File that one under "Exotic bug" - The Vestigial .NET Constructor Terminal (47sec video)

[JackDunaway]

This took a decent amount of debugging and headscratching to figure out why a particular .NET call kept failing.

I inadvertently discovered and wired a "vestigial" output terminal that exists on .NET Constructor Nodes in LabVIEW 2012. Interestingly, this output terminal returns the same datatype as the "real" output terminal, yet does not return a valid ref.

Pretty sure this is a CAR-able bug, but just documenting behavior here just in case someone else runs into this. (Can you think of possibilities to exploit this as a feature??)

Here's a 47sec YouTube video with no sound; Vestigial Terminal at 25sec:

...and for the sake of organic search: Error 1172 - "LabVIEW: A .NET exception occurred in an external assembly. For information about correcting this error, copy the following exception (in bold), and search the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site or the Web for a possible explanation."

And in case the resolution for this "error" and my "bug" was not clear: I just had to rewire the terminal to the "correct" output. Further, my choice of .NET assembly, constructor and property for the demonstration was arbitrary; this appears to affect all .NET Constructor Nodes.

[asbo]

Did you find this in code you loaded from a previous version of LabVIEW, by chance?

[JackDunaway]

Did you find this in code you loaded from a previous version of LabVIEW, by chance?

Nope; this does not appear to be an upgrade mutation bug. Brand new install of LV2012, brand new code. I just accidentally stumbled upon it coding with sausage fingers. You can drop a .NET constructor and check yourself; I'm curious if it exists in LV2011 or previous.

Edited August 29, 2012 by JackDunaway

[asbo]

Yep, reproduced this in LV2011SP1f2, LV2010SP1, and LV2009 (all 32-bit). Guess you're the first lucky guy to find this - and know about it.

[JackDunaway]

Yep, reproduced this in LV2011SP1f2, LV2010SP1, and LV2009 (all 32-bit). Guess you're the first lucky guy to find this - and know about it.

If only this were my first .NET Mugatu Moment recently ...

*Mugatu Moment - an internal struggle so confusing and contradictory that, neither absolutely nor ostensibly, one is unable to determine whether one is indeed "taking crazy pills"

[crelf]

*Mugatu Moment - an internal struggle so confusing and contradictory that, neither absolutely nor ostensibly, one is unable to determine whether one is indeed h "taking crazy pills"

[Ton Plomp]

And the constructor node has even more 'Vestigial' (had to look that word up in the dictionary) nodes:

Ton

[Mr Mike]

No, that's not supposed to happen.

Filed as CAR 368608.

[asbo]

And the constructor node has even more 'Vestigial' (had to look that word up in the dictionary) nodes:

The left most one looks like the normal ref terminal...

[Mr Mike]

The left most one looks like the normal ref terminal...

That's what I thought at first too. However, the terminal takes up the whole left side of the top of the constructor node (the yellow part). A reference input is normally just the height of a terminal plus a few pixels into the yellow area.

[Phillip Brooks]

Maybe someone who is connected on LinkedIn with Brian Tyler could share this discussion with him and ask if the terminals had a purpose...