Bring back the State Diagram Editor

[TiTou]

The State Diagram Editor was a very cool tool and lots of LabVIEW users (not only beginners, far from!) are missing it!

And no, the state chart module is not a replacement for the State Diagram Editor!

Discussion here.

Image borowed from Ben

[Ben]

Another reason NI should bring the SDE back to life is that it could reduce the cost of supporting customers. Applications developed using the SDE are much easier to understand than those developed without the SDE.

So both the users and NI support would win if there was more use of the SDE.

Problems like "all of my cases turned to red numbers" could be avoided bcause the SDe does it right in our behalf. This is consistant with the philosophy of LV in general that the dirty little details are handled by LV thereby freeing us to "Soar with the NI Eagle".

Ben

[Rolando-stc]

I never heard of this tool. It looks so easy and friendly it's almost to good to be true... I hope they bring it back 🙂

[Ben]

Since the SDE was not being tended too over the last couple of years, some bugs need to be addresed but I will set the short-comings to the side for now and will share some ideas that would make the SDE more fun to work with and more helpful.

1) I would like to see a floating help window implemented into the SDE environement. Not to help us draw the State Transition Diagrams (STD) but to help us document and understand what happens in each of the states. When I develop STDs the pictures alone only get us part of the way. I always have some sort of text that goes with each state. If I am developing the STD using Power Point (oh the shame that I need another graphics package to document what I am doing in a graphic langaue) I will use the "Comments" of each slide to explain each state. These comments will get cut from PP and pasted into comments on the diagram. If teh SDE offered the floating help that we could edit and WOULD BE INSERTED a free-label on the diagram itself I see a number of gains.

A) I can work completely in the SDE Window.

B) When re-opening an old app my comments are right there in the SDE window.

C) Of course I don't have to keep two documents updated.

D) Developers of the State code have the requirements righ there.

2) Speaking of requirements... if the was an option to insert teh catch-phrase "Covers:" and could choose from a drop-down of the requirements we would be further enabled.

3) The SDE would be easier to keep neat if we had a palette that let us "Align objects" as we can do in the BD. For bonus points I would also like the "Allign on radius" since so many programs have a loop structure. An ancillary request would allow "Grouping" to allow easier edits.

4) "Create Sub-STD" would allow selecting parts of the SDE and create a sub-VI with the STD fragment moved to the sub-VI.

So if you have not yet done so please Kudo up this idea so we can build on it to make even more powerful than ever.

Ben

[crelf]

I wonder if the idea should be something more like "Please release the State Diagram Editor source code" 🙂

[TiTou]

I wonder if the idea should be something more like "Please release the State Diagram Editor source code"

I seriously thought about asking for this as I mention here, but if NI declines this idea then I don't see how they could refuse to open the SDE's source code, so let's wait and see

[Ben]

Another point that has not been made is...

Unlike the State Chart Toolkit where the SDE and SCT are competing to be the "Graphical Design Tool" the SDE does NOT compete with the JKI toolkit.

The SDE create diagrams, the JKI toolkit uses text.

The SDE has a finite number of transitions while the JKI toolkit is not finite.

So someone who is used to the methodolgy used by the JKI toolkit would not be tempted by the SDE and vise versa.

So I feel the SDE could fit nicely in the LV toolbox beside the JKI version.

Comparing the SDE and the SCT

The SDE is not encumbered by the formalities of the SCT and as such is much easier to learn and use.

I feel comfortable explaining how a State Transition Diagram works to non-technical management types.

I do not feel comfortable with explaing the working of the SCT.

So bring back the SDE and give it a place as part of the LV-core.

Thank you,

Ben

[Ben]

Add to the list of reasons to bring back the SDE...

The SDE make it look easy to develop a STD because IT IS EASY!

This should alos help sales if new users were introduced the the SDE early on.

Previously it was an add-on that you had to pay for or know about it and take the time to install it.

Ben

[Manzolli]

I really miss this feature. Was a great "live" bridge between plan and code. I will give kudos to this idea, even though I don't believe NI will bring it back.

[TiTou]

Let's not give up before we try!

I see many reasons to keep hope :

- NI putting effort into making LabVIEW more accessible, SDE is great to help developers think about their architecture

- even if no longer supported by NI, the SDE still works with recent LabVIEW versions, it must mean it would be technically possible to bring it back

- important people at NI have voted for this idea

- marketing NEEDS tools like SDE to show off, this video from NIWeek 2009 keynote proves it I think : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXIOCJ9HzE

[vitoi]

I didn't even know this feature once existed. Looks great. Yes, bring it back!