added action panel in addition to config panel

[AnthonyZJiang]

Overview

Added an action panel which allow plugins to be displayed in an additional panel.

What I did not like before

The default UI hosts only one plugin panel. It can easily get very cluttered when a few plugins are added. It is difficult to navigate the list and locate the correct plugin to play with, especially on a mobile laptop with a small screen and a track pad. Frequently, misclicking could mess up the plugin list.

Solution

My solution is to add a second panel called Action panel. In this panel, I can add the plugins such as move_base, draw_polygon etc. which I frequently use during field work. Then I will hide the Config panel, so the the fancy display components I configured earlier stay intact.

Additional Info

Visibility

Both panels can be toggled on and off through menu separately.

Config saving and loading

I have made sure save and open config functions behave correctly for both panels.

An additional property, listName, is added to each item under the display category to indicate their designated panel:

displays:
  - listName: config
    type: mapviz_plugins/laserscan
    name: new display
    config: ....
  - listName: action
    type: mapviz_plugins/attitude_indicator
    name: new display
    config: ....

Backward compatibility for old config files @line 720:

        std::string listName, type, name;
        if (displays[i]["listName"]) {
          displays[i]["listName"] >> listName;
        } else {
          listName = "config";
        }
        displays[i]["type"] >> type;
        displays[i]["name"] >> name;

Default panel location

The Config panel defaults to the left docking area, so the Action panel defaults to the right docking area.

[danthony06]

Looks interesting, let me try it out