Jump to content

Mads

Members
  • Posts

    453
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

Everything posted by Mads

  1. Start with something simple, then work from there... Here is an example of how it looks like with a simple test: The deflated string is binary so the string indicator/control is set to hex for the deflated input/output... If the content can be compressed too much and the expected length is not included it can fail yes....We had an issue with that where we could not change a protocol to include the length, we "fixed" it (increased the probability of success that is) by editing the inflate VI so that it would run a few extra buffer allocation rounds - you can do that too...
  2. We have server applications running on cRIO/sbRIOs (Linux RT) and the clients run on Windows. The TCP-based client-server protocol uses @Rolf Kalbermatter's zip tools to deflate/inflate all the time, to speed up the communication in both directions. It runs without a hitch. I do not have a target to test on right now, but it sounds like there was something else affecting the test you ran. If you have an example of some data deflated/inflated on both targets that might help. Did you run the same version (which?) on both targets?
  3. Everything works just as before in LabVIEW 2020 at least. We install it from NI Max using the custom software option.
  4. The path to the rtexe launched by the RTE is not fixed...so perhaps you could just change the given path before killing the current application? I have not tried, but if it works it would allow you to keep multiple rtexe files instead of overwriting them: On LinuxRT the path is in: etc/natinst/share/lvrt.conf which is an ini-file formatted file it looks like with the key: RTTarget.ApplicationPath=/home/lvuser/natinst/bin/startup.rtexe
  5. We normally just make the executable reboot the cRIO/sbRIO it runs on instead, through the system configuration function nisyscfg.lvlib:Restart.vi, but here are two discussions on killing and restarting just the rtexe on LinuxRT: https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-Linux-Real-Time-Discussions/Launching-startup-rtxe-from-terminal-or-linux-window-manager/td-p/3457415 https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-Linux-Real-Time-Discussions/Is-it-possible-to-close-and-re-open-RTEXE-through-Embedded-UI/td-p/3707540
  6. LabVIEW, as the Xerox GUI, needs a Steve Jobs... I was an Apple fan back in the 20 MB HDD days. It was only natural to fall in love with LabVIEW as well.๐Ÿคฉ
  7. I do not like to judge anyone by their official background but if we are talking about it his background prior to that seems to be mainly in hardware and testing. He has a lot of chiefs, vice presidents and fellows under him though...(Too many, with too much overlap is my initial reaction). I do not fully grasp how the top management ended up with those particular titles, but based on their titles I assume the two most responsible below him in the hierarchy for taking care of LabVIEW are the newly hired CTO, Thomas Benjamin (with SaaS background) and Scott Rust, as the Executive Vice President, Platform & Products, or? Where in the organization does Omid Sojoodi , the Senior Vice President of R&D, Software sit? This is the best organizational map I found. It has one role specifically for software strategy, but that's a software *sales* strategy role it seems?
  8. What I do not understand about the decision to change it into a subscription model is the timing (and pricing). With the (predicted) failure of NXG, NI should lay low and try to save as many customers as possible from running off scared. Looking at the numbers and seeing how much money they threw at NXG it seems as if they think; well we need to cover that cost... What they should do is conclude that they need to seriously change (revert?) how they run their business (especially the LabVIEW development projects). The true cost of NXG will continue to rise by causing damage to their brand; unless they *simplify* ownership, *lower* the price, increase the work to recruit new (starting with students) and keep customers -AND invest the required amounts into developing a proper "NXG" (it is the foundation for the ecosystem that makes NI great, the cost of it has to be divided on the whole system, not just the SW itself). When that work is well on its way, and only then, they can think about subscriptions (the SSP solution is much more customer friendly though) and increased prices.
  9. Is this an announcement you know will be made later today, or has it already been issued? In the latter case - do you have a link to it? I could not find anything... Or better yet - elaborate, if you can ๐Ÿ˜‰
  10. How realistic is the test setup that fails to reproduce the issue? Does it have the same potentially slow/unstable links/external devices, does it run the exact same operations etc? Perhaps a DNS server that disappears from the network now and then e.g, or other connected equipment that fails / you can cause errors in to expose potential issues? Is the test unit set up based on an image of the troublesome unit? More difficult obviously but can you alternatively downscale software/ turn off some of the tasks / remove parts of the code on the field unit to see if that removes the issue? When the cRIO fails to respond is it really dead locally as well, or is it running/responding locally? We have had units unreachable through existing network links due to DNS and other issues where we had to modify the code (remove any DNS lookups e.g.) to get it to respond properly... Have you tried enabling and reading the debug output from the device? We had some sbRIOs crash without much explanations due to a sudden spike in the memory usage (inferred, not fully observed) caused by a calculation that was triggered. There was no obvious reason; the debug logs and memory monitoring could not really explain why - we just had to push down the memory footprint until it started working... Have you tried formatting the cRIO in the field and setting it up again? Would it be possible to replace the cRIO in the field with another one - then bring the field unit back and use that to try to recreate the issue? If it stops in the field with the new cRIO it is most likely linked to the cRIO hardware...or a system corruption on it. If it shows up witht he new cRIO and not in the test setup the test setup is obviously not realistic enough...
  11. For logging of some of our more erratic parameters we are looking at using this algorithm. It is called "Largest-Triangle-Three-Buckets" and is quite simple to implement. For more gradually changing values (tempeatures or pressures e.g.) I found a nice compression algorithm many years ago that was patent-protected by GE at the time. The patent is expired now though, so it should be usable. I have attached a demo of that one here (run CACF_Demo and generate a fluctuating value with the slider to see how it compresses the data), it is called the Critical Aperture Convergence Filter. Critical Aperture Convergence Filter.zip
  12. In the example I posted earlier there is a tab at the bottom which (seemingly) scales nicely. It is a trick though...I described it a long time ago here. Maybe someday we get this implemented.... Or better yet, anchoring.
  13. Awesome as in unusual but cool / exploring new concepts in user interface design (often irritating the user in the long run though...) - or as in user friendly and nice (non-LabVIEW-typical?) looking? I too would love to see examples of what others have made. I can share some of the designs I have made myself or have influenced, that I think at least fit the user friendly but not typically LabVIEW-looking bill: We make monitoring systems and use LabVIEW to develop everything that runs on PCs and PACs. I have always put a lot of effort into making the user interfaces as nice, intuitive and recognizable as regular Windows applications (helps with the intuitiveness) as possible in G...The system typically consists of a headless service/embedded server (sbRIO inside a subsea device e.g.) gathering, analyzing and logging data from sensors, and exposing it to control systems or data historians through Modbus, OPC or CANOpen. Users can connect remotely to configure the server and view and analyze the results using application specific clients (through TCP, serial or CANOpen (Cia309.3 transparent links)). Here is a screenshot of the main window of one of the clients (this one is used for corrosion-erosion monitoring): We also make many of the tools we need to do tests and troubleshooting on these sensors and systems, and some of them we have chosen to release as shareware (CAN Monitor on the NI Tools Network e.g.). Here is an example of the Modbus Test Master: We do not earn much from the shareware, but since we want these tools ourselves anyway, and need to maintain them, having them out there at least do not cost us much. It also puts a bit of extra pressure on us to make even (some of) the internal tools look and work well.
  14. I agree with you, and would normally stick to just a File\Exit menu option and window close. As long as extra ways of closing the application do not harm (read: confuse) more than they help I would not argue too much against them though. It depends mostly on the type of application. Different people prefer different solutions (the true lesson in the 80/20 rule). A File>Exit (Ctrl+Q) menu option and the window close covers the standard methods, so they should always be there, but if the application might end up running on a computer with a touch screen, and access to an exit is desirable, having a button would be nice too - and not weird. (Assuming it is made distinct from other buttons that just stop sub-processes (as ShaunR mentioned earlier)). I am lucky to normally have the final say in such matters myself๐Ÿ˜ƒ. PS. We used to have a financial system that did not offer any save options. Instead you were always required to select print, and then Print to file (๐Ÿ’ฉ!). I would love to meet and have a chat with the people who designed and approved that solution๐Ÿ˜‰. (This was even before printing to pdf e.g. became a concept, which at least makes it partially recognizable as an *optional* route today).
  15. I have to agree with the requirement (although having an OK and a Cancel would suffice unless you also want to apply prior to closing the window). Stick to the norms established by the OS, familiarity is key. If I regret entering the dialog and/changing something having OK/Cancel there will allow me to recognise what to do in a fraction of a second. If this particular designer though it obvious that closing the window would revert...eh, I mean save the...hmmm. Do I need to change back the changes I did, or is it enough to close the window, I wonder....๐Ÿค”
  16. Hi, My guess is that you have set the Get Image method to use 16 bit colors. Use 24 bit and it will show up correct (I recreated and solved the issue just now by generating a front panel image of a screenshot of your original colors).
  17. What is the cost you are worried about? Is it speed, memory, or both? If it is speed - is the example representative? In that case I would calculate the window function within the inner loop and just output the result, not generate an array of all the subwindows and *then* apply the actual window calculation. The loop(s) can also be configured for parallelism to speed things up significantly (assuming you have more than one core at least)... More speed, less memory. If none of that reduces the cost enough you will probably have to do the processing in external (non-G) code.
  18. If only NI could implement my second most popular idea on the idea exchange ๐Ÿ˜‰ (please vote!). (Hopefully they can squeeze it in while working on my most popular idea/rant which partially covers this one anyway).
  19. What error code does the Modbus VIs return, if any? Can you try it towards a local Modbus TCP server/simulator, does that work better? Can you temporarily disable the firewall? I used your code as it was, just changed the IP, and it connected immediately to my local Modbus server and was able to read the registers, I also changed the addresses out of that server's range to verify that I got the expected exception response/error I showed earlier. If you can install Wireshark I would use that to sniff and compare the traffic from the LabVIEW code with the one you generate with Qmodmaster (post the Modbus traffic here and we can decode, Wireshark can help you as it is able to decode Modbus too).
  20. A couple of notes: a) The code you have will work for reading *Holding* registers (not input) from a slave/server on the given IP and port, but only if that server ignores the unit id or happens to have unit id=1. If it requires a different unit id (many Modbus TCP servers expect it to be 0), right click on the modbus master wire and insert the "Set Unit ID"-function, then wire the correct id to that. b) Assuming the unit id is not preventing the server from bothering to answer you should still get replies from the device even if it does not have any holding registers available, but the replies will then be exception responses and the functions you use will then return an error looking like this (create an indicator within the loop to see it imemdiately): Error -389112 occurred at an unidentified location Possible reason(s): LabVIEW: (Hex 0xFFFA1008) The Modbus slave does not accept the data address contained in the query. Function 3 c) Why two Modbus master connections to the same device? It might support it, but during troubleshooting I would remove the second loop and focus on getting one working.
  21. I'll leave the logic to others for now, but here are a couple of initial observations: 1) If these tables can get larger you might consider making the table cell formatting more efficient: Defer front panel updates (updating table GUI for each step is extremely slow) then format the table cells and headers in one go before you reenable front panel updates. If all rows of all columns are to have the same format anyway (empty ones can get the same as they are empty anyhow) you might as well set the active cell to -2,-2 and apply to all. If the headers are to be different you can then apply a reformatting of all of them afterwards using a -1, -2 combo (kudo this idea to avoid that last step in the future...). 2) The OpenG toolkit has "Remove Duplicates" and "Sort 2D array" functions you could use to get the unique and sorted week and models. If you have LabVIEW 2020 the same functions are available as VIMs on the array palette. 3) Avoid the repeated searches, e.g. by running an auto-index-driven set of for loops and simple equal or not checks instead. As others have mentioned already using a feedback node / shift register to keep track of whether to insert a 0% or not is likely to be part of the solution. Personally I would probably be lazy and just initialize the whole table with 0% and leave it at that ๐Ÿ˜„, but that might be misleading here...and not as pretty. Working from the bottom up filling in 0% on empty cells after the last entry has been found (state kept in feedback/shift reg) is another idea. The fact that you want to fill APR W3 all the way down to the end of APR W2 makes it necessary to include the state (end index) from the previous column as well though, not just whether or not there is an entry lower in the same column.
  22. I have not seen that. It is not the NI Tools Network your thinking of, is it? We did put one product there as it relies on NI hardware, but otherwise it feels more right for libraries and coding tools than generic applications...
  23. I recently needed to figure out a good way to get a piece of shareware (developed i LabVIEW) distributed to the various popular download sites. It does not really matter which programming language or tool(s) were used in the development so I did not search for help on this here or at ni.com. One good source I found was this https://www.fatbit.com/fab/promote-software-app-online/ It did strike me as a bit curious though that we never really discuss such matters. Most applications developed in LabVIEW are probably not generic enough to be released through such channels, but sometimes they are, and unless you have your own sales and marketing people that are familiar with software you might need to do the job yourself. Perhaps some of you have been through this with your products already and have some tips and tricks to share? One generic product we have *not* released this way yet uses the OPC UA API. The distribution license requirement NI puts on it makes it too cumbersome to handle ๐Ÿ˜’ One of the things I discovered from the mentioned web site was the use of PAD-files. I created an account at AppVisor and started working on a file for the shareware we were to release. You can edit, save and publish the PAD file, but very few download sites automatically discover your software that way so I soon came to realize that I needed to pay AppVisor a fee for them to submit the software to the download sites. I did try to submit to my favourite download site myself first (download.com), but they never published it on their site. The AppVisor submission service came in different price categories and as I did not expect the software to generate that much sales I chose the cheapest option for now which only gives you 4 submissions per year to 100 sites, but it is a starting point. One thing I soon learned was that the download links should be made permanent. At first I used links that contained the version and build number , and that got cumbersome very quickly as we soon needed to submit a few bug fixes and updates... I also had to create program descriptions of various standardized lengths, provide links to icons, screen captures etc. Having a video or two showing some of the features is probably a good idea as well. Reading tips and tricks from other sites I started mentioning and/or linking to the product on social media, but tried to do it rather discreetly as I personally hate obvious marketing๐Ÿคข. I still got marked very quickly as "spam" on one site - even though I had only mentioned the product in a relevant setting, and along with similar competing products ๐Ÿ˜ฆ. It makes me appreciate the work our sales people normally do for us. They are too busy selling our main products so I have not bothered them much with this.
  24. I have seen this a couple of times in my applications and a fix then has always been to either remove all but English, or support all languages on the run-time languages page in the application builder (perhaps any change there is what is really doing the trick, I have not explored that as I have always just moved on when the error disappeared).
  25. Just to tie off this thread: The reason for the glitch was that the wiring allowed for a minuscule race-condition ๐Ÿ˜’. One minor adjustment was needed to ensure everything was *only* decided by the enqueue scheduling. So no worries about that anymore ๐Ÿ˜€
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.