davidd31415

I am not a professional LabVIEW programmer but I do work on computers quite a bit and when developing I find GUI design to be the most annoying thing to do with a mouse. When I'm writing a LabVIEW program I feel like 90% of the work is GUI design. Between the block diagram, the wiring, keeping the block diagram clean, and then of course, the front panel itself, there is so much GUI work in there that I feel more like I'm doing CAD work than actually programming. I tried out an HP tx2 12.1" tablet/laptop convertible over the weekend and although I did not do any serious developing on it, I did feel that using the tablet mode for LabVIEW programming was absolutely amazing. Some of the points in this thread that I'd like to respond to are: *finger accuracy I agree using a finger and "touch" mode would not be suitable for programming LabVIEW but using a stylus is completely different. The speed at which I could select items from the toolbars, drag them, precisely position them, select groups, and move them around blew me away. I wired a small VI and then cleaned it up in just seconds where the fine mouse movements would have taken me considerably longer otherwise. *grand movements & keyboard entry The screen size is only 12.1 inches. The shoulder movements are hardly more than those required to switch between the keyboard and mouse. I could use the handwritting tool that Vista ships with to complete text entry rather quickly. Granted, if I had to enter in more than 5-10 characters at a time it may be beneficial to switch to keyboard mode momentarily but if I'm just entering in a number or one word label, the handwriting tool is quite effective. Again, I haven't used this for a serious project yet so I am not saying the person who has years of touch development is wrong, just that when I wrote a small program on this I felt I could do so quite quickly. I will need to compare the speeds at which I can write such a program with a mouse and on the tablet. I found it difficult to find a comfortable working position. Using this device on my lap in a commuting or recreational atmosphere was not comfortable- the angle was too low. Using a laptop stand with it was too bulky. I felt the best solution would be to use it on a desk as if it was a sheet of paper and I was writing on it. The problem here is that the screen on the hp tx2 does not offer a wide viewing angle. This was my first AMD, first hp, and first computer I purchased from a big-box store. It is both inexpensive and cheap (from a quality perspective). If the processor frequencies are not cut to 25% it runs over 70C most of the time. One of the keyboard keys was broken out of the box. Due to these reasons (the broken key being the most significant factor) I am planning on returning it. I haven't tried a Wacom tablet yet but that's my next stop. I would like to see a Wacom tablet which has a small LCD screen on it to help with a general positioning on the larger screen but I'm not sure how practical that would be. Edit: Wacom's 12" Cintiq functions exactly like this. I'd like to try this but I don't want to shell out $1000 for a pointing device/screen only.

Has anyone seen a VI online which would display a portion of a graph in a second graph window? I'm thinking of oscilloscopes which allow users to place two cursors and then view the data which is between them in a "zoomed-in" view. The ability to then easily move the two cursors simultaneously is then very useful. I first used a feature like this on a Yokogawa ScopeCorder DL750 (they call it "GigaZoom") and I believe most new oscilloscopes offer something similar. I think I can quickly make something crude but I'd like to have a nice, smooth interface... If one isn't available and I do make one, is there a repository online where VIs are uploaded, commented on, and improved? Thanks, David

I am using 8.0 now, I'd rather have the most recent version but anything would be nice, Intermediate and DAQ. I've taken the Basics I and II courses but times are tough and courseware is the only choice I have for now. I do have LabVIEW for Everyone and the DAQ book in that series. If I could get the courseware books for $70 I'd be thrilled LOL. I have been learning quite a bit in NI's forums, I haven't worked with this one much yet.

Been looking for these and the DAQ manuals, anyone have a copy?