[ros-users] [Discourse.ros.org] [Next Generation ROS] Using ClassLoader with nodes and non-default constructors

[Tully Foote]

In general as mentioned by @TheDash and @Paul_Bovbel you must defer your initialization until later in the cycle.

To support loading components not known about at compile time we must require a standard uniform API of all components for the loader to interact with. Almost all plugin systems work with a minimum common API (often implemented in C++ as a base class) and a registration/discovery mechanism for the loader to find available plugins. Sometimes the registration/discovery also includes descriptions etc. 

Using parameters is the recommended way to configure nodes as this is the way that configuration can be made at run time by users.

With respect to ROS 2. I'd suggest making sure you're familiar with our [overview of composition](https://github.com/ros2/ros2/wiki/Composition) as well as our vision of a [managed node](http://design.ros2.org/articles/node_lifecycle.html) which adds a standard lifecycle on top which we can provide standardized tooling for managing ROS systems. This also gives a standard way to do initialization, configuration, and other transitions. 

For comparison you can also explore the [nodelet API](http://wiki.ros.org/nodelet) in ROS1.





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