ShaunR

QUOTE (jpdrolet @ Apr 17 2009, 01:00 AM) I guess my pro-grammar skills aren't up to scratch Would "I feel like a lemon" be better?

Nope. It's not online.

QUOTE (crelf @ Apr 17 2009, 06:16 AM) The same people who pay you for the time you spend posting on this forum

Oh. And just remembered! there's a login example in the examples directory :;

lol.. Can't see for looking. Feel stupid now!

QUOTE (crelf @ Apr 6 2009, 09:05 PM) Go on then Here's a more up to date conundrum in a similar vein (everyone says sequence structure are bad...but everyone uses them...even NI) Of the following two methods to build a vi global. Which is better? http://lavag.org/old_files/monthly_04_2009/post-15232-1239919373.jpg' target="_blank">

One of my old gripes since version 2.0 about the development environment.

And when I post the result in the code repository, I'll remember to charge you if you download it!

Hmm. Not sure about getting screwed (it's not that expensive) but I have complained many times - every time I upgrade in fact. That said, I'm not talking about the Serial Key (I've got one of those that covers everything) I'm talking about the activation codes since the development PC isn't connected to the internet I have to phone up NI and (always seems to be a girl called Sam.....lol) they look my details up and maybe a day later 25 e-mails come through with the activation codes which I then have to get to the other machine. Real pain in the proverbial 2-3 times a year especially if they miss hear the computer ID or I haven't upgraded all the items!

Can anyone give me a link to OBEX FTP protocol spec or a list/description of the headers (like the OPP 0x02 for put). I've been looking high and low and can only find API references.

this will help with the IP address: IP And try this: Name

Or download the password class in the code repository From then on (simplest) its just a case statement with an exit function in the false frame if the password fails and your sub-vi in the true frame if it passes

Another one to add to this

QUOTE (khokhar @ Apr 15 2009, 09:10 AM) Under windows methods such as DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) or Automation Servers can be used to communicate with things like Excel, Word etc. It enables you to access methods and properties exposed by the application (including things like save and savAs). If you search the net you will find examples for Labview and there is The Report Generation Toolkit which enables interaction with Excel and Word amongst others. BUT. Not all apps expose their internal methods so it really depends on the program you are trying to control. If the program uses a proprietry file format and does not expose any methods then you are stuck. The other alternatives are to recreate the file format from within Labview (or any other language for that matter) or cludge it by sending key strokes and mimic a user but I hate this method with a vengence and it can be very unreliable.

I do have a developer suite which on a SSP, and no. I don't get a single license for all the packages. Apprently thats only for a volume license agreement...I've tried!

Can reproduce it too. If you resize the window it sorts itself out. Looks like a refresh problem. I can get round it by writing to the bounds property of the vi (i.e forcing a refresh). But that doesn't enable you to "restore".

QUOTE (Neville D @ Apr 13 2009, 09:03 PM) I have also used cFP for testing Train Valves, machine control and factory monitoring (many moons ago now). I disagree you are paying for robustness and ease of use. I think you are paying a premium for the NI name. For most of my applications it's the channel count vs cost that is prohibitive. I find dumb 32channel Gigabit Ethernet digital/Analogue IO is far more cost effective and easier to manage (IP65 compliant @ £600 all in) than any of the NI solutions. Even a PLC is 1/3 the price if you really must have real-time. QUOTE Again, your mileage may vary but I regularly use wireless connectivity to view camera output for alignment and calibration in a vision application in a saw-mill. The distance to wireless node is about 50m through lots of steel walls with no problems. I get about 9 frames/s but thats good enough for my application. This is using a regular laptop with 802.11g with commercial OTS networking hardware (nothing fancy, custom or expensive). Does it matter if you lose a frame now and then? I looked into using wireless camera's for checking rogue parts from from several bowl feeders that were feeding an assembly line. The process line was spread out over a 180sq ft factory floor with the operator in a cubicle at the end (wireless was an ideal solution). From testing, we randomly lost 1 in 30 frames on average and this went up to 1 in 12 if someone used bluetooth near the furthest feeder. Another example was a wireless remote alarm system that would feed back monitoring info to a central monitor. We had so many false alarms because the IT department had whitewashed the place with their wireless APs (it was cheaper than wiring and.....typically, they wouldn't let us near them!), just so the sales guys could wander around with their laptops and still have internet (although we did cause them grief as well ). I regularly VNC into machines wirelessly, but wouldn't trust it for serious remote control or acquisition. QUOTE I guess the ultimate choice of hardware depends on needs as well as budget. Neville. NI PCI cards are cheap, reliable, have high channel counts, easy to use and I go for them every time. But for remote acquisition there are far more cost effective and better solutions out there if you have the courage to step away from the warm fuzzy NI bubble. QUOTE (crelf @ Apr 13 2009, 09:21 PM) Make sure there is a requirement to go wireless - some sites specifically rule-out wirelss (military, standards comissions, etc). Amen!

cFP are not cheap. You start at about £1,000 just for the controller and once you've added the backplane, and IO you are generally looking at about £2K+. RIO's (as far as I'm concerned) are just repackaged fieldpoints. Considering you will have multiple end points, you will need a controller for each point (NI will love you a lot). DO NOT GO WIRELESS!!!! (especially if you are in an industrial environment) unless you really have to. There aren't many pro's but shedloads of cons.Wires don't drop connections and interference is rife in the 2.4GHZ band. Also solid structures (like walls, cabinets and even people) attenuate the signal immensely. Just search the net for problems people have getting a signal from one side of their house to another let alone 200m!.

Or you could just password protect them or save without diagrams. The advantage of DLL's as proposed by djolivet is that they don't require the full development environment (do you really install a Full Labview License on every target machine????); just the run-time engine which is installed as part of test stand anyway! It really depends on how often you need to make changes. Generally, Vi's are always converted to DLL's as the last phase of the release before deployment especially if it is for a customer and not for internal use.

If you start with the Labview Test Sequence Example (which I think we would all agree is useless) and change the individual tests to a single dynamic load, add a report,pre-test and post test VI (again dynamic load). With a bit of thought about the Data interface (2D array works best ) you can pretty much do 80% of what Test Stand does with a text file that tells the program which VI's to load. Discuss....lol.

QUOTE (hfettig @ Apr 11 2009, 04:56 AM) Unless you really need real time acquisition I wouldn't go with RIO (very expensive). PC as the controller (pc cards are cheap and you have the full flexibility and scalability of LV without the LV RT and memory restrictions) and any 3rd party ethernet acquisition modules (better channel count than NI e.g http://www.acromag.com' rel='nofollow' target="_blank">Acromag).

QUOTE (David Wisti @ Jan 23 2009, 06:04 PM) Yeah. Just what I need. Another license key to add to the 25 I already have!

Ive used Test Stand quite extensively over the years for testing and the biggest problem seems to be that it tries to be all things to all people. If it just stuck to being a sequencing engine then it would be fine. If your tests are all read some data from a device, record the result and check for a pass/fail and and spit out a pass/fail report at the end and your doing that over and over again regardless of number of UUT's and no user interaction, then its superb. However, if you are doing test like set a pressure and record the response over time and check that it reaches 70% in ...say 1 second, then you find it has severe limitations. In fact, you will probably end up writing a special piece of code to do that test because it's easier. If you have to write most of your tests in code, then basically you are just using it as a sequencing engine. You seem to end up exchanging one programming environment (e.g Labview, Labwindows,c++ or whatever) for another (Test Stand). And Test Stand doesn't do it quite right! You also have to write a large majority of the tests in code anyway and make them fit in. I now use the rule of thumb that if I have to write special test code for 40% of the tests (like the example above) , then the Test Stand overhead isn't worth it and will opt for a proprietry solution. As people have mentioned. It is a steep learning curve, but that is because you require an in depth knowledge of its features and functionality even to do fairly trivial things.

QUOTE (Ic3Knight @ Apr 11 2009, 09:11 AM) Using termination characters requires that a received message doesn't contain the character (otherwise you would return 1/2 way through a message). From your example, you only send 0x01's and 0x00's so jdunham is correct in that you can safely use 0xC0 as a term char for reading. Sending is different in that when you initialise using the VISA Configure Serial port vi, it does not set the termination char for writing (take a look inside, you could change that if you wanted to), rather, it sends the string you wire to it and terminates immediately once sent regardless of the characters in the string. So the short answer is yes 0xC0 would still get sent if you wired the term char 0xC0 to VISA Configure Serial port vi since the term char only affects reading.

QUOTE (crelf @ Apr 6 2009, 07:56 PM) Like I said. It depends on distance and whether he wants to build an interface or buy off the shelf.