bbean

I created an Xnode that pops up a dialog when the user drops it on the block diagram for configuration. However, when I put the Xnode inside a Merge VI (so I can add it to a function palette menu), the On Drop Ability doesn't fire when the merge VI is used. I guess this is because its not really dropped but merged. Is there another ability that will handle this situation in a Merge VI? Couldn't find an OnMerge ability so I tried using "On Owner Change" ability, but it fires anytime you put code around the xnode (like a case structure, etc) or copy it to another diagram which could make the popup dialog very annoying quickly. On a separate note, why can't I add an Xnode directly to a functions palette menu?

Thats where I was headed, but wasn't sure what the downsides to using the control reference were (other than speed I presume).

In the attached example, I'm having trouble figuring out why the references Traverse G - objects.vi returns for typedefs do not have the control name embedded in variant data when they are registered for Value Changed Events (enabled diagram). It seems to work fine for controls that are not typdefs. If I explicitly find the controls using VI panel properties (disabled diagram), everything works fine but I have situations where the traverse Gobjects would be preferred since it can go through nested tabs / controls etc. Am I missing something simple. Typedef Value Change.vi

Code looks the same as before. Where is new technology?

Hi Porter, Very nice library you put together. One quick question. Is there any reason the RX/TX data and timestamps are not available as a Read Property from parent Modbus Master Class. In situations where a device could be either a serial or tcp modbus, it would be nice to have access to that information at the parent level since it appears (unless I'm missing something) that the data is common to both the TCP and Serial Class. Brian

Can anyone give a link to Amazon or CDW to purchase the Microsoft Windows 7 license they run on their Virtual Machines (for a single developer/machine)? You will be my hero and I will owe you multiple rounds of beers. Or do people develop on Win7 VM's in the cloud on Rackspace or AWS? Or a tutorial about how to accomplish developer VMs / snapshots with a Windows 7 license? Added bonus LabVIEW version snapshotting/licensing. I gave up on Windows VMs after getting stuck in an infinite loop entering the Microsoft Licensing Vortex .

I like the idea of having separate project based configurations stored on the local machine and being able to switch quickly between them. Would there be a way to "trick" VIPM/LabVIEW to point to "project specific" user.lib / vi.lib directories using symbolic links?

Your code looks Ok. Have you tried using a serial sniffer (such as device monitoring studio) while the OEM software is running? This will give you a clearer idea of how it communicates if you are able to make the OEM software work. It looks like you have a bunch of duplicate COM ports left open, probably a result of not stopping the program gracefully. You can modify or use the attached VI to close these duplicate ports. (There may be a better version out there to do this but I can't find it right now) But I don't think thats the root cause of your problem. Also, try starting at address 1 (instead of address 0) VISA Close All.vi

The best way to debug would be if the mfg'r provided a test software and you get that working first (without labview open) that will verify your hardware layer. Then move to LabVIEW and software layer. 99% sure its not the "functions" you are using. If you don't have access to the mfg's software, start at the hardware level and read the OEM manual (i couldn't find it on line): Is the interface RS-232, RS-485, or RS-422? Does your USB to Serial converter support the hardware layer above? If its RS-232 to you have the TX and RX lines swapped incorrectly? Are you sure the COM port is assigned to COM1? Plug and unplug the converter and see if COM1 disappears from windows? Moving to the software layer What does the manual say the default COM settings are? Baud Rate = ? Parity = ? Data Bits=? Stop Bits= ? What is the default Modbus device address? Based on your screenshot, it looks like you are trying to read from a starting address of 0. Usually the address is a higher number. Do you have the address list from the mfg?

Is it OK to put an Actor's "Internal Data" into its class control? or does it need to be empty? I ran out of space on the actor diagram and had to make SubVIs to parse some messages and handle some follow on actions. The internal data is a relatively big cluster and takes up a lot of space on the front panel of the SubVIs and could be cleaned up if it was a class wire. Do you try to keep everything on the top level block diagram as good practice? I think I remember one of JKI's style guidelines for their "state machine" recommending to keep the state string constants at the top level for clarity. Also opening another can of worms...do you often have parent-child inheritance situations where an actor inherits from another? For instance, for an "instrument" do you have an abstract parent and implementation in a child actor or do you make the messages abstract (message names shared between the same instrument type) such as "measure" and "set range" and the actors of the same instrument type do not inherit?

I can't really narrow down what causes it. But it seems like if you copy the read var xnode from the existing diagram and wire the same cluster type to it, its fine. But if you select a new instance of the xnode from the addons pallette and place it on the diagram and wire to the same constant, then save it crashes. I don't know if that helps narrow it down to an ability or not. Also it doesn't seem to happen with the string data type. So far I have just seen it on clusters. It may be a labview bug and be unrelated to the xnode. I have no idea.

I've been having problems with intermittent crashes and LabVIEW hangs recently using the Variant Repository xnodes in LV2015SP1. More specifically Read Variant Repository.xnode. Has anyone else had problems in LV2015SP1? http://www.screencast.com/t/tj15qFGRc

Been waiting for an excuse to install 2015

In the spirit of dreaming, I think what would also add to this idea would be a new LabVIEW primitive called TypeDetectDisableCase Structure that would work like a case selector for datatypes, but would automagically (like an Xnode) disable the irrelevant case and enable the relevant type case for the inputs. I think having all the code in one VI (even for different types) is key so you don't end up with a Xnode solution that circles back to the polymorphic situation where you have a bunch of template subVIs to manage.

Interesting. Good find. If you look at the front panel enumerator for Terminal Behavior there is another option "Depends" and also a "dependency chain array" control and "index of dependency" control below it. Any speculation as to what that option would be for.?

Are you suggesting one could copy/modify that Xnode to extend its capabilities to their liking?

After reading this LabVIEW Idea exchange request: http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Provide-a-better-way-to-implement-a-polymorphic-VI/idi-p/920487 I was inspired to create VI macro(s) to attempt to address the problem mentioned in the request. Attached is my first attempt and I'm looking for feedback since I know people here have strong opinions. The benefit of this method is that a single vim (or 2 could replace a polymorphic VI with over 48 separate VIs....unless I'm missing something. I know that VI macros are not officially supported by NI, but that hasn't stopped us from using unsupported features before. Some people have probably already done something like this, but I couldn't find an example. To use the files, unzip them and copy them all to your \LabVIEW (version)\user.lib\macros\ directory. Create the directory if it does not exist. For example: C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2014\user.lib\macros\ And as described in the wait-ms-with pass through post below, modify your LabVIEW.ini file to have the following ExternalNodesEnabled=True and Optionally XNodeWizardMode=True http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-Idea-Exchange/Wait-ms-with-error-pass-through/idc-p/3178218#M31820 Open the Example Changed.vi and review. Changed Example.zip

Just a quick warning....based on the image you attached you have some parallax going on so the measurements of particle size will become more inaccurate (appear larger than actual) as you move away from the center of the image. You can see it in the ghosting of the droplets in the upper-left corner of the image. Depending on how accurate you need to be, you may have to go to a telecentric lens or move your camera farther away so that the majority of the image is in the center of the FOV.

Does anyone have any experience good or bad with the PicoLog 1000 and LabVIEW? https://www.picotech.com/data-logger/picolog-1000-series/multi-channel-daq

I have been having problems with Remote Front Panels not working anymore with IE as of the lastest MS security update. See here https://lavag.org/topic/19216-labview-ie-plugin-blocked-following-latest-win-7-update/ NI is still working on the issue, but based on my discussions it appears support for Remote Front Panels is bleeding a slow death. Here's how I would summarize the situation to date if you have the latest and greatest software versions and OS (Win7) updates: Internet Explorer - Does not work, reason unknown (may be an ActiveX signing (Not Verified) or registration issue), being investigated (slowly) by NI Chrome - DOES NOT WORK, npapi plugin no longer supported by Chrome and will not load in the latest version of Chrome Firefox - Does not work by default, requires changing plugin settings to work. Opera - Works currently, but plugin will not be supported in the future according to Opera Regarding your situation with Firefox, I think you should be able to get it to work. My colleague was able to get Firefox working by changing some plug in settings. I am having trouble finding a link to the steps he took. This page looks old but may work: http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/CF91AE26198992A686257B79006959C0 Opera browser should work out of the box

Think of the scenario where you were a manufacturer who made single axis motion controllers and sold them to LabVIEW developers. You want to create a single axis "service" so the user can just plop down the VI as many times as he has axis (SP?) and you have no idea how many axis are in his system. could be 1 could be 100 I mocked up a crappy example in the project file After going through the exercise, I think you may be right even though it was unintentional . You just have to add an extra item to the event cluster contents that describes which axis sent the message. But the reason I went down the path of trying to have a variable name for the SREvent was so that there could be separate unique events / event handlers in the caller VI to handle each axis separately. But looking at the approach I took in the code attached, I think its cleaner and less work. VIX Event w Motion 2014.zip

Should be fixed in this one. Sorry about that. VIX Event 2014.zip