Logging

I am starting this documentation to track the though process of how we want logging to be done on the robot.

Resources: - FRC Team 6328 - Mechanical Advantage's presentation on logging at Champ's 2023 - AdvantageKit - Further examples of how to use that are listed in the README of this repo - AdvantageScope - Log viewer for both WPILib logs as well as AdvantageKit logs - WPILib Datalog documentation

Starting off, I think it is essential to get the basics of "Level 2" logging down before even attempting AdvantageKit. While it is a nice goal to have, it is definitely more of an offseason type of code-revamp. WPILib logging is much more attainable and most likely doable this season.

Importance of logging

Logging can provide so many benefits to the team: - Driver feedback during the match - Code crash investigation/debugging - Tuning PID loops - Re-creating a match timeline of events

WPILib Logging

The following summarizations come from here.

DataLogManager is a wrapper class around the DataLog WPILib class.
All Logging file I/O is handled is a thread separate to robot code.
"Log files are initially named FRC_TBD_{random}.wpilog until the DS connects. After the DS connects, the log file is renamed to FRC_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss.wpilog (where the date/time is UTC). If the FMS is connected and provides a match number, the log file is renamed to FRC_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss_{event}_{match}.wpilog."
USB flash drives need to be formatted as FAT32 to work with the roboRIO.
Logging can be started very simply:
```
// Starts recording to data log
DataLogManager.start();
```
This can be put in RobotContainer's constructor or even better (because it happens sooner) robotInit(). Future Mark here: This really doesn't provide any advantage, because RobotContainer gets defined first thing in robotInit() anyway. So to keep the Robot.java class clean, just put it in RobotContainer.
DataLogManager.log() can be used as a replacement to System.out.println(). It places the messages both in the messages entry in the log as well as printing to DriverStation like normal.

By default, DataLogManager does not record joystick data. This can be started by performing the following:

// Record both DS control and joystick data
DriverStation.startDataLog(DataLogManager.getLog());

// (alternatively) Record only DS control data
DriverStation.startDataLog(DataLogManager.getLog(), false);

I'm unsure of what the difference in the statements above really mean as of right now.

Sendables

Sendable is a java interface which many WPILib classes implement. Because of this, instead of pushing specific values, a class that implements sendable can push the whole class and all values at once. For example:

SmartDashboard.putData("Arm PID", armPIDController);

Unlike printing a value, Sendables only need to be sent to the dashboard once for their values to continually update