Framework for creating Session-based APIs

[Stobber]

Hi folks -

Norm Kirchner created a nifty framework for building APIs that I decided to polish up and publish for everyone. I uploaded it to the NI Community forums first, but I though I'd post over here to garner discussion about it, too. Here's a little information about it:

The framework uses a single LVOOP class -- your API is a child of that class -- to add several nice features to your API. It does this via two functions that are named "Obtain Session" and "Release Session" by default.

1. Multiple instances - You can instantiate multiple unique copies of your session, each with a unique string name to identify it. So if you have a session named "Serial Waveform" and want to generate multiple different serial messages in your program, you can do so by simply creating multiple wires and naming them uniquely.
2. Multiple accessors - Because the sessions are uniquely named, you can obtain a reference to any session that already exists from anywhere in your application space. This is analogous to the behavior provided by LV Notifiers and Queues.
3. LV Class features - Your session is implemented as a class in LabVIEW, so you get all the nice features of classes: encapsulation and inheritance, password protection of private methods, and (in LV 2010) native property nodes
4. Simple interface to C and TestStand - The session handle is a DVR to your class. This means that your methods, when called from TS or C/C++, only have to pass an integer (the DVR) to the caller. This is much much nicer than passing a cluster.

"Obtain Session" and "Release Session" are required in your API, but you can rename them and edit most of their behavior to act however you like. I've attached a set of slides that gives the full story and list of benefits. The demo projects are also attached as examples of using the framework.

The rest (slides, installers and examples) is here: ESF Document on NI Community