15. Register Type Pro

The Register Type View lets you register a user-supplied data type from its IDL definition so it can be used across the monitor even for topics whose type was never discovered on the network (for example, Safe DDS topics). Once a type is registered, it can be paired with any topic name when spying, publishing, or charting, on every monitored domain.

Where the Topic Type View (IDL) only displays the IDL of an already-discovered topic, the Register Type View supplies a type definition to the backend.

15.1. Opening a Register Type View

There are several ways to open a new Register Type View:

  • Use Add → Add Register Type View in the application menu bar.

  • Click the three-dots button in the header of any existing pane, choose Split right or Split down, and select Register Type View to open a new pane alongside the current one, or choose Replace panel to replace the current pane with a Register Type View.

15.2. Registering a Type

The pane is organized top to bottom into the following steps.

Select an existing type or start from scratch

A dropdown listing every already-known type plus a Start from scratch entry.

  • Choosing Start from scratch clears the editor so you can write or paste a fresh IDL.

  • Choosing an existing type loads its IDL into the editor as a starting point; edit it and give it a new name to register a new type.

IDL struct

A dropdown listing every struct parsed from the IDL, shown with its fully-qualified name (modules included, e.g. a::b::MyType). It defaults to the last struct found in the IDL. When the IDL contains no struct the dropdown shows No struct found in the IDL.

Register as

A text field with the name under which the type will be registered. It defaults to the selected struct’s name.

If you change it to a name that is not a struct in the IDL, the type is registered under that name as an XTypes alias of the selected struct - the struct itself is left unchanged. This is useful for registering a type under the exact name a topic expects. The name must not match a different struct in the IDL, and it is a type name, not a topic name.

IDL

The IDL editor. Use Upload IDL to load an .idl file, or write / paste the IDL directly. A link to the Fast DDS Gen data types documentation is provided as a reference for the accepted syntax.

If the main IDL contains #include directives, a tab appears for each included file: the first tab is the main file and the remaining tabs are the includes. Fill in the contents of each included file. Tabs that are still empty are marked with a red dot. Uploading an .idl file automatically pre-fills sibling .idl files found next to it.

Save

Registers the type. The button is enabled only when both the Register as name and the IDL are non-empty. A status line above the button reports the result in green on success or red on error.

15.3. Registration Results

  • On success the pane reports Type ‘<name>’ registered successfully.

  • When the type completes a topic that had been discovered without type information, the pane reports that the previously incomplete type now has its definition.

  • Backend validation errors (for example, malformed IDL) are shown verbatim in red.

Registration is a global operation: the registered type becomes available on every monitored domain and can be paired with any topic name. Registered type definitions are preserved when you save and restore a workspace.

15.4. Availability in Offline Mode

Registering a type is available in offline mode. Because registration is a global backend action that is not tied to any live entity, it applies while inspecting a recording as well, letting you resolve undiscovered types against recorded topics.

15.5. Right-Side Configuration Panel

Opening the Right-Side Pane Configuration sidebar for a Register Type View (via the Configure Pane button) shows a REGISTER TYPE panel. All editing happens inside the pane itself, so the sidebar only offers the shared Panel Actions (split and replace submenus). See Right-Side Pane Configuration for the full configuration panel reference.