A concern for help

[taufiqfny]

Hi guys

 

I'm currently an intern student at a small time company which uses LabVIEW. I only know how to do Java, C & C++ programming that was taught by my school. I was tasked by my boss to create an Annual/Leave Medical Leave Record System for company use by using LabVIEW only. The company I'm interning at doesn't provide training and I'm basically a sitting duck here. Is there a good tutorial site for me to create a normal software with LabVIEW that doesn't have to deal with data acquisition?

[JKSH]

I'm currently an intern student at a small time company which uses LabVIEW. I only know how to do Java, C & C++ programming that was taught by my school. I was tasked by my boss to create an Annual/Leave Medical Leave Record System for company use by using LabVIEW only. The company I'm interning at doesn't provide training and I'm basically a sitting duck here. 

 

Wow. How much time have you been allocated? Are there any other LabVIEW developers in the company you can talk to?

 

 

 

Is there a good tutorial site for me to create a normal software with LabVIEW that doesn't have to deal with data acquisition?

 

Here are some official tutorials: http://www.ni.com/academic/students/learn-labview/ (You probably don't need #7: Signal Processing)

 

 

Good luck!

[viSci]

Sounds like a database application.  You could develop in Microsoft Access and then wrap your stored procedures in LabVIEW.  There are some good examples in the Database toolkit for that.

[hooovahh]

The standard links I use are the following for free training.

 

NI Learning Center

NI Getting Started

-Hardware Basics

-LabVEW Basics

-DAQ Application Tutorials

-cRIO Developer's Guide

 

3 Hour LabVIEW Introduction

6 Hour LabVIEW Introduction
Self Paced training for students
Self Paced training beginner to advanced, SSP Required
LabVIEW Wiki on Training

 

There are lots of ways of doing your task, and much of it will depend on what the developer is comfortable with.  Since you aren't comfortable with anything, I'm not sure what to suggest.  An Access database seems a bit advanced for a new developer, but other options are quite custom, dealing with various text files for instance.

[ShaunR]

Rule #1 of arbitrary verbal tasks. Get a signature and a delivery date!

 

First hing you must do before writing any code is get a signature as to what the software will actually do. You need definitive answers to questions such as will it support bank holidays in EU, Asia, USA or all of the above? Does the week start on Sunday or Monday (or is it configurable)? Does "only allowed to use LabVIEW" mean you cannot use a database?.

So you need to create a requirements and a design document that details how the software will function then get your boss to sign them! The requirements doc will tell you if you have finished (does the software meet all the requirements). The design doc will tell you how to achieve the requirements (we'll use a MySQL database with these tables and these user interface dialogues). Sneak in a line that says you can use other languages other than LabVIEW to see if they actually read it If they don't then you have given yourself a get-out clause that they have signed that will allow you to fall back to a more comfortable language if time constraints bite or things are too difficult..Signed words trump hearsay, period! Politics- the anathema to engineering

 

You will want to (if possible) use a database so SQL will be your main language, technically. Design this from the bottom-up. Start with your DB, figure out the schema and all the queries then choose your language to generate and display the results of those queries (in this case LabVIEW). Think of your UI as just a string generator for issuing commands and displaying responses. This is the easiest implementation to understand and code for. When you get good at LabVIEW you can be more adventurous but for now KISS!

 

The Database Communication in LabVIEW tutorial is a good starting point to ease you into it. It finishes at just the point where the LabVIEW starts. Get the DB right then just bolt on a front end. You can even get it all working in Java or whatever then swap it for a LabVIEW front end to fulfill the "must use LabVIEW" requirement.

 

This is a 1 day programming, 1 day documenting and 3 weeks learning LabVIEW type of task.

Edited April 24, 2015 by ShaunR

[taufiqfny]

Wow. How much time have you been allocated? Are there any other LabVIEW developers in the company you can talk to?

 

 

 

 

Here are some official tutorials: http://www.ni.com/academic/students/learn-labview/ (You probably don't need #7: Signal Processing)

 

 

Good luck!

 

About 4 months. Now till 28th August

 

Rule #1 of arbitrary verbal tasks. Get a signature and a delivery date!

 

First hing you must do before writing any code is get a signature as to what the software will actually do. You need definitive answers to questions such as will it support bank holidays in EU, Asia, USA or all of the above? Does the week start on Sunday or Monday (or is it configurable)? Does "only allowed to use LabVIEW" mean you cannot use a database?.

So you need to create a requirements and a design document that details how the software will function then get your boss to sign them! The requirements doc will tell you if you have finished (does the software meet all the requirements). The design doc will tell you how to achieve the requirements (we'll use a MySQL database with these tables and these user interface dialogues). Sneak in a line that says you can use other languages other than LabVIEW to see if they actually read it If they don't then you have given yourself a get-out clause that they have signed that will allow you to fall back to a more comfortable language if time constraints bite or things are too difficult..Signed words trump hearsay, period! Politics- the anathema to engineering

 

You will want to (if possible) use a database so SQL will be your main language, technically. Design this from the bottom-up. Start with your DB, figure out the schema and all the queries then choose your language to generate and display the results of those queries (in this case LabVIEW). Think of your UI as just a string generator for issuing commands and displaying responses. This is the easiest implementation to understand and code for. When you get good at LabVIEW you can be more adventurous but for now KISS!

 

The Database Communication in LabVIEW tutorial is a good starting point to ease you into it. It finishes at just the point where the LabVIEW starts. Get the DB right then just bolt on a front end. You can even get it all working in Java or whatever then swap it for a LabVIEW front end to fulfill the "must use LabVIEW" requirement.

 

This is a 1 day programming, 1 day documenting and 3 weeks learning LabVIEW type of task.

 

I forgot to include that I'm actually quite familiar with SQL such as outputting/writing datas from/to database etc. Its just that the UI has to be created with LabVIEW. I'll draft up a design document like what you said about sneaking in a line or two with another language.

[ShaunR]

I forgot to include that I'm actually quite familiar with SQL such as outputting/writing datas from/to database etc. Its just that the UI has to be created with LabVIEW. I'll draft up a design document like what you said about sneaking in a line or two with another language.

 

Great. That's the hard bit sorted then.

 

Designing the UI is no different from other visual languages-you have a form (front panel in LabVIEW parlance) and you place controls on it. You  just need to learn how too use the editor (the LabVIEW IDE), Once you realise there is no separation between source code and front panel and the only difference between a user interface and a VI is visibility of the front panel (see the VI properties), you should find things really easy.

Edited April 25, 2015 by ShaunR