Rosbag record from python node

rosbag_record.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import rospy
import subprocess
import os
import signal


class RosbagRecord:
    def __init__(self):

        if rospy.has_param('~record_script') and rospy.has_param('~record_folder'):
            self.record_script = rospy.get_param('~record_script')
            self.record_folder = rospy.get_param('~record_folder')
            rospy.on_shutdown(self.stop_recording_handler)

            # Start recording.
            command = "source " + self.record_script
            self.p = subprocess.Popen(command, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True, cwd=self.record_folder,
                                      executable='/bin/bash')

            # Wait for shutdown signal to close rosbag record
            rospy.spin()
        else:
            rospy.signal_shutdown(rospy.get_name() + ' no record script or folder specified.')

    def terminate_ros_node(self, s):
        # Adapted from http://answers.ros.org/question/10714/start-and-stop-rosbag-within-a-python-script/
        list_cmd = subprocess.Popen("rosnode list", shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        list_output = list_cmd.stdout.read()
        retcode = list_cmd.wait()
        assert retcode == 0, "List command returned %d" % retcode
        for str in list_output.split("\n"):
            if (str.startswith(s)):
                os.system("rosnode kill " + str)

    def stop_recording_handler(self):
        rospy.loginfo(rospy.get_name() + ' stop recording.')
        self.terminate_ros_node("/record")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    rospy.init_node('rosbag_record')
    rospy.loginfo(rospy.get_name() + ' start')

    # Go to class functions that do all the heavy lifting. Do error checking.
    try:
        rosbag_record = RosbagRecord()
    except rospy.ROSInterruptException:
        pass

Hi, I'm pretty new to ROS and i'm trying to do exactly what this program is aiming to do, but I'm not sure to understand how to use it. Can I use this to record any topics on my ROS server or it requires a specific node? Thanks anyway.

Hi there,

You can use this script as a ros node (see tutorial for python nodes) to record a list of topics you are interested int.

You need to provide two parameters: record_folder which is the path where you want your rosbag to be recorded, and record_script which is the path of your record bash script (this is simply a bash script with the command rosbag record and the list of topics you want to record).

I hope this helps,
Marco