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The LapDog team is pleased to announce the LapDog.Messaging 2.0 Beta package is available for download from our SourceForge repository. In addition to the conveniences found in version 1, such as built-in error trapping and priority queues, version 2 introduces a few key time-saving improvements: Simplified Data-less Messaging Sending a data-less message in version 1.x required users to drop a Create Message method on the block diagram, attach a string to the Create Message's 'Message Name' terminal, and finally wire the message object to the EnqueueMessage method. It's not particularly difficult, but it does get repetitive and uses up block diagram space. Version 2.0 streamlines the process and allows users to send a data-less message by connecting a string directly to the EnqueueMessage's 'Message' terminal. Improved Message Renaming One of the principles of good application design is encapsulation. In other words, try to limit the amount of information that passes between distant parts of your application. Changing a message's name as it travels down the message handling chain helps keep information localized and can improve readability. Version 2.0 makes this easier by factoring out the RenameableMessage class and moving the RenameMessage method up to the Message class. Now all messages have the built-in ability to be renamed, eliminating the annoying step of downcasting a Message object to a RenameableMessage object just so it can be renamed. New Namespacing Unfortunately, removing the RenameableMessage class breaks backwards compatibility, making direct upgrades a little more difficult. Since backwards compatibility is already broken, we decided to use this opportunity to change LapDog's namespacing and bring it more in line with modern text languages. Libraries are organized into a "virtual" hierarchy using a dot naming convention. For example, the linked VIPM package contains two different libraries: LapDog.Messaging.v2.lvlib contains the queue classes a few core messages. LapDog.Messaging.v2.NativeTypes.lvlib is an extension library containing message classes for select data types in Labview and is dependent on the core Messaging library. It is hoped that using this naming convention will make it easier for developers to understand how libraries (and packages) relate to each other without having to dig into the source code. The new namespacing also makes it possible to have different major versions installed side-by-side without cross linking or conflicts, allowing you to try out the beta without worrying about breaking existing applications. So what are you waiting for? Download it now and give it a try! (Don't be afraid to leave feedback... positive or negative.)

How about use a shift right? The output is then "Is Odd?"