Control your generic component with the generic API

The generic API allows you to give commands to your generic components for running model-specific commands using DoCommand.

The generic component supports the following method:

Establish a connection

To get started using Viam’s SDKs to connect to and control your generic component and the rest of your machine, go to your machine’s page on the Viam app, Navigate to the CONNECT tab’s Code sample page, select your preferred programming language, and copy the sample code.

To show your machine’s API key in the sample code, toggle Include API key.

When executed, this sample code will create a connection to your machine as a client. Then control your machine programmatically by getting your generic component from the machine with FromRobot and adding API method calls, as shown in the following examples.

The following examples assume you have a board called “my_board” configured as a component of your machine. If your board has a different name, change the name in the code.

Import the generic component package for the SDK you are using:

from viam.components.generic import Generic

import (
  "go.viam.com/rdk/components/generic"
)

#include <viam/sdk/components/generic/generic.hpp>

API

DoCommand

Execute model-specific commands. If you are implementing your own generic component and add features that have no built-in API method, you can access them with DoCommand. Supported by viam-micro-server.

my_generic_component = Generic.from_robot(robot=machine, name="my_generic_component")
command = {"cmd": "test", "data1": 500}
result = await my_generic_component.do_command(command)

myGenericComponent, err := generic.FromRobot(machine, "my_generic_component")

command := map[string]interface{}{"cmd": "test", "data1": 500}
result, err := myGenericComponent.DoCommand(context.Background(), command)

// Example using doCommand with an arm component
const command = {'cmd': 'test', 'data1': 500};
var result = myArm.doCommand(command);

GetResourceName

Get the ResourceName for this generic component with the given name.

my_generic_component_name = Generic.get_resource_name("my_generic_component")

Close

Safely shut down the resource and prevent further use.

my_generic_component = Generic.from_robot(robot=machine, name="my_generic_component")
await my_generic_component.close()