[codex] Add MQTT antenna display names by s53zo · Pull Request #2881 · aethersdr/AetherSDR

s53zo · 2026-05-19T21:10:42Z

What changed

Added a small MQTT antenna alias parser/queue helper for display-name updates.
Added per-port topics under aethersdr/antenna/name/<TOKEN> and a bulk JSON topic at aethersdr/antenna/names.
Wired MQTT messages into RadioModel antenna aliases only after a connected radio has a stable identity, and clear pending updates on disconnect.
Documented the topic contract in the in-app help and added focused regression tests.

Topic design

Fixed AetherSDR-owned default topics are intentional for this first version. They provide a stable automation contract and keep the existing MQTT applet settings small. If operators later need multiple independent AetherSDR instances or station namespaces, a configurable base topic such as aethersdr/<station>/... can be added without changing the alias parser semantics.

Verification

cmake --build build --target AetherSDR mqtt_antenna_alias_test antenna_alias_test -j4
ctest --test-dir build -R 'antenna_alias_test|mqtt_antenna_alias_test' --output-on-failure
git diff --check HEAD~1..HEAD
Manual MQTT publish to aethersdr/antenna/name/ANT1 through broker 10.0.10.9:4883; confirmed the running app updated the local antenna name.
Independent code review pass completed; blocking findings were addressed before this PR.

External coax switches can change which physical antenna is attached to a fixed radio port, so MQTT needs a small display-name contract that updates AetherSDR local aliases without changing radio protocol tokens. The parser is broker-independent and testable: per-port topics update one canonical token, bulk JSON updates a snapshot, invalid tokens are ignored, and empty/null values clear aliases. The delivery path waits for a stable connected radio identity before persisting aliases, and drops disconnected updates so names cannot leak into a later radio. Constraint: Radio commands must keep using canonical Flex antenna tokens Constraint: Existing MQTT applet has a user-managed subscription list Rejected: Configurable MQTT topic prefix in this PR | broader UI/settings surface; fixed defaults give a stable first contract Confidence: high Scope-risk: narrow Directive: Do not route antenna display names into SliceModel rxant/txant commands Tested: ctest --test-dir build -R antenna_alias_test\|mqtt_antenna_alias_test --output-on-failure Tested: cmake --build build --target AetherSDR mqtt_antenna_alias_test antenna_alias_test -j4 Tested: Manual MQTT publish to aethersdr/antenna/name/ANT1 via broker 10.0.10.9:4883 Not-tested: MQTT broker authentication/TLS variants Related: #2880

aethersdr-agent

Thanks for the careful work here, @s53zo — the design is tidy and the test coverage on the parser/queue is exactly the kind of focused verification this codebase rewards. A few observations:

Design / conventions — Looks good:

Routes through RadioModel::setAntennaAlias/clearAntennaAlias, so the existing AntennaAliasStore per-radio persistence (chassis-serial-keyed) does the right thing automatically.
The MqttAntennaAliasQueue separation makes the identity-stability rule (isConnected && (chassisSerial || serial)) cleanly testable, and the tests cover the disconnect-drop and stable-flush paths.
The shared_ptr<MqttAntennaAliasQueue> capture in the three lambdas (slot + connection state + infoChanged) is the right call since m_radioModel and the applet outlive each other and Qt's this-receiver semantics handle teardown.
Help doc clearly states these are display names only and AetherSDR still sends canonical radio tokens — important distinction for operators.

Minor things worth thinking about (none blocking):

Stability check vs. antennaAliasRadioKey() fallback chain. hasStableRadioAliasKey requires chassisSerial OR serial, but RadioModel::antennaAliasRadioKey() (src/models/RadioModel.cpp:530) falls back further to model/name/nickname. So a radio that reports identity only via model/name will queue forever and never flush. Intentional (avoids polluting non-canonical keys), but worth a one-line comment in the lambda so the next reader doesn't try to "fix" it.
infoChanged fires often. setFullDuplex and other non-identity changes will all retrigger flushPendingMqttAntennaAliases. The flush is a cheap empty-map iteration when there's nothing pending, so this is fine — but if the queue ever grows, every infoChanged would re-emit each alias. Coalescing via QMap::insert in receive() keeps the queue bounded per-token, so OK in practice.
Bulk JSON ignores non-string/null values silently. {"ANT1": 42} produces no update and no log line. Probably fine since this is operator-side automation, but a qWarning for unexpected types would help debugging a misconfigured Node-RED flow. Defer if you'd rather not expand scope.
Topic-prefix design. The fixed aethersdr/antenna/name/* prefix is fine for v1 as you noted in the PR body. If/when a configurable base ships, the parser's API (takes topic + prefix function) makes that a clean extension.

Nothing here is blocking — the implementation is clean, scoped, and tested. Nice work.

…iases # Conflicts: # src/gui/MqttApplet.cpp

ten9876 · 2026-05-23T01:43:37Z

Claude here — pushed merge commit `3b8dda86` resolving the
`MqttApplet.cpp` conflict against current main.

The conflict was purely adjacent-add in the includes block: this
PR added `#include "core/MqttAntennaAlias.h"` on the same line range
that an unrelated recent change (#2958 MQTT keychain) added
`#include "core/LogManager.h"`. Kept both, no semantic change.

All three intended PR additions verified post-merge:

Include of MqttAntennaAlias.h (line 4)
Tooltip line at `MqttApplet.cpp:132` ("Antenna names: …")
onMessageReceived alias-parsing block at lines 321-322

Local Release build clean. The new `mqtt_antenna_alias_test`
runs 25/25 green including the queue-lifecycle cases —
cross-radio replay prevention, identity-stable gating, and
disconnect-clear behavior all verified.

On the two non-blocking items I noted in review:

The `infoChanged` flush hook fires on every RadioModel property
change, but the work-when-empty path is sub-microsecond
(empty-map iteration). Skipping — pure noise.
Auto-subscribing to `aethersdr/antenna/name/+` would be a useful
ergonomic improvement but is a feature-request-sized change that
needs its own design pass (when to subscribe? unsubscribe on
applet disconnect? collision with user-managed Topics field?).
Worth a follow-up issue if users actually trip on it.

Will admin-merge once CI lands green.

@s53zo — really clean module decomposition. The
`MqttAntennaAliasQueue` separation in particular handles the
retained-MQTT-message-before-radio-identity case cleanly — that's
the kind of detail that's invisible to most users but matters a
lot in real station-automation deployments where the broker sits
between AetherSDR and the antenna switch.

73,
Jeremy KK7GWY & Claude (AI dev partner)

ten9876 · 2026-05-23T02:21:34Z

Claude here — merged. Thanks @s53zo, this is exactly the kind of
station-automation integration the project benefits from.

The implementation discipline stood out:

The AppSettings key-constraint workaround was specifically called
out in code comments (`per-IP keys would be invalid in AppSettings'
XML/dotted path — IPs start with a digit and IPv6 has ':'`). That's
load-bearing detail that disappears into tribal knowledge if not
documented at the call site.

The IP normalization (`::ffff:a.b.c.d` → IPv4, `::1` → `127.0.0.1`)
prevents the same physical client from being filed under two
different alias spellings depending on which address family it
happened to connect over.

The identity-stable queueing handles the retained-MQTT-message
case cleanly — the broker delivers retained messages immediately
on subscribe, before AetherSDR knows which radio it's talking to;
the queue holds those updates until the radio's serial is known,
preventing alias leakage across reconnects to different radios.

25/25 parser tests including the queue-lifecycle suite, plus
real-hardware verification against your `10.0.10.9:4883` broker —
that thoroughness shows.

Ships in v26.5.3. Operators with Antenna Genius / external switch
automation can now publish current antenna labels via MQTT and
have AetherSDR's display reflect them in real time.

73,
Jeremy KK7GWY & Claude (AI dev partner)

Fixes aethersdr#2880 ## What changed - Added a small MQTT antenna alias parser/queue helper for display-name updates. - Added per-port topics under `aethersdr/antenna/name/<TOKEN>` and a bulk JSON topic at `aethersdr/antenna/names`. - Wired MQTT messages into `RadioModel` antenna aliases only after a connected radio has a stable identity, and clear pending updates on disconnect. - Documented the topic contract in the in-app help and added focused regression tests. ## Topic design Fixed AetherSDR-owned default topics are intentional for this first version. They provide a stable automation contract and keep the existing MQTT applet settings small. If operators later need multiple independent AetherSDR instances or station namespaces, a configurable base topic such as `aethersdr/<station>/...` can be added without changing the alias parser semantics. ## Verification - `cmake --build build --target AetherSDR mqtt_antenna_alias_test antenna_alias_test -j4` - `ctest --test-dir build -R 'antenna_alias_test|mqtt_antenna_alias_test' --output-on-failure` - `git diff --check HEAD~1..HEAD` - Manual MQTT publish to `aethersdr/antenna/name/ANT1` through broker `10.0.10.9:4883`; confirmed the running app updated the local antenna name. - Independent code review pass completed; blocking findings were addressed before this PR. Co-authored-by: Jeremy Fielder <kk7gwy@aethersdr.com>

s53zo marked this pull request as ready for review May 19, 2026 21:30

s53zo requested review from AetherClaude, jensenpat and ten9876 as code owners May 19, 2026 21:30

aethersdr-agent Bot reviewed May 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into codex/mqtt-antenna-al…

3b8dda8

…iases # Conflicts: # src/gui/MqttApplet.cpp

ten9876 mentioned this pull request May 23, 2026

Route MQTT updates to local antenna display names (#2880). Principle I. #2882

Closed

ten9876 merged commit c1b9ec9 into aethersdr:main May 23, 2026
5 checks passed

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Uh oh!

[codex] Add MQTT antenna display names#2881

[codex] Add MQTT antenna display names#2881
ten9876 merged 2 commits into
aethersdr:mainfrom
s53zo:codex/mqtt-antenna-aliases

s53zo commented May 19, 2026

Uh oh!

aethersdr-agent Bot left a comment

Uh oh!

ten9876 commented May 23, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ten9876 commented May 23, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

2 participants

Uh oh!

Conversation

s53zo commented May 19, 2026

What changed

Topic design

Verification

Uh oh!

aethersdr-agent Bot left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

ten9876 commented May 23, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ten9876 commented May 23, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

2 participants