example_package_a, example_package_b, and example_package_c that have dependencies. This example also illustrates that you can use a folder containing multiple messages and generate them all at the same time.

To set up custom messages in MATLAB, open MATLAB in a new session. Place your custom message folder in a location and note the folder path. In this example, the custom message interface folder is present in the current directory. If you are creating custom message packages in a separate location, provide the appropriate path to the folder that contains the custom message packages.

folderPath = fullfile(pwd,"custom");
copyfile("example_*_msgs",folderPath);

Specify the folder path for custom message files and call ros2genmsg to create custom messages for MATLAB.

ros2genmsg(folderPath)

Identifying message files in folder 'U:/Documents/MATLAB/Examples/ros-ex44405863/custom'.Done.
Validating message files in folder 'U:/Documents/MATLAB/Examples/ros-ex44405863/custom'.Done.
[3/3] Generating MATLAB interfaces for custom message packages... Done.
Running colcon build in folder 'U:/Documents/MATLAB/Examples/ros-ex44405863/custom/matlab_msg_gen/win64'.
Build in progress. This may take several minutes...
Build succeeded.build log

Call ros2 msg list to verify creation of new custom messages.

You can now use the above created custom message as the standard messages. For more information on sending and receiving messages, see Exchange Data with ROS 2 Publishers and Subscribers.

Create a publisher to use example_package_b/Standalone message.

node = ros2node("/node_1");
pub = ros2publisher(node,"/example_topic","example_b_msgs/Standalone");

Create a subscriber on the same topic.

sub = ros2subscriber(node,"/example_topic");

Create a message and send the message.

custom_msg = ros2message("example_b_msgs/Standalone");
custom_msg.int_property = uint32(12);
custom_msg.string_property='This is ROS 2 custom message example';
send(pub,custom_msg);
pause(3)    % Allow a few seconds for the message to arrive

Use LatestMessage field to know the recent message received by the subscriber.

sub.LatestMessage

ans = struct with fields:
       int_property: 12
    string_property: 'This is ROS 2 custom message example'

Remove the created ROS objects.

clear node pub sub