LabVIEW Introduction Course Semester

National Instruments 11500 N. Mopac Expressway Austin, Texas 78759 (512) 683-0100

National Instruments Confidential

Graphical Programming for Test, Measurement, and Control

Rapid application development with Express VIs and easy-to-use graphical environment Interactive measurement assistants and powerful redesigned DAQ interface for connecting to all types of I/O Expanded targeting options from Real-Time to FPGA to PDA Localized in French, German, and Japanese (Korean documentation)

LabVIEW Awards
Readers of Electronic Design name invention of LabVIEW as one of the Top 50 Milestones for the Electronics Industry LabVIEW 6.1 receives IAN Automation Excellence Award of 2002 Design News awards LabVIEW 6i Best Computer Productivity Tool of 2000 LabVIEW 6i chosen the Best of the Best in the software category by readers of Evaluation Engineering

NI LabVIEW: A History of Innovation

May 2003 January 2002 August 2000 March 1998 February 1996 August 1993 September 1992 January 1990 October 1986 April 1983 LabVIEW 7 Express VIs, I/O Assistants, FPGA/PDA targets LabVIEW 6.1 Enhanced networking capabilities, analysis LabVIEW 6i Internet-ready measurement intelligence LabVIEW 5.0 ActiveX, Multithreading LabVIEW 4.0 Added professional tools, improved debugging LabVIEW 3.0 Multiplatform version of LabVIEW LabVIEW for Windows LabVIEW 2.0 for Macintosh LabVIEW 1.0 for Macintosh LabVIEW project begins

Leveraging Commercial Technologies

Third-Party Software

Communication Protocols
Ethernet CAN DeviceNet USB IEEE 1394 RS-232 GPIB RS-485

Wolfram Research Mathematica Microsoft Excel The MathWorks MATLAB and Simulink MathSoft MathCAD Electronic Workbench MultiSim Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio Ansoft RF circuit design software Microsoft Access Microsoft SQL Server Oracle

LabVIEW Everywhere
Sensor Embedded (FPGA) Handheld Wireless Networked I/O PC Boards Industrial Computer (PXI) Tektronix Open Windows Oscilloscopes PC, Mac, Linux, Sun Workstation

The LabVIEW Family

NI LabVIEW
Graphical Programming Software for Measurement and Automation

LabVIEW Real-Time Module

LabVIEW FPGA Module

LabVIEW PDA Module

LabVIEW Datalogging and Supervisory Control Module

Acquire, Analyze, and Present

Nearly all test, measurement, and control applications can be divided into 3 main components: the ability to acquire, analyze, and present data. LabVIEW is the easiest, most powerful tool for acquiring, analyzing, and presenting real-world data.

Acquire with LabVIEW

LabVIEW can acquire data using the following devices and more:
GPIB, Serial, Ethernet, VXI, PXI Instruments Data Acquisition (DAQ) PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) Image Acquisition (IMAQ) Motion Control Real-Time (RT) PXI PLC (through OPC Server) PDA Modular Instruments

LabVIEW is tightly integrated with all NI hardware, in addition to connecting to thousands of I/O devices from hundreds of different vendors.

Analyze with LabVIEW

LabVIEW includes the following tools to help you analyze your data:
More than 400 measurement analysis functions for Differential Equations, Optimization, Curve Fitting, Calculus, Linear Algebra, Statistics, etc. 12 new Express VIs specifically designed for measurement analysis, including filtering and spectral analysis Signal Processing VIs for Filtering, Windowing, Transforms, Peak Detection, Harmonic Analysis, Spectrum Analysis, etc.

Powerful measurement analysis is built in to the LabVIEW development environment.

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Present with LabVIEW

LabVIEW includes the following tools to help you present your data:
On your machine Graphs, Charts, Tables, Gauges, Meters, Tanks, 3D Controls, Picture Control, 3D Graphs (Windows Only), Report Generation (Windows Only) Over the Internet Web Publishing Tools, Datasocket (Windows Only), TCP/IP, VI Server, Remote Panels, Email Enterprise Connectivity Toolset SQL Tools (Databases), Internet Tools (FTP, Telnet, HTML)

Presentation with LabVIEW can be done on your PC or over a network, or you can take advantage of additional applications such as DIAdem.

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Course Map
Introduction to LabVIEW Modular Programming Clusters Data Acquisition & Waveforms

Plotting Data Instrument Control

Repetition & Loops

Decision Making in a VI

Arrays

Strings and File I/O

VI Customization

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Course Goals
This course prepares you to:
Understand front panels, block diagrams, and connectors/icons Use the programming structures and data types that exist in LabVIEW Use various editing and debugging techniques Create and save your own VIs so you can use them as subVIs Display and log your data Create applications that use plug-in data acquisition (DAQ) boards Create applications that use GPIB and serial port instruments

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Course Non-Goals
It is not the purpose of this course to discuss the following:
Every built-in LabVIEW object, function, or library VI Analog-to-digital (A/D) theory The detailed operation of the serial port or GPIB bus How to develop an instrument driver

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Lesson 1 Introduction to LabVIEW

TOPICS LabVIEW Environment Front Panel Block Diagram Dataflow Programming LabVIEW Help and Manuals Debugging a VI

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Virtual Instruments (VIs)

Front Panel Controls = Inputs Indicators = Outputs

Block Diagram Accompanying program for front panel Components wired together

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LabVIEW Dialog Box

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Creating a new VI
FileNew VI to open a blank VI

FileNew to open the New dialog box and configure a VI template, global variable, control, etc

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Template Browser

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Menu

File Edit Operate Tools Browse Window Help

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Front Panel Window

Front Panel Toolbar Boolean Control Waveform Graph Owned Label Waveform Graph Plot Legend Scale Legend Icon

Graph Legend

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Block Diagram Window

Block Diagram Toolbar SubVI Graph Terminal Wire Data Divide Function

While Loop Structure

Numeric Constant

Timing Function

Boolean Control Terminal

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Front Panel and Block Diagram Toolbars

Run button Continuous Run button Abort button Pause/Continue button

Font ring
Alignment ring Distribution ring Resize ring Reorder ring Additional Buttons on the Context Help Button Block Diagram Toolbar Execution Highlighting button Step Into button Step Over button Step Out button

Warning indicator Enter button Broken Run button

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Tools Palette
LabVIEW automatically selects the tool needed Available on the front panel and the block diagram

A tool is a special operating mode of the mouse cursor

Use the tools to operate and modify front panel and block diagram objects To show the tools palette, select WindowShow Tools Palette

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Front Panel Controls Palette

Controls Palette
Contains the most commonly used controls

All Controls Palette

Shows all controls

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Block Diagram Functions Palette

Functions Palette
Contains the Express VIs (interactive VIs with configurable dialog page) and the most commonly used functions

All Functions Palette

Shows all functions

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Palette Tools
Click pushpin to tack down palette

Up to Owning Search Palette Options Palette

Graphical, floating palettes Subpalettes can be converted to floating palettes Use Palette Options to change palette view from Express to Advanced

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Searching for Controls, VIs, and Functions

Press the search button to perform text searches of the palettes Click and drag an item from the search window to the block diagram or double-click an item to open the owning palette

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Customize Control & Function Palette

Programs National InstrumentsLabVIEW 7.0

Keep vi.lib in the LabVIEW 7.0 directory Place items in user.lib or instr.lib to have them appear in the Controls and Functions palettes

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Creating a VI Front Panel

Build the front panel with controls (inputs) and indicators (outputs)

Owned Labels
Increment Buttons

Numeric Indicator

Boolean Control

Boolean Indicator

Numeric Control

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Shortcut Menus for Front Panel Objects

Right-click the digital display to access its shortcut menu Right-click the label to access its shortcut menu

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Property Page
Right-click a control or indicator on the front panel and select Properties from the shortcut menu to access the property dialog box for that object

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Creating a VI Block Diagram

Front Panel
Control Terminals

Block Diagram
Indicator Terminals

Wires

Nodes

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Express VIs, VIs and Functions

Express VIs: interactive VIs with configurable dialog page Standard VIs: modularized VIs customized by wiring Functions: fundamental operating elements of LabVIEW; no front panel or block diagram

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Block Diagram Nodes

Icon Expandable Node Expanded Node

Function Generator VI Same VI, viewed three different ways Yellow field designates a standard VI Blue field designates an Express VI

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Block Diagram Terminals

Terminals are entry and exit ports that exchange information between the panel and diagram
Terminals are analogous to parameters and constants in textbased programming languages Right-click and toggle View As Icon to change the icon view

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Wiring the Block Diagram

Scalar Numeric 1D Array
2D Array

Boolean
String Dynamic

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Wiring Techniques
Automatic Wiring Use Context Help Window when wiring Right-click wire and select Clean Up Wire Tip Strips Automatic wire routing Right-click terminals and select Visible ItemsTerminals

Hot Spot

View the terminal connections to a function

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Dataflow Programming
Block diagram executes dependent on the flow of data; block diagram does NOT execute left to right Node executes when data is available to ALL input terminals

Nodes supply data to all output terminals when done

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Context Help
To display the Context Help window, select HelpShow Context Help, press the <Ctrl-H> keys, or press the Show Context Help Window button in the toolbar Move cursor over object to display help Connections: Required bold Recommended normal Optional - dimmed
Simple/Detailed Context Help Lock Help More Help

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LabVIEW Help
Click the More Help button in the Context Help window Select HelpVI, Function, & How-To Help Click the sentence Click here for more help in the Context Help window. Contains detailed descriptions of most palettes, menus, tools, VIs, and functions, step-by-step instructions for using LabVIEW features, links to the LabVIEW Tutorial, PDF versions of all the LabVIEW manuals and Application Notes, and technical support resources.

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NI Example Finder
To find an example, select HelpFind Examples Web-integrated Search by keyword, example type, hardware type, etc.

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Debugging Techniques
Finding Errors
Click on broken Run button. A window showing the error appears

Execution Highlighting
Click on Execution Highlighting button; data flow is animated using bubbles. Values are displayed on wires.

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Debugging Techniques
Probe
Right-click on wire and select probe and it shows data as it flows through the wire segment

Breakpoints
Right-click on wire and select Set Breakpoint; pause execution at the breakpoint.

Conditional Probe
Combination of a breakpoint and a probe. Right-click on wire and select custom probe.

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Debugging Techniques
Step Into, Over, and Out buttons for Single Stepping
Click on Step Into button to enable single stepping Once Single Stepping has begun, the button steps into nodes Click on Step Over button to enable single stepping or to step over nodes Click on Step Out button to step out of nodes

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Summary
Virtual instruments (VIs) have three main parts the front panel, the block diagram, and the icon and connector pane The front panel is the user interface of a LabVIEW program and the block diagram is the executable code The block diagram contains the graphical source code composed of nodes, terminals, and wires Use Express VIs, standard VIs and functions on the block diagram to create your measurement code. For the most common requirements, use Express VIs with interactive configuration dialogs to define your application. Floating Palettes: Tools Palette, Controls Palette (only when Front Panel Window is active), and Functions Palette (only when Block Diagram Window is active) There are help utilities including the Context Help Window and LabVIEW Help

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Summary
Place controls (inputs) and indicators (outputs) in the front panel window Use the Operating tool to manipulate panel objects. Use the Positioning tool to select, move, and resize panel objects. Use the Wiring tool to connect diagram objects Control terminals have thicker borders than indicator terminals All front panel objects have property pages and shortcut menus Wiring is the mechanism to control dataflow and produce LabVIEW programs Broken Run arrow means a nonexecutable VI Various debugging tools and options available such as setting probes and breakpoints, execution highlighting, and single stepping

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Tips
Common keyboard shortcuts
Windows <Ctrl-R> <Ctrl-F> <Ctrl-H> <Ctrl-B> <Ctrl-W> <Ctrl-E> Sun <-R> <-F> <-H> <-B> <-W> <-E> Linux <M-R> <M-F> <M-H> <M-B> <M-W> <M-E> MacOS <z-R> <z-F> <z-H> <z-B> <z-W> <z-E> Run a VI Find object Activate Context Help window Remove all broken wires Close the active window Toggle btwn Diagram/Panel Window

Access Tools Palette with <shift>-right-click Increment/Decrement faster using <shift> key

ToolsOptions selection set preferences in LabVIEW

VI Properties (File menu)

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Lesson 2 Modular Programming

TOPICS SubVIs Icon and Connector Pane Using SubVIs Creating a SubVI from sections of a VI

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LabVIEW Hierarchy

SubVI

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SubVIs
Function Pseudo Code
function average (in1, in2, out) { out = (in1 + in2)/2.0; }

Calling Program Pseudo Code

main { average (point1, point2, pointavg) }

SubVI Block Diagram

Calling VI Block Diagram

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Icon/Connector
terminals

Icon

An icon represents a VI in other block diagrams A connector passes data to and receives data from a subVI through terminals
Connector

terminals

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SubVI Example Calculating Slope

A VI within another VI is called a subVI To use a VI as a subVI, create an icon and a connector pane after building the front panel and block diagram

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Creating the Icon

Icon: graphical representation of a VI Right-click in the icon pane (Panel or Diagram) Always create a black and white icon
Default Icon Create a custom icon

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Creating the Connector

Right-click the icon (Front Panel only)

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Creating the Connector - continued

Click with wiring tool

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The Connector Pane

Terminal colors match the data types to which they are connected Click the terminal to see its associated front panel object

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Using a VI as a SubVI
All Functions Select a VI
<OR>

Drag icon onto target diagram

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Help and Classifying Terminals

Classify inputs and outputs:

Required Error if no connection Recommended Warning if no connection Optional No effect if no connection

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Create SubVI Option

Enclose area to be converted into a subVI Select Create SubVI from the Edit Menu

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Summary
VIs can be used as subVIs after you make the icon and connector Icon created using Icon Editor Connector defined by choosing number of terminals Load subVIs using the Select a VI option in the All Functions palette or dragging the icon onto a new diagram Online help for subVIs using the Show Context Help option Descriptions document functionality Use Create SubVI feature to easily modularize the block diagram

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Lesson 3 Repetition and Loops

TOPICS While Loops For Loops Accessing Previous Loop Data

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While Loops

Repeat (code);

Until Condition met;

End;

LabVIEW While Loop

Flow Chart

Pseudo Code

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While Loops
1. Select While Loop 2. Enclose code to be repeated

3. Drop or drag additional nodes and then wire

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Select the Loop Condition

Click the Conditional Terminal with the Operating tool to define when the loop stops Default: Stop if True

Iteration Terminal

Conditional Terminal

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Structure Tunnels
Tunnels feed data into and out of structures. The tunnel is a block that appears on the border; the color of the block is related to the data type wired to the tunnel. When a tunnel passes data into a loop, the loop executes only after data arrive at the tunnel. Data pass out of a loop after the loop terminates.

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For Loops

N=100; i=0; Until i=N: Repeat (code; i=i+1); End;

LabVIEW For Loop

Flow Chart

Pseudo Code

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For Loops
In Structures subpalette of Functions palette Enclose code to be repeated and/or resize and add nodes inside boundary Executes diagram inside of loop a predetermined number of times
Count terminal (Numerical input) Wait Until Next ms Multiple function

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Wait Functions
Wait Until Next ms Multiple

FunctionsTime & Dialog palette

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Wait Functions
Wait (ms)

FunctionsTime & Dialog palette Time Delay

FunctionsTime & Dialog palette

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Numeric Conversion
Numerics default to double-precision (8 bytes) or long integer (4 bytes) LabVIEW automatically converts to different representations For Loop count terminal always converts to a long integer Gray coercion dot on terminal indicates conversion

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Numeric Conversion
LabVIEW chooses the representation that uses more bits. If the number of bits is the same, LabVIEW chooses unsigned over signed. To choose the representation, right-click on the terminal and select Representation. When LabVIEW converts floating-point numerics to integers, it rounds to the nearest integer. LabVIEW rounds x.5 to the nearest even integer. For example, LabVIEW rounds 2.5 to 2 and 3.5 to 4.

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Accessing Previous Loop Data Shift Register

Available at left or right border of loop structures Right-click the border and select Add Shift Register Right terminal stores data on completion of iteration Left terminal provides stored data at beginning of next iteration

Initial Value

Initial Value Value 1

Value 1 Value 2

Value 2 Value 3 Value 3

Before Loop Begins

First Iteration

Second Iteration

Last Iteration

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Additional Shift Register Elements

Right-click the left terminal to add new elements

Previous values are available at the left terminals

1 loop ago
2 loops ago 3 loops ago Latest value is passed to right terminal

Right-click the border for a new shift register

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Feedback Nodes
Appears automatically in a For Loop or While Loop if you wire the output of a subVI, function, or group of subVIs and functions to the input of that same VI, function, or group. Stores data when the loop completes an iteration, sends that value to the next iteration of the loop, and transfers any data type

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Feedback Node
Wire from output to input to automatically create a feedback node <OR> Place a feedback node from the FunctionsStructures palette

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Initialized Shift Registers & Feedback Nodes

Output = 5

Output = 5

Run Once

VI stops execution

Run Again

Output = 5

Output = 5

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Uninitialized Shift Registers & Feedback Nodes

Output = 4

Output = 8

Run Once

VI stops execution

Run Again

Output = 4

Output = 8

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Summary
Two structures to repeat execution: While Loop and For Loop Loop timing controlled using Wait Until Next ms Multiple function, the Wait (ms) function, or the Time Delay Express VI. Coercion dots appear where LabVIEW coerces a numeric representation of one terminal to match the numeric representation of another terminal Feedback nodes and shift registers transfer data values from one iteration to the next Use shift registers only when more than one past iteration is needed

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Lesson 4 Arrays

TOPICS Introduction to Arrays Auto Indexing Arrays

Array Functions
Polymorphism
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Arrays
Collection of data elements that are of same type One or more dimensions, up to 2 elements per dimension Elements accessed by their index; first element is index 0
index 10-element array
2D array 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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1.2 3.2 8.2 8.0 4.8 5.1 6.0 1.0 2.5 1.7

1 2 3 4

Five row by seven column array of 35 elements

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Array Controls and Indicators

1. Select the Array shell from the Controls palette 2. Place data object inside shell

Add Dimension for 2D arrays

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Creating Array Constants

1. Select Array Constant shell from the Array subpalette

2. Place the data object in the array shell

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Auto-Indexing
Loops can accumulate arrays at their boundaries with auto-indexing For Loops auto-index by default While Loops output the final value by default Right-click on tunnel and enable/disable auto-indexing

Auto-Indexing Enabled
Wire becomes thicker

1D Array 0 1 2 3 4 5

Auto-Indexing Disabled
Wire remains the same size

Only one value (last iteration) is passed out of the loop

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Creating 2D Arrays

1D Array
0 1 2 3 4 5

2D Array

Inner loop creates column elements Outer loop stacks them into rows

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Auto-Index Input
An array input can be used to set the For Loop count terminal Number of elements in the array equals the count terminal input Run arrow not broken

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Common Array Functions

Array Size

Initialize Array

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Common Array Functions

Array Subset

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The Build Array Function

Appending an element

Concatenate Inputs

Building a higher dimension array

default

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The Index Array Function

Extracting an Element

Extracting a Row

Extracting an Element of a Row

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Polymorphism
Function inputs can be of different types All LabVIEW arithmetic functions are polymorphic
Combination Scalar + Scalar Array + Scalar Result Scalar Array

Array + Array

Array

Array + Array

Array

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Summary
Arrays group data elements of the same type. You can build arrays of numeric, Boolean, path, string, waveform, and cluster data types. The array index is zero-based, which means it is in the range 0 to n 1, where n is the number of elements in the array. To create an array control or indicator, select an Array on the ControlsArray & Cluster palette, place it on the front panel, and drag a control or indicator into the array shell. If you wire an array to a For Loop or While Loop input tunnel, you can read and process every element in that array by enabling auto-indexing. By default, LabVIEW enables auto-indexing in For Loops and disables auto-indexing in While Loops. Polymorphism is the ability of a function to adjust to input data of different data structures.

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