ASTDan

Take a look at this

PDF Tookkit for LabVIEW

I use Cute PDF to create pdf non programatically

Hope that helps

Create the symbol in MS word then copy and paste it over to the string constant.

I am up for my 3rd CLD recert.

When I got my CLD I really leaned a lot in the process. I think going through the process has a lot of value.

Yes every recert is a little scary but I usually learn something that I would't have otherwise. Isn't that the point?

So good luck!!

A cluster is a collection of variables. A collection of variables is not a "constant". Is it within the rights of NI and the LV community at large to assign a different (and contradictory) meaning to a term that has already been well defined in the field of math and sciences for centuries? I would have thought someone at NI would have had a similar concern.

IMHO every word, term, or name ever thought up by humans was made up by somebody sitting around a fire in an altered state of mind...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWN9rTc08GU

I'll be at the Omni

Sun: ??

Mon: Alliance Day

Tues: ??

Wed: NI Party

Thurs:Home

Really looking forward to NI week this year. A whole week of sleep in a quiet room! My wife is very jealous...

The Library on 6th street has $1 cocktails. I always try to stop in.

OK I think I figured out a cool solution.

I recorded a macro using excel's filter capability.

1. I recorded a macro in excel and named it Trigger

2. Using excel's filter function I selected the column of data I wanted and set up the filter parameters (i.e. number greater than 1).

3. Saved the template with the recorded macro

4. In my LabVIEW program after I copy the template and populate the data I can run the excel macro "Trigger" from LabVIEW.

This looks like it works great.

Hello,

I have an interesting feature request that I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I am acquiring data using LabVIEW and storing the data into excel. I have an excel template that I am copying and I am populating the data into the excel template. This works great!

My customer wants the excel template to contain a macro that filters the data.

The data filter algorithim would act like a trigger.

The algorithim would look at a user specified channel until it found a trigger value (i.e. number greater than 2). Once it found that value the algorithim would hide the excel rows from time 0 to time x (x being the trigger value).

Is there a library of excel macro's that might have something similar to the functionality described? Would this be difficult to develop an excel macro to do what I described.

Thanks

Dan

Solved by using a system call to the task manager

Thank you Mr. Hamilton for the poke in the side.

But the program was written and the customer asked for this specific feature after the fact.

But for those of you interested in the actual answer to the riddle

:ninja: Just found it =8^ )

allowmultipleinstances=True

just throw it into the exe's INI file

works like a charm

This is a cool feature!

Here is the official NI word on it

How can I tell if there is an application instance already open? I have a use case where the customer wants 2 instances of the program. Instance 1 uses com1. Instance 2 uses Com 2. I have the com port info saved in an .ini file. I need the 2nd instance to use a 2nd .ini file.

So I need to detect if there is an instance already running. If so use the 2nd ini file. Any suggestions?

Dan

I see your new sub-VI has error handling implemented (Diaper). .

The diaper error handler only handles 2 error cases. Poop or pee. (Number 1 or 2 if working with integers)

The general error handler (crying) gets called for all error cases . Currently I am tying to lower the crying amplitude property. The default is set WAY to loud. Any suggestion on where this is located would be appreciated. I filed a bug report with the hospital but they are ignoring me.

My Suspicion would be a quarter bridge (strain) load cell.

See this tutorial on the subject

http://zone.ni.com/d...a/tut/p/id/3642

I've got to communicate dynamically with several stations which carry out essentially the same operations, where the parameters are individually input by UI and operation by semaphore-controlled tool function.

Right now I've got the project set up as a QSM as seen in the attached photo.

The top level VI initializes itself, the subVIs and then is idle while the subVIs operate unless an error or stop command is passed. I find myself saving each subVI as a unique file in order to maintain operation of the state machine for each, rather than what seems logical - to place a single reentrant VI. This brings to light my question - is there a better option than a QSM?

Check this out

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=390557

I have used this architecture in some of my projects. I like this when I need to send message to dynamically running VI's

It depends on what you mean by "help documentation" - we use an internal tool (written in LabVIEW of course) that compiles chm file for all our reuse libraries, but we have word templates for user manuals for systems and visio templates for quick reference guides (example below).

I have been creating html files in word and the compiling them in .chm. Then I have a "Help" in the meunu bar that points to the .chm. Right now I just put operator help. This is for exe I develop for my customers. For the project I am working on right now I want to put links in the .chm file to pdf of the manuals for the hardware the customer is using. My idea is to have documentation that lives with the program. This way it is easier for the customer to manage. I have gotten some positive feedback on this.

The software I develop is no where near the scope of what you take on, however you have made me think about other documentation I could be including. So what other documentation do people release with their executable i.e. help files, user manuals, bom, etc

Hello,

I have been using Microsoft's HTLM Help Workshop to create help files.

Is there something better?

What do people use to create and manage their help documentation.

Thanks

Dan

That may open up possibilities for visiting sections of Austin that you haven't explored in previous years without renting a car.

So what is on the line that would of interest?

This looks really Cool!

UI Testing

Has anyone done this?

Do you other people archive their exes/packages in their SCM?

I have read this can be deemed bad practice - you should only check in non-generated files.

I don't put my .exe in SCC. I do however tag the code that was used to build the exe. This way I can easily look at the state of the code that corresponds to that built exe version.

Is anyone else planning to attend a FIRST Regional Competition? If so, which one? I'm curious who's involved in FIRST, and encourage everyone to go see a competition near you if you can.

I'm volunteering at the Boston Regional March 25-27, and would be interested in meeting other LAVA members there.

I will be at the West Michigan Competition

March 19-20

But after a lot of costly bug fixes, Darth = Good.

He became Anikin again after the bug fixes.

Anikin = Good

Darth = Bad

It's not very surprising. Different people have often very different ideas about what is good and bad. We all grow up with this fuzzy idea that good and bad are some absolute state of everything, and fully believe in it. But you can't measure good and bad effectively. The only thing you can measure is if something adheres to some standard who everyone of course assumes to be good.

It leaves a shallow feeling about ISO quality certification and all that hype among common people and I think not without reason. It's abstract because it does not match our perception of good and bad, but it's the only way you can measure something objectively. As soon as you start to use good and bad you are in a subjective perception, no matter how hard you try.

I think the idea of quality is market driven. You want to make your products at a level that your customers trust your product will work as intended for a certain length of time. However not to high where it becomes cost prohibitive. That being said the market is constantly changing. There was mention of LabVIEW 5.1.1 being a stable version. However that version did not have Events, OOP, DAQmx, and a host of other features that we now consider essential. I think it is fair to say our expections of LabVIEW has risen over time.

I have an engineering school example. We had to design something for a machine design class. One of the concepts we were learning was MTBF (Mean time before failure). Well I designed something that had a MTBF of like 40 years. My professor came down on me hard for the following reasons: The cost to make this was HUGE, my part would weigh A LOT, and did the market really want something that lasted that long? Also if everyone bought one of my super great products what then? They didn't need anymore for 40 years!

Another example is a light bulb. I am sure a light bulb can be made to last 20 years. Are you willing to pay $20 it, or does paying $1 for a light bulb that lasts 3-5 good enough. From a company perspective having that replacement period 3-5 years is a nice revenue stream.

Another concept I found very interesting was the higher you go up the standard deviation curve (2,3,4 standard deviations) the cost to achieve this is exponential. Again is the market willing to bear these higher costs?

Different people have often very different ideas about what is good and bad

Luke = Good

Darth = Bad

That is the name of the game: which tool is appropriate where? For the application you described, I would probably do something similar as you. By no means is there a single "good" way nor is there a silver bullet for every application (no matter how much we want there to be).

So to answer mstoeger's original question, yes you can save a queue reference in a FGV and it does work well. Is it really want you want to do? Well, that's for you to decide based on your application needs. My experience has been that queues work best with only one reader/consumer. Following that methodology, I would not put your Dequeue Element inside of you FGV if that is the route you want to take.

I put all my queue functions inside a FGV accept the Dequeue.

100 bugs that take 3000 manhours to fix is crappy code.

I have found bugs that in order to fix them I have to re-architect some of my code (taking many hours).

Also, with experience and new knowledge I have learned better, more effective ways of doing things. I am sure NI, like all human beings are continually evolving.

In a perfect world it sucks to pay for bugs fixes. That being said I think we would all go broke if nobody paid us to fix ours or somebody elses mistakes. Trying to minimize bugs I think is very good practice but to expect a bug free product without expecting to pay big bucks and I don't think is practical.

Good, Fast, Cheep

Pick 2

My $0.02

And I am the exact opposite (formative years were spent living in Duluth Minnasota). I generally reply to the

"Well is it cold enough for you?" with the reply,

"Its OK and I prefer this to the summer. In the winter you just put on another layer of clothes. In the summer the are days when you can't take enough off."

Ben

I prefer the cold too. I have always liked right after it snows, so quiet.

Last year we only turned the AC on twice.

OK, here's a recap of some of the things I experienced this past week:

1. I saw people swimming in an outdoor pool (around 8 AM).
2. I saw people sunbathing.
3. I had lunch outside.
4. I had lunch in a hotel restaurant atop a mountain overlooking the ocean with the sun shining.
5. I drove about four minutes from where I live and saw the snow on the mountains about 60 miles away.
6. I walked around in sandals and a short-sleeved shirt.

P.S. Regarding "Snowmaggedon" - I drove by the actual Armaggedon₁ a few times this week and there was no snow in sight₂ .

1. For those who don't know this, Armaggedon comes from "Har Meggido", which means "Mount Meggido" in Hebrew, and it's about 35 minutes from where I live₃.
2. Not that there would be. The "mountain" is only a few hundred meters in height.
3. The site is actually by a pretty major crossroads, hence its importance throughout history. There are always people hitchhiking there and I always thought the name "Hitchhiking at Armaggedon" would be a great name for a prog-rock album₄.
4. Don't you just love nested comments₅?
5. Help! How do I stop₆?
6. Aaaaaaaah!

When it's summer I will brag I can walk outside and not melt into a puddle of goo from the heat.