How do we use the Dashboard Type Selector in the Driver Station Settings Tab

[MarkBalla-Tecnova]

My team and I are working on our dashboard and having difficulties when it comes to moving the dashboard.exe to the C:\Program Files (x86)\FRC Dashboard folder.

We are using the simulator to help us understand how to move data from the robot to the dashboard.

Because we are using school computers the students do not have admin privileges and therefore can not copy files to the C drive to test their newly created dashboards.

There is a pull down menu in the Driver Station - Setting Tab labeled Dashboard Type. I am hoping to use this to redirect the Driver station to a location that the students can use and place their built dashboard.

ideally we would like to build the dashboard to a source code location so everyone can have a copy of the latest and point the DS to the latest dashboard.

In the  [FRC 2015] Driver Station Tutorial this item is skipped over and no information is given about its use.

How is the Dashboard Type menu pulldown used and where does the DS look for the dashboard when LabVIEW is selected?

Thanks

Mark

[tcap]

Hey Mark,

The Dashboard Type is used to switch between the FRC PC Dashboard (LabVIEW) and the SmartDashboard (Java and C++).

This does not offer the ability to change the File Path of the Dashboard.exe.

But, you can modify the below Property to change the File Path, while the Driver Station is closed.

C:\Users\Public\Documents\FRC\FRC DS Data Storage.ini > Setup > DashboardCmdLine

NOTE: Make sure to use double quotes and double backslashes.

Regards,

Tom C.

National Instruments

Applications Engineer

[MarkBalla-Tecnova]

Thanks for the location I am planning to create a vi that will change the location and point to the users dashboard.

It is still not clear to me what the LabVIEW selections is supposed to do.

When I open the driver station with the "Dashboard Type" set to Default the Dashboard.exe found at C:\Program Files (x86)\FRC Dashboard is launched.

If I change the Dashboard Type to LabVIEW the default dashboard closes and a dashboard is no longer available. If I then set the Dashboard Type back to Default the dashboard returns.

I still don't understand where the Driver station is expecting to find the LabVIEW (FRC PC Dashboard) when the Dashboard Type is changed to LabVIEW and why no dashboard appears?

Does a FRC PC Dashboard have to be created?

If so how do we do this?

Thanks

Mark

[tcap]

Hey Mark,

According to this documentation:

https://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/24192/l/144976-frc-driver-station-powered-by-ni-labview

When programming with LabVIEW, the Default option and the LabVIEW option should open the same Dashboard.exe. The reason nothing is opening when LabVIEW is selected is probably because the Default isn't tagged as a LabVIEW-made Dashboard.  I think when you create your custom Dashboard this will be resolved.

Information on creating custom Dashboards can be found in the FRC Dashboard Project Template and Tutorial 6. These can be found on the FRC 2016 Getting Started Window.

Regards,

Tom C.

[MarkBalla-Tecnova]

According to this documentation:

https://wpilib.screenstepslive.com/s/4485/m/24192/l/144976-frc-driver-station-po wered-by-ni-labvie

Can you please update the driver station documentation to reflect this information?

When programming with LabVIEW, the Default option and the LabVIEW option should open the same Dashboard.exe. The reason nothing is opening when LabVIEW is selected is probably because the Default isn't tagged as a LabVIEW-made Dashboard.  I think when you create your custom Dashboard this will be resolved.

Information on creating custom Dashboards can be found in the FRC Dashboard Project Template and Tutorial 6. These can be found on the FRC 2016 Getting Started Window.

I agree that the dashboard should probably open when I select the LabVIEW dashboard type and I think I am doing everything correctly but I defiantly do not see that happening no mater what dashboard (LabVIEW created or default exe) is put in the "Default" location.

I have tried this on 2 seperate computers.

Would you be able to verify that you are defiantly able to see a dashboard come up when you select the LabVIEW dashboard and give details on how you got it to work?

Thanks

Mark

[tcap]

Hey Mark,

I can forward your feedback along to the team in charge of the Driver Station Documentation.

With regards to getting the LabVIEW Dashboard selection to work from a Non-C Drive location, I did the following:

1) Edit the C:\Users\Public\Documents\FRC\FRC DS Data Storage.ini file DashboardCmdLine to be another location.

Mine is set to ""C:\\Users\\lvadmin\\Documents\\LabVIEW Data\\builds\\FRC_Dashboard\\Dashboard.exe""

This is actually the default build location of the FRC Dashboard Project.

2) Open up the LabVIEW FRC Dashboard Project Dashboard Main.vi and move the locations of some of the Front Panel Objects.

3) Save and Right Click the Build Specification > Build. This is will create the Dashboard.exe in the above directory.

4) Open the FRC Driver Station.

5) Select LabVIEW. This should populate with the custom dashboard.

If this does not work correctly, I suspect that the FRC Update Suite did not install correctly, or the school security is preventing some internal behavior. Can you try on a non-school computer?

Regards,

Tom C.