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Development environment

Since openOBD is using gRPC technology, your openOBD client software might be written in many different programming languages.

We will use Python for our examples since it is used very often in the public domain and a rather easy to learn scripting language. We have written ready-to-go packages for use in Python clients.

Python

To develop your client in Python there are several options when it comes to choosing an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). We present an off-line and an on-line option.

  • PyCharm!   PyCharm

    The PyCharm IDE can be downloaded and run on your own computer. It is available for different platforms like MacOs, Linux and Windows. You can download it here

    Learn more

  • Replit!   Replit.com

    Replit.com is an on-line IDE platform where you can develop in loads of different languages, one of them is Python. It is an easy environment to demonstrate example code and can be used to share code examples.

    Learn more

Requirements

In order to program your openOBD client in Python there are some minimal requirements for your setup in order to work properly.

Minimal requirements

  • The minimal Python version should be Python 3.11
  • The Python package openobd needs to be installed in your environment (available through Python package manager pip)
  • The host grpc.openobd.com should be reachable over port 443
  • The environment variables defined in openobd_credentials.env are loaded into the environment where your Python script runs

If you follow the Replit setup, you will automatically meet these requirements

PyCharm IDE  PyCharm!

When you meet the requirements for the Python environment defined above, the most convenient way for developing might be to use the PyCharm environment. It should not be too much work to get everything running, but for sake of simplicity and clarity we will continue with our setup with Replit.com. Since it is an on-line and controlled environment, and we have a verified setup that can be used by anyone. See this page if you would like to set up Python locally.

Replit IDE Replit!

We choose to demonstrate the example setup in Replit.com. We have defined a template where the minimal requirements (defined above) are satisfied. This template can be forked by anyone who is interested.

Replit setup

✔   Perform the following steps to set up your own environment with Replit

Create a Replit.com account

Create a Replit account on Replit.com

Fork a clean copy of the openOBD Demo template
  • Click 'Open on Replit' button below and choose to 'Use template'

  • Click 'Use template'

Use template 1
Click the 'Use template' button

  • Fill out the name and description you want to use for your example

Use template 2
Fill out details of your openOBD demo

Configure your environment variables
  • Load your environment variables. They need to be configured first.
  • In the bottom left corner you will find the > Tools sidepane.

Partner login
Open the > Tools sidepane in the bottom left corner

  • After opening the > Tools sidepane you will find a red indicator 🔴 at the secrets indicating a problem.
  • The problem is that the secrets need to be filled out yet.

Partner login
The secrets are not present (indicated by 🔴)

  • Open the secrets section and fill out OPENOBD_PARTNER_CLIENT_ID and OPENOBD_PARTNER_CLIENT_SECRET that are specific for your system (credentials)
  • The other values are:
    • OPENOBD_CLUSTER_ID=001 and OPENOBD_GRPC_HOST=grpc.openobd.com

Partner login
Fill out your credentials

  • Finally, your saved values should look like this.

Partner login
Secrets should look like this (masked values)

Continue to the next step: Create ticket using the customer portal