Found a way to unify the hdr_output_folder so that it's set across both

the publisher and the camera_simulator with just the flag

event_camera_simulator/esim/src/camera_simulator.cpp

@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
 #include "opencv2/imgcodecs.hpp"
 
+#include <esim/common/hdr.hpp>
 #include <esim/esim/camera_simulator.hpp>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <ostream>
 #include <ze/common/file_utils.hpp>
 
-#define FRAME_DIR_PATH "/home/arno/sim_ws/out/frames"
-
 static uint frame_number = 0;
 static std::ofstream exposures_file_;
-static std::string output_folder = "/home/arno/sim_ws/out";
 
 namespace event_camera_simulator {
 
@@ -69,7 +67,7 @@ namespace event_camera_simulator {
         static uint frame_number = 0;
 
         std::stringstream ss;
-        ss << output_folder << "/frames/frame_" << std::setfill('0')
+        ss << hdr_output_folder << "/frames/frame_" << std::setfill('0')
            << std::setw(5) << frame_number++ << ".exr";
         std::string frame_path = ss.str();
         cv::imwrite(frame_path, *camera_image);
@@ -80,7 +78,7 @@ namespace event_camera_simulator {
         // );
 
         exposures_file_.open(
-            ze::joinPath(output_folder, "exposures.csv"),
+            ze::joinPath(hdr_output_folder, "exposures.csv"),
             std::ios::app
         );
         exposures_file_ << time << "," << frame_number << ","

event_camera_simulator/esim_common/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ catkin_simple()
 set(HEADERS
     include/esim/common/types.hpp
     include/esim/common/utils.hpp
+    include/esim/common/hdr.hpp
 )
 
 set(SOURCES
     src/utils.cpp
+    src/hdr.cpp
 )
 
 cs_add_library(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SOURCES} ${HEADERS})

event_camera_simulator/esim_common/include/esim/common/hdr.hpp

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <gflags/gflags.h>
+
+extern std::string hdr_output_folder;

event_camera_simulator/esim_common/src/hdr.cpp

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#include "esim/common/hdr.hpp"
+
+DEFINE_string(
+    hdr_output_folder,
+    "/home/arno/sim_ws/out",
+    "Folder in which to output the events."
+);
+
+std::string hdr_output_folder = FLAGS_hdr_output_folder;

event_camera_simulator/esim_ros/cfg/from_folder.conf

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
  --path_to_output_bag=/tmp/out.bag
  --path_to_data_folder=/tmp/tests/frames
+ --hdr_output_folder=/home/arno/sim_ws/out
 
  --ros_publisher_frame_rate=60
  --exposure_time_ms=10.0

event_camera_simulator/esim_visualization/src/hdr_publisher.cpp

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 #include "esim/common/types.hpp"
 #include "kindr/minimal/rotation-quaternion.h"
 
+#include <esim/common/hdr.hpp>
 #include <esim/common/utils.hpp>
 #include <esim/visualization/hdr_publisher.hpp>
-#include <gflags/gflags.h>
 #include <glog/logging.h>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <opencv2/highgui/highgui.hpp>
@@ -12,12 +12,6 @@
 #include <ze/common/path_utils.hpp>
 #include <ze/common/time_conversions.hpp>
 
-DEFINE_string(
-    hdr_output_folder,
-    "/home/arno/sim_ws/out",
-    "Folder in which to output the events."
-);
-
 namespace event_camera_simulator {
 
     /**
@@ -80,13 +74,13 @@ namespace event_camera_simulator {
     }
 
     Publisher::Ptr HdrPublisher::createFromGflags() {
-        if (FLAGS_hdr_output_folder == "") {
+        if (hdr_output_folder == "") {
             LOG(WARNING) << "Empty output folder string: will not write "
                             "hdr files";
             return nullptr;
         }
 
-        return std::make_shared<HdrPublisher>(FLAGS_hdr_output_folder);
+        return std::make_shared<HdrPublisher>(hdr_output_folder);
     }
 
     HdrPublisher::~HdrPublisher() {