TOPICS

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 Implementing a VI

TOPICS
A. Designing Controls and E. Timing a VI
Indicators F. Data Feedback in Loops
B. LabVIEW Data Types G. Case Structure
C. While Loop H. Disable Structures
D. For Loop

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A. Designing Controls
and Indicators

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Labels & Options
Make sure to label controls and indicators clearly
and set a default value if necessary.

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B. LabVIEW Data Types
Shortcut Menu and Properties Dialog Box
Numeric Types
Boolean Types
String Types
Enums and Other Types

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 LabVIEW Data Types

Terminals visually communicate information about

the data type represented.

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Shortcut Menus
• All LabVIEW objects
have associated
shortcut menus.
• Use shortcut menu
items to change the
look or behavior of
objects.
• To access the shortcut
menu, right-click the
object.
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Properties Dialog Box
• All LabVIEW objects
have properties.
• To access properties,
right-click the object
and select Properties.
• Property options are
similar to shortcut
menu options.
• Select multiple objects
to simultaneously
configure their
common properties.
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Numerics
Various data type
representations:
• Floating-point
• Unsigned integers
• Signed integers

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Numeric Conversion Coercion Dot

• Coercion dots indicate that

LabVIEW converted the value
passed into a node to a different
representation.
− Occurs when a node expects an input
with a different representation.
• LabVIEW chooses the
representation that uses more bits.
• Avoid coercion by
programmatically converting
to a matching data type.

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Booleans
• Behavior of Boolean
controls is specified by
the mechanical action.
• Boolean have only
TRUE/FALSE values.

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 Mechanical Action of Booleans

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Mechanical Action of Booleans

Use the Properties»Operations tab of a Boolean

control to learn about the different switch and latch
actions.

DEMONSTRATION
Strings
• A string is a sequence of
ASCII characters.
• Strings have various
display styles.
− Backslash codes
− Password
− Hex

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Enums
• Enums give users
a list of items from
which to select.
• Each item represents
a pair of values.
− String
− Unsigned integer

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 Other Data Types
Refer to LabVIEW Help for complete list of terminal
symbols for different types of controls and indicators.
• Dynamic
− Stores the information generated or acquired by an
Express VI.
• Path
− Stores the location of a file or directory using the
standard syntax for the platform you are using.
• Waveform
− Carries the samples, start time, and dt of a waveform.

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Searching Help for Data Types

Use LabVIEW Help to learn about LabVIEW data

types.

DEMONSTRATION
C. While Loop
Iteration and Conditional Terminals
Tunnels
Error Checking

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While Loop

Repeat (code);
Until Condition met;
End;

LabVIEW While Loop Flowchart Pseudo Code

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While Loop
Iteration terminal Conditional terminal
• Returns number of times • Defines when the loop stops.
loop has executed. • Has two options:
• Is zero-indexed. − Stop if True
− Continue if True.

Iteration Terminal Conditional Terminal

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While Loop – Tunnels
• Tunnels transfer data into and out of structures.
• When a tunnel passes data into a loop, the loop
executes only after data arrive at the tunnel
(at all tunnels,
if there is more
than one).
• Data pass out of
a loop after the
loop terminates.

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While Loop – Error Checking and Error
Handling
Use an error cluster in a While Loop to stop the
While Loop if an error occurs.

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Auto Match VI

Use a While Loop and the iteration terminal and

pass data through a tunnel.

DEMONSTRATION
Auto Match VI

How many times is the Number of Iterations

indicator updated? Why?

DISCUSSION
D. For Loop
Conditional Terminal
Comparison with While Loop
Numeric Conversion for Count Terminal

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 For Loop

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

LabVIEW For Loop Flowchart Pseudo Code

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 For Loop
• Create a For Loop the same way you create
a While Loop.
• You can replace a While Loop with a For Loop
by right-clicking the border of the While Loop
and selecting Replace with For Loop from the
shortcut menu.
• The value in the count terminal (an input
terminal) indicates how many times to repeat
the subdiagram in the For Loop.

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 For Loop – Conditional Terminal
You can add a conditional terminal to configure a For
Loop to stop when a Boolean condition is true or an
error occurs.
This is similar
to a ‘break’
statement in
text-based
programming
languages.

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 For Loop – Conditional Terminal
For Loops configured with a conditional terminal have:
• A red glyph next to the count terminal
• A conditional terminal in the lower right corner.

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For Loop / While Loop Comparison
For Loop While Loop
• Executes a set number of • Stops executing only if the
times unless a conditional value at the conditional
terminal is added. terminal meets the condition.
• Can execute zero times. • Must execute at least once.
• Tunnels automatically • Tunnels automatically output
output an array of data. the last value.

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 For Loop – Numeric Conversion
• The number of iterations a For Loop executes must be
specified in non-negative integers.
• If you wire a double-precision, floating-point numeric
value to the count terminal, LabVIEW converts the
numeric value to a 32-bit signed integer.

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Group Exercise
Concept: While Loops versus For Loops

When to use a While Loop and when to use a For

Loop?

DISCUSSION
E. Timing a VI
Reasons To Use Timing
Wait Functions and Express VIs

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 Timing a VI

Why do you need timing in a VI?

• To control the frequency at
which a loop executes.
• To provide the processor with
time to complete other tasks,
such as processing the user
interface or running other
applications.

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 Wait Functions
A wait function inside a loop:
• Allows the VI to sleep for a set amount of time.
• Allows the processor to address other tasks
during the wait time.
• Uses the operating system millisecond clock.

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 Elapsed Time Express VI
• Determines how much time elapses after some
point in your VI.

• Keeps track of time while

the VI continues to execute.

• Does not provide the processor

with time to complete other tasks.

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Wait Chart VI

Compare and contrast using a Wait function and

the Elapsed Time Express VI for software timing.

DEMONSTRATION
F. Data Feedback in Loops
Shift Registers
Initializing Shift Registers
Default for Unwired Values
Compound Shift Registers

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Data Feedback in Loops
• When programming with loops, you often need to
know the values of data from previous iterations of
the loop.
• Shift registers transfer values from one loop iteration
to the next.

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Shift Registers
• Right-click the border and select Add Shift
Register from the shortcut menu.
• Right part of shift register stores data on
completion of an iteration.
• Left part of shift
register provides
stored data at
the beginning
of the next
iteration.

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Initializing Shift Registers
Run once VI finishes Run again

Block Diagram 1st run 2nd run

Initialized
Shift Output = 5 Output = 5
Register

Not
Initialized Output = 4 Output = 8
Shift
Register

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Default Value if Unwired
Default values vary by data type:
Data Type Default Value

Numeric 0

Boolean FALSE

String Empty

Uninitialized shift registers use default values for

the first run. At the beginning of next runs, they
remember the last value they stored.

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Multiple Previous Iterations
• Stacked shift registers remember values from
multiple previous iterations and carry those
values to the next iterations.
• Right-click the left shift register and select Add
Element from the shortcut menu to stack a shift
register.

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G. Case Structures
Parts of a Case Structure
Enum Case Structures
Error Case Structures
Input and Output Tunnels

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Case Structures
• Have two or more subdiagrams (cases).
• Use an input value to determine which case to
execute.
• Execute and display only one case at a time.
• Are similar to case statements or if...then...else
statements in text-based programming languages.

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Case Structures
• Case Selector Label
− Contains the name of the current case.
− Has decrement and increment arrows.
• Selector Terminal Case Selector Label
− Lets you wire an input
value, or selector, to
determine which case
executes.

Selector Terminal
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Case Structures
Selector terminal data
types:
• Boolean
− True case and False Case
• Error Cluster
− Error Case and No Error
Case
• Integer, string or enum
− Structure can have any
number of cases
− Include a Default diagram
to avoid listing every
possible input value
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Shortcut Menu
Use the shortcut
menu of a Case
structure to:
− Customize the structure
and diagrams.
− Remove or replace the
structure.
− Add, duplicate, remove
or rearrange cases.
− Specify the Default case.
− Switch cases.
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Enum Case Structure
• Gives users a list of items from which to select.
• The case selector displays a case for each item
in the enumerated type control.

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Error Case Structure
Use Case structures inside VIs to execute the
code if there is no error and skip the code if there
is an error.

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Input and Output Tunnels
You can create multiple input and output tunnels.
• Inputs tunnels are available to all cases if needed.
• You must define each output tunnel for each case.

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Case Structures

• Create case structures using different data type

selectors.
• Add, remove and duplicate cases.
• Create different types of output tunnels.

DEMONSTRATION
H. Disable Structures
Diagram Disable Structure
Conditional Disable Structure

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Diagram Disable Structure

 Use it to disable a section of code on the block

diagram.
 Multiple subdiagrams are possible – one is enabled.
 Disabled subdiagrams appear grayed out.
 Great tool for troubleshooting – no need to re-write
code.

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Conditional Disable Structure

• Use it to define conditions that indicate which code

on the block diagram executes.

• Examples:
– If running as an executable,
then programmatically close
LabVIEW when VI finishes.
– If running on Windows, look
for file here; if running on
Mac OSX, then look here.

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Homework:
Blinking LED

Use a While Loop with shift register and a timing

function to blink an LED.

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Homework: Average Temperature VI

Use a While Loop and stacked shift registers to

average data.
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Homework: Temperature Limits VI

Use a Case
Structure to output
a string indicating
if the temperature
is OK or outside
the limits.

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